Reviews

Garage Girls

By Candace Miles, Madelaine Nunn & Anna Rodway. Created by Carolyn Bock, Helen Hopkins (Shift Theatre) and Candace Miles, Madelaine Nunn & Anna Rodway (Three Birds Theatre). La Mama Courthouse. 24 April – 5 May 2024

Here’s a spirited show about Alice Anderson (played with endearing energy by Madelaine Nunn).  A motor car afficionado, Alice was a pioneering but now largely forgotten figure from 1920s Melbourne.  Single-handed, she founded of Australia’s first (and only?) ‘all-girl’ motor garage.  She did try to get a job in a regular garage but it’s the 1920s and she is, of course, laughed out the door. 

Toy Symphony

By Michael Gow. Ad Astra. The Loading Dock Theatre. Directed by Michelle Carey. April 20 - 27, 2024

The biggest star of the night was the ‘foyer’ to the venue – the Loading Dock Theatre – which is one of three new performance spaces part of Qtopia Sydney.

Fools!

Pip Theatre, 20 Park Road, Milton, Brisbane. Produced by Allentertainment. 21st & 28th April, 2024

FOOLS! bursts onto the stage at Pip Theatre, offering audiences an uproarious evening of interactive entertainment. FOOLS! is mostly family-friendly, but brace yourself for a sprinkle of cheeky innuendos that'll have you chuckling into your popcorn.

Audience participation is the heart of FOOLS!, and it doesn't disappoint. From wacky games like "Beer Pom" (think beer pong meets gymnastics) or audience wide games of guess who, everyone got a chance to shine.

The King’s Player

Written & performed by Tref Gare. Victorian Theatre Company. Alex Theatre Studio, St Kilda. 19 – 26 April 2024

As his eponymous character, Tref Gare is dressed in motley, a barefoot, grubby traveling player of the Middle Ages.  Before the show – in costume but not yet in character - he roams the audience (some of whom, I notice, are very good Melbourne actors) as they arrive, welcoming them and explaining his intriguing backdrop screen which is behind an otherwise bare stage.  The screen is dense with hectic imagery drawn by a skilled hand and it’s by Jen Ellis Stevens. 

35MM: A Musical Exhibition

Music and Lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver. Based on Photographs by Matthew Murphy. PIP Theatre, 20 Park Road, Milton, Brisbane. Produced by Passion Productions & Allentertainment. April 18 – May 4, 2024

35MM: A Musical Exhibition offers a fascinating blend of visual artistry and musical storytelling. Making its debut at PIP Theatre, Passion Productions and Allentertainment have joined forces to create a poignant musical display. Here, the stage becomes a canvas, each scene painting a vivid tapestry of emotion and intrigue inspired by the evocative lens of Matthew Murphy's photography. This innovative production promises a journey unlike any other, where every song tells a story, and every scene whispers a secret.

Helen Bauer - Grand Supreme Darling Princess

Melbourne International Comedy Festival, 2024.

Helen Bauer is unabashedly one-of-a-kind; originally from Fleet, Northeast Hampshire, UK, as place she happily boasts about with its one petrol station and drab emptiness. I her early thirties, she is hitting the Australian comedy festival circuit for the first time with her in-your-face stand up shows including a double act with fellow comedian Catherine Bohart in Trusty Hogs.

The Rugged Cross

By Noel O’Neill. Directed by Noel O’Neil. The Townshend Theatre, Irish Club of WA, Subiaco, WA. April 11-20, 2024

Writer/director Noel O’Neill is best known for his slice-of-life domestic comedies, but his latest play, The Rugged Cross, is a highly dramatic work that may well be his best yet.

Set in a seaside Irish pub during Holy Week, the locals talk of a mysterious man who is stirring up trouble and which their organisation must stop. With strong parallels to the Easter story, this modern-day parable is moving, heartfelt and superbly acted.

Disenchanted

By Dennis T. Giacino. Art in Motion Theatre. Directed by Lys Tickmer. City of Gosnells, Don Russell Performing Arts Centre, Thornlie, WA. April 12-20, 2024

Art in Motion Theatre presented this “New Musical Comedy” which has a cabaret feel, to healthy, appreciative audience. Featuring an all-female, diverse cast, this show parodies the Disney Princess tropes as the princesses reveal what they really think.

The President

By Thomas Bernhard. Translated by Gitta Honegger. Sydney Theatre Company and Gate Theatre Production. Roslyn Packer Theatre. Apr 13 – May 18, 2024

Onto the stage walked Mrs Frolick (Julie Forsyth), the servant of the President and the First Lady, meticulously preparing the military uniform of the glorious leader, who  laughs and coughs ominously offstage in a bathtub.

In a stark and shiny room, the first couple were preparing to attend the funeral of the Colonel, who was freshly assassinated by an anarchist, who narrowly missed knocking off the leader of this unnamed country.

Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story

Film premieres on SBS and SBS on Demand on June 24, 2024

Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story is a documentary based on Oleg Vidov’s life as a Russian actor who escaped at age 42 to America. The documentary documents his rise to fame, his catastrophic marriage into the inner circles of the Brezhnev family, and his heroic escape by illegally escaping Russia.

After escaping, he met Joan Borsten, an Italian journalist, and they became friends—soon after, a couple. They became husband and wife several years later while living in America.

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