Reviews

The ancient epic Sanskrit poem the Mahabharata, which tells of the Kurukshestra War and the fates of the Kaurava and Pandava princes, has been adapted for a contemporary audience by novelist and playwright Kiran Nagarkar. The title A Bedtime Story is slightly misleading in that, despite some humour, the play contains scenes that are a little violent and quite confronting. Nevertheless, the adaptation keeps alive one of the oldest and best known Indian legends and realises Nautanki Theatre’s aim of “cross cultural experience … the Indian way’.

As an avowed fan of Alfred Hitchcock, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the MTC's stage adaptation of North by Northwest, one of his most famous movies.

Meredith Willson’s affectionate salute to 1912 small-town America The Music Man with its homespun philosophies and warm identifiable characters has always held appeal for community theatre companies employing as it does a multitude of characters and large chorus. One of the major strengths of Queensland Musical Theatre’s production of it was the choral work of the company. They thrilled harmonically in “Iowa Stubborn” and “The Wells Fargo Wagon”, producing a big, glorious Broadway vocal sound.

The theatre was packed with year 11 drama students lapping up a play by a writer who was young, hip and even knew the ins and outs of computer games.  

Neighbourhood Watch, first staged by Belvoir only a few years back, has crept onto the New South Wales Higher School drama list.

A teacher with them reliably informed me that as well keeping the students thoroughly engaged with the jokes and story line, there were influences of Brecht and magic realism in the drama to study.