Reviews

2 Radio Plays

Based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Directed by Hazel Mepham. New Farm Nash Theatre (Qld). February 22 – March 16, 2019

AM frequency was the dominant frequency radio through what was considered the Golden Age of Radio during the 1920’s to the end of the 1940’s, when television started to become dominant. Instead of listening, people wanted to watch. These two radio plays take us back to the past and it was an interesting journey to take. The Adventure of the Irregular Client by Conan Doyle centres on the detective work of Sherlock Holmes and his off-sider Dr Watson in crime solving, while the second play, The ABC Murders, is typically a Christie, with a convoluted plot.

Confessions of an Aerobics Instructor

Adelaide Fringe 2019. Tandanya Arts Café. 20 Feb - 3 Mar, 2019.

Joana Simmons is Joy, the career Group Fitness Instructor, here to lift the lid on the inside story of the fitness industry. This is a high-energy, protein-fuelled 45 minutes of cardio, clowning and confessions. If you’ve ever been to a group fitness class and wondered about what goes on behind the scenes, this is the show for you. Anyone who has worked as a Group Fitness Instructor will identify with Joy and her “confessions” all too readily.

Gods Cowboys Ride Again

Petersham Bowling Club - 77 Brighton Street, Petersham. Saturdays Feb 23 & Mar 2, 2019 at 7:00pm

Gods Cowboys have arisen! And what a resurrection! After 22 years of wandering in the wildernesses of the Emerald City, the Messiah-istic messengers, Billy (John Knowles), Slim (George Catsi) and Buck (David Delves) have brushed off their stetsons, re-mounted their trusty steeds and ridden forth to consecrate the sanctum of The Petersham Bowling Club to re-enlighten the world.

I’m Not Running

By David Hare. Directed by Neil Armfield. National Theatre Live. Cinema Nova, Lygon Street Carlton and cinemas nationally. From 2 March 2019.

Pauline Gibson (Siân Brooke) turns her attention from medicine to politics after a campaign to save her local hospital in Corby. When she contemplates running for Labour leadership (as a former independent outsider) the play explores the life events that motivate her decision. This is achieved through flashbacks capturing various moments with important figures in her life such as her old boyfriend, Jack Gould (Alex Hassell), who is a Labour stalwart loyalist and her political rival, and her fractious mother, Blaise Gibson (Liza Sadovy).

Just Floyd

Adelaide Fringe Festival. Clovercrest Hotel. February 22nd, 2019

The ultimate Australian Pink Floyd tribute band, Just Floyd, have landed at this year’s Adelaide Fringe for a one night only performance at the Clovercrest Hotel. A large room housed the crowd and provided plenty of space for die-hard fans to mingle.

English rock band Pink Floyd formed in London back in 1965; fifteen studio albums later and they don’t look like hanging up their guitars. With an enormous fan-base, the demand to hear their songs live is always welcomed.

Lend Me A Tenor

By Ken Ludwig. Directed by June Tretheway. Mousetrap Theatre Redcliffe. February 22 – March 10, 2019.

This comedy, which at times borders on farce, is set in an elegant hotel suite in Cleveland, Ohio in 1934. Tito Merelli, a famous opera singer, is to arrive with his wife to perform in the city. Unfortunately, he is famous for other things and reliability is not one of them. We follow what happens over the next few hours from his arrival, finally, in Cleveland to just after the performance of the opera. A heck of a lot can happen in a short period of time.  In this play, nearly everything possible does hilariously happen.

Choir Boys

Adelaide Fringe 2019. Festival Statesmen Chorus. Tandanya Theatre. 16 - 24 Feb, 2019

Fringe favourites Festival Statesmen Chorus are back with a new juke-box musical Choir Boys, a show that is sure to please fans, old and new alike. It’s an hour-long toe-tapping, laugh-out -loud journey with the boys as they travel from Klemzig to Hobart to ‘The Grand Acapella Voices in Harmony Festival’.

Club Gotham: Villains of Vaudeville

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2019. Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide. Feb 22 to Mar 2, 2019

There is a real sisterhood amongst burlesque artists in Adelaide. They rally to support each other and certainly spur the audience on to almost fever pitch at times.

Club Gotham: Villains of Vaudeville brings together some of Adelaide’s finest burlesque performers under the guise of female crime fighters or villains.

The Professor

Adelaide Fringe 2019. Produced by Central Standard Theatre, presented by Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre (USA). Bakehouse Studio, 18 February to 2 March 2019.

The Professor (Bob Paisley) takes the dais and after a rambling welcome, fumbles through the introduction to his final lecture at the university. He starts precisely with math(s), performing the subject of theatre, moving quickly through dance, extolling the literature of Dickens and punctuating it with Mozart, Bach and one of his own musical compositions. He’s clearly a little unhinged, dipping a toe into the waters of his subjects, but just when you think he’s about to jump in, he switches topic, tempo and timbre.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

By Jack Thorne. Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. Direction: John Tiffany. Movement Direction: Steven Hoggett. Set Design: Christine Jones. Costume design: Katrina Lindsay. Composer and arranger: Imogen Heap. Lighting Design: Neil Austin. Princess Theatre Melbourne from 23rd February, 2019.

In only its third  staging, following London and New York, the gargantuan show that is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has finally arrived in Melbourne in an extraordinary production which certainly lives up to the hype.

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