Reviews

Berlin

Playwright: Joanna Murray-Smith. A Little Life Productions. Director: Erica Chestnut. MC Showroom, Prahran. 20-30 April, 2023

Georgia Latchford (Charlotte) and Lachlan Hamill (Tom) make the most of Joanna Murray-Smith’s intellectual, witty, sexy and intense script. While it starts as a usual boy meets girl seduction tale, its setting in Berlin provides a backdrop as layers and layers of thought and meaning are peeled away until a very uncomfortable truth is uncovered. Both characters have deep personal wounds which are echoed in the national German wound of the Holocaust.

Cracks in the mirror

By Lyn Townsend, with musical composition by Gail Smith. Parkes Musical & Dramatic Society. The Little Theatre. April 22 – May 7, 2023

Unashamedly a staunch supporter of Parkes theatre productions, I had high expectations for this original production of Cracks in the mirror, written by Lyn Townsend, with music composition by Gail Smith. Townsend has always had a special ability to bring out the best in her cast and this production was no exception. I was invited to the preview show, a tight and polished performance that left no doubt they are ready for an audience.

Absurd Person Singular

By Alan Ayckbourn. Stirling Players. Directed by Janet Brandwood. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo WA. April 21 - May 6, 2023

Stirling Players’ Absurd Person Singular, despite its title, is about the changing fortunes of three couples, told over three successive Christmases. Good ensemble work featured in this often quite black comedy, first performed in 1972.

The Rocky Horror Show

By Richard O‘Brien. Festival Theatre, Adelaide. 19 April – 13 May, 2023

In 1973 The Rocky Horror Show was born before an audience of only 63 people in the Royal Court Upstairs Theatre, Sloane Square, London. With a creative team that included Australia’s Jim Sharman as Director, Brian Thompson as Set Designer and New Zealander Richard O‘Brien as the mastermind behind the music and lyrics, the show was an overnight success, has been performed continuously ever since. It certainly holds a special place in Australia’s heart.

La Cage Aux Folles

Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Book by Harvey Fierstein. Showtune Productions. State Theatre, Market Street, Sydney. 19-23 April, 2023

First a provocative French play written fifty years ago, then the hit film, and then the multi-award-winning Broadway musical in 1983, this gay love story between a night club owner and his resident drag star was, last century at least, a real forerunner.  

This modestly staged revival on the State Theatre’s slender stage runs for only a week. It’s like a pop-up musical, even a concert version – a sign of the times perhaps, and the need for cheaper budgets and ticket prices.  

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare Company. Directed by Peter Evans. Canberra Playhouse, Canberra ACT. April 14 – 22, 2023.

Bell Shakespeare has again freshened up an old classic, while delighting in Shakespeare’s resounding words and colourful characters. Peter Evans directs a cohesive cast that can transform from individuals briefly sketching narrative movement to an emotional, imaginative circle of ancient mystery and witchcraft.

tick, tick... BOOM!

By Jonathan Larson. Storeyboard Entertainment. Directed by Tyran Parke. Sydney Lyric Theatre. 20-26 April, 2023

After short stays in Melbourne and Brisbane, this cheapo production of a very interesting ‘lost musical’ comes to Sydney’s Lyric Theatre for one week only. Its creator-writer, Jonathan Larson, famously died the day before his big-deal show Rent opened Off-Broadway in 1996. This is his only previous work to receive a production.

Avenue Q

Book by Jeff Marx. Music & Lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. Beenleigh Theatre Group, Qld. 21 Apr – 6 May 2023

Join the irreverent residents of Avenue Q: part flesh, part plushy, people, puppets and all. Hilarious, charming and a little profane, Avenue Q will turn all expectations of acceptable discourse on its head. Directed by Tayla Simpson and Daniel Dosek, you’re in for a cheeky (ages 16+) treat!

Fantastic Mr Fox

By Roald Dahl. Adapted for the stage by shake & stir theatre co. Sydney Theatre Company. Roslyn Packer Theatre. 19 - 30 April, 2023

Easter School Holiday theatre magic for the young comes with larger-than-life characters, comedy aplenty, some gender reversal, good versus evil and fart jokes.The Fantastic Mr Fox, which has been adapted for the stage by Shake & Stir Theatre co, and directed by Ross Balbuziente,ticks all of the boxes and goes on to invent several more boxes!

Exit

Written by James Hall. Directed by Clem Halpin. The Basement – The Spotlight Theatrical Company. 14th-29th April, 2023

It’s always exciting when an old (in every respect) writer like myself encounters a new talent. This is James Hall’s first ever play, and he truly has talent. It’s raw, lacking craft skills (which can be learned) and very wordy, but it IS true talent – that rarest of commodities. Bravo! It is also coupled with bucket loads of PASSION - the second rarest commodity. No wonder I am excited. James is one of those rarities these days, a writer who writes because he HAS to - he has things to say!

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