Reviews

St Kilda Royale

MEMO Music Hall St Kilda. 4 to 8 July 2018

Conceived in the spiegeltent of the Edinburg Fringe Festival, Melbourne’s own jazz, swing and boogie band The Shuffle Club have been playing for live circus acts for a few years now. For the first time, they’ve brought the concept to Australia. While watching circus acts perform to recorded music, the band came up with the idea of accompanying them live. And what an electric combination it makes!

A Midsummer Night's Dream

By William Shakespeare. Holroyd Musical and Dramatic Society Red Gum Centre. Wentworthville June 29 – July 6, 2018.

Holroyd Musical and Dramatic Society's production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream brought a very fresh modern feel to the classic fantasy tale.

Director Laura May has escalated the environmental themes of the fairy world (acting as nature) throughout all design elements of the play.

The Farmer’s Daughter

By Ian Sinclair. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle, WA. Directed by Phillip Mitchell. June 30 - July 20, 2018

Inspired by real-life stories of rural Australia, The Farmer’s Daughter is the story of a young girl and her relationship with her grandfather, set against the constant struggle of people against the land.

A beautifully presented piece with four on-stage performers, the puppetry in this show is non-traditional and includes large scale set pieces, shadow puppetry, sand art, prop manipulation and movement.

Switzerland

By Joanna Murray-Smith. Pigeonhole Theatre. Directed by Jordan Best. The Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre. 3 – 14 July 2018

Gripping. Tense. Hilarious. A sparkling gem of brilliant characterisation and vicious wit. This is one of those mind-blowingly great pieces of theatre that deserves a thesaurus of superlatives. Following on from their excellent productions of Playhouse Creatures and Summer of the 17th Doll, Pigeonhole takes Joanna Murray-Smith’s incredible script and applies Jordan Best’s incredible facility for flow, timing and nuance to create a breathtaking experience. At the centre of it all is the virtuoso performance by Karen Vickery as Patricia Highsmith.

Precarious

Circus OZ. Big Top, Southern Cross Lawn, Royal Botanic Gardens. June 29 – July 25, 2018.

A truly magical experience under the heated Big Top!

Precarious is the new show by Circus Oz, currently on at the Botanical Gardens.

Celebrating their forty years, Circus Oz have produced yet another wonderful circus extravaganza.

Director Rob Tannion has teamed up with independent director Kate Fryer to deliver a new era in circus entertainment, reflecting on the past to create an up-scaled grass roots production.

Last Cab To Darwin

by Reg Cribb. Directed by Trevor Dhu. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. Jun 28 - Jul 7, 2018

Earlier this year, a valued and much loved member of the Perth community theatre community, 104 year old David Goodall, made international headlines when he travelled to Switzerland to avail himself of physician assisted suicide. In 1995, voluntary euthanasia was briefly available in the Northern Territory, and terminally ill Max Bell attracted similar media attention when he drove from Broken Hill to Darwin in order to die with dignity.

Brothers Wreck

By Jada Alberts. State Theatre Company SA & Malthouse Theatre. Odean Theatre, Norwwod. Friday 27 June – 17 July, 2018

Jada Alberts’ Brothers Wreck is a relatively new indigenous Australian play that has had highly successful seasons in Sydney and Melbourne. This production come from the Malthouse, Melbourne, and is part of the South Australian Theatre Company’s 2018 season. It is wonderful that Geordie Brookman managed to secure this production for South Australia, otherwise we may not have seen such an important new indigenous play.

The Girl The Woman

By Aanisa Vylet. National Theatre of Parramatta. Riverside Theatres. June 28 – July 7, 2018

To say this production is a work of love would be to understate the concentration of experiences and diverse performance styles Aanisa Vylet has artistically fused “to smash the limitations of how female narratives can exist on stage”. Nor would it adequately explain the feeling of ‘family’ that radiates from the production.

Kiss Me, Kate

Music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Book by Sam and Bella Spewack Gold Coast Little Theatre, Southport. Director: Andrew Cockcroft-Penman. 30th June to 28th July, 2018

GCLT’s production of Kiss Me, Kate blends culture, class and Cole Porter’s memorable score into a great theatrical experience.

In this fresh approach, the director has assembled a talented cast and a basic, workable set complete with Shakespearian costumes in a predominately Black and White theme to convey the off-stage/on-stage battles of the previously married leading lady and leading man with hilarious results.

Baby Bi Bi Bi

Created & performed by Erin Pattison, Samantha Andrew & Annabel Larcombe. A Flesh Coloured Panties Production. Melbourne Cabaret Festival. Chapel off Chapel, Prahran, VIC. 30 June & 1 July (only) 2018

The ‘Bi’, in case you’re wondering, means bi-sexual. That is what this show is about.  It’s explicit, graphic (verbally anyway) and not afraid to send itself up.  It’s a show delivered with such panache, such humour, charm and polish by three very talented women that it overcomes any resistance that might still be out there (in fact, that is its serious purpose), is hugely enjoyable and my audience – gay or straight – had a thoroughly good time.

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