Reviews

Perplex

By Marius von Mayenburg. Joh Hartog Productions. Bakehouse Theatre, Adelaide. 15th-25th August, 2018.

Perplex may well prove to be a show that lives up to its title for most audiences, but director Joh Hartog has come up trumps with this outstanding production: a funny, heady, potent blend of the surreal with the absurd, set within the confines of a seemingly ordinary middle-class dwelling that actually intensifies the strangeness of what transpires there…

The Man from Earth

By Jerome Bixby, adapted by Richard Schenkman. Red Phoenix Theatre (SA). Holden St Theatres. August 16-26, 2018

There is nothing more certain, they say, than death and taxes. Mortality hangs over the head of each and every person on this planet. Some welcome it, some seek it, some fear it, some predict it, some ignore it. In this wonderfully challenging play The Man from Earth, we are faced with the question- what if we could be immortal? What would one do, faced with the prospect of living on and on, seeing those around you age and pass, but continuing to stay frozen in time?

Dybbuks

Concept & Direction Samara Hersch. Chamber Made and Theatre Works. Theatre Works, St Kilda, VIC. 14 – 26 August 2018

Dybbuks is an overwhelming aural and visual experience.  It is difficult to describe because to do so would likely be reductive and because it works – if you allow it –directly on the emotions, bypassing reason or ‘narrative’.  It is more performance art than theatre, more ritual as theatre.  It relies on certain Jewish rituals, but you do not need to be Jewish or know much about Jewish beliefs to be affected by it.  Indeed, the emotions conveyed, or represented, here are, or become in the course of the performance, universal bec

Calamity Jane

Adapted by Ronald Hanmer and Phil Park. From the stage play by Charles K. Freeman. After Warner Bros. Film written by James O’Hanlon. Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. Music by Sammy Fain. One Eyed Man Productions in association with Neglected Musicals & Hayes Theatre Co. Canberra Theatre, 15 – 19 August, 2018 and Belvoir Street Theatre, 23 – 30 September.

Weaving elements of cabaret in with the classic musical, One Eyed Man’s Calamity Jane is a very different take to the 1953 film. It’s earthier, raunchier and more intimate. Seating a small number of the audience on the stage gives a sense of inclusion as well as providing ample victims for audience participation. Far and away the best thing about the show is the marvellous performance as Calamity Jane by Virginia Gay.

Fallen

By Seanna van Helten. Directed by Penny Harpham. She Said Theatre. Fortyfivedownstairs, Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 15 – 26 August 2018

The premise of Fallen – as in ‘a fallen woman’ – is the suppression of women’s stories.  Playwright Seanna van Helten sets her play in a real place, Urania Cottage, where suppression of women’s stories was explicit, stated policy.  Urania Cottage – a ‘home of refuge and reform’, to quote the program notes from writer and director - was set up and overseen by Charles Dickens in the 1840s, to offer ‘young, destitute, underclass women the chance… to begin life afresh…’  But there were two co

Overture

Director & Choreographer. Jo Lloyd. Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall. August 14 – 19 2018.

Overture is an enjoyable and resonant work of contemporary dance.  The choreography is unique and intriguing – entrancing and absorbing - though difficult to describe. 

Broadway On Screen

Queensland Pops Orchestra. Conductor: Patrick Pickett. Guest Soprano: Mirusia. Queensland Conservatorium Performing Arts Ensemble. Concert Hall, QPAC. 11 August 2018

On the morning of this concert when told his leading lady, Lucy Durack, was suffering from a throat infection and couldn’t sing, the ever-resourceful conductor Patrick Pickett found a replacement. And what a replacement she was, Brisbane born Aria winner and international star of Andre Rieu’s concerts since 2007, Mirusia.

In Your Blood

Tracks Dance Company. Concept and Artistic Directors: Tim Newth and David McMicken. Cultural advisors: Putu Desak Wati Stretton and Chandrika Munasinghe. Assistant Director: Kelly Beneforti. Choreography: Putu Desak Wati Stretton, Chandrika Munasinghe, Kelly Beneforti, David McMicken, Venaska Cheliah, Bryn Wackett and Madeleine Brown. Design: Tim Newth. Music: James Mangohig. Lighting Designer: Chris Kluge. Performers: Chandrika Munasinghe, Eranda Munasinghe, Putu Desak Warti, Max Stretton, Ashifa Putri Noor, Kelly Beneforti, Noor Rahmawati and Suryani Sumendra, Hong Doan, Inoka Nanayakkara, Nimeshi Fernando, Nishadya Kapuduwa, Savindie Gunawardhana, Shehana Munasinghe, Venaska Cheliah, Anthony Burridge, Ary Brown, Bryn Wackett, Darryl Butler, Ellen Hankin, Jenelle Saunders, Louise Truan, Robyn Higgins, Thevi Cheliah, Alicia Smith, Anokai Susi, Cassandra Wallace, Clarice Campos, Grace Halliwell, Jess Green, Jessica Rabelo Amaral, Kristy Renfrey, Kylie Innes, Madeleine Brown, Perrine Orlandini, Saranya Rajkumar, Ciella Williams and Will Crawford. Darwin Festival 2018. Holtze Lawn, George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. 13–19 August, 2018.

Last year while I was visiting Darwin, I was invited along to the Tracks Dance Company’s 2017 Darwin Festival show, Man Made. A dear friend’s grandson was one of the performers, and it would not have been advisable to say, ‘No thanks, I am not particularly interested’ to either this extraordinarily talented young performer, or his divine and devoted Nan.

RUR 2020

Adapted from R.U.R. by Karel Capek; written by Rohan Byrne. Produced by PlayReactive, and hosted live in the lab at BioFab3D at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne as part of National Science Week 2018. August 9 – 19 2018, with post-show forums on Thursday 9 & 16.

It is National Science Week and to celebrate, a collaborative fusion of arts and science BioFab3D and Play Reactive, have created and developed RUR 2020. It is an innovative and fascinating dystopian tale written by Rohan Byrne, adapted from Karel Capek’s science fiction play RUR (1920).

Dial M for Murder

By Frederick Knoff. 1812 Theatre, Ferntree Gully. July 26 – August 18, 2018

Dial M for Murder, written by Frederick Knoff and bought to mainstream populace by Alfred Hitchcock, is a tale of a spiteful and vindictive husband seeking revenge on his cheating wife.

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