Reviews

It’s refreshing to be able to attend the theatre amidst a global pandemic, even more so to be able to attend a relatively new Australian musical, showcasing the talents of some of our country's most gifted rising stars.

Beside is the first Perth Festival commission for WA Youth Theatre in the company’s 40-year history. A site-specific production, it asks audiences to consider what it means to be beside a “river of change”, which runs beside one of WA’s oldest farm-houses, on land that has “an unbroken 65,000 year cultural history”. One of the first Perth Festival productions to sell out, this is a dynamic and fascinating work that intrigues and leaves you thinking.

A year after it was called off at the eleventh hour due to the pandemic, this spectacular concert edition of the musical burst onto the stage of Newcastle’s beautiful Civic Theatre.

A large chorus of singers were located at the back of the stage, the orchestra was front and centre, whilst the actors weaved in and out of the players, sometimes on a raised platform, at other times in front of them.

Giant flags of the Soviet Union and United States were unfurled when appropriate, and impressive AV, featuring images and chess graphics adorned either side of the stage.

A bare stage is illuminated by stark white lights that point directly down through the haze. First a few people, dressed in shades of grey, walk quickly in straight lines, turning sharply, never once touching another. Then the stage is filled with grey men and women, moving around one another to the background of rising voices – choral and chatter.