Reviews

Bigger & Blacker

Written and Performed by Steven Oliver. Directed by Isaac Drandic. A La Boite and W Lance Reynolds Production. Roundhouse Theatre, 8 – 27 March, 2021

Steven Oliver is a born showman. The hometown crowd at La Boite theatre couldn’t have been more excited on opening night to welcome him back at the Roundhouse Theatre. Everyone was itching to see him sing some songs, tell some stories and shake his bum.

Outdated

Written and Directed by Mark Kilmurry. Ensemble Theatre. March 5 - April 17, 2021

The premise of Outdated is delicious. Two 40 something adults, damaged by being dumped by their long-time partners, get back in the saddle of dating by signing up to an introduction app.

The cosy Ensemble stage is groovily decked out by designer Simon Greer with an AV screen, that was lit up with texts and emojis providing a running commentary, on a set with a colour scheme that evoked an episode of the TV series Perfect Match.

Euromash

Johanna Allen. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2021. The Chamber at the Queens. Mar 11 – 14, 2021

The Eurovision song contest is traditionally held in May, however thanks to Johanna Allen we can have our own Eurovision at The Queens featuring Allen as all the contestants in Euromash.

S/WORDS and Unfolding

Choreographed by Lewis Major. Adelaide Festival 2021. The Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. Mar 11 – 14, 2021

The unbelievable tenacity of the Covid 19 pandemic has at least delivered an opportunity for The Adelaide Festival to grant some main stage time to South Australian artists which may not have been possible if international artists were able to travel here. 

Impermanence

Presented by the Sydney Dance Company and Australian String Quartet. Adelaide Festival 2021. Festival Theatre. Mar 10 – 11, 2021

Sometimes out of disaster something astonishing arises. So it is with Impermanence.

The Deep North

By Matt Hawkins with music by James Bannah Jr. South Australian Playwrights Theatre. Adelaide Fringe. The Lab @ Light Square. 10 - 21 March, 2021

‘Where are you going? / Where do you come from’ is the opening ensemble number of The Deep North – a new African-Australian musical currently playing at The Lab @ Light Square as part of this year’s Adelaide Fringe Festival. This opening number encapsulates what this wonderful ‘coming-of-age-musical’ is all about. Originally from Uganda, Jasmine Mutesa (Pontsha Nthupi) is a young girl living with her Uncle Ebby (Stephen Tongun) and brother Ben (Tumela Nthupi) in Port Augusta.

The Cherry Orchard

Adapted by Adriane Daff and Katherine Tonkin after Anton Chekhov. Black Swan / Perth Festival. Directed by Clare Watson. The Sunset Heritage Precinct, Dalkeith, WA. Feb 20- Mar 20, 2021

For every theatre student who has ever suffered through studying Anton Chekhov’s comic masterpiece The Cherry Orchard, finding it tedious and very unfunny, comes salvation in this local adaptation by Adriane Daff and Katherine Tonkin. Black Swan’s production for Perth Festival is set in South West WA, during the late 1980s, and this fresh and interesting adaptation finds the humour in its examination of humanity in the midst of a terrible situation.

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen

Adelaide Festival 2021. Adelaide Town Hall. Mar 9, 2021

Since seeing his performance as Oberon in A Midsummer’s Night Dream in the Adelaide Festival, I have been looking forward to hearing Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in concert.

Grief Lightning: A Satire in 78 Slides

Written and performed by Mary Angley, presented by Paper Mouth Theatre & Wickedly Good Productions. Adelaide Fringe 2021 at various venues (including Live at Home and Pre-recorded at Home). Feb 23 – Mar 21, 2021

Every now and again, a show tumbles out of Adelaide Fringe as the start of something much, much bigger. This is one of those shows.

Based on theories that the plot of the 1978 film Grease is really a coma fantasy, Mary Angley plays the role of a lecturer delivering her evidence to a room full of students in this sublime comic theatre. She commands the stage from the moment she pokes her head around a door.

The End is High-Concept

Presented by Cackling Jackal. Adelaide Fringe 2021. Ngunyawayiti Theatre at Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute. Mar 10 – 21, 2021

The setting is a spaceship, the crew and passengers are a disparate collection of lightly sketched characters, and the computer (with more than a nod to Red Dwarf’s Holly) undergoes a personality change following an update. Comedy is delivered through sketches, distinct narratives told as asides from the main story, with video projection helping to set the scene and give us alternative perspectives. Neither the humour nor visuals are particularly successful.

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