Reviews

Surprise Party with Jem and Dead Max

By Georgia Symons. La Mama Courthouse, Carlton (VIC). 16-27 August 2017

Here’s a show that kicks off with balloons, party poppers and a big sign saying ‘Happy 21st Birthday’.  Jem (Anna Kennedy) is giving a surprise party for Max (Christian Taylor) and the audience is included as guests.  When Max arrives, we all shout ‘Happy Birthday, Max!’  And he’s surprised to see us.  But he is thrilled that Jem is throwing him a party.  What is a little unusual about this is that Max is dead, killed in a motorcycle ‘accident, (so that he has some token streaks of blood on his face).  That&r

Dracula

Adapted by Nelle Lee & Nick Skubij. Based on the novel by Bram Stoker. Director: Michael Futcher. Shake & Stir. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. 17 August – 2 September, 2017 2017

Bodies, blood and chills haunt Shake and Stir’s creepy melodramatic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic-horror novel. In recent years we’ve not been short of vampires on the small or big screen; Twilight, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries and Buffy, but Stoker’s original is the gold-standard and Nelle Lee and Nick Skubij keep closely to it in their lean storytelling.

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris

Miranda Musical Society. Parramatta Riverside Theatres, August 10 to 13, 2017 and Mittagong Playhouse, August 17 – 19.

… Or to be more precise, alive in Parramatta and Mittagong, thanks to Miranda Musical Society’s very professionally performed production. Deftly and economically directed by Geraldine Turner, the performers invoke the wide span of themes and emotions Brel managed to write about in his relatively short life – he died in 1978 at the age of 49.

The Last of the Summer Wine

By Roy Clarke. 1812 Theatre. Director: Pip Le Blond. 3rd August to 26th August, 2017

The 1812 Theatre tackle another television to stage adaptation in their season this year – this time it is the Australian premiere of timeless UK sit-com Last of the Summer Wine, where we see Foggy, Clegg and Compo being reunited for one last riotous and farcical adventure.

From 1983 to 2010, the TV sit-com written by Roy Clarke was set and filmed in and around Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, England, and centered on a trio of old men and their youthful misadventures;

Holding the Man

By Tommy Murphy, based on Timothy Conigrave’s memoir. Lane Cove Theatre Company. Director: Kathryn Thomas. The Performance Space @ St Aidan's, Longueville. August 11 – 25, 2017.

In a week where marriage equality dominated the national news, the vandalizing and removal of posters for Lane Cove Theatre Company’s production also made the news in the lead up to opening night.

The sensitive, real-life rites-of-passage story of two young gay men, from teenagers in a Catholic Boys School in the 1970s through the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic and young lives cut short, is based on central character Timothy Conigrave’s own memoir.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

By Edward Albee. National Theatre Live. Nova Cinema, Carlton and participating cinemas nationwide. Opening Saturday 19 August 2017.

This National Theatre Live revival (if that’s the word) of Edward Albee’s famous 1962 play features a stellar cast: Imelda Staunton as Martha, Conleth Hill as George, Imogen Poots as Honey and Luke Treadaway as Nick.  Any production of this play, however, can’t help but aspire to escape the memory of the 1966 movie adaptation (by Ernest Lehman) for which director Mike Nichols had the inspired idea of casting Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.  Comparisons may be odious, but in this case, they are rather inevitable.

Pink Floyd’s - The Wall

Music & Lyrics: Roger Waters. Pannic Productions. Director: Andrew ‘Panda’ Haden. Musical Directors: Jason Zadkovich, Grace Cockburn, Kym Brown. Choreographers: Mike Lapot, Melissa Budd, Drew de Kinderen. Redcliffe Cultural Centre, 11-13 August 2017

Top of the range audio visuals and superb musical backing were the stars of Pannic Productions’ version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. In fact they were so good I could have gladly sat in the theatre and just watched them and listened to the music. With three LED screens at the rear of the stage with forever changing images and a multitude of coloured lights, the iconic rock album was brought vividly to life.

After the Dance

By Terrence Rattigan. New Theatre, Newtown (NSW). August 9 – September 9, 2017

After the Dance is perhaps the least well known of Terence Rattigan’s plays. Set in the years between the Wars, the play censures the wealthy “bright young things” who flout the foreboding signs of unrest in Europe in favour of drinking and partying. The criticism is gentle, exposing the fears and flaws that hide beneath the brittle personas that the characters assume.

The Uninvited

By Tim Kelly. Tugun Theatre Co, Tugun, Gold Coast. Director: Rianna Hartley-Smith. August 10th – 26th, 2017

First-time director Rianna Hartley-Smith has assembled a talented cast including Nicola Barrett, David Fraser, Peta Simeon, Nathan Schulz, Margaret Radcliffe and Cecile Campbell for this ten-hander thriller, which is full of mystery and intrigue, with strong performances from all involved.  

Set in western England in the 1960’s, the story revolves around an old cliff-top house that has been uninhabited for a number of years and has been the focus of various stories over that time.

The White House Murder Case

Written by Jules Feiffer. Directed by Eddy Knight. Red Phoenix Theatre. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres, Hindmarsh. 10-19 Aug, 2017.

Red Phoenix’s latest Adelaide premiere is a darkly funny, divertingly offbeat, bracingly relevant vision of politics and the military, conceived at the height of the Vietnam War but set roughly at our current point in time. This unusual aspect helps make the play a shrewd selection for staging in 2017 - and with generally excellent performances from an outstanding ensemble, The White House Murder Case should prove a rewarding experience for all audiences.

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