Reviews

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Lyrics: Tim Rice. Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber. Tim Lawson in association with Michael Harrison and The Really Useful Group. Director: Laurence Connor. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. Feb 16 to Apr 16, 2023.

What a perfect week to turn the Capitol rainbow! As WorldPride gathers momentum, so does the spectacular Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which is now taking residence in its Sydney home. The Harbour city is really enjoying some nostalgia this month, with three favourite musicals opening their doors.

Booze and the Bard: The Shakespearean Drinking Game

Adelaide Fringe, The Lost Dice. 18-26 February 2023

The Bard surely enjoyed an ale or two whilst writing his plays, so I’m positive he would have approved of getting drunk whilst performing one. In this case, it’s Twelfth Pint (I see what you did there), though next weekend, it’s Hamlet, Pints of Denmark (why not Gins of Denmark?).

Appraisal

By Tim Marriott – Adelaide Fringe, Kryztoff at the Goodwood Theatre. 16-26 February 2023

Office politics and corporate games are in full force in this one-act play from the award-winning writer, Tim Marriot. The senior manager Jo, played with a devious smile by Nicholas Collett, is going through the annual review process with Emily-Jo Davidson’s head of department Nicky. It’s a two-hander that needs only a straightforward set (desk, laptop, bottle of scotch in the bottom drawer) and two terrific actors to drive the story through its twists, turns and backtracks.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Based on the novel by Harper Lee. Adapted by Christopher Sergel. Wyong Drama Group. Directed by Vivienne McLaren. AD: Debbi Clarke. Red Tree Theatre, Tuggerah. 15 – 25 February, 2023

While WDG has gained a solid reputation for presenting a wide variety of productions in its 70+ years on the Central Coast, they have undoubtedly lead the way in mentoring eager young directors who have the passion to showcase more diverse, contemporary works.

Done to Death, by Jove

By Nic Collett. Adelaide Fringe 2023. Goodwood Theatre. February 17 -26, 2023

This English duo represent the unique opportunity that the Fringe offers to see ‘bite size’ performances by incredibly skilled and talented performers who create what is very loosely described as a murder mystery.

Gavin Robertson comes from a physical theatre background and has a theatre pedigree as an actor, writer, teacher and director and producer. Winner of international and national UK theatre awards for television and stage, he has also turned his hand to crafting youth theatre and directing Bollywood films.

Matador

Bass Fam Creative. Director Bass G Fam. Riverside Theatre Parramatta. 16 -26 Feb, 2023

Bass Fam created Matador to celebrate “a great love”. That he decided to do so through dance – and burlesque and circus – gave him great freedom to explore the physicality of love, as well its complexity, its darkness, volatility and destruction as well as the passion, intensity and nurturing.

CAMP

By Elias Jamieson Brown. Siren Theatre Co and Seymour Centre in association with Sydney WorldPride. 15 February – 4 March, 2023

CAMP is drawn from a book of the same name published last year about the gay and lesbian Campaign Against Moral Persecution. Back in the early 1970’s, it seemed an impossible dream.  The book and now this play remind us, and especially younger queers, that the fight for inclusion and human rights was not all fun and glitter.

The Resistance

By Kip Chapman. Australian Theatre for Young People, in co-production with the Auckland Theatre Company, at The Rebel Theatre, Sydney. Directed by Kip Chapman. 16 February – 11 March, 2023

After tramping around Walsh Bay for some time, I eventually found The Rebel Theatre up many stairs beyond the Bell Shakespeare headquarters. My reward was the most spectacular, up-close, wrap-around view of the Harbour Bridge it was possible to have: thank you.

Named in honour of ATYP alumni Rebel Wilson, the theatre, once attained, has a laid-back open stage, ideal for a show like this – lots of bits and pieces, lots of popping ideas, brilliant for making you feel part of the action. And the swanky first-night audience were certainly up for joining in.

Blessed Union

By Maeve Marsden. Directed by Hannah Goodwin. Belvoir St Theatre. 11 Feb – 11 March, 2023

In her director’s notes for Blessed Union, Hannah Goodwin observes thatrealism can be as mad, as absurd, as symbolic, as scalable and as strange as many of the heightened forms”. Playwright Maeve Marsden manages to incorporate aspects of all of that into this funny, moving, chaotic play about a “queer family” navigating the best possible way to stay together in the process of “falling apart”.

Romeo & Juliet

By William Shakespeare. Presented by the Australian Shakespeare Company. Directed by Glenn Elston. Southern Cross Lawn, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 10 February - 11 March 2023.

The story of Romeo & Juliet is refreshingly told in this production by going back to the fundamental elements of the play. The casting of the show is particularly well done. Romeo (Wolfgang Reed) and Juliet (Tiffany Wong) capture the youthful and exuberant nature of the characters perfectly. They are dreamy but not naive and they are passionate but not unthinking. Reed gives his Romeo a great deal of charm and Wong strikes a good balance between innocence and determination. The role of Nurse (Alison Whyte) is given incredible shape and importance.

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