Reviews

Nella

By Julia Mayer. Adelaide Fringe: World Premiere. Tirkanthi at Payinthi, Prospect Library. 24 Feb - 7 March, 2021

Presented and written by Julia Mayer, Nella is a ‘pastranomic delight.’ This 60 minute debut show from actor and comedienne Mayer is a deeply personal story about migration, and the building of generations, family stories and traditions. It is the true story of Mayer’s Nona’s life, a woman who at 19 left her small northern Italian village, eventually becoming a lauded chef at the Norwood Hotel.

The Pulse

Presented by Gravity and Other Myths and Aurora. Adelaide Festival 2021. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide. Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2021

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.

That Boy

By Martha Lott. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2021. Holden Street Theatres. Feb 16 – Mar 21, 2021

A room that looks like a tornado has passed through – clearly the space of a young boy. Tom is eight years old, cheeky, and out of control - a ‘cross between the Energiser bunny and Tasmanian Devil’ says his mother, Sarah, whilst tidying his room to look for ‘Monkey’, Tom’s favourite toy and sidekick.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare, adapted for opera by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. Adelaide Festival 2021. The Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. Feb 26 - Mar 3, 2021

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is literally a masterpiece!

Robin Hood - Pantomime

By Tracy Rogers. Directed by Guy Jackson. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount, WA. Feb 26 – Mar 20, 2021

It is somewhat of a recurring theme at the moment, but Robin Hood is another show that had a particularly challenging rehearsal period. In addition to the lockdown in the final part of the rehearsal period, Robin Hood lost both its leading man and its villain just a few weeks out, the leading lady was in intensive care just a week before the production and they lost the permission to perform one of their biggest numbers on the day of the first show. None of this is apparent in this fun, well-presented production.

Life Without Me

By Daniel Keene. Cairns Little Theatre. The Rondo Theatre. Feb 26 – Mar 6, 2021

Live theatre is back at The Rondo with Cairns Little Theatre’s production of Life Without Me by Daniel Keene. This is a strange, absurd, but fascinating play, set in a rundown, two star hotel in an unnamed city.  The characters that arrive at the hotel all seem to have problems, problems that the hotel only seems to exacerbate.

Running the establishment is Nigel, superbly played by Wayne Hogan. You are not sure if Nigel is a blithering idiot, a serial killer or just lonely.  

Runt

By Patricia Cornelius. Presented and co-created by Dee & Cornelius & Wilks. Directed by Susie Dee. fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 24 February – 7 March 2021.

This is an impeccable production with a clear and cohesive approach across a variety of elements in the play. Runt has a lyrical and poetic style that is also infused with confronting everyday language. This makes the text hard-hitting and compelling. The play is a combination of musing, laments, hard truths and uncomfortable accounts of what it is like to eke out an existence from the margins of society.

We’re Probably Really Really Happy Right Now

By Ellen Grimshaw. Theatre Works, St Kilda. Feb 24 – Mar 6, 2021

We’re Probably Really Really Happy Right Now, a quirky new upbeat theatrical performance written by VCA Master of Writing for Performance graduate Ellen Grimshaw, and directed by Sarah Vickery, opens the 2021 Theatre Works season.

The Boy Who Talked to Dogs

From the book by Martin McKenna, and adapted by Amy Conroy. Slingsby and State Theatre Company SA. Adelaide Festival. Thomas Edmonds Opera Studio. Feb 25 – Mar 14, 2021

‘What’s wrong with you?’ screams almost everyone in Marty’s life, but there’s little wrong with this wonderful piece of theatre from South Australia’s Slingsby and State Theatre Company.

I Made an Adult

Conceived and performed by Tracy Crisp. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2021, Main Stage at Bakehouse, Feb 22 – Mar 6, 2021

It is midnight. Well doesn’t every Mum only have that time available to make a cake? Not just any cake, however; this is the final Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake, lovingly made by Tracy Crisp for her youngest son’s 18th birthday. As she stirs, she turns the pages of her memories back to the start of her journey as a mother. The fourth in a quartet of plays, this 50 minute gem is a warm, loving and beautifully drawn story.

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