Reviews

Private Lives

By Noël Coward. Directed by Barry Park. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. April 14-29, 2023

Old Mill Theatre’s Private Lives is proving so popular with audiences that extra performances were added to the season even before opening night. The excitement is very much justified with a slick, well-acted and beautifully produced rendition of this classic British comedy.

Otto & Astrid’s Joint Solo Project

Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The Malthouse – Beckett Theatre. April 11 – 23, 2023

If punk was not a reputably recognised rock and roll sub-genre, and Otto and Astrid were not already declared ‘Die Rotten Punkte’ (The Red Dots), l would label them as ‘Les Enfant Terribles. They are here for the Melbourne Comedy Festival with their fabulous wacky new rock show.

Getting Out in Front of It

Written & performed by Nikki Britton. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Comedy Republic, Bourke Street or Melbourne Town Hall, Cloak Room. 14 – 23 April 2023

Nikki Britton jumps onto the stage with a few high kicks.  She’s all exuberant, high energy, a noisy, in-your-face middle-aged woman.  Perfectly happy with no kids.  She’s been held down and bottled up.  Now she bursts free, just so delighted to be back on stage, back in front of an audience after a two-year absence from Melbourne’s Comedy Festival. 

Catch 22

Choreographed by Amelia Sagrabb. The Blue Room Theatre, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. April 11 – 29, 2023.

Catch 22 is a new contemporary dance piece that explores climate change. Drawing on a variety of influences, including the art of M.C. Escher, the catch 22 of the title explores the artists’ dilemma about climate change – “art can’t exist if the earth dies, but perhaps there’s no point in the earth surviving if we can’t create art”.

Ms Beige Brown Goes Beyond

By Cathy Hunt. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, 210 Lonsdale St, Melbourne. 13 – 22 April 2023.

This play is somewhat rough around the edges but what it may lack in polish is compensated by the inventiveness in the staging and commitment to the performance. Beige Brown (Cathy Hunt) has a very endearing quality. She often breaks out into poetic soliloquies and creates many moments where the audience can dwell on her fascinating and clever musings. The rhyme and the rhythm of her poetry is very musical and makes for very pleasant interludes throughout the show.

360 ALLSTARS

Riverside Theatres Parramatta. 11 to 14 April, 2023

360 ALLSTARS kick it into high octane from the first moment and it doesn't stop spinning. Hailed as an urban circus, this experience is a fusion of art, music and things that spin including people, bikes, hoops, balls and lyrics. 

The Snow Queen

By Hans Christian Anderson, adapted for Ballet by Martin Sierra. Victorian State Ballet. The Concourse, Chatswood. April 14 – 18, 2023

It’s always a treat when the Victorian State Ballet brings one of its productions to Chatswood. It’s also wonderful that local ballet students are invited to audition for the young ‘corps’. In this production thirty-three lucky young dancers – some advanced, some intermediate and some junior – ‘made the cut’ to play the Princes and Princesses of the Snow Queen’s entourage.

Only An Orphan Girl

By Henning Nelms. Tea Tree Players Theatre, Surrey Downs, Adelaide, SA 12 April - 22 April 2023

Thank goodness for community theatre and all that it offers: membership, stage and backstage experience, camaraderie, upskilling, belonging.  There is great value in the relationships that exist between community, theatre, and identity, and our world can always do with more of it.  Plus the Tea Tree Players have been in the game since 1976 as well as in possession of a delightful and welcoming theatre space; they are truly a gem of an institution.

One Woman Show

Written and performed by Liz Kingsman. Presented by Damien Hewett. Directed by Adam Brace. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. 11-23 April 2023.

Traditionally a one woman show evokes shades of strident, confronting second wave feminists bemoaning the oppressive nature of patriarchy. Such shows seemed determined to inflict pain on the audience. This show could not be further away from this or any postfeminist stereotype that emerged with the likes of The Diary of Bridget Jones or Fleabag and yet it has a strong feminist message. Liz Kingsman dismantles all of these stereotypes with a deconstruction of theatrics and women characters who have traded on social and political disorientation.

Am I the Drama?

Written & performed by Andy Balloch. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Campari House, Hardware Lane. 10 – 23 April 2023

Andy Balloch succeeds at something at which others mostly fail.  First, he is charming, endearing and funny.  That certainly makes a difference.  But then, in his act, he combines so many unlikely elements that in other hands – or minds – would be a random, incoherent mess.  He makes it work.

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