Reviews

The Wolves

By Sarah DeLappe. Ad Astra, Brisbane. 15 February - 9 March 2024

Ad Astra scores another hit with Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves. Written between the 2015 and 2017 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments, The Wolves premiered off-Broadway in 2016. Its nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2017 captured the growing importance of women’s sports-related stories. US playwright, Sarah DeLappe, is now working for HBO on a comedy/drama starring Kate Winslet, The Regime. This is unsurprising, as The Wolves crackles with witty dialogue and star-giving moments for every character.

Forbidden

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2024. The Pink Flamingo Speigelclub, Festival Plaza Adelaide. Feb 16 to March 17, 2024

There are not enough stars to rate Forbidden, it is a superb show in every way!

Drawing its roots from German cabaret, Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergere, this production sets the scene even before the show begins – pink front row seating, pink lighting and the FOH staff dressed in pink. It is a pink paradise.

Bi-sexual Intellectuals

Adelaide Fringe. World Premiere. The Kingfisher: Gluttony. Feb 16 – 25, 2024

Millicent Saare is an ‘old hand’ at Fringe shows and, once again, turns her hand to a new 60-minute show by partnering with Jemma Allen, and Rosie Russell to present Fringe Foundation supported Bi-sexual Intellectuals. A word of caution: it is a 15+ rated show for a reason as the themes and language are very much for an over fifteen, and possibly under 60 audience. It is also a show for those who are proudly feminist and feminist supporters.

Ten Thousand Hours

Adelaide Fringe. The Peacock at Gluttony. Presented by Gravity & Other Myths. 16-25 February 2024

Gravity & Other Myths (GOM) are a South Australian arts company that has impressed the world with its acrobatic prowess since it formed in 2009. They have collaborated with choirs and orchestras for huge Festival performances, though I’ve always had a soft spot for their first Fringe hit, A Simple Space, which showcased staggering acrobatics in a bare, square arena.

An Attempt to Lose Time

Adelaide Fringe – The Warehouse Theatre, Unley. Presented by Miranda Prag. 18-25 February 2024

There’s a whole lot of copper pipe on the stage, deliberately shaped into frames, and adorned with rails, bicycle wheels, a handful of tin cans – and a gong. The show’s writer and performer, Miranda Prag is worried about time: at the start, it’s how little she has; and what she has, how it is filled; and why when it is filled with the spontaneous requirements of the day, it inevitably makes her late for her meeting.

Wonderfully Terrible Things

Cirque Songstress Productions. Ukiyo at Gluttony (Adelaide Fringe). Tue 20 Feb - Sun 25 Feb, 2024.

‘Cirque Songstress’ Christine Ibrahim is one hell of a vocalist.  Not content with simply writing and performing original songs, Ibrahim sings opera while exhibiting breathtaking aerial skills.  This mesmerising storyteller weaves elements of their intriguing life into a daring and highly addictive, dark, dangerous and entertaining physical cabaret.  Throughout, the audience are charmed (or possibly alarmed) by her prodigious Mistress of Ceremonies panache and mischievous but adroit audience interactions.

Sherlock Holmes: The Last Act

Adelaide Fringe – Studio 166 at Goodwood Theatre and Studios. Presented by Fringe Management LLC and Joanne Hartstone. 17 February – 17 March 2024

In 1916, the famous-but-now-retired detective resurfaces to attend the funeral of his friend, Watson, returning to Baker Street to resolve ‘the last act’.

Nigel Miles-Thomas is Sherlock, every English enunciation defining Holmes’ precision and emotionless deduction – until he admits he misses things; misses people; he misses his friend Watson! These cracks in his armour are small, yet significant, and Miles-Thomas has the nuance to show them without radically changing the established character.

Stunt Double

By The Farm (commissioned by Perth Festival). Studio Underground. 15-17 February, 2024.

The Farm are a Queensland-based collective of creatives, who performed their work, Ninth Wave, here in 2022.

They have a track record of combining humour with modern dance and multi-media (produced by Performing Lines) and started writing Stunt Double over a zoom session during lockdown a few years ago.

Garry Starr: Greece Lightning

Created and performed by Damien Warren-Smith. Produced by Laura Milke Garner (MILKE). The Q: Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. 16 February 2024

There’s not a lot that will throw the utterly brilliant, outrageous and hilarious burlesque performer Damien Warren-Smith off his game. His onstage personality has a kind of disarming innocence, cheekily crossing boundaries as though he didn’t realise they existed, and then basking in the embarrassed delight of the audience he’s dragged out of its comfort zone. That naughty toddler character might come across a little insecure, which contrasts with his physical comedy, which is strong, controlled and comfortable.

Beauty and the Beast

Music by Alan Menkin. Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. Book by Linda Woolverton. Disney Theatrical Group. Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). Opening Night: Saturday 17th February 2024.

In a triumphant Brisbane premiere at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, audiences are transported to a world of enchantment and wonder with Disney Theatrical Group's mesmerizing production of Beauty & the Beast. Directed and choreographed by Olivier Award nominee Matt West, this rendition of the beloved classic is a testament to the timeless magic of theatre.