Reviews

The 1997 set and costume design for this production is just as stunning as it must have been for its original audience. The decision by director Moffatt Oxenbould and graduating NIDA designers Peter England and Russell Cohen to call upon the traditions of Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku theatre sets the production firmly in Japan. And, it accentuates the exotic view that Westerners had of the orient at the turn of last century. It also enhances the authenticity of the ceremonies and rituals that Puccini ensured were worked into the libretto.

Patrick White wrote Signal Driver at the request of director Jim Sharman.

A short play (approximately 90 minutes – including a 20 minute interval); a married couple face life through three progressive periods of the journey through life which starts and ends with a transport shelter: at first – a tram stop and later, a bus stop. Their journey is shared with two ever present “beings” that regularly break into little ditties and dances to enhance the plot (contributed by Order of Australia recipient, Carl Vine).

Cougar Morrison is a theatrical cabaret by Strindberg Stages and is performed as part of the Fringeworld Festival.

Cougar is somewhat of an alter-ego of performer Clint Strindberg and this show is the story of Cougar's life interspersed with amazing singing and clever banter.  New Orleans born Cougar has studied and performed in France, New York and Australia. The songs are varied and wonderfully chosen and include some songs in French, as befits a Louisiana native.

Chekhov’s solo monologue, On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco, begins with an old man, a smoker, berated by his wife to give a free lecture on that subject.  Nioukhine instead wanders through tangents about his bullying wife, his petty jobs slaving at her music school and his, typically Chekhovian, yearning to escape. .

By adding Nioukhine’s three daughters onstage, as a singer, pianist and violinist, France’s Theatre des Bouffes du Nord transforms this tale into a theatrical and musical gem.