Reviews

Bittersweet is an efficient new company taking root in North Sydney’s historic, restored Independent Theatre with a mission to profile one act plays. There’s lots of available short plays apparently, given their popularity last century and their certain appeal today for those of us who can’t concentrate on long ones.

Dubbed Mayhem and Madness, these three playlets are all over in 90 minutes.

Mal and Mairead are a fifty something married couple returning for a wedding to the dreary Irish village of her childhood, the place now in much the same decline as her marriage. 

As a teenager with Adonis good looks, Johannes Brahms helped support his family by playing dance music in the dockside brothels of Hamburg.  He premiered his own Piano Concerto No.1 at the age of 26, still uncertain about his skill at orchestration.

Lead image - Photographer: Lesley Martin

This company’s performance raises the bar of acceptable performance to dizzying heights. The dramatic opening gave the hint that this show is special. The ten performers use their bodies to create bustling artistic forms backed up with simple staging and costumes, and music and lighting so integrated into the movement that it became a scaffold for the daring physical feats.