Reviews

As with Tosca the previous week, this was a lavish production. The set comprised three house fronts, double-story, which swung around at the end of the overture to become the interior of Pasquale’s house. It was very impressive.

The second scene, usually set in Norina’s home, was set outside in a street café, which worked well, although I would have preferred Malatesta to move the table away from the others while he was having a private conversation with Norina.

It is always refreshing to see a contemporary adaptation of a classic: you get to see history in the making without getting bogged down in academia and there’s room for spontaneity, creativity and the flexibility to address a modern audience who are there to be entertained, not educated. Director Dave Sleswick could also see in Charles Mee’s adaptation of Euripides famous play a correlation between the story and the current state of Australia's political landscape and wanted, in this production, to include his own message.

Ballina Players final offering for the year, High Society, was well received by the capacity audience. This effervescent tale made popular by Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in the 1956 movie, filled the theatre with Cole Porter’s infectious score and had the partons humming along and tapping their feet right from the start.

Sometimes, when confronted with spectacular talent, those around them are held in such thrall that no-one is prepared to say “you just crossed the line from innovation to indulgence” – or from “excellence to excessiveness.” This seems to be the case with the amazing combination of Ash Flanders and Declan Greene (Sisters Grimm) – it appears no one has told them that the work loses its brilliance when it becomes schoolboy campery.