Reviews

Matriarchs

Devised and choreographed by Olivia Adams. Presented by Metro Arts and Blakdance. New Benner Theatre. 24 – 25 May, 2024

Metro Arts’ exhilarating new festival, DANCE24, made a memorable debut with the premiere of Matriarchs. This contemporary dance performance delved deeply into the experiences of Indigenous Australian women, shedding light on how the lives and struggles of the maternal ancestors have shaped their modern descendants. The piece was profoundly moving, often heartbreaking, yet fiercely powerful, uplifting, and aesthetically captivating.

Back Inn Business

By Tash Erbich. University Dramatic Society. Directed by Tash Erbich. The Centre for Performing Arts, All Saints College, Bull Creek, WA. May 23-25, 2024

Back Inn Business is a World Premiere musical presented by University Dramatic Society for a very short season in the beautiful Centre for Performing Arts at All Saints College. Back Inn Business features a large enthusiastic cast, a quirky storyline and solid production values/

Almost, Maine

By John Cariani. Castle Hill Players. Pavilion Theatre. 24 May to 15 June, 2024.

There’s something magical about the Northern Lights, and they certainly have breathed a little magic into the Castle Hill Players' latest production, Almost, Maine, written by John Cariani.

Here, love is the common theme, presented in 9 tiny pieces (or vignettes) stitched into an unexpectedly poignant night at the theatre. The romantic, dramatic comedy explores various facets of love through interconnected vignettes in the fictional Almost, a small town in Maine, USA. 

Merciless Gods

By Don Giovannoni, based on the novel Merciless Gods by Christos Tsiolkas. Cherry Bomb Theatre Company. The Motley Bauhaus, Elgin Street, Carlton. 23 – 31 May 2024

With a cast of just six, the Cherry Bomb Theatre Company takes on a text that is in itself confronting and difficult, but this cast between them also present twenty characters of varied ages, ethnicity, social class and sexual orientation.  Given the source material – the novel by Christos Tsiolkas – playwright/adapter Don Giovannoni has opted to utilise a number of dramatic forms.  There is no obvious narrative line that runs through the eight segments: some are standard naturalistic scenes, others heightened or poetic reality in vignette or tableau form, others again

The Guilty Feminist Podcast Live

Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. May 25, 2024

When I saw The Guilty Feminist podcast was going to do a live show at the Arts Centre I thought ‘that’s interesting, I’ll go’ since most of the time, I feel like a guilty feminist. I’ve never listened to the podcast because as a single mum, I have so many stresses and pressures in my brain I do not have the room to inject any podcasts. If I’m going to unwind, it has to be to something that completely transports me away from my work as a feminist poet, writer and performer.

Done to Death

By Fred Carmichael. Directed by Christine Ellis. Roxy Lane Theatre, Maylands WA. May 24 - Jun 9,

Done to Death is a whodunnit featuring a group of famous mystery writers collaborating on a whodunnit. Consciously theatrical and slightly campy, it is being presented by Roxy Lane Theatre.

Tosca

Composed by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa. Presented by Opera Australia in collaboration with Opera North. Directed by Edward Dick, Orchestra Victoria conducted by Garry Walker. Margaret Court Arena, Olympic Boulevard, Melbourne. 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, & 30 May 2024.

The remarkable transformation of MCA into a grand opera house truly exceeds expectations. This large-scale production successfully manages to create a quality intimate theatrical experience in this vast space. There is a surprising positioning of the orchestra on an elevated platform behind the singers on stage. This facilitates the magnificent acoustics and provides delightfully unusual glimpses of the orchestra.

The Odd Couple

By Neil Simon. John Frost for Crossroads Live. Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. 23 May - 23 June, 2024, then Theatre Royal, Sydney.

With its progress from stage play to movie and then a long running television series, the term ‘odd couple’ has passed into the language, and we all know what it means: a mismatched pair somehow living together.  In this iteration, the odd couple – divorcees Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar – one an incorrigible slob, the other a pernickety hypochondriac, are Shane Jacobson and Todd McKenny. 

Candide

Music by Leonard Bernstein. Book by Hugh Wheeler after Voltaire. Lyrics by Richard Wilbur with additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche, Lillian Hellmann, Dorothy Parker and Leonard Bernstein. Orchestrations by Leonard Bernstein and Hershy Kay; Musical Continuity and Additional Orchestrations by John Mauceri. State Theatre Company SA and State Opera SA. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide. 23-25 May, 2024.

Candide is a spectacularly crazy show and the audience on opening night lapped up every note, nuance and movement with gusto. Everyone was along for the ride - and what a ride! We travel from Westphalia to Lisbon at the time of the 1755 earthquake to the Spanish Inquisition to Montevideo to Eldorado, and finally Constantinople through a whimsical set of polka dots and fabulously flamboyant costumes!

Oklahoma!

By Rodgers and Hammerstein. The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of S.A. The Arts Theatre. May 23 - June 1, 2024

Respected, award-winning director, Richard Trevaskis is known for his flair and innovation in musical theatre. For this Gilbert and Sullivan (G&S) production of Oklahoma!, Trevaskis has unashamedly embraced the pared back 2015 Daniel Fish production style whilst making few changes to the 1943 script. What impact does this have? It casts Oklahoma! into a very different light from the feel-good euphoric musical that usually characterises this piece.

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