Reviews

The Book of Mormon

Book, Music and Lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Jones Theatrical Group. Capitol Theatre Sydney. Opening Night - July 24, 2025

With their elbows pointed sharply up, the crisp young new group of Mormons carved up the stage of the Capitol Theatre making  the musical  feel fresh and just as shocking as we first remembered it.

The tuneful ding-dong sound of the doorbells of the opening song “Hello” is soothing,  as the recruits innocently rehearse for their missionary positions (double entrende intended) with precision and camp sensibility.

Kill Me Now

Three River Theatre presents a trio of one-act comedies, consisting of “The New Mrs Jones” - Directed by Jesse Apted, “The Actor’s Nightmare” - Directed by Ryan Politis and “Death of the Doorstep Kiss” - Directed by Ashley Eyles. Earl Arts Centre, Launceston, Tasmania. 23-26 July, 2025.

Three River Theatre’s spontaneous decision a few months ago to stage a mini one act play fest was very much a Plan B situation, but once the theme was decided upon (that being Death) it was very much full steam ahead bundling this eclectic collection of plays together in record time. While there was a theme, the content, style and structure of the plays maintained very clear separateness. 

Julius Caesar

By William Shakespeare. Directed by Caitlin Baker. Presented by Chaika Theatre. ACT Hub at Causeway Hall. 23 July – 2 August 2025

In this quite brilliant reinterpretation, Chaika Theatre’s production completely reframes the morality of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, highlighting how Shakespeare’s language and depiction of political motivation transcends his intention. Director Caitlin Baker uses potent modern symbols extremely sparingly, just enough to suggest a different interpretation but not so much as to completely overwhelm. By placing Caesar in Trump’s trademark blue suit and red tie, Baker suggests Caesar is in a position a little like Trump.

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare. Sport for Jove Theatre Co. Caloundra Events Centre, Qld. 22 July 2025

Re-envisioning Shakespeare for a youthful audience is hardly new. There’s 10 Things I Hate About You, a teen riff on The Taming of the Shrew; The Lion King, a Hamlet refresh; and Roman Polanski’s Macbeth, welcomed by newbies to the Bard’s early 17th Century prose. This production, aimed at 21st-Century offspring, is a bold interpretation.

Fewer Emergencies

By Martin Crimp. The Company. Old Fitz Theatre, Woolloomooloo, NSW. Jul 22 – Aug 3, 2025

A clue to Martin Crimp’s post-structuralist, no-action Absurdist play is that he finished Fewer Emergencies the day before the 9/11 attack in 2001. Crimp arguably shows how this huge fissure continued to shatter our world, our communities and our lives.

Staged by The Company at the Old Fitz, the play is really three separate but related playlets. Three nameless characters each tell a confronting story as the other two chip in with questions and suggestions, describing the reality they all watch in the middle distance … yet also seeming to create it.

Emerald City

By David Williamson. Director Mark Kilmurry. Ensemble Theatre, NSW. 23 July – 23 Aug, 2025

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose! The more things change …

Have we changed so little since 1987 that this play written 38 years ago still rings surprisingly true in so many ways?  So much so that young people in the audience relate to the characters and social comment and marvel at the playwright’s “foresight”!

Betrayal

By Harold Pinter. Sport For Jove. Old Fitz Theatre, Woolloomooloo NSW. July 18 – August 10, 2025

Harold Pinter’s renowned 1978 classic reveals the lies and infidelity swirling between a woman, her publisher husband, and his best friend, a literary agent.  Pinter famously tells the story backwards, beginning when the two now former lovers have a polite reunion and ending when the affair began a decade earlier. 

This rear vision makes the lies in both their marriages all the clearer - whether mistaking petty details or white fibs or the gross, fundamental lies.  We focus on these sliding truths, not any chronological melodrama.

The Visitors

By Jane Harrison. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 23–26 July 2025

Presented by QPAC, this Moogahlin Performing Arts and Sydney Theatre Company production of Jane Harrison’s award-winning The Visitors is a must-see piece of theatre. And it is the perfect choice to kick off QPAC’s annual Clancestry First Nations Festival as a piece that celebrates indigenous connection to country while raising deep questions about our past in a drama that overflows with humour and heart.

The Sleeping Beauty

Music by Tchaikovsky. Original choreography by Marius Petipa with production and additional choreography by David McAllister. The Australian Ballet. Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. July 22-29, 2025

The Australian Ballet have pulled out all the stops with their production of The Sleeping Beauty. The word I kept hearing at intervals was ‘exquisite’ and exquisite it was!

Last seen in Adelaide in 2018, it has not aged a day and looks as fresh as ever.

Heart Lines

Written and directed by Kerry Bowden. Melville Theatre, Booragoon, WA. Jul 11-26, 2025

Locally written play Heart Lines examines a spiritual yet intangible bond between a heart transplant recipient and his unknown donor. Well portrayed by a young cast, this 70-minute play holds our attention throughout.

The play alternates between Noah, who is making a video message for the family of his donor, and a student share house, occupied by his yet undisclosed donor, and their friends. We begin to see connections spiritual, connective and actual between two young people on two sides of Australia.

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