Reviews

Saint Joan

By George Bernard Shaw. Sydney Theatre Company. Roslyn Packer Theatre. June 5 – 30, 2018

Director Imara Savage (with young writer Emme Hoy) has boldly condensed George Bernard Shaw’s 1923 epic to half its length, and added a handful of evocative monologues giving greater voice to Joan herself.   

With pale Sarah Snook centre-stage, surrounded by eight male and black-robed judges, priests or princes,  this country girl is doomed from the start. 

The Modern Maori Quartet

Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Banquet Room Adelaide Festival Centre. June 9 – 11, 2018.

The Modern Maori Quartet met when they sang and played together at garage parties where they enjoyed it so much they decided to put on a suit and try their luck in other venues. I, like the rest of the audience am very glad they did.

They have an engaging and open approach with their audience and a tight musical sound. The quartet mixes Maori language songs with classic numbers and some great crooning numbers. 

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare. GRADS. Directed by Grant Malcolm. Dolphin Theatre, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA. June 6-9, 2018.

GRADS' very short run of “The Scottish Play” featured many of Perth's foremost "Shakespearian" actors, and a thoughtful academic direction from Shakespeare aficionado Grant Malcolm. 

The Mathematics of Longing

Written by Suzie Miller. Co-created by Todd MacDonald, Suzie Miller, Ngoc Phan, Kate Harman, Gavin Webber and Merlynn Tong. Presented by La Boite, The Farm and The Uncertainty Principle. La Boite Roundhouse Theatre, 02 – 23 June, 2018

The Mathematics of Longingis a profoundly beautiful, meaningful experience. It seamlessly combines art, science, mathematics, drama, physics, music and dance. The result is a unique theatrical experience. The show’s text intertwined with physical theatre, explores the biggest of the big issues to the point where one feels smarter from having sat in observation in the darkened Roundhouse Theatre.

Fury

By Joanna Murray-Smith. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. Red Stitch, St Kilda East. 29 May – 1 July 2018

Two private school boys, Joe (Sean Rees-Wemyss) and his mate Ethan (whom we never see), deface and vandalise a mosque.  Joe’s happy but complacent parents, medical research scientist Alice (Danielle Carter) and stalled novelist Patrick (Joe Petruzzi) are horrified – but more by the completely unexpected vandalism and graffiti than by the beliefs behind them.  At least it seems that way since this shaming disruption comes at a bad time: Alice is about to receive an award for her research, the result of years of work and struggle and Joe’s actions won’t refle

Me, Myself and Everyone Else - Christina Bianco

Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Banquet Room Adelaide Festival Centre. June 8 - 10, 2018

Christina Bianco is a four foot eleven inch dynamo. Obviously excited to be making her debut at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, she swept a full house along on an A to Zee journey of divas.

From Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich, Billie Holliday and Judy Garland to Lisa Minelli and Julie Andrews, she used her love of these highly individual performers to produce a wonderful evening’s entertainment.

Glorious Misfits

Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. June 9 – 11, 2018

Set in the multipurpose Space Theatre, Glorious Misfits is visually stunning, in your face, funny and entertaining all at once!

Artistic Director Ali McGregor has gathered seven of her favourite performers from the circus, burlesque and cabaret and formed a vaudeville show that has something for everyone.

The show is all around you, among the audience and on the stage, all set under a glittering mirror ball and multi coloured lighting.

 

South Pacific

Music: Richard Rodgers. Book & Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein 2nd. Queensland Musical Theatre Production. Director: Deian Ping. Musical Director: Gerry Crooks. Choregrapher: Ruth Gabriel. Schonell Theatre, St Lucia, Qld. 6-10 June 2018

Musicals from Broadway’s “Golden Age” were written for a different era and a different set of cultural and societal differences. Mostly their portrayal and treatment of characters, by today’s standards, can seem outmoded and outdated. South Pacific is no exception. Revolutionary at the time for it’s depiction of racism, to a contemporary audience it seems heavy-handed, yet it’s the racism spine (and exceptional score) that gives South Pacific its strength and longevity on stage.

The Merry Widow

The Australian Ballet. State Theatre, Melbourne. June 7th – 16th, 2018

In 1975 The Merry Widow was the first full-length original ballet created for the Australian Ballet and has been much loved ever since. Devised by Sir Robert Helpmann, the ballet has a long and esteemed pedigree for the company and this production does not disappoint.  There is a whimsical nature to Widow (in spite of some thankfully outdated ideas about love and marriage) that leaves the audience feeling delighted and charmed as they leave the theatre.

Holiday Inn

Book by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge. Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Therry Dramatic Society. Arts Theatre, Adelaide. 7-16 June 2018,

Growing up as I did in a time before Internet and before Netflix and Youtube, the Sunday Matinee movie was often the entertainment highlight of my week. I can’t honestly remember whether the 1942 Universal Studios’ Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds, was one that I saw; I hope it was, but I can say that the adaptation staged by Therry Dramatic Society transported me, very happily, right back to that time.

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