By Rob Reid. 5pound Repertory Theatre (Vic). Director: Petra Kalive. The Owl and the Pussycat, Richmond. Until Nov 23rd, 2013.
Quality always wins over quantity for me, and so this short (45 minutes) new play by Rob Reid, about the toppling of Kevin Rudd in 2010, is completely satisfying.
It’s a brave decision by Jason Cavanagh to run a repertory season, and to offer this quality is remarkable.
By David Williamson. HIT Productions. The Q, Queanbeyan. 19-23 November and touring Australia.
When Dad Married Fury reimagines the classic trope of the rich man and the gold digger, complete with adult children squabbling over estate. Here again, David Williamson is exploring ideologies and their effects on everyday lives through family drama.
By Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford and Lawrence D. Cohen. Seymour Centre, Cleveland St, Chippendale. November 13-30, 2013
At worst (or do I mean best) I could expect to walk away from the Seymour Centre with the highly collectable experience of finally seeing one of Broadway’s most notorious musical flops, Carrie – tantalizing for a musical theatre tragic.
Had Squabbalogic gone mad. Sydney’s most adventurous Indee Music Theatre company had taken on the Australian Premiere of the 1988 Broadway bomb based on the Stephen King novel / Brian de Palma movie, which gave its name to Ken Mandelbaum’s definitive book on flop musicals.
Book & Lyrics by Danny Ginges and Gregory Bonsignore. Music & Lyrics by Philip Foxman. Dreamingful Productions . NIDA Parade Theatre, Sydney. Director: Damien Gray. 16-30 November 2013.
Ka-boom! American director Damien Gray’s theatrical depiction of the 1945 dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima is truly amazing. Its visceral charge alone makes seeking out this engrossing new adult musical worthwhile — the lighting surges confront; the explosive noises reverberate in your ears; the on-stage action slows to a horrendous, mimed devastation.
By Ken Ludwig. Directed by Joe Tuppenny. The Basin Theatre Company. The Basin (Dandenong Ranges) Playing until Nov. 30th, 2013
Under the deft comic skills of director Joe Tuppenny, an excellent cast brings great vitality to Ken Ludwig’s Tony award winning play. It’s a terrific farce and director Tuppeny adds lots of clever business to the premise of an introverted opera admin assistant having to go on and perform for a drunken, drugged and presumed dead famous tenor. Add to that high energy levels from everyone, and the audience was guaranteed great entertainment.
By Alan Ayckbourn. St Jude’s Players. St Jude’s Hall, Brighton. November 14-23, 2013.
Alan Ayckbourn’s plays are known for juxtaposing human failings and strengths against each other and his hysterically funny and intricate play, A Chorus of Disapproval, has plenty of both.
This is a difficult play that requires space to perform, but St Jude’s Players’ production is handled brilliantly on a small stage by director Kym Clayton.
By Michael Pertwee. Gold Coast Little Theatre. Director: Dorothy Henderson. November 16 – December 7, 2014.
Dorothy Henderson’s production had the potential to be a very funny play but it didn’t quite hit the mark. The key to a good farce is timing and I found that this was a little slack. All the elements were there and will probably fall into line in a couple of performances.
The awkwardness of being caught in a compromising situation and trying to talk one’s way out of the mess should be hilarious.
By Samuel Beckett. Sydney Theatre Company. Sydney Theatre. Nov 12 – Dec 21, 2013
Inherently Samuel Beckett’s classic piece comes with a lot of baggage loaded with mixed messages and high expectations in an absurdist style and context. Or to use a famous Churchill quote, “It’s a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. Regardless in theatrical terms it’s a tall order to pull off.
By Neil LaBute. Winterfall at The Theatre Husk. Director: Denis Moore. November 2 – 23, 2013
She drinks red wine, he drinks Heineken. She’s smart, he’s “stupid”. She’s a college dean, he’s a carpenter. She has few morals, he won’t shut up about them.
They’re Betty and Bobby, sister and brother in this play for two actors imported from the US and playing an encore season at Northcote’s Winterfall Theatre in Melbourne.
By Moreland Cary. Blackwood Players. Blackwood Memorial Hall. November 15-30, 2013.
Passion; greed; goodness; villainy- the basic elements of melodrama are all present in Blackwood Players’ entertaining production of Moreland Cary’s Love Rides the Rails.
Director Erik Strauts has changed the play’s setting somewhat in that the railroad at the heart of the story is the Blackwood, Belair and Bridgewater Railroad.
