By Jean Cocteau. La Boite Indie & Motherboard Productions. Roundhouse Theatre, Brisbane. 27 June – 14 July, 2012.
This play is a challenge that will appeal to theatregoers who prefer ‘intellectually stimulating theatre’ to ‘a show where you relax and be entertained.’
Cocteau’s 1930s original was concerned with the telephone, a new invention, which presented a convenient barrier between people in seriously personal situations who normally would have to cope in face-to-face and eye-to-eye resolutions. Eighty years later we have a whole raft of new technologies to help us twist out of such awkward relationships.
By Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Paul Schott. Opera Australia. Director: Bruce Beresford. Conducted by Christian Badea. June 30 – July 18, 2012.
This was a truly extraordinary and ground-breaking production for Opera Australia. Die tote Stadt is an intense and beautiful opera, yet almost one hundred years after its first performance this was the Australian premiere. The opera was composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold in his early twenties. He went on to win two Academy Awards for his film scores.
By Vanessa Bates. Griffin Theatre Company, SBW Stables Theatre, Darlinghurst (NSW) . Director: Shannon Murphy.Designer:Justin Nardella.Lighting Designer: Teegan Lee.Sound Designer: Steve Toulmin.20 June to 14 July 2012.
Let them eat cake
PORN.CAKE bakes away on stage for 85 minutes and unfolds as a bizarre, mysterious and somewhat messy blend of masturbation, procrastination and mastication. Cake features strongly throughout.
Steven Brinberg. Chapel off Chapel – Melbourne, June 28 – 30, 2012; Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, July 6.
I saw Barbra Streisand in Cabaret last night….no, not the film, that was Liza Minnelli. I mean cabaret…Barbra….really! You don’t believe me? I recognised the voice, the nails, the black dress, the slightly nasal Bronx intonation, the nuances, the beautiful head-notes; The expressions; the impeccable professionalism. It had to be Barbra….so how come they wanted $795 a ticket on her last tour?
By Dario Fo. Epicentre Theatre Company. Zenith Theatre, Chatswood. June 22 – 30, 2012.
True to Fo’s commedia style and didactic humour, this production is bright, fast and Funny. It mixes traditional and contemporary slapstick, adds live music, a song and some running gags, but still keeps the sting of Fo’s satirical message to the ordinary man.
By Arthur Miller. Belvoir Theatre, Sydney. Director: Simon Stone. 23 June – 19 August, 2012.
Colin Friels playing tragically deluded Willy Loman sounded so good the Belvoir season was extended to eight weeks well before opening night and tickets are being sold in record numbers. No worries, Friels is magnificent. Never off the broad and mainly empty stage, he suffers, squirms, regrets and rages throughout an ever deteriorating ‘dark night of the soul’ in a volcanic performance guaranteed to win the year’s Best Actor awards.
By David Hare. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: Mark Kilmurry. 21 June – 27 July, 2012.
David Hare’s brilliant Skylight gets a stirring up-close production at the Ensemble where the wrap-around audience must share an icy, cramped North London flat with Hare’s two unhappy lovers. In fact a gentleman in the front row has to move his feet every time schoolteacher Kyra (Katharine Cullen) or visiting restaurateur Tom (Sean Taylor) moves between grotty, fully working kitchenette and narrow sitting room.
Adapted from the book by Wendy Binks. A QPAC and Southern Cross Soloists Production for Out of the Box 2012. Director: Brendan Ross. Composer: Joseph Twist. Designer: Josh Mcintosh. Actor / Dancer: Stacey McCallum. Musicians: Southern Cross Soloists. Queensland Performing Arts Centre. 12 – 17 June 2012.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Out of the Box children’s festival for 3 to 8 year olds, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and Southern Cross Soloists commissioned a new work based on the best-selling children’s book Invisible Me by West Australian author Wendy Binks.
The stage adaptation ofInvisible Me is an absolutely charming and delightful piece of children’s theatre, that captures the imagination and attention of its intended audience through its music, movement and design.
By Mark O’Donnell & Thomas Meehan, Mark Shaiman and Scott Whittman. Harvest Rain Theatre Company. Playhouse, QPAC, Brisbane. 22-30 June, 2012
This is a big-hair, bold, sassy, rocking, writhing and kicking mother of a show.
With its huge talented cast, great sets, dazzling light and costume designs,
it starts at full throttle and races us through admirable fantasies: a 1960s community with people of all body sizes and different races that integrate amicably.
Written by a team of experienced and apprentice writers. 60th Diamond Jubilee Melbourne Gang Show. Besen Centre, Burwood (Vic). Director: Robert Motton. Musical Director: Russell Corr. Music Arrangements: Russell Corr, Benjamin Moody, Stephen Smith, Roger Montgomery. Lighting Designer: Mark Hopkins. Set Construction: Malcolm Chatto.
Well now, this is one impressive show. How good? Let’s just say it leaves any amateur show I’ve ever seen for dead. Period.
