Reviews

Milk and Blood are two quite separate but thematically linked monologues.  Each has their characters – ‘Mummy’ in Milk, ‘Daddy’ in Blood – alone on stage for sixty to seventy minutes.  No other characters, no props.  Just empty space which, via movement as controlled as dance, and Harrie Hogan’s lighting becomes a home, a street, a garden, a prison…  But as this stripped bare mode incites our imagination, we are also held by developing narrative threads; incidents are not incidental, and

This is not a straightforward biography of Marilyn Monroe’s life, but rather a show based around documents and artefacts related to Marilyn. We see her starry show business moments, her interviews showing her quick wit and easy charm, and how others viewed her. In all, it is a wonderful evening to remember what a star the actress was, and how very human she was as well.

Testosterone filled new play All Boys, from every other theatre company, tells of ten boys attending an all-boys Catholic school in Sydney, between 2009 and 2014. Set during the time of the Royal Commission into Institutional Sexual Abuse, it looks at that issue as well as bullying, hyper-masculinity, generational and institutional privilege, and what boys will do when they believe that they are immune from consequences.

Reading Omar Musa’s bio will not prepare you for the transporting experience of his performance art piece The Offering. The only real clue is that the Queanbeyan local Musa seems to have a restless creativity, inspiring him to create poetry, novels, four hip-hop albums and latterly woodcut prints. The Offering is hard to fit to any one genre, which is equally the contribution of his partner on stage and new wife, avant garde virtuoso cellist and composer Mariel Roberts Musa.