Reviews

Every time I see a Wyong Drama Group production I am always immediately struck by the attention to detail with the scenery.  When I walked in to see this play however, I noticed very quickly that there was clearly less decoration on the stage.  Apart from the fact that this play is mainly set in the backyard, the reason for the relatively pared back scenery soon becomes very apparent:  it simply isn’t necessary.  The quality of the performances in this dramatic production is so high that any superfluous decoration would only be a potential distraction. 

Carmen is an opera that provides highly recognisable music having infiltrated its way into popular culture and the popular psyche. The story is extremely colourful, highly dramatic and the music emphatically accentuates these aspects. This production is clearly inspired by the strong emotions the opera elicits, and the overall vision and design of this production is extremely willing to emphasise these aspects. No character or context is trivialised, and the contemporary setting reinforces the relevance of the bigoted and discriminatory gender dynamics that feature in the story.

The Adelaide Repertory Theatre have cleverly chosen a melodrama/music hall for their last offering for 2025, Adrift in New York.

Melodrama is a specific theatre performance style that unfortunately is not performed often enough. This could be because it has many conventions that need to be followed or the humour of the piece will not emerge. There are many who believe that performers only need to overact to perform melodrama, but this is far from the case.

WAAPA Second and Third Year Students present the World Premiere of Eddie Perfect’s musical Tivoli Lovely in a huge scale production at the Heath Ledger Theatre. Featuring a huge cast, WAAPA students from music, production and design departments were also involved to bring this exciting, well-performed and beautifully realised new musical to fruition.