Reviews

Extinction

By Hannie Rayson. Cairns Little Theatre. Directed by Cath Willacy. 2-10 July, 2021.

Tiger quolls are in danger of extinction and somebody has to save them. That’s the premise, but there is so much more to this very Australian play.

Set in Cape Otway in Victoria, Extinction explores issues such as should you take money from a coal mining company to fund the protection of a species that they are helping to make extinct? Should you indeed? But money talks and the temptation is too great for fund-starved academia to refuse.

SYSTEM_ERROR

By Chamber Made – co-creators & performers Tamara Saulwick & Alisdair Macindoe. Chamber Made, Arts House, North Melbourne. 7 – 11 July 2021

How to describe or characterise this stunning work?  Performance art?  Installation with human figures?  It holds the audience in rapt attention.  Two ‘performers’ – Tamara Saulwick and Alisdair Macindoe – in black, zippered jumpsuits, sit at either side of the deep playing space – the floor of which is a kind of huge circuit board.  Each ‘plays’ – or manipulates – a white light console and their uncoordinated movements, touches and strokes, create both sounds and geometric shapes on the huge cyclorama behind the

Magic Mike Live

Melbourne - Until 19 September 2021. Brisbane 23 November 2021 to 2 January 2022. Perth (dates TBC)

Be prepared for plenty of groin thrusting dance moves, jaw-dropping aerial routines and a whole lot of surprises at Magic Mike Live!

The Lighthouse

Arts Centre Melbourne presents an interactive light and sound wonderland by Patch Theatre. Artistic Director: Geoff Cobham. State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. 6 - 17 July, 2021.

This critically acclaimed production won the 2020 Ruby Award for Best Work or Event at the Adelaide Festival. The Lighthouse takes the audience on a journey through a series of rooms exploring the innovative use of light, sound, perspective and reflection. With its labyrinth of interconnected rooms on various levels culminating with performances on its main stage, the State Theatre, Melbourne is a great venue choice.

Still

By Jen Silverman. Heartstring Theatre and Stillbirth Foundation. At fortyfivedownstairs, Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 30 June – 11 July 2021

Do not expect naturalism.  In another remarkable flight of imagination, playwright Jen Silverman (Wink, The Moors) puts on stage not just a grieving mother but also her two days dead stillborn, the guilty mid-wife, and a bitter, misanthropic teenage dominatrix.  There is no natural cause and effect here – except for the characters’ emotions.  The story is ‘absurd’, but Ms Silverman’s purpose is to explore what is under or behind the natural, that is so often presented as ‘naturalism’ – and make us question it.&

The Governor’s Family

By Beatrix Christian. Canberra Repertory, directed by Tony Llewellyn-Jones. Canberra REP Theatre, 1–17 July 2021.

It’s 1897.  in Government House, The Governor of New South Wales, Howard Mountgarret (played with a good emotional range by Peter Holland) faces some difficulties as the Irish malcontents — spurred on, if he only knew it, by his brash headstrong cross-dressing socialist feminist daughter, Lara (Caitlin Baker) &m

The Regina Monologues

Written and directed by Sharmini Kumar. Presented by 24 Carrot Productions. Meat Market Stables, 2 Wreckyn Street, North Melbourne. 17 – 19 June, 2021.

This is a delightful concept with a fabulous range and choice of historical women. The vast array of characters included Mary Queen of Scots (Fiona Crombie), Alexandra of Bavaria (Liliana Braumberger), Sophia Duleep Singh (Jazba Singh), Isabella of Spain (Joana Costa), Eleanor of Aquitaine (Sonia Marcon), Matilda of England (Madalyn McCandless), Elizabeth of Austria (Emily Scerri), Hortense Bonaparte (Emma Jevons), Himiko (Seon Williams), Persephone (Avril Good), Virgin Mary (Delaram Ahmadi), Njinga (serious meerkat), and Catherine the Great (Danielle Robinson).

Are You Lonesome Tonight

Opera Queensland. 27 June, 2021. Brisbane Racing Club, Eagle Farm Raceway

Opera Queensland's regional tour of Are You Lonesome Tonight has been the largest and longest tour mounted by the organisation to celebrate its 40th birthday this year. The tour started on 4 May in Rockhampton and has covered more than 7000 kilometres and reached 30 regional and remote Queensland communities. Performance spaces included under the stars at Roma Saleyards, and iconic venues such as the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach and the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton.

Singing Swallows

By Romi Kupfer. Theatre Works (Vic). Jun 23 – Jul 4, 2021

Stories are created to entertain and are used to explain and illustrate abstract ideas or concepts in a way that makes them attainable. Singing Swallows, created and performed by Romi Kupfer, is a wonderful new storytelling theatrical experience about young Holocaust survivors; its aim is to prick ears and spark imagination not just for the young, but for everyone.

Alan Cumming is Not Acting His Age

Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Festival Theatre, June 26, 2021. Touring: Brisbane, June 30; Gold Coast, July 4; Perth, July 9; Melbourne, July 10.

Alan Cumming is not acting his age… and he is proud of it.

This year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival has been treated to the imagination and brilliance of Alan Cumming as Artistic Director. During the Festival we have seen glimpses of his creativity and daring through the choices he has made for the programme, and delightfully, his show Alan Cumming is Not Acting His Age was another chance to experience the eclectic talent that is this man.

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