Reviews

Performing in the Blue Room’s smallest and most intimate space for a very brief season, Bron Bateman’s autobiographical short play Love Like This Isn’t Harmless tells of a queer mother bringing up two sons, one who is gay, and the other who is trans mass.

The show features Bron, with her real-life family on a stage, where they are clearly packing a home for a move - a process that leads to reflection and reminiscing.

The Australian Shakespeare Company is always a highlight of the summer theatre season in Melbourne. Their expertise in staging outdoor production has proven to be a winning formula. This production of Twelfth Night aims to draw out the humour and gives each character a strong comical disposition. The tongue-in-cheek approach to the characterisations place emphasis on the flaws of the personas to generate much amusement. This makes the play extremely enjoyable, and the interactive approach of the performers ensures that the audience is totally hooked. 

Robert the Octopus is a tale of inter-species connection – even romance.  But it’s not like those moving clips on Facebook where, say, a full-grown lion embraces the humans who brought him up, or the goose that comes waddling at speed when the woman who brought her up from a gosling appears.  Yes, there is a hint of bestiality in Robert the Octopus, but this brilliantly performed and directed show is too funny to get icky.  Besides, it has more to say about humans than about octopi (a plural disputed by this octopus in the course of the show).

Australia in Photographs and Songs is a gentle nostalgic look at Australia through photographs, accompanied by original songs. It has just finished the first of three FringeWorld “seasons” with later performances at Rockingham and Victoria Park. It builds on previous seasons presented at FringeWorld in 2024 and 2025, and there was clearly a good number of returning audience members.