Reviews

Not far from here there’s a lake, long etched into white mythology for its ability to variously flood or completely vanish, which makes it a rich setting for acclaimed author Nigel Featherstone’s new play The Story of the Oars. Stopping by the lake and beguiled by its beauty, a young photography enthusiast notices his father become oddly irritable and twitchy. Meanwhile two women, old friends, realise over glasses of wine that the day is the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of three teenaged boys.

Brisbane’s Undercover Artist Festival – part of the wider Brisbane Festival – shows what an inclusive creative community looks like. The opening night audience for Wired Differently was packed with enthusiastic and vocal supporters. It was a great atmosphere as Brisbane’s inclusive performing arts school, Screech Arts, combined with physical theatre specialists, Zen Zen Zo to use the stage to tell the stories of eight performers who identify as neurodivergent or living with a disability.

Two of the Russian greats were on display last night with Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici at the helm again, the concert including a performance of Prokofiev's third piano concerto with guest soloist Ukrainian born Australian Alexander Gavrylyuk at the piano along with a remarkable addition of a collage-like art movie entitled Oh To Believe in Another World designed by South African artist William Kentridge to accompany the main event, Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony.

Prolific comic playwright Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor, first performed 40 years ago, stands as timeless testament to the slings and arrows of showbiz, singling out in particular the heartstopping emotional effects that performers and audience can suffer under opera.  The play, set before, during, and after the opening performance of a grand opera, opens with impresario Henry Saunders (Michael Sparks) worrying his assistant, Max (John Whinfield), over the lateness for rehearsal of the production’s star, “Il Stupendo”: Italian tenor Tito Merelli (Willy &