Reviews

Cash on Delivery

By Michael Cooney. Director Ian Fletcher. Henry Lawson Theatre Company, Werrington, NSW. 21-29 November, 2025

Cash on Delivery is a typical British farce of its time. It’s fast, funny – and based on a scam that is not as improbable today as it might have been in 1996 when the play was first produced. Why? Its protagonist, Eric Swan, is a con artist who has been defrauding the government by claiming multiple welfare benefits for some years. Sound familiar?

But, as is right, the authorities are on to him! An investigator arrives – and as Eric tries to escape through a seemingly bottomless rabbit hole, chaos ensues.

Cowbois

By Charlie Josephine. Siren Theatre Co. Seymour Centre, Sydney. November 20 – December 13, 2025

Cowbois is a riotous show about women left alone in a sleepy Wild West town while their menfolk go off to find gold. Life turns very queer when a famous bandit, the handsome and ever-so charming trans, Jack Cannon (an enigmatic Jules Billington) arrives in town.

Touched by Jack’s stardust and spirited arms-high dancing, the women crave him, some turn to each other for satisfaction, others thrill to dressing as cowboys. An alcoholic sheriff is the only male left but soon he’s on the wagon and into silks.

The Mousetrap

Writer: Agatha Christie. Director: Sharon White. New Farm Nash Theatre. Playing November 21 - December 6, 2025.

The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest running professional play in England at over seventy years with a small COVID break. Here is a chance to see a good production in our own back yard. The play is set in a mansion house that the relatively new owners decided to rent on room-by-room basis. At the start there are five guests, unknown to each other and the owners but they seem relatively normal. Then how can you tell. When we learn that house is snowed in and there has been a recent murder in the relative region, the focus on the various characters intensified.

Happiness

By David Williamson. Sandgate Theatre, Brisbane. Directed by Catherine Radbourne. November 21st - December 6th, 2025

It is amazing that we seem to have so many problems in finding the happiness we believe we deserve - and in a relatively good society. That is the problem that Williamson focuses on in this play. David Williamson has been, perhaps, our best Australian playwright for many years and he still offers a challenge to both the audience and the cast. What a contrast this is to some of his earlier plays such as Don's Party or The Club.

Abigail’s Party

By Mike Leigh. Spotlight Theatre, Gold Coast. 21 November - 6 December, 2025

We’ve all been in social situations which slide out of control – but never one so enjoyable (and uncomfortable) to watch as this scathing, hilarious play.  Not that the show is about Abigail’s Party, which is being held noisily down the street from our scene. This is Beverly’s domain, a slice of 1970s suburbia over which she reigns like a queen, hosting her neighbours for drinks and nibbles. It’s the gathering from hell – but this damnation is burning with truth and laughter.

The True History of the Life and Death of King Lear and his Three Daughters

By William Shakespeare. Belvoir Street Theatre. November 15, 2025 – January 4, 2026

On a widely lit stage of bare pine boards and everyone in ordinary street wear, you need remarkable actors to grab our focus and somehow transport us elsewhere. 

Wild Swimming

By Marek Horn. IO Performance, Launceston. Directed by Zoe Vandervelde. Featuring Chris Jackson and Grace Roberts. 19 - 29 November, 2025

This was my first experience visiting the IO Performance space - an otherwise outwardly unassuming, but well-preserved 120-year-old heritage building in the Launceston CBD. In its first incarnation it was the location of the Tasmanian Woolgrowers agency. Immediately prior to the theatre taking residence, it was office space. Even so, the interior has also been well preserved, with great big ornate columns forming a rather perfect four-sided situation within which to create a partitioned theatre space.

Meow Meow's The Red Shoes: Dance We Will and Dance We Must

Created by Meow Meow. Presented by Malthouse Theatre, in association with Belvoir & Black Swan State Theatre Company, directed by Kate Champion. Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street Southbank, Melbourne.19 November - 6 December 2025.

In this brilliant show Meow Meow is accompanied by tenor Kanen Breen, and musicians Mark Jones, Dan Witton and Jethro Woodward. They not only provide exquisite musical support but also help set the sardonic tone of the show through their often-comical gesture and deadpan expressions. The Red Shoes is a kind of conceptual muse for this show and the satire pivots around the societal norms that fables often direct at children to inculcate the kinds of values and norms that essentially perpetuate an array of social injustice and discrimination, especially in relation to gender.

A Woman of No Importance

By Alan Bennett. Borderland Creatives Productions. Director: Lisa Gormley Music and technical: Fletcher Kamino. Lighting: George Snow. Back Studio, South Hobart. 21-23 November 2025

Last night I spent the evening with my Mum. Sorry, I mean, Peggy Schofield. Mum (I mean, Peggy) is very concerned with her place in the world; her work hierarchy, the dinner room dynamics, what people wear and whether they have a ‘standard body size’. Peggy avers that she gets on with everyone and is a font of information on all her acquaintance. She enjoys sharing convoluted stories and can provide a witty (although hackneyed) quip for every interaction. She never fails to raise a laugh. Never.

The Glass Menagerie

By Tennessee Williams. State Theatre Company South Australia (STCSA). Odeon Theatre, Norwood, Adelaide. 15 Nov – 7 Dec 2025

One approaches yet another production of The Glass Menagerie with the same cautious optimism one reserves for blind dates and “experimental” cocktails. Thus, it is a pleasure, an almost indecent relief, to report that the State Theatre Company of South Australia’s latest outing, under the direction of Shannon Rush, is not only admirable but often downright enchanting. For $60, one may sit in the Odeon Theatre and feel that this modern classic has, for the most part, been treated with the kindness and respect it deserves.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.