Reviews

Bubble Show for Adults Only

Created and performed by Iulia Benze and Kurt Murray. Presented by Bubble Laboratory as part of MELT Festival. The West End Electric, Brisbane. 22 October to 9 November 2025.

Bubble Show for Adults Only is an intoxicating mix of high-skill artistry, cheeky humour, and bubbly delight that transforms soap and water into an hour of pure, effervescent theatre magic. Blending elements of circus, cabaret, and performance art, this inventive production from Bubble Laboratory demonstrates that bubbles can be playful, captivating, and thoroughly grown-up.

The Full Monty

By Simon Beaufoy. Malanda Theatre Company. Director: Nicola Salisbury-Faulkner. November 13th-23rd, 2025

It is 1980s industrial Sheffield, England. The steelworks have closed and men are out of work. This bleak setting provides the backdrop to The Full Monty, a play that captures the times and behaviour of the people who lived through it all.

Though the original steelworks were hell on earth to work in, the men in the play are angry, frustrated and confused as to why they have lost their jobs. But desperate times call for desperate ideas and the one they come up with is to become male-strippers.

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

Book by Joe Tracz, music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki, adapted from the novel by Rick Riordan. Hanson Creative. BackDock Arts, Brisbane. 23 to 26 October 2025

This unexpected and highly entertaining adaptation of the novel by Rick Riordan is a fun addition to the Percy Jackson franchise. As a ‘fractured fairytale’ type take on the Greek myths, it’s smart and witty, with lots of high-energy songs, making it a fun show for the cast and crew, and for all the family to enjoy. The team at Hanson Creative (indie production company established by freelance creative, lighting designer and tech operator, Emma Hanson) celebrated several sold-out performances.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr.

Music: Alan Meken. Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. Book: Linda Woolverton. Presented by Encore Theatre Academy, Launceston. Director: James Parker. Musical Director: Andy Prideaux. Choreographer: Megan Martin. October 28-29, 2025.

Hot on the heels of Georgy Girl (and making great use of the shell of that set) comes the much-anticipated, inaugural production from Encore’s newly minted Performing Arts Academy for young people. Beauty and the Beast is the perfect way to get as many youngsters on stage as humanly possible.

Cinematic - The Oscars

Presented by Queensland Symphony Orchestra. QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane. 24&25 Oct 2025

A new instalment of movie music lit up the stage this week, continuing the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s eclectic 2025 season this time with veteran conductor/compere Benjamin Northey once again at the helm. Designed to be a crowd-pleasing concert of colour, flair, and nostalgia, with the orchestra dressed in a spectrum of vibrant attire under the atmospheric and ever-changing lighting design, the audience was soon whisked away on a cinematic journey through sci-fi, fantasy, musicals, and more.

Meg Washington: The GEM Tour

Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane, 25 October 2025

Meg Washington’s GEM Tour gig at QPAC’s Playhouse got off to a mellow start with a couple of transcendent looping instrumentals by her band’s guitarist. The laid-back atmosphere continued with the first couple of songs. Meg admitted she hadn’t played shows in her home town of Brisbane for quite some time, and seemed a bit tentative at first. However, it didn’t take long for the singer and her outstanding band to get warmed up.

Whitefella Yella Tree

Written by Dylan Van Den Berg. Co-directed by Declan Greene and Amy Sole. Presented by La Boite Theatre in association with Griffin Theatre Company. Roundhouse Theatre, 23 October - 8 November, 2025

Once in a blue moon, a play arrives that’s not afraid to end in heart-breaking tragedy. Whitefella Yella Tree drifts into the stage as tender as a new leaf, it blossoms into something beautiful, and not long after that, the world conspires to cut it down. Presented by La Boite Theatre in association with Griffin Theatre Company, this work is a gorgeously crafted story of young love, Country, and the cataclysm of colonialism that changes everything.

Who No Kno Go Kno

By Kudakwashe. Presented by Malthouse Theatre. Directed by Effie Nkrumah. Beckett Theatre, Malthouse. 113 Sturt Street Southbank, Melbourne. 20-25 October 2025.

In this play, teenager, Yung Sango (Tane Williams Accra), is forced to reckon with past wisdom in order to confront the issues of a troubling future. Uncle Banga (Alpha Kargbo) and Ariko (Masego Pitso) accompany him on this kaleidoscopic journey of discovery.

Romeo et Juliette

By Charles Gounod. Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. State Opera South Australia. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Grote St, Adelaide Oct 23 to Nov 1st, 2025

State Opera South Australia have outdone themselves with their latest production of Roméo and Juliette by Charles Gounod! The Adelaide season is the first stop for this collaboration with West Australian Opera and the Irish National Opera.

Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod was composed in the 19th century and premiered in 1867 in Paris. The opera is a French adaptation of William Shakespeare's iconic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, set to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré.

Radium Girls

By DW Gregory. Galleon Theatre Group, SA. 24 October- 1 November, 2021

Radium Girls, presented by Galleon Theatre Group, narrates the horrific events which unfolded at the U.S. Radium Factory in Orange, New Jersey in the 1920’s. These factories were established across the United States to produce watches and military dials painted with a radium-based paint to glow in the dark.

Young women, hired because of their dexterity and small hands, worked, not knowing that by licking the brushes repeatedly between their lips, they were condemning themselves to slow deterioration and death, by radium poisoning.

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