Reviews

Oscar and Felix

By Neil Simon. The Adelaide Repertory Theatre. Arts Theatre. September 1-10th 2016

Why mess with perfection? Neil Simon wrote his smash hit, The Odd Couple in 1965. A story of flawed friendships, it became a huge hit on Broadway and later as a movie and television series. In 2002 Simon reworked his masterpiece to produce an updated version, Oscar and Felix.

Barefoot In The Park

By Neil Simon. Director: Mark Kilmurry. Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. From 31st August 2016.

Ensemble Theatre’s classy and tasteful production proves that Neil Simon’s 50 year-old comedy classic is just as relevant as ever. Sure, some parts of the script definitely reflect their late ’60’s time frame but what the show is really about hasn’t dated. Neil Simon’s one–liners and quips still zing and the Cast breath zesty life into these characters.

The Beast

By Eddie Perfect. Directed by Simon Phillips. The Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. August 25 – September 10, 2016

Eddie Perfect would be considered a major talent anywhere in the solar system. When The Beast burst onto the scene in 2013 at MTC, it took everyone by surprise. Carefully handled by Director Iain Sinclair, it was perhaps the best offering from MTC that year. Personally I believed we were witnessing the birth of a major new playwright in the style of Edward Albee. The play was flawed, but the potential was breath-taking.

The Wharf Revue: 2016 AD

By Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott. Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. August 31 – September 3, 2016.

That clever trio is “Back to Bite You” with a program that makes the most of a year that has, both locally and internationally, lent itself to ridicule and revue. And where better to set their snappy snipes than on the steps and columns of Ancient Rome – or Australia 2016 AD.

Grease

By Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Australian Performing Arts Network. Directed by Olivia Collier. Regal Theatre, Subiaco, WA. 26 Aug - Sep 4, 2016

The musical Grease at The Regal Theatre is a lavish, high energy production, produced by the Australian Performing Arts Network. It features professional stars alongside local, emerging artists and a supporting cast of young performers.

Guest artists Lynne McGranger (Miss Lynch), Carmelo Pizzino (Vince Fontaine) and John O’Hara (Teen Angel) add a great deal of pizazz to the show, with McGranger’s comedic teacher and O’Hara’s fabulous “Beauty School Drop Out” highlights of the show.

Around The World in 80 Days

Written by Toby Hulse (from the novel by Jules Verne). Directed by Terence O’Connell. Alex Theatre St Kilda. August 23 – September 4, 2016 – then National Tour.

There’s no doubt in my mind that once this production settles in, and the actors relax, this will become a much funnier show; as it stands, it’s a pleasant, if overly long, homage that doesn’t realise its full potential, and that’s a pity.

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

By Bertolt Brecht. Theatre Works, Acland Street, St Kilda (VIC). 25 August – 10 September 2016

The temptation – in the age of Trump – to update and make ‘accessible’ Brecht’s satiric parable about the rise of Hitler and the Nazis is well nigh irresistible – and this production gives in to it.  The play is not exactly Brecht’s best work, but it is continually revived: it has a black, cynical and chilling humour and its warning of incipient fascism is, sadly, ever topical.  Written in 1941 and intended for the American stage, Arturo Ui was not, in fact, performed until 1958 – and in Germany.  (Hence the famous warn

Kooza

Cirque du Soleil. Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, Sydney. Opening Night August 25, 2016; from November 24, Skygate Brisbane Airport; from January 20 2017, Flemington Racecourse; from April 13 2017, Belmont Park Racecourse, Burswood, WA.

Cirque du Soleil is never just a circus! It’s a bright, acrobatic entertainment cavalcade that balances thrills and laughter, daredevil and slapstick in an expertly choreographed and perfectly timed performance. The precision of the international cast of artists and dancers is always meticulous, the antics of the clowns just a little bit different, the costumes colourfully sparkling and the music pushes the hype of the big top even higher.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

By Christopher Hampton. Adapted from the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclox (1782). Director: Bruce Parr. Villanova Players. FT Barrell Auditorium, Yeronga SHS, Annerley (Qld). 26 Aug – 11 Sep 2016

Although it’s thirty-years old, Christopher Hampton’s much-praised adaptation of Choderlos de Laclox’s epistolary novel about salacious sex games in the salons of Parisian aristocracy in 1782 still has the power to connect with a modern audience. Revenge and seduction are the key themes of the piece in a plot that has the Marquise de Mertueil challenging her former lover, the Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the convent-reared, 15-year-old Cecile. He accepts, but his real conquest in the amour stakes is to bed the religiously devout Madame de Tourvel.

Freud’s Last Session

By Mark St. Germain. Directed Robert Jarman. Hamley Productions. Backspace, Theatre Royal, Hobart. 26 August – 3 September 2016

Mark St. Germain’s play  Freud’s Last Session is a speculative what-if – what would happen if Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, two of the greatest minds of last century, got together to discuss – everything?

Freud’s Last Session, the inaugural production by Hamley Productions, directed by veteran director/actor/writer Robert Jarman had an experienced cast and crew of well-matched actors: Chris Hamley (C.S. Lewis) and Michael Edgar (Freud).

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