Reviews

It’s more than 85 years since The Wizard of Oz burst onto our cinema screens and into our psyche. It is truly iconic and now a staple part of Community Theatre repertoire.

Sometimes the problem with an icon is that everyone expects to see a reproduction of the film, not possible on stage with any kind of budget. Fortunately, BLOC knows the show well, brings out a new production roughly every ten years, and chooses directors and casts with enough imagination to keep the show fresh whilst still paying homage to the original.

Promotional image above by Naz Mulla: Julia Johnson as Hazel, Amanda McErlean as Rose, and Terry Hansen as Rob.

In an intimate seaside cottage soaked in beige and tension, The Children begins with a striking image: a well-groomed businesswoman in a muted green and orange suit, standing awkwardly in a kitchen with a bleeding nose. Something feels off.

It’s nearly 20 years since Australian writers, John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow brought Dusty Springfield’s story to the stage in musical form. So, it’s definitely time to celebrate Dusty again! Dusty’s rise from shy catholic girl to star solo performer is fascinating, especially with the inclusion of her relationship with a soul singer who she meets on an early tour of America. The tour would influence her search for the ‘Dusty’ soul sound. But of course, tragically, the relationship had to be kept a secret.

This wonderful troupe from Peru’s Teatro La Plaza takes Shakespeare’s Hamlet and uses it as a framework for their own purposes.  They play with it, push at it, reinterpret its characters and its very meaning.  To do all that, they use every theatrical trick and mode – comedy, tragedy, clowning, dress-up type costumes, dance (choreography by Mirella Carbone), pop songs and rap songs, dramatic scenes, direct address to the audience and audience participation, lighting effects by Jesus Reyes – as well as images from Lucho Soldevilla projected on a hug