FAG/STAG, written and performed by Jeffrey Jay Fowler and Chris Isaacs & Minnie and Mona Play Dead, by Jeffrey Jay Fowler, directed by Kathryn Osborne, performed and devised by Gita Bezard and Arielle Gray. The Last Great Hunt / Melbourne Fringe. North Melbourne Town Hall. 18 Sept – 3 Oct, 2015
The theatre company The Last Great Hunt is a living and breathing example that men and women can just occupy an empty space and effectively create visually stunning and engaging theatre. However, the two plays are not only driven by Brook’s principle; in both these plays the simplicity and comradery of the two-hander is also employed to challenge conventional narrative structure and audience address. The experiment is largely successful and establishes itself as a fascinating creative development for these enormously talented theatre practitioners to investigate.
The Nerd Extravagant was like a breath of fresh air! What a talented group of teenagers!
Doublemask is a group of teenagers who create their own shows: select the topic, write, direct, cast and produce an idea and the end result is amazing.
By Adam Cass. La Mama Theatre – A part of Melbourne Fringe. September 16 – 27, 2015
The title Bock Kills her Father, with its suggestion of parricide, immediately had me thinking of The Cenci by Percy Shelly,a disturbing work about incest and murder that was lauded and directed by Antonin Artaud. I wondered if this aspect of Theatre History inspired writer Adam Cass or perhaps it is the more current sensational stories of the sexual abuse of students by teachers that has informed his intense and weighty piece.
By Jack Hibberd. Gold Coast Little Theatre, Southport. Director: Dorothy Henderson. Sept 19th – Oct 10th, 2015
Dimboola – the epitome of the Country Aussie Wedding - was a great hit when the play first burst forth in the early seventies in the form of Theatre Restaurant Entertainment: where the audience were the invited guests at the nuptials of ‘Reen’ and ‘Morrie’ and partook of the wedding breakfast along with the Bridal Party on stage.
Created & performed by Justine Campbell & Sarah Hamilton, with Matthew Lutton. Beckett Theatre, Malthouse, Melbourne 15 September – 4 October 2015.
They Saw A Thylacine tells two stories of Tasmanian tigers. One is in the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart – her story told via the eyewitness account of Alison Reid (Justine Campbell), the zookeeper’s daughter. Interwoven – or, more accurately, interspersed - with Alison’s tale is the account from an earlier time by a tough, no nonsense bush woman, Beatie or Beatrix (Sarah Hamilton), of her attempt to capture a solitary tiger so as to save and protect her.
By George Bernard Shaw. Sydney Theatre Company. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. September 14 – October 31, 2015.
In his program notes director Richard Cottrell uses extensive quotes from TS Eliot and Bertolt Brecht to affirm the talent and prescience of GB Shaw - but it is just two sentences from Brecht that sum up Cottrell’s production of this insightful satire on false heroism and vanity – “He (Shaw) furnishes the theatre with as much fun as it can take. And it can take a lot”.
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by George Furth. Directed by Kat Henry. Watch This Productions. 45 Downstairs. 17th September – 4th October, 2015
Sondheim’s writing is like an iced burnt cake. The bottom may be hard to swallow and bitter, but the icing on top is there for a reason, to make the cake palatable. Sondheim’s writing is so layered, so full of subtext and nuance that he deliberately uses the icing for a sweet mouthful, so that you won’t taste the bitterness lying just underneath until you’ve swallowed it. Company, the first concept musical, is the epitome of the iced layered cake. The sweet idealism on top…..the burnt bitterness of cynicism and failure underneath.
You should know this if you didn’t already: Anya Anastasia is a major, major talent. Simpering haughtily onstage (a tricky combination but she nailed it) in full 18thCentury faux fantasy French dress, towering wig and sequinned – well, everything as Marie Antoinette manquée , Ms Anastasia proceeded to spend the next hour charming, challenging, amusing, delighting and provoking her audience.
Conceived and Directed by Kate Peters. Top Hat Productions. Spotlight Basement Theatre, Benowa, Gold Coast. September 17th – October 4th, 2015.
Noël Coward devotees have a reason to rejoice! Another opportunity to enjoy The Master’s “talent to amuse”.
Billed as A Marvellous Party, Gold Coast Entertainer Kate Peters has not only captured the essence of Coward’s witty repartee but presented it in style.
Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. Book by Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows. The Musical Theatre Crew. Director: Leiz Moore. Playouse Theatre, Hobart. 10 - 26 September 2015
It’s fascinating that a show for grownups - with themes of gambling, crime and corruption, set in the seedy, crazy world of 1950s New York gamblers and show girls - can be performed so sweetly and cleverly by a youth theatre group, and still seem authentic. Some of these themes are commonplace nowadays, but for the time in which it was set, Guys and Dolls was risqué.
