Reviews

In musical theatre timing is everything and whether it is by good luck or good management, Xanadu is perfectly timed with Mardi Gras, Sydney World Pride and even the State Funeral for our beloved Olivia Newton John taking place on the opening weekend of this 80s camp fest fantasy musical based on the cult movie starring Olivia and dance legend Gene Kelly.

Xanadu is the first production of this indi theatre company which strives to provide high quality performance opportunities in a supportive and inclusive environment for professionally trained and technical artists.

Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, AC, GM was born in 1912 in New Zealand. Some two years later, her family moved to Sydney where she grew up, and for this reason, we have long claimed Nancy as an Australian. Also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, Hélène by the British Special Operations Executive, Andrée by the French Resistance and White Mouse by the Gestapo in France, she was a nurse who retrained and worked in the 1930s for Hearst newspapers as a journalist.

Standing in line to watch DOMINANCE and Submission, I could help but notice the diversity of the audience. Younger, older, they were all there, including a pup and his Master. I knew it was going to be an experience to remember.

The mood is definitely buzzing as I sit down and take in my surroundings; candles circling the stage area, a red leather coach, a bondage cross and long lengths of chains hanging tantalizingly in the centre.

For most of today’s audiences, terms such as God, the Devil, salvation, witches don’t have much credibility or substance.  Yet they are used with dangerous certainty by the characters in Arthur Miller’s 1953 play.  For them, all these things are without question real.  For most of today’s audiences, the parallel with ‘McCarthyism’ too may well be unknown.  So why is The Crucible, in this excellent, sustained production, still so gripping, so frightening, and even so plausible?