Reviews

This should go down in their annals as one of Villanova’s greatest successes. Habeas Corpus is proof again there can be fully professional-standard productions in community theatres.

Playwright Bennett is a brilliant comedy wordsmith; his mastery of English knows no bounds. When a company as competent as this one assembled by Brisbane veteran of theatre, Brian Cannon, is given the chance to explore its full comedy potential, the result can be unfettered laughter from start to finish. And it was!

Glorious 60s retro is the only way to describe PRIMA’s production of Hairspray. Beehive hairdos, pedal-pushers, wacky dance styles, and loads of energy from the mainly youthful cast made Melanie Evans’ production fire on every level. The infectious joy bursting over the footlights was palpable.

Confronting, multi award winning rock musical Spring Awakening, based on a once-banned 1891 play, pulls no punches on themes including teenage sexuality, be it straight, gay or masturbation, youth suicide, teen pregnancy, abortion and child abuse, while raising a lot of questions about adult authority figures and parenting.

The combination of 1890s dialogue and contemporary rock / pop music embeds a universality of teenage rites of passage across more than a century, with a highlight of this production was the way in which Linda Brancato’s costuming embodied that.

It’s always exciting when a new talent is discovered and Ballina Players have found a future leading man with heaps of potential. His name is Dane Strudwick and he is starring as Conrad Birdie in the Players current production of Bye, Bye Birdie. Dane’s previous experience has been in school productions but his performance as Birdie was a joy to behold. He worked extremely well with the more experienced members of the cast, especially in his scene with Di Ennew - Mrs Mae Peterson (who is actually his teacher at school).