Independent reviewer Simon Parris complements his Australian theatrical calendar with visits to New York and London each year. With a focus on musicals and plays, Simon shares his Top Ten for 2018.
10. The Ferryman (January 2018, Gielgud Theatre, London)
Jez Butterworth’s epic new play The Ferryman featured a multigenerational cast of 23 performers, including a live baby, as well as a live goose, rabbits and even rats.
Just a few weeks away from premiering her new show – Jan van de Stool in Parting the Red Curtains, at the Brisbane Comedy Festival in March 2019, Queenie van de Zandt spoke to Beth Keehn.
Since Queenie’s alter-ego Jan was unleashed more than a decade ago, the Dutch-born ‘musical therapist’ has become an Australian cult comedy classic – she even reached the semi-finals of Australia’s Got Talent, keeping judges on their toes with quick quips and spectacular vocal vaulting.
The rich depth of Queensland’s theatre industry was celebrated at the 2018 Matilda Awards on February 18, 2019 with the coveted Gold Matilda awarded to debase Productions in honour of its ground-breaking work over two decades.
debase was lauded for using comedy to raise social awareness and challenge audiences to question stereotypes, history and identity; and for its commitment to telling Australian stories.
Coral Drouyn explores the Australian Ballet’s trip down the Rabbit Hole in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, prior to the Brisbane season
The full cast has been announced for Barnum, which returns to Australia in an all-new production directed by Tyran Parke at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre for a strictly limited time from April 27 2019.
The pre-eminent leading man of Australian musical theatre, Anthony Warlow, will be joined by one of Australia’s best-known stage and screen performers, Gina Riley, when the pair join forces in this spectacular re-imagined concert version of the musical thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
