Australia’s theatre companies have dished up a smorgasbord for 2014. There are lashings of stars and classics, sex and comedy, music and cross-dressing and more than a few plays by an English playwright born 450 years ago.
The most extraordinary Shakespeare of 2014 should be Macbeth starring Hugo Weaving (pictured left). The Sydney Theatre will be turned back to front, with the audience watching from the stage.
The season for 2014 at New Theatre in King Street, Newtown, ranges across drama, comedy and musical theatre, promising Sydney audiences will enjoy the work of local and international writers and the talents of seven women directors!
There are two Australian premieres, two Sydney premieres, adaptations of beloved novels, and revivals of a much-loved Australian contemporary play and a ground-breaking gay work.
The current national season of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific provides Australian audiences with the opportunity to see well-known stars such as Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes at their very best. It also gives some of Australia’s child performers a chance to shine. Lesley Reed reports.
There are twists and turns aplenty in a contortionist’s career. Neil Litchfield speaks to Lucia Carbines – Empire’s ‘Miss A in a Bubble’.
Queensland aerial artist Lucia Carbines was rehearsing for High Wire Motorbike Trapeze stunt at the 2013 Melbourne Grand Prix when the call came which saw her join Spiegelworld’s EMPIRE, with its mix of circus, cabaret, vaudeville and burlesque, stepping into the role of ‘Miss A in a Bubble’.
A decade after it toured Australia and New Zealand last, The Lion King returns in December at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre. Disney has cast some extraordinary new talent, including an Auckland Rugby Player who has never had an acting lesson, and one of the hottest graduating students from NIDA. David Spicer attended rehearsals for an experience described by a cast member as weird but wonderful.
Australian audiences can look forward to a wide and varied spectrum of magic when The Illusionists 2.0 has its World Premiere here in December 2013 and January 2014. Lesley Reed previews the magic spectacular and speaks to ‘The Hypnotist’, Doctor Scott Lewis.
Queensland Theatre Company Artistic Director Wesley Enoch has labelled some other main stage companies ‘immoral’ for not paying Independent Theatre artists.
Here is an excerpt of his blistering speech delivered for the Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture at Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney December 8, 2013.
