Reviews

Miles Franklin is the flavour of the month – with the Melbourne Theatre Company about to open the musical adaptation of her novel My Brilliant Career and in Sydney the premiere of a new play about her life.

Franklin fans will enjoy this nicely staged production that provides an insight into lesser-known aspects of her life. Without a general knowledge of Franklin, the drama will be less satisfying.

Image (above): Ingrid Filter. Photographer: Gary Houlder

They’re dubbed the Romantic Generation of composers.  All were born around 1810 and all died early, Robert Schumann, hallucinatory, suicidal and in mental anguish; Frederic Chopin from tuberculous, and Felix Mendelssohn at 38, melancholic and after a series of strokes.

A Night with the Villains is a hilarious, sexy, spooky cabaret show packed full of great singing, lively dancing, and comedic acting. The mood is set from the start with a sign above the entrance in bloody lettering warning you to ‘Enter if you Dare’. The staircases inside the theatre are lined with black candles and cobwebs, and tombstones flank the stage. The show features some of the best of the worst characters from history and fiction, singing beloved musical numbers with a twist. In many cases the lyrics are cleverly re-written or tweaked to suit the character.

Ex - Prime Minister Billy Hughes at the age of 84 performs as himself in the movie Smithy (Ken G Hall,1946), based on Aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (1897- 1935). History recalls Hughes rejecting Smith’s application back in 1919 to compete for  a ten-thousand-pound prize in the first England to Australia flight. Nevertheless Kingsford- Smith went on to become a national hero and now celebrated forever on the twenty dollar note.