Reviews

Tennessee Williams prescribed fastidious detail for the Mississippi mansion at the dark heart of his play about a privileged family living in lies and hidden contempt.

Kip Williams with designer David Fleischer sweeps it away for the empty stage he so often prefers, except for an island of mixed period, mirrored furniture. It outlines the sexless bedroom of the favoured son, Brick, a sports star turned drunk, and his frustrated wife, Maggie.

As the program tells us, Louis Nowra’s 1992 Cosi is ‘performed around the world… and is produced by between 20 and 30 amateur companies every year in Australia’.  Seeing it again after many years, we can see why.  Despite being – probably – politically incorrect (laughing at the disabled?) – the play is, first, very funny.  Mr Nowra makes us care about his mental patients without any pussy-footing sentimentality.  Second, it has heart: a group of misfits with disabilities overcome those disabilities and come together to

Roleystone Theatre, currently homeless while their iconic home theatre undergoes restoration and re-building, have created a 2019 season designed to attract audiences, while they perform “away from home”. Unfortunately - despite the fact that this is a production of superb quality - the audiences are yet to find them.

Tim Rice’s wry, contemporary lyrics take Joseph out of the dry verses of Genesis into a hip Canaan and rock’n’roll Egypt, where the biblical story of brotherly envy and Freudian-style dream analysis is a lot more ‘boppy’.

Co-directors by John Hanna and Katie Griffiths have taken the ‘bop’ to heart with a brisk, bright production that concentrates on the singing and dancing and accentuates the humour.