Ballet by Alexei Ratmansky. Music: Sergei Prokofiev. Australian Ballet. Lyric Theatre, Brisbane. 19-24 February 2016
Alexei Ratmansky is the most sought-after classical ballet choreographer in the world today. Currently under contract to the American Ballet Theatre until 2023, it was indeed a coupe for the Australian Ballet to secure his services to re-imagine his take on the world’s most popular fairytale, which he originally created for the Marinsky Ballet in 2002.
Written and Directed by Damon Lockwood. The Art Gallery Theatrette, Perth Cultural Centre, Fringe World, Perth, WA. Feb 9-20, 2016
Love and Hate is three short plays with the themes of love and hate, all written and directed by Damon Lockwood. Superbly acted, they work well together to form a thought provoking production.
Damon Lockwood has created three plays, which are strikingly different in style, narrative and feel.
By William Shakespeare. Sly Rat Theatre Company. Pipemaker’s Park, The Living Museum of the West, Maribyrnong. 19-28 February 2016.
Sly Rat Theatre Company provides a very entertaining and fulfilling outdoor performance of Shakespeare’s comedy. They are able to elicit much of the charm and humour this play has to offer and occasionally provide intense moments of drama that contrast well with the light-hearted elements. Puck (Brendan Ewing) moves on faun hooves that give his movement and persona an unusual quality and make him a very unearthly being.
Gluttony – The Speakeasy. Adelaide Fringe. February 12th-21st, 2016
Daniel Gorski’s alter ego The Vaude-Villainous Mr. Gorski is proof that the Fringe caters to all ages. He is charismatic and manic as he barely takes a breath to deliver 45 minutes of sheer mayhem.
Dressed in an over-sized red pin-striped suit, complete with a painted on twirling moustache, he is not unlike a caricature of a gangster of yesteryear. Police sirens grab your attention as he madly enters the performing space; he is wanted by authorities for being outrageously funny.
By A.R. Gurney. Pymble Players. February 17 – March 12, 2016
A play about a dog always has the possibility of being a crowd pleaser. If the dog is also a character, and the play is a comedy, that could be a double whammy, especially if the play is directed well and the ‘dog’ is energetic and convincingly lovable!
Such is the case with Pymble Players’ first play of the year.
By Stephen Sewell. Belvoir. February 23 – March 20, 2016
Stephen Sewell wrote this political drama in 1983 as Australia slipped into recession and drought and faced economic changes which, while enhancing wealth for some, forever shifted the moral debate around our national and community behaviours.
Despite illusions of freedom, capitalism he says always finds a way to win. This surviving Marxist talk, and allusions to Allende’s lost democracy in Chile just a decade earlier, may date this play but only superficially.
The Pleasure Garden, Fringe World, Northbridge WA. Jan 22 - Feb 21, 2016.
If, like me, your childhood literary loves consisted of mainly British fare — especially Enid Blyton style adventure stories, you will be right at home in Fringe Worlds' Get Lost Maze.
Set loose in a labyrinthian hedge maze, you will meet a variety of lovely characters including Mother, Father, Jane and Peter - a very Blytonesque family out on a picnic, with their loyal red setter.
By Tyler Jacob Jones and Robert Woods. Directed by Tyler Jacob Jones. The Stables, Perth Cultural Centre, Fringe World, Perth, WA. Feb 8-14, 2016
Dr Felicity Rickshaw's Celebrity Sex Party is the latest musical by Tyler Jacob Jones and Robert Woods, whose previous musicals, Falling to the Top - A Musical Trashtacular and Point and Shoot - A New Musical, have won multiple awards at Fringe World. I expect, given the cleverness, freshness and polish of Dr Felicity, that this production will receive similar accolades. It certainly deserved its sell-out crowds.
No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability. Adelaide Fringe. February 16th-21st, 2016
Who we are bubbles beneath the surface of all of us. Choices, directions, decisions - all causing noise and at times confusion in our own minds. Some of the most special theatre can be when you can relate to the performer’s message or laugh at the dialogue you yourself have used many times.
No Strings Attached produces professional theatre by people with a disability, combating stereotypes while demonstrating that (often) the only real difference between being with or without disability is opportunity.
Directed by Tyler Jacob Jones. The Hellenic Club, Fringe World, Northbridge, WA. Feb 13 - 21, 2015
Skin Deep is a clever, funny and disarming look at the beauty industry. One of the hits of last year's Fringe World, it returns this year in a "new and improved formula."
Written by cast member Cynthia Fenton, with director Tyler Jacob Jones, the show is both an examination of those who work in the beauty industry and a celebration of those who use it. It looks at beauty trends past and present and uses songs and humour.
