Reviews

Bernie Dieter’s Berlin Underground

A secret location at Crown Perth. Nov 17-Dec 19, 2020

Bernie Dieter’s Berlin Underground has taken over a secret location at Crown Perth, to present a sexy, debauched kabarett, with great singing, amazing circus and a load of comedy.

A Bird’s Eye View of a Banquet in Brunswick

Gumboot Theatre in association with Brunswick Neighbourhood House. Melbourne Fringe Festival. 12 - 29 November 2020.

This theatrical piece employs the figure of the Kingfisher, a local Brunswick bird, as a way of looking at the wonderful kaleidoscope of culture in the area. A variety of individuals are conjured up who talk about their community bonds and how they are created through supportive and endearing exchanges around food, family and friends. 

Shadow Piece (Alt. Shadow Love)

Devised by Antoinette Tracey and September Barker. Outside Eye by Emma Hooppell. Melbourne Fringe Festival, 12 - 29 November 2020.

This short film is an exquisite exercise in the exploration of sound, movement, the body, cinema and urban space. The performance sits in a somewhat liminal space between film and theatre. Yet, it is another great example of how the current COVID constraints can actually produce new modes of artistic expression.

The Biscuit Readings

Performed by ‘Betty Bircher and Bert Bircher’ (Penelope Bartlau & Jason Lehane). Barking Spider Visual Theatre. Digital Fringe. Melbourne Fringe Festival. 18-19, 25-26 November 2020

‘Nothing defines a person more than their natural biscuit alignment’ – or so claims Betty and probably, if less dogmatically, the more stolid Bert Bircher too.  So, what is your biscuit?  Tim Tam?  Iced VoVo?  Ginger Snap?  How about a Florentine?  That’d be something.  To get an interactive reading from Betty and Bert, you’ll need to log on with Zoom, with a microphone, a camera and, all importantly, your face completely visible – so Betty and Bert can read you.  It only takes fifteen minutes, but you will

The Holidays

By David Megarrity. Queensland Theatre. Direction: Bridget Boyle. Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane. 14 Nov – 12 Dec 2020

Artistic Director Lee Lewis, and the Queensland Minister for the Arts, Leanne Enoch, reopened the Bille Brown Theatre last night with a bottle of champagne. And what better way to welcome audiences back to the theatre after Covid lockdown than a glass of bubbly. With restrictions now lifted in Queensland, theatres are now able to offer 100% capacity.

It wasn’t 100% last night, but close to it for the world premiere of David Megarrity’s 2018 Queensland Premiere’s Drama Award winning play, The Holidays.

Make-up

Written & directed by Andy Moseley. Performed by Moj Taylor. Digital Fringe. Melbourne Fringe Festival. 18 & 26-29 November 2020

‘Lady Christina’, drag queen, completes her routine - with Hey, Big Spender’ – and wearily comes off a Wolverhampton stage to her dressing room.  The audience demands another encore, but they’d already had two.  The applause goes on and follows Lady Christina back to her dreary dressing room.  But the façade and the make-up come off – as they must .

REVISIT.exe

Created by Marcel Dornay & Monash Centre for Theatre & Performance. Writer & Dramaturg Greta Doell. Digital Fringe. Melbourne Fringe Festival. 13, 14 & 15 November 2020

The premise of REVISIT.exe is a student assignment in a university degree course (Humanities, of course), ominously titled ‘Ethics, Responsibility & Certainty’.  The assignment requires a decision on the ethical question at the heart of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1956 play, The Visit.  Was it ‘right’ for the dying town of Güllen to kill Anton Schill so as to benefit from the largesse of his former lover, billionairess Claire Zachanaissian?  That is, is an immoral act that will benefit thousands right or wrong?  Ti

Giselle

Queensland Ballet. Staged by Ai-Gul Gaisina. Choreography by Marius Petipa. HOTA Gold Coast. 12th-14th November, 2020

Queensland Ballet could be forgiven if they were bitter and twisted over the whole of their 60th anniversary programme being cancelled because of Covid 19. Instead, they managed to turn a tragedy into a triumph - first with the wonderfully exciting “sixty dancers- sixty stories” online; then a live performance adapted from those filmed performances. Now, to end the year, they have pulled Giselle out of their repertoire for a short season under the stars and beside the lake on the Parklands outdoor stage.

The Hollow

By Agatha Christie. Directed by Sharon White. Nash Theatre New Farm Qld. 14 November – 5 December, 2020.

When the name Agatha Christie is mentioned, our minds think of the many murder mysteries she wrote, starting over seventy years ago. Seldom do we think that she wrote a good many play adaptations of her own novels. Perhaps the most famous is The Mousetrap, which opened in 1951 and only closed this year due to the virus epidemic. The Hollow made its stage debut in 1952. Now, it debuts at Nash Theatre.

Wife After Death

By Eric Chappell. Darlington Theatre Players. Directed by Robert Warner. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount, WA. Nov 13-28, 2020

Wife After Death is a fresh, well-performed comedy performed by Darlington Theatre Players, to Covid capacity audiences. Tight and funny, with high production values, this relatively new show will have broad appeal.

George Boyd has created a very believable, beautifully finished set, nicely creating a sitting room in a country home. Naturalistic lighting design by Michael Hart and a well chosen sound design by George Boyd help set the scene.

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