Reviews

Carmen

By Bizet. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Feb 10 - Mar 23, 2018

Critics savaged Carmen when it premiered in Paris in 1875.  Bizet was dead from a heart attack three months later, at just 36, and so never had an inkling he’d written the world’s most popular opera.

Discarding its traditional setting in Seville, director John Bell turns to Havana, with Michael Scott-Mitchell’s evocatively detailed classic square, streaked with decay and rusting roller doors. It shifts between carousing public square to smuggler’s warehouse, under Trent Suidgeest’s dramatic lighting.  

Four Flat Whites in Italy

By Roger Hall. Castle Hill Players. The Pavilion Theatre. Feb 2 - 24, 2018

A visit to the spacious foyer of the Castle Hill Players with free tea and biscuits at interval is always a pleasure. Long may the cranes of redevelopment (seen ominously just a few hundred metres away building a new railway station) keep their distance from this oasis of well-produced comedy and drama.

Four Flat Whites in Italy is a comedy written by Roger Hall, who can be best described as New Zealand’s equivalent of David Williamson. In this play he presents a smorgasbord of first world problems endured by tourists to Italy.

Seventeen

By Matthew Whittet. Turquoise Theatre. Directed by Susannah Thompson. The Blue Room Studio as part of Summer Nights, Perth, WA. Feb 6-10, 2018

Billed as “Saggy skin, youthful dreams”, Turquoise Theatre’s Seventeen casts actors “over sixty” as teenagers celebrating their emerging adulthood.

Glorious!

By Peter Quilter. Therry Dramatic Society. Arts Theatre, Adelaide. 8-17th February, 2018

Therry’s latest offering, Glorious! pays homage to the surprisingly successful career of the late Florence Foster Jenkins. Playwright Peter Quilter journeys through the later part of her success in the 1940s leading up to her sold-out show at Carnegie Hall.

What makes Jenkins’ story so unique is the enthusiasm and confidence she possessed despite her lack of talent; she is remembered by many as ‘the worst opera singer who ever lived’- or died…pun intended.

Joan

By Lucy J. Skilbeck. Milk Presents in association with Derby Theatre. Directed by Lucy J. Skilbeck. The Round at State Theatre Centre as Part of Summer Nights, Perth WA. Feb 6-10, 2018

Joan, presented by Milk Presents in association with Derby Theatre, is a simply stunning piece of theatre. A unique take on the story of Joan of Arc, this solo performance, with music, keeps its audience rapt, with its energy, ferocity and joie de vivre.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Music and Lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin. Conceived by Rebecca Feldman, with additional material by Jay Reiss. Gosford Musical Society. Director: Ruth Tiffen. Choreographer: Carolyn McNamara. Musical Director Ben Ross. Don Craig Room, Laycock Street Theatre. Feb 9-17, 2018

Unwieldy. Def: Awkward and cumbersome. To use in a sentence: “Unwieldy Is one of those words that is not only hard to spell, it also is the perfect word to describe the title of this deceptively cutesy-sounding play”.

This is the first viewing of this show for this reviewer, but it has been on the list for quite some time, due to the cult status it has attained in recent years. The show’s glowing reputation is totally justified - it’s a deliciously sharp and relatable satire. Spoiler alert regarding the plot: it’s about a spelling bee!

Amazing Grace

Manilla Street Productions. Creator / Director: Karen Jemison. Musical Director: Luke Hunter. Choreographers: Jeanne Sorich/Lucinda Williams. National Theatre, St Kilda. February 9 - 11, 2018.

Sometimes it pays to read the fine print. Three music theatre stars and a large ensemble. Should be a great night.

It was a calisthenics concert! Not my main line of expertise.

It was amazing!

The Escape Room:- The Speakeasy

Fringe World. Directed by Richard Maritzer. The Pleasure Garden, Russell Square, Northbridge, WA. Jan 27 - Feb 25, 2018

Whether you are Fringe Binging or just having small tastes of Fringe World, having a varied diet is key to having a healthy outlook. Whether your usual tastes run to theatre, music, cabaret or comedy, I highly recommend spicing up your Fringe experience with a trip to The Escape Room:- The Speakeasy.

What Did You Expect?

Fringe World. The Ellington Jazz Club, Northbridge, WA. Feb 8-11, 2018

What Did You Expect? gives you songs exactly as you would not expect. With a change of the genre, the style or the subtext, favourite tunes are turned on their head in unexpected ways.

Visiting Hours

By John Harrison, Constantine Costi and Michael Costi. bAKEHOUSE. KXT - Kings Cross Theatre. February 7 - 17, 2018.

Through dimly lit stairways and passages chillingly lined with black plastic, groups of twenty triaged ‘patients’ are led into the dreamy, delusionary miasma and hazy treatment wards of an off-the-grid sanatorium. Here, led by an obsessive clinician known only as The Doctor, a team of eccentric medical recruits ghoulishly prepare to share some unconventional therapies based on bizarre research and questionable experiments.

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