Reviews

Don Juan in Soho

University of Adelaide Theatre Guild Inc. Little Theatre, The Cloisters. May 11 – 26, 2019.

In the era of the ‘Me Too’ movement, Director Megan Dansie is both courageous and provocative in presenting Patrick Marber’s Don Juan in Soho. Written in 2006 and updated in 2017, this play is more than a comedy. Set in modern day Soho in London, it pointedly flaunts modern hedonism by confronting the audience with a gentrified ‘twit’ who lives his life unashamedly, for his own pleasure. Played by Peter Davies, Don Juan is called DJ, but we all know who he is.

Rigoletto

By Verdi. Opera Australia. Director: Elijah Moshinsky. Revival Director: Hugh Halliday. Conductor: Andrea Licata. State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. May 11 – 29, 2019

Rigoletto is one of my favourite operas and I have seen many productions over the years, but can’t remember one as impressive as the current OA production.

I had not encountered this production before and it worked very well. It started in Rigoletto’s dressing room, then the set revolved to show the Duke’s party in progress, and later Rigoletto entered from the dressing room. At the end of the first scene, he returned to his dressing room, changed and the set revolved again for him to exit into the street.

The Temple

Created by – Gavin Quinn, the cast and Nicola Gunn. Pan Pan / Malthouse Theatre. Becket Theatre. 2 – 26 May 2019

The Temple is a co-production with the innovative Irish company Pan Pan.  It is provocative theatre at its most acute.  Five actors (Alijin Abella, Ash Flanders, Genevieve Giuffre, Mish Grigor and Marcus McKenzie) work as a tight, well-oiled and rehearsed ensemble.  They portray a group of characters - young contemporary individuals - engaged in a self-lead residential retreat. 

Sense and Sensibility

By Kate Hamill. Directed by Vanessa Jensen. Melville Theatre, Palmyra, WA. May 3 - 18, 2019

Melville Theatre presents this pastel hued adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, which is also quietly acting as a fundraiser for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Director Vanessa Jenson has a clear passion for Jane Austen, and this shows in the presentation.

Music from the Movies

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Opera House Concert Hall. May 11, 2019.

The 400 singers of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and their 72 piece Orchestra certainly fills out the Opera House Concert Hall in every way with this generously long, one-off concert.

Music from the Movies has a head start by drawing on thrilling scores from memorable films: what we hear returns us to what we saw and felt watching the original, some of it tissue box moments, all of it heightened. 

Arsenic and Old Lace

By Joseph Kesserling. Darlington Theatre Players. Directed by Brendan Tobin. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount, WA. May 3-25, 2019

Darlington Theatre Players are having a lot of fun with this mid 20th century classic about two lovely old ladies who are a little bit too enthusiastic about mercy killing.

Wondered

Written, Produced and Directed by Elodie Boal. Presented by Mira Ball Productions and Trent Sellars. The Sideshow. 10 - 17 May, 2019

The Mad Hatter’s tea party gets a gothic horror twist in the delightfully dark Wondered. Appearing at the back of a hyper-hip café in Brisbane’s West End for the Anywhere Theatre Festival, this creatively twisted tale is certainly no children’s story. The Mad Hatter is more like a psychotic hatter, putting Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the Tweedles in terribly hot tea indeed.

Windigo

Lara Kramer Danse. YIRRAMBOI Festival. Upstairs Studio, Dancehouse, 150 Princes Street, North Carlton. 10-12 May, 2019

Indigenous performer, choreographer and multidisciplinary artist Lara Kramer creates a highly visceral text that is intentionally provocative. This show embraces the political potential of theatre and its ability to raise consciousness. Windigo’s apocalyptic atmosphere is unapologetically portrayed as a direct result of colonial culture and the subsequent dispossession it has caused.  

Don’t Dress for Dinner

By Marc Camoletti. Tugun Theatre Co, Gold Coast. Director: Rianna Hartney-Smith. May 9 – 25, 2019

What a laugh! What a hoot! What a play! Tugun’s current offering Don’t Dress for Dinner is a wonderful mix of humour, great performances and good direction.

Written by Marc Camoletti (he also wrote Boeing, Boeing), it is brim-full of comedy and slapstick, reminiscent of the good old days of farce. The scene is a refurbished barn conversion, two hours from Paris, with workable barn doors that seemed to be mastered by everyone except the home owner!

Boy Out of the Country

By Felix Nobis. Company of Rogues. Bondi Pavilion. Directed by Erica Lovell. May 9 – 25, 2019

This production has an intriguing credit for an Olfactory designer, which I learnt afterwards was for an essence of eucalyptus that was lightly sprayed on the audience as they entered the theatre.

Whilst the scent wasn’t quite strong enough to register with me, other senses were aroused during the performance.

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