Reviews

Harbour Theatre’s Pyjama Tops, based on Jean de Letraz’s 1950 French farce “Mou Mou” was a sexy, old-school farce with mistaken identities, attractive women, crime and corruption and a spot of bed hopping.

Director Tina Barker has designed a simple but practical single set, with impressive scenic art by Melissa Bassett. Rob Tagliaferri and Callum Hunter light the stage well, with solid sound design by Vanessa Gudgeon. Tasha Jane’s wardrobe suggests the 50s, which gives us a time period that matches the dialogue and style of the show.

Talent abounds on the NW coast of Tasmania. It was only a short five months ago that Encore staged Strictly Ballroom, a production notable for accomplished dancers. This August, Encore has cast strong contemporary voices in We Will Rock You.

Some of these skilled dancers from the previous show front the ensemble but character actors also abound. The strength of this production, however, lies in the principal performers.

There is much to admire and enjoy in this dazzling, all-out production of the 2002 Broadway hit. The story may be familiar – hick from the sticks comes to New York, New York to make her fortune – but in a thoroughly modern way.  ‘Modern’, that is, for 1922.  Millie Dillmount (Annie Aitken), from Salina, Kansas, plans to find a rich boss and marry him.  Simple.  On the way through intrepid Millie will also thwart the white slavers kidnapping girls and shipping them off to Peking (as it was then). 

Love and Information is a miscellany of short scenes – some micro – in seven mini acts. The scenarios place hundreds of characters in a mix of bland, random and extraordinary situations. Some of the scenes play as overheard conversations or real events reinterpreted. Some are Soap-ish; some are surreal. It feels pixelated, and technology features in many scenes (the classic: the couple at a restaurant scrolling through their social media feed) so there’s much for audiences to relate to in the grabs and glimpses of modern life.