Reviews

PJ Hogan has created a faithful adaptation of his endearing and iconic film. His story captures the idiosyncratic Australian no-nonsense essence that sometimes struggles to reconcile ultra-conservative and non-inclusive community attitudes. The account of Muriel’s oppressive and dull small-town existence, which is blighted by sexism and political corruption, is transformed into a tale of the triumph of mateship, individuality and freedom.

Alan Bennett (The History Boys, The Lady in the Van, The Madness of George III) is renowned for his regular successful collaboration with stage director Nicholas Hytner. Bennett’s plays often draw on his idiosyncratic and very personal experience of the issues affecting contemporary British society.  ALLELUJAH! especially operates in this vein as it draws on the widespread concern about the demise of the NHS that has dominated debates in British politics in recent years.

Briefs Factory describe themselves as “manufacturers and distributors of evocative, irreverent, political punk performance.” Close Encounters lives up to this mantra in dazzling and spectacular fashion. This Australian based performance collective specialises in blending the conventions of cabaret burlesque, comic capery, breathtaking circus acts and male stripping. The combination is seamless and forcefully dynamic and, unsurprisingly, has become a world-wide sensation. 

The rain started a couple of minutes before the opening bars of stirring music. It grew worse as the Jets and the Sharks circled each other menacingly, even worse as Maria met and fancied Tony, and bucketed down when Anita sang of the glories and follies of ‘America’. Among the audience there was much wiping of dripping glasses and struggling to put on the available $5 macs, but the cast sang and danced with sure-footed ease, a tribute to their non-slip footwear. The weather was expected: it’s Sydney in late March.