Reviews

American Signs

By Anchuli Felicia King. Directed by Kenneth Moraleda. Sydney Theatre Company. Wharf Two Theatre. 20 June to 14 July, 2024

American Signs delves deep into the underbelly of corporate America with unflinching cynicism, exposing its stark indifference towards both its employees and the communities it claims to uplift.

Through the compelling performance of its sole actress, Catherine Văn-Davies, the play starkly illustrates how the protagonist, initially stationed "On the Beach" (between assignments) ultimately becomes woven into a corporate project in Ohio.

A Celebration of Burt Bacharach - What The World Needs Now

MSO Icon Series presented by Ryman Healthcare. A Make My Mark Production. Melbourne Symphony Orchestra plus special guests. Creative Director: Mark Sutcliffe. Hamer Hall, Arts Centre, Melbourne. June 22, 2024.

Burt Bacharach, the acclaimed composer and songwriter (who passed away last year aged 94), has had a profound impact on the music industry, inspiring countless songwriters and singers around the globe. The Jewish kid from New York hated his piano lessons, and was a poor school student, once stating that he was "lonely most of the time". His mum loved music but told him that it "is not a career I want you to have". At age 15, using the alias Happy Baxter, Burt started his own band, and frequented jazz clubs, which was a great way to meet girls!

Stolen

By Jane Harrison. Sydney Theatre Company. Wharf 1 Theatre. June 6 – July 6, 2024.

Stolen was a landmark in 1998 for debut playwright Jane Harrison and director Wesley Enoch and for our Indigenous theatre.  After so many productions which followed, and now this STC version, we realise why it’s such a landmark, and especially so in the whole sorry business of the Stolen Generation.

Lisa Simone: Keeper of the Flame

Adelaide Premiere and Exclusive. Cabaret Festival. Festival Theatre. June 22nd 2024

Being ‘Keeper of the Flame’ and sharing the heritage of legendary ‘High Priestess of Soul’, Nina Simone, American singer, songwriter, pianist, composer, arranger and civil rights activist is no small feat, even for her only daughter, Lisa. Nina Simone’s music spanned multiple styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop.  Beloved and well known for jazz-like singing in her contralto voice, she was strongly influenced by her passion for European classical music which was her original career plan.

Monty Python’s Edukational Show

By Monty Python - Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, adapted by Fred Stuart. Primadonna Productions. Directed by Carole Dhu. The Fishtrap Theatre, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. Jun 21-22, 2024

Monty Python’s Edukational Show is a collection of Monty Python sketches released for performance. Primadonna Productions has produced the WA premiere for a very brief season at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre’s Fishtrap Theatre.

Dialogues des Carmélites

By Francis Poulenc. Gente, gente! Opera Company. Directors Joanna Drimatis Bec Moret. Pitt St Uniting Church, Sydney. 21, 22, 28, 29 June, 2024

Gente, gente! (Italian for ‘People, people!’) is a grassroots not-for-profit opera company producing shows “for the people, by people who love opera”. Many of those opera lovers braved a rainy Saturday night in winter to see the opening night of their production of Dialogues des Carmélites.

Finucane & Smith’s The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez

Finucane & Smith. Chapel off Chapel, Prahran. 20 – 30 June 2024

After a tour of the goldfields and various interruptions and cancellations, The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez comes to Melbourne, the very place where the legendary Lola received such a rapturous reception – from some - back in the 1880s…  The Argus newspaper called her performances ‘utterly subversive to all ideas of public morality.’  Just the kind of criticism to guarantee a box office smash. 

A Streetcar Named Desire

By Tennessee Williams. Free-Rain Theatre. Directed by Anne Somes. A.C.T. Hub. 19–29 June 2024.

The tragedy of living in a world of make-believe finds timeless expression in Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire, in the character of Blanche DuBois, a woman close to forty hoping that her pretensions of class, glamour, and (greater) youth will bring her the prince of her dreams.

Trophy Boys

By Emmanuelle Mattana. Director Marni Mount. Seymour Centre. 19 Jun – 7 Jul, 2024

Like director Marni Mount, as soon as I read about this play I wanted to see it. I wanted to see how Emmanuelle Mattana would approach the intricate cobweb of the topic, how the stickiness of the web would become theatre, how the female cast would become the “elite private schoolboys” for whom Mattana would spin their web – and how it would entrap an audience.

The End: Reuben Kaye

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2024. June 21st -22nd, 2024

To celebrate the end of another Adelaide Cabaret Festival, it seemed fitting that the 2024 cabaret icon award recipient Reuben Kaye would host a cross-section of talented performers to bring us 90 minutes of raucous entertainment. Joining him to celebrate the hilarity was Adelaide Cabaret artistic director, Virginia Gay.

Kaye sashayed through the crowd as we entered, greeting audience members like life-long friends. His trademark lavish lashes, mischievous smile and immense talent are what makes this performer a sensation at many cabaret and comedy festivals across the world.

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