Reviews

Butterfly Theatre is taking time out from the excellent ‘Beer’ Theatre the company usually presents in a pub venue. Yet the theme continues, because Edward Albee’s now classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which the company is currently staging at Holden Street Theatres, is steeped in what seems to be as many bevvies as any pub, let alone as much alcoholic brawling as one might find outside late night clubs.

Air Play flies well across Sydney Festival’s long tradition of staging magical visual theatre, with lots of flying fabric, mime and clowning. James Thieree’s shows, for example, were standouts.

Here so-called acrobuffos, American husband and wife team, Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone, begin like Wiggles, one yellow-costumed, one red, with wide-eyed naivete and the simple act of loosing a balloon into the audience. And the kids loved it.

Aradia is a new piece of feminist theatre, centred around the story of Aradia - sent to earth to educate about Witchcraft. A series of vignettes, this is a story about the strength of women and of self-belief, both historically and in the here and now.

Milkbox Theatre was born from a need for female lead artistry. Its mission is to share stories from the perspective of and lead by people who identify as female. Aradia delves into the deep history and mythology of witches, telling their stories and how their history effects and can inspire women today.

In Nanna-stasia you are invited into the kitchen of Eleanor Stankiewicz’s grandmother for a funny, warm story of love, family and the importance of listening to your older family members.

When Eleanor was 7, she saw the animated film Anastasia. Knowing very little about her nanna’s early years, in Lithuania during World War II, Eleanor’s mind made her Nanna - Lithuania’s Anastasia - and this was closer to the truth than you might imagine.