Reviews

Tilt is an evening of short performances, the culmination of three years’ work from WAAPA’s Performance Making Students. Run in two short seasons, these annual performances are a highlight on many people’s theatrical calendars and this year is no exception. The first of Tilt’s programmes features 5 very different shows which demonstrate a wealth of acting, writing, choreographic, directing, and design talent.

Twenty-five gold birdcages hang above a city square bathed in blue pre-dawn light. Like the cages, the space is empty but for a figure shrouded in blankets. As morning light filters in, flowers set against a wall can be seen, and early morning birdsong sounds. But there are no birds.

It’s an eerie beginning to Katie Pollock’s play. But Sydney in the first few weeks of June 2014 was strange, different. The siege at the Lindt Café in Martin Place had left the city on edge, nervy, suspicious.

In wild, wacky and colourful mode, popular song writer and performer Kate Miller-Heidke and writer Keir Nuttall's venture into the world of musical comedy wowed the Brisbane audience on opening night with their original foray into an exploration of the juxtaposition between punk rock music and kiddie entertainment. Based on their own experiences as touring musicians and parents, this high-camp caper had the audience giggling with glee at its satirical dig at life on the road leading to the bright lights of television while simultaneously exploring the psyche behind its characters.

This remarkable incarnation of Billie Holiday by Zahra Newman lifts beyond that familiar, now surely perverse trope of female singers headed for tragedy. Think Janis Joplin, Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, Amy Whitehouse, and so many stars falling off the stage from drugs, booze or other demons.