Reviews

While I Was Waiting

OzAsia Festival. Dunstan Playhouse. 30th and 31st October 2018.

Performed in Arabic, with English surtitles, the Australian premiere of While I Was Waiting is a unique opportunity to gain insight into the very real lives of families caught up in the current Syrian turmoil. Syrian playwright Mohammad Al Attar and director Omar Abusaada powerfully humanise a political situation, giving the audience the chance to interact with the trauma that besets families, by being invited into their living, loving and grieving.

Salt

By Eko Supriyanto. OzAsia Festival 2018. Odeon Theatre. October 30-31, 2018

Salt is a mesmerising solo dance performance by leading Indonesian choreographer Eko Supriyanto. His fascinatingly different choreography is accompanied by music by Dimawan Krisnowo Adji- a blend of traditional gamelan and synthesised music. This music, which at times was disturbingly staccato and jarring, was integrated perfectly by Supriyanto to create a sense of unease and rapt attention by the audience.

Baling

Five Arts Centre (Malaysia). Oz-Asia Festival. Nexus Arts, Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide. 31 October -2 November, 2018

This unusual and informative work of political theatre from Malaysia’s Five Arts Centre is about differing interpretations of history, events and people. It focuses on an important political meeting in Malaysia in December 1955 known as the ‘Baling Talks’, and in particular Chin Peng, the enigmatic leader of the outlawed Malaysian Communist Party.

Orphée / Iphigénie

By Christoph Willibald Gluck. BK Opera. Director: Kate Millett. Musical Director: James Penn. Studio 1 Northcote Town Hall (Vic). October 31 – November 4, 2018

As one of the few amateur opera companies in Melbourne, BK Opera is also one of the busiest, their latest offering being less than two months after the previous one.

Calendar Girls

By Tim Firth. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. Directed by Nicholas Lahey. The Playhouse. October 26-November 10 2018

Calendar Girls takes place within the timeframe of the gestation of a sunflower. As John observes: The flowers of Yorkshire are like the women of Yorkshire. Every stage of their growth has its own beauty, but the last phase is always the most glorious. Then very quickly they all go to seed.

King Lear

By William Shakespeare. Chichester Festival Theatre. National Theatre Live. Nova, Carlton and participating cinemas nationally. 3 November 2018 onwards.

Sir Ian McKellen inhabits his Lear from the start as an old man afraid he is losing his mind – even while he makes arbitrary and foolish decisions.  Sir Ian’s emphasis on that fear of madness makes it, when it overtakes him, all the more ironic in that Lear begins to see the world as it really is.

Chinese Music Day

Oz Asia Festival. Elder Hall, The University of Adelaide. 28th October 2018

Chinese Music Day is an opportunity to combine age-old traditional Chinese music with contemporary influences. In recent years it has become a welcome part of the OzAsia Festival program and also provides an opportunity to showcase local talent and the work of a number of local performers.

The War of the Worlds Anniversary Broadcast

Presented by Innes Lloyd. The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne. 29 October 2018.

The comedy duo David Innes & Rob Lloyd, accompanied by the musical talents of Caleb Garfinkel, pay homage to the classic sci-fi novel War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. There is more than a passing interest in this story and the show centres around how the text has impacted their lives and entered our cultural imagination.

Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange

Adapted for the stage by Connor Carlyle and Sarah Christiner. Life on Hold Productions. Directed by Sarah Christiner. The Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park, WA. October 17 - Nov 2, 2018

Life on Hold Productions’ adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange is very much a passion project for director Sarah Christiner, who has loved the novel for over half her life. This production, which launches the new company, features a script, co-adapted by Christiner and featuring a large cast, with many familiar faces.

Xenides

By Clare Watson and Collaborators. Black Swan. Directed by Clare Watson. Musical Direction by Xani Kolac. Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA. 25 Oct - 11 Nov, 2018

The World Premiere of Xenides is a homage to Wheel of Fortune Hostess Adriana Xenides, a former model who co-hosted Australia’s Wheel of Fortune for eighteen years. It looks at her immigrant childhood, her tumultuous love life and her health issues both physical and mental, as well as examining the way she has been remembered. This devised musical also looks at the lives of the four women selected to play Adriana and the various ways that they relate to this icon of Australian television.

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