Reviews

The Dictionary of Lost Words

By Verity Laughton, adapted from the novel by Pip Williams. State Theatre Company South Australia & Sydney Theatre Company. Arts Centre Melbourne, The Playhouse. 17 February – 17 March 2024

Set against the slow, meticulous, and selective creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), The Dictionary of Lost Words traces the story of Esme Nicoll (Brenna Harding) – a fictitious character - from a precocious child of four in 1886 to a thirty-three-year-old mature woman in 1915 – plus an epilogue set in 1889.  The play is the story of Esme’s education – literary and moral - change and growth from a cossetted, insulated, timid, curious girl to a complex and courageous young woman who becomes a lexicographer, but finds experience in the wider w

Limbo – The Return

Strut & Fret. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2024. The Spiegeltent – Garden of Unearthly Delights. 16th Feb – 17th March, 2024

Award-winning creators Strut and Fret have delivered another vibrant and dynamic production, with the new and improved Limbo – The Return.

Sxip Shirley, an avant-garde composer and performer, along with musicians Grant Arthur and Mick Stuart, provided an electrifying soundtrack that filled the performing space. The bass tones of the giant tuba felt like a heartbeat. The music added an intensity to an already exciting production.

Gaslight

By Patrick Hamilton, adapted by Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson, Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane, 20 February to 3 March 2024

Queensland Theatre (QT) started its 2024 season with a play that introduced the term ‘gaslighting’ into many conversations about relationships in the last decade. Written in the 1930s by troubled playwright and novelist, Patrick Hamilton, the action is set at the very tail end of the Victorian era in a claustrophobic and gloomy London terrace house.

Happy Endings

Adelaide Fringe: The Octagon at Gluttony. Presented by Tone & Cheek Productions. 21 February – 3 March 2024

If you’re in need of some energy at the end of a long day at the Fringe, and you’re a sucker for fairy tales, Happy Endings is your ticket to satisfaction.

Two of Them

Adelaide Fringe: MOD at UniSA. Presented by Shifting Lives Theatre. 20 February – 9 March 2024

As the audience waits in the foyer, two bald-headed men in suits are coming down the stairs, measuring with a tape as they go. Whether it’s the gap between pillars or the distance between two patrons, one always calls out the same number. The futility of measuring without meaning.

Seven Little Wonders

Presented by The PaperBoats. Adelaide Fringe. Goodwood Theatre and Studios. Thursday 22 Feb - Saturday 24 Feb 2024

Presenting Seven Little Wonders after its regional Mt Gambier debut, March 2022, Dave Brown is quite the theatrical legend.  Inducted into the Adelaide Festival Centre’s ‘Walk of Fame’ in 2020, Brown was former Artistic Director of Patch Theatre for twenty years and is much awarded here and overseas for an outstanding legacy within children’s and family-friendly theatre making.  This production also secured Dave and the PaperBoats the prestigious Arts SA Ruby Award for Outstanding Work for Young People 2022. 

Neil Frost: The Door

Adelaide Fringe: The Chapel at the Courtyard of Curiosities, Migration Museum. 22 February – 7 March 2024

There’s a white door on stage – no frame, no wall: just the door. That and a dress-up box behind it are all that Neil Frost needs to paint a picture of his early life with his grandparents, growing up in eighties England.

The door is the backdrop for photos from his childhood – and for each image we see projected onto it, Frost recreates the costume on stage for us to enjoy.

Queensland Ballet at Home

Queensland Ballet. Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre. Feb 21 – Mar 13, 2024

Queensland Ballet at Home presents a dazzling showcase of ballet masterpieces carefully curated from local and international productions. Four pieces separated into two acts are featured in this year’s touring program: Ben Stevenson OBE's "Three Preludes", a poignant love story brought to life through Sergei Rachmaninoff's music. Matthew Lawrence's "Tchaikovsky Mash" delights with its enchanting blend of tutus and music from classical ballets like "Swan Lake" and "The Sleeping Beauty".

Rumours

By Neil Simon. Cairns Little Theatre. Directed by Narelle Shorey. February 23 to March 2, 2024

Set in Sydney in the 1980s, the deputy mayor of Sydney, Charley Brooks and his wife Vivienne are hosting a 10th anniversary party. Unfortunately, Charley, now bed bound, has gone and shot himself in the ear and Vivienne has disappeared. As the well-healed professional guests arrive, they each try to distance themselves from events, spinning unlikely tales as to what really happened to their hosts.

Are we not drawn onward to new erA

By Ontroerend Goed. Directed by Alexander Devriendt. Perth Festival. Heath Ledger Theatre, 21 – 25, February 2024.

It seems Belgian performance troupe, Ontroerend Goed, likes a clever joke and a play on words.

The mystery is, those sparse words in Are we not drawn onward to new erA might be in a Moomin-like language, clownish gibberish or Flemish and we don’t have the knowledge at the start of the 70-minute show, to be in on the joke.

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