Reviews

Behind the busy bar of a rough and tumble Wooloomooloo drinking spot, downstairs, between the busy kitchen, the inadequate toilets and a dining area is the cramped theatre space. The stacked audience face a perfect little setting in which everything works – the doors, the upstairs bedroom, the rumbling pipes, the computer, the sink, the bike. The Sydney Theatre Company couldn’t wish for a more polished and convincing set.

Combine gender bending, drag, acrobatics, circus, magic, comedy with just a touch of S&M and you have the spectacle that is Briefs - Close Encounters.

Being a virgin to this Queensland company (with the addition of a local Adelaide performer) I didn’t have a clear idea of what to expect, so every twist and turn of the show was totally new to me.

Performed in the iconic Magic Mirrors Spiegel Tent, this show is a delight for the senses from start to finish.

Royalty came to Brisbane last night - that is Broadway and West End royalty -  the form of the brilliant and captivating young star Sierra Boggess. Not only is she Broadway and West End royalty, she is also a Disney Princess as well having created the role of Ariel in the stage version of The Little Mermaid animated movie.

Staging One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in Australia requires a lack of sanity.

First, Cuckoo’s Nest is filled with American cultural references.

Second, the early 21st Century is the wrong time for this play. Modern psychiatric hospitals are mostly dissimilar from what you see on stage.

Third, the play calls for a cast of 16. While several actors in the ensemble only have a short time on stage, few of the roles are interchangeable.

Yet somehow Monster Media made the play work.