Reviews

This is an extended version of Shakespeare’s play made famous as a movie by Laurence Olivier in 1944, just after a world war had made everyone on the winning side eager for a lusty celebration of the glories of warfare. Who could forget Olivier’s operatic voice as he laid immortality on the winners: ‘we few, we happy few’?

Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking, but the voice isn’t the only “weapon” that can “speak” rhetorically. Last weekend ABC classical played 100 tracks that have persuasively set scenes in a range of different films. Hearing them takes the listener back to a time, a place, an emotion – just as effectively as words spoken in different tones or pitches.

Set Piece is a curious experiment.  It attempts to overturn certain theatrical conventions and to construct alternatives.  The show’s creators, Anna Breckon and Nat Randall, place a statement in the foyer, stating their objective and intentions and clearly preparing the audience for what they are about to see.  We should leave aside why they felt it was necessary to do this – but it its, as intended, illuminating.

Moonlight and Magnolias is another triumph from the Pymble Players.

The Art Deco set is sleek and stylish with the attention to detail that regular theatre audiences have come to expect from Joy Sweeney.  The black walls extend seamlessly into the hall, giving the audience the illusion that they too are sitting in David O. Selznick's office.