Reviews

Skyfall: The Music of James Bond

Created by Adam Brunes and Naomi Price. Starring Naomi Price and Luke Kennedy. The Little Red Company. Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 14 to 16 July 2022

Skyfall is the sort of entertainment audiences have been longing for. And, in the week that we lost the composer of the original James Bond theme, Monty Norman, the show was a fitting tribute to the enjoyment that the film franchise’s songs have given audiences over the decades. Now, when you think of the classic James Bond theme tunes, you think of iconic voices: Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Lulu, Simon Le Bon, Sam Smith, Adele, and others.

In Sight of the Sea

By Lis Hoffman and Phil Jeng Kane. Harbour Theatre. Directed by Lis Hoffman. Camelot Theatre, Mosman Park, WA. Jul 15-21, 2022

Harbour Theatre’s In Sight of the Sea is a locally written play, set just up the road in Cottesloe, in a shared apartment “in sight of the sea”.

Paris or Die

Written & performed by Jayne Tuttle. Adapted from her memoir with co-creator & director John Bolton. La Mama HQ, Carlton. 13 – 24 July 2022

A single brilliant red bentwood chair sits centre stage.  Jayne Tuttle descends the stairs, a willowy figure all in black.  She seems at first just a little uncertain – as if she doesn’t quite understand the story that she is about to tell us – or that we won’t understand it.  She’s not her yet; she’s unformed; she’s pretending to be the eponymous Betty Blue, who’s sexy and burns down buildings.  It’s a touching picture and it engages our sympathy straight away. 

Relatively Speaking

By Alan Ayckbourn. Director by Philippa Dwyer. Nash Theatre, New Farm Brisbane. July 15 – 30, 2022.

Alan Ayckbourn’s first successful play takes place during a summer weekend in the bed-sitting room, Ginny’s London flat and on the garden patio of Sheila and Philip’s home in Buckinghamshire, outside London. This simple setting makes for a free-flowing production to carry the intriguing relationships to an end, relatively speaking. The play opens in the flat of Greg (Connor Kenny) and Ginny (Staff King), a co-habiting couple, with Ginny the more sexually experienced. Flowers, odd slippers - what is really the case?

Puppets

The Butterfly Club, Melbourne. July 11 – 16, 2022

Once Upon a Time there was a woman in her prime seeking love and understanding from a “perfect” male, but she found it near impossible. Puppets is a whimsical, and a little woeful, musical/comedy show that explores modern dating, written and performed by Olivia Ruggiero and directed by Carly Fisher.

Il Trovatore

Music by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Salvadore Cammarano. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Directed by Davide Livermore. Conducted by Andrea Battistoni. July 15 – 30, 2022.

This is a bloodcurdlingly brilliant performance which dazzles visually and musically.

As is the fashion for new productions from Opera Australia, digital scenario is the tool used to sweep the audience from one moment to the next. This is very handy in the opening scene when a chorus of soldiers are told about something horrific which happened fifteen years previously.

In traditional productions audience members must read the subtitles to get the gist of the story.

Irish Theatre Players One Act Season

By Yvette Wall, Harold Pinter and Seán Byrne. Directed by Dale James Tadhg Lawrence and Stan O'Neill. The Irish Club of WA, Subiaco, WA. July 14-22, 2022

Irish Theatre Players’ One Act Season is a mixed bag of plays, with something for everyone. The three plays are Dilate, by local writer Yvette Wall, the well-known The Dumb Waiter, written by Harold Pinter and The Plan, by Irish Theatre Players member Sean Byrne.

Ugly Love

Written and directed by Lucy Matthews. Acoustic Theatre Company. Flight Path Theatre, Marrickville (NSW). 14 – 23 July, 2022

Writing a musical play is ambitious. Getting it on to the stage can be difficult. Doing both yourself can be … challenging, testing, tiring  … especially during two years of pandemic-instigated illness and restrictions. But, if you are as determined and resolute as Lucy Matthews, it can also be exhilarating.

In Crimson

Directed by Natalie Allan. HotHouse Company. Building 8, All Saints College, Bull Creek, WA. Jul 12-16, 2022

In Crimson is an immersive, promenade style contemporary dance piece presented as a collaboration and creative partnership between creative director Natalie Allan, and the HotHouse Company - an initiative of All Saints College.

The Comedy of Errors

By William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. 13 – 23 July 2022 – other venues to follow.

First, accept the premise: identical twin boys are born on the same day in Syracuse to Emilia (Leilani Loau) and Egeon (Maitland Schnaars), a merchant; both boys are called Antipholus.  On the same day, another set of identical twin boys is born; Egeon buys/adopts them from their penniless mother as ‘bondsmen’ to serve his twins and calls them both Dromio.  

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