Reviews

Born Yesterday

By Garson Kanin. Melbourne Theatre Company. Directed by Dean Bryant. Southbank Theatre – The Sumner. 14 January – 25 February 2017

Usually, nowadays, when a classic play is revived by a main-stage theatre company, one anticipates a complete and radical reworking or a rather facile museum piece.   Of this, the first production of the year from MTC - Born Yesterday, a play from 1946, neither can be said.  With the wackiest and most invigorating curtain call, this captivating production feels very modern, relevant, thought provoking, and easy to relate to.

Dr. Felicity Rickshaw’s Celebrity Sex Party

By Tyler Jacob Jones and Robert Woods. Directed by Tyler Jacob Jones. Fringe World. The Engine Room, The Flaming Locomotive, State Theatre Centre of WA, Northbridge WA. Jan 20 – Feb 1, 2017

Multi award winning Dr. Felicity Rickshaw’s Celebrity Sex Party returns for a second season at FringeWorld 2017.  This bizarre but loveable musical about a lonely and awkward office worker who harbours a secret life as a celebrated writer of erotic, celebrity fan-fiction, is attracting sell-out crowds and is once again a hot-ticket production.

I Am My Own Wife

By Doug Wright. Oriel Entertainment Group. Midsumma Festival. 45downstairs, Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 17 January to 5 February 2017.

Alone for ninety minutes on an almost bare stage, dressed in the black frock, black apron, black head scarf, heavy black shoes and a string of pearls specified in the text, Ben Gerrard is Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (born Lothar Berfelde) in this intriguing, moving, funny and mysterious play.  Behind him, a near ceiling height translucent screen made up of blow-ups of Charlotte’s Stasi file: the East German Security Police’s surveillance of her, and of her betrayals of others... 

Impromptunes – The Bachela-la-la

The Bok Choy Ball Room – Noodle Palace, Fringe World, Perth. Jan 20-28, 2017

This new creation from the Impromptunes team is a wonderful celebration of The Bachelor and will be appreciated by both fans and critics of the show.

As will be expected from Impromptunes - The Bachela-la-la is also a musical and characters will burst into song with glorious frequency.  Musical accompaniment was provided by the incomparable Tim How, and delivered with great style.

All of the characters, and many plot points are drawn from the audience, as we count down towards the Bachelor choosing his one true love. (Sort of).

The Testament of Mary

By Colm Tóibín. Sydney Theatre Company. Wharf 1 Theatre. 13 January – 25 February, 2017.

We all love a back-story, the real one behind the myth, and surely no character is more encoded, more encrusted with ritual, than the one about the Mother of God!  Famed Irish writer Colm Tóibín has Mary literally stepping down from her plinth, discarding her sacred props and stripping down to a T-shirt.

Impromptunes – The Completely Improvised Musical

Fringe World. De Parel Spiegeltent – Fringe Central, Perth. Jan 20-29, 2017

Impromptunes, in its third year at Perth’s Fringe World, is an amazingly popular show, and is therefore a “must review”, as well as purely a pleasure to see. I must admit though, that reviewing this is a little bit redundant.

I don’t know what you are going to see when you go. Completely improvised from an audience suggestion, every show is the opening and closing of a brand new musical.

Dolly Diamond’s Bl*nkety Bl*nks

Midsumma Festival. Chapel off Chapel. January 20 to 28,, 2017

Midsumma Festival in Melbourne always provides great entertainment for the Straight and Gay communities together, and nowhere is this more evident than in Dolly Diamond’s latest and most entertaining offering. True, the idea is not new (though why has it taken decades to reach a stage?) and many of the older audience members remember Graham Kennedy - and in a later revival, Shane Bourne - pushing the boundaries as far as they could. The difference this time round is the incomparable Dolly, who knows no boundaries and yet still manages to appear a “lady” throughout.

Cougar Morrison – Animal Instincts

Directed by Clint Strindberg. Fringe World. Connections Nightclub (Main Room), Northbridge, WA. Jan 20-22, 2017

Playing to a packed house, Cougar Morrison – Animal Instincts is a show that defies classification. Part drag, a little bit ‘boylesque’ and a good deal old-school cabaret, it is mostly just a great show.

Cougar, the alter-ego of performer/producer Clint Strindberg, is bitchy without apology, tells a brilliant story and cuts down hecklers with sass and style, but the highlight is that Cougar is an amazing singer, with gorgeous trade-mark vibrato, who delivers unique renditions of material as varied as Piaf and Bieber.

King Roger

By Karol Szymanowski and Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. January 20 to February 15, 2017.

Conceived by Karol Szymanowski and his co-librettist Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz in 1918, King Roger was first performed in 1926, but was produced very few times until Charles Mackerras conducted its London premiere in 1975. Since 1988 it has seen a revival, with nineteen performances across the world. It comes to Australia for the first time directed by Kasper Holten in a collaboration between Opera Australia, The Royal Opera House and Dallas Opera.

Bus Boy

By Izzy McDonald. Directed by Geordie Crawley. Fringe World. The Blue Room Theatre, Perth Cultural Centre. Jan 20-28, 2017.

Bus Boy is a sensitively told tale about a boy obsessed with buses, who meets a young girl who is almost desperate for a good time.  Set on Rottnest Island, this locally written production by Izzy McDonald, is tightly performed by Rorschach Beast.

Sean Guastavino wins hearts in a compelling performance as Bus Boy, a boy in his late teens, who is clearly on the Autism Spectrum. He can name any bus-route on the mainland, can tell you the exact requirements for driving for Transperth and believes his Transperth-green coloured bike is a bus. He is also lonely.

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