Reviews

Big Fork Theatre feels like the ideal setting for a show like Ridiculous Human Being. Known for its nurturing approach to improvisation, sketch, and stand-up, the venue strikes that perfect balance between professional and relaxed—exactly the kind of space where comedy can breathe and connection with the audience can flourish.

London-based writer, Lucy Prebble, wrote The Sugar Syndrome when she was only 20-something in 2003. She has since forged a career delving further into the themes of power and self-control – for the stage, (Enron) and screen (Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Succession). And while this play, where characters meet in chatrooms is set in the dial-up modem age, it is worth revisiting for its universal theme about longing for connection. It also provides the chance for some outstanding performances by a small cast playing four complex characters.

An 'in-building' circus has arrived in Brisbane town, this time centred around Lewis Carroll's famous opus 'Alice in Wonderland' and set in a minimalist environment on an individual platform placed on the concert hall stage, even surrounded by some of the audience. It's a unique idea incorporating the famous fairytale characters in such a setting, a somewhat intimate theatrical experience being mostly viewed from afar by the auditorium audience. 

Maitreyeh Guenther enters and sits on the first of five chairs arranged on the stage. She signals the operator, the lights change, the music stops, and she begins to introduce herself. But she stops and leaves. Once more she tries, hesitantly. It is obvious that she is disturbed by what she has to say … and rightly so … because this is her story.