Reviews

Theatre stages see many transformations, but surely there are few more different than that which has occurred at the Pavilion Theatre over the past few weeks. From Anne Frank’s crowded, dimly lit garret in war-time Amsterdam, it is transformed to 17th century England and the reign of the “Merry Monarch”, King Charles II.

Federico García Lorca premiered his controversial play Yerma in 1934 when it mightily challenged the institution of Catholicism and the strict sexual mores of Spanish society.  He describes his work as ‘a tragic poem’ and playwright Holly Brindley certainly maintains a poetic lexicon in this adaptation for Foul Play as part of RUMPUS’ inaugural 2019 Adelaide season.

Christmas comes early to Newtown as the New Theatre presents the Sydney premiere of this delightful small-scale musical. Based on the 2006 movie that gave Toni Collette her break into Hollywood, Little Miss Sunshine covers an 800-mile family road trip to California where Olive, the youngest member, can compete in a beauty pageant and be ‘the first Miss America from New Mexico’.

After some criticism a number of years ago, Sydney’s Darlinghurst Theatre Company has focused on increasing the number of women’s voices on stage. This new Australian play does that with full force - it’s created solely by women and is entirely about women. It hits the mark too.