Reviews

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.  

Our Blood Runs in the Street

By Shane Anthony and ensemble, presented by Metro Arts and Chopt Logic. New Benner Theatre, Metro Arts, Brisbane. 14 to 16 July 2022

Our Blood Runs in the Street is a thoughtful and sensitive stage exploration of those lives lost to gay hate crimes in Australia in our recent past. The piece does not focus on any one individual, but one story that will be familiar is US maths student, Scott Johnson, whose ‘fall’ from a cliff in Sydney in 1988 was immediately ruled suicide by local police and a coronial inquest.

Singin’ in the Rain Jr.

By Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Bel Canto Performing Arts. Directed by Blake Jenkins. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. July 8-16, 2022

Bel Canto Performing Arts’ production of Singin’ in the Rain Jr. is a top-notch junior production that blows many adult musicals out of the water. With fabulous performers and outstanding production values, this show deserves its capacity audiences and compresses throughout.

Looking for Alibrandi

By Vidya Rajan, based on the book by Melina Marchetta. Presented by Malthouse Theatre and Belvoir. Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo. Merlyn Theatre, The Malthouse, 113 Sturt Street Southbank. 9 - 31 July 2022.

The adaptation of this classic Australian coming of age tale allows this version to resonate not only with an Italian-Australian community but anyone whose heritage is outside the white Anglo-Saxon (now somewhat anachronistic) norm. The production remains faithful to the novel and the film versions, keeping all the familiar main characters. However, there are some subtle and significant differences that give this version a very individual quality.

THREE 2.0

Australian Dance Collective. Brisbane Powerhouse. 13 to 16 July 2022

Forget State of Origin football – Queensland’s athletic staying power was on display last night at Brisbane Powerhouse – as the Australian Dance Collective’s (ADC’s) group of six dancers took to the stage for their opening night of just six performances. The three pieces total just under two hours of constant movement and energy – a total triumph of athleticism. There is satisfying symmetry in this meticulous work, with an overall structure of three independent pieces.

A Day at a Time in Rhyme

Written and performed by Jane Clifton. La Mama HQ, Faraday Street, Carlton. 13 – 24 July 2022

Jane Clifton resolved to write a poem every single day across a year.  And she did.  Her show is based on the published anthology of those poems.  First joke: ‘I’ll now read to you all three hundred and sixty-five poems… Lock the doors.’  We laugh – and she’s got us. 

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