Reviews

The Flick

By Annie Baker. Outhouse Theatre Co. Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre (NSW). April 5 – 21, 2018

The raked seating of the Reginald Theatre is mirrored by a similar rake of red plush seating. Red and black cinema style carpet stretches up steps to an aisle. Above it, in a high, dark-curtained wall are the windows of the projection box of The Flick, a cinema in Worcester, Massachusetts. Both theatre and cinema black out simultaneously. Loud music heralds the credits of a movie. Lights come up on the empty cinema, littered with spilt popcorn.

The Wizard of Oz

Music: Harold Arlen. Lyrics: E.Y. Harburg. Additional Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber. Additional Lyrics: Tim Rice. Adaptation: Andrew Lloyd Webber & Jeremy Sams. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s New Production, produced by John Frost and Suzanne Jones, by arrangement with The Production Company. Adelaide Festival Centre. April 1 – 29.

You can be pretty sure sentimental childhood memories are in play when there are more adults than youngsters in an audience for a production that is, in reality, a children’s story. The Wizard of Oz is such a show and it’s magical.

The current touring production is now in Adelaide and locals are heading to Oz in droves to see what the fuss is about for this new Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams adaptation, which is based on the London Palladium production.

Les Mamelles de Tirésias

By Francis Poulenc. Lyric Opera of Melbourne. Director: Cathy Hunt. Conductor: Simon Bruckard. Chapel off Chapel. April 7 – 14, 2018.

With Les Mamelles de Tirésias Lyric Opera have continued their practice of performing obscure works. Written at the end of the World War II, this surreal opera features Therese, the title character, railing against being a woman. So she discards her breasts (balloons) and goes into the world in search of a more fulfilling life.

Her husband takes on the female role and decides to have babies – thousands of them! The moral of the story was that, at the end of the war, France was to populate or perish.

It was a delightful romp.

Julius Caesar

By William Shakespeare. Directed by Nicholas Hytner. National Theatre Live from The Bridge Theatre, London. Nova Cinemas, Carlton VIC (& other participating venues). 14 – 25 April 2018

This National Theatre Live presentation of the Bridge Theatre production of Julius Caesar is a model of clarity and focussed emotion.  While the play is an uncanny paradigm for some sadly familiar political disasters, at its centre is the figure of Brutus – it is, in textbook terms, ‘Brutus’ story’.

Mr Bailey’s Minder

By Debra Oswald. The Theatre on Chester. Director: Kaye Lopez. 6th – 28th April, 2018

‘Tis a pity Debra Oswald has stopped writing for the stage, because, despite the success of her TV, film and more recently her novels, the characters she created for the theatre have an authenticity that gives directors, actors and audiences much to think about and much to love. They are enduring and the issues they face transcend generations.

A Few Good Men

By Aaron Sorkin. Ballina Players. Director: Mike Sheehan. Players Theatre. April 6th – 15th, 2018

This ‘tour de force’ production is another feather in the cap of the Ballina Players. 

Director Mike Sheehan has assembled an outstanding cast of seasoned and new recruits in this epic Court (Martial) drama, led by Dylan Wheeler as Lt Daniel Kaffee, Mel Strawbridge - Lt Cmdr Joanne Galloway and John Rado - Lt Col Nathan Jessep (in the movie version these roles were played by Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson).

Liam Gatt, Luke Mulder, Carl Moore and Graeme Speed also gave strong performances as the Naval personnel caught up in the drama.

Communicating Doors

By Alan Ayckbourn. Tea Tree Players. Tea Tree Players Theatre, Surrey Downs (SA). April 4-14, 2018

Communicating Doors is Alan Ayckbourn meets Doctor Who on speed.

The premise of the story is simple, but the plot convoluted. Reece, an elderly man, has summoned Poopay, a Dominatrix, to witness the murder confession of his previous two wives. Poopay then travels back 20 years to meet Ruella, Reece’s second wife. Ruella then travels back to meet Jessica, Reece’s first wife. From then on, a number of people time travel back and forward to prevent the two murders.

Jane and Kel Go to Hell

Written by Steve Pirie. Directed by Steve Pirie and Maddie Nixon. Presented by Share House Theatre Company. Lumen Room, Metro Arts Theatre 5 – 7 April, 2018

There’s a special joy that comes from viewing locally created works that could easily hold their own on a world stage. Brisbane playwright Steve Pirie has delivered such a script with his devilishly funny horror comedy Jane and Kel Go to Hell. The play is a laugh-out-loud, thrilling, well-paced buddy story with relatable characters and nonstop quotable dialogue. Amid the laughter, thrills and familiar songs, he’s incorporated a heart-warming tale of friendship and love.

Sami in Paradise

Based on The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman. Adapted by Eamon Flack and The Company. Belvoir Theatre, Sydney. Director: Eamon Flack. 1–29 April 2018

There was a real crackle of enthusiasm in the run-up to the official opening performance of this play at the Belvoir. Written in 1928, Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide is considered one of the finest comedies to have emerged from the early phase of Communist Russia. Never, to this day, played in Russia, it remains happily, blissfully above the run of normal drama — a real one-off. 

God of Carnage

Written by Yasmine Reza. Translated by Christopher Hampton. Directed by Leonie Walsh. Presented by Sunnybank Theatre Group. Sunnybank Theatre, 6 – 21 April, 2018

If you’re looking for an enjoyable, relatable, laugh-out-loud comedy, God of Carnage is not to be missed. As is often the case, the show’s hilarious foundations begin with an excellent script. What Sunnybank Theatre did with that foundation simply amplified the excellence of the written words.

Upon arrival, the first thing that hit us was the outstanding attention to detail in the set design. The costuming was also very well chosen and together, they both spoke volumes about the characters before a single word was uttered.  

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