Reviews

Ya’Djin Spirit Women

By The First Creatives. BEMAC Live. Queensland Multicultural Centre (BEMAC). 18 May 2024

With both their one-day-only performances of Ya’Djin Spirit Women sold out, The First Creatives are definitely an inspirational force to be reckoned with. This was their first full-length production at BEMAC, Brisbane’s welcoming multicultural centre, somewhat hidden underneath the Story Bridge. The talented group’s dancers are Allirah Fisher, Maddy Fisher, Erika Jayne Goldsmith, Kahli Coolwell, Vanessa Coolwell, and Rebekah Holdaway.

Merrily We Roll Along

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by George Furth. Ad Astra, Brisbane. 16 May to 8 June 2024

When Stephen Sondheim rewrote a 1934 stage play as his new musical Merrily We Roll Along for the 1400-seat Neil Simon (Alvin) Theatre on Broadway, I’m sure he would not have thought that an outstanding performance of his musical would be 40 years in the future in a small 40-seat black box theatre in Brisbane! But I am sure that, wherever he is, the late, great Mr Sondheim would be nodding his approval at the superb cast in Ad Astra’s production. For a start, the smaller setting suits the New York apartment backdrop.

44 Sex Acts in One Week

Written by David Finnigan. Directed by Sheridan Harbridge. Presented by Dans Maree Sheehan, Club House Productions. Brisbane Comedy Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, 16 - 25 May, 2024

One of the best performances to grace 2024’s Brisbane Comedy Festival, 44 Sex Acts in One Week, was a hilarious, heart-warming, subversive, and intelligent show that stood out like a banana in your pocket.

Murder on the Menu

Written by Devon Williamson. Directed by Adelle O’Connell. Presented by Mates Theatre Genesis. Donald Simpson Centre, Cleveland Qld. 17 – 26 May, 2024

When it comes to community theatre, the magic often lies in the palpable enthusiasm of the cast and crew. Murder on the Menu, penned by Devon Williamson and staged by Mates Theatre Genesis, is a prime example of this. The show, running from May 17 to 26 at the Donald Simpson Centre, offers a riotous blend of comedy, clever writing, and genuine joy that will leave audiences thoroughly entertained.

Cowardy, Cowardy Custard

By Noël Coward. The Arch, Holden Street Theatres Inc, SA. May 14 - June 1, 2024

The partnership of man about town and retired media identity, and multi-faceted producer, director, costumer and actor Martha Lott has once again seen a totally different choice of play by Holden Street Inc.; this time, 50 years after his death, to entertain and celebrate legendary Noël Coward’s work.

Jersey Boys

Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice. Music by Bob Gaudio. Lyrics by Bob Crewe. Willoughby Theatre Company. The Concourse Theatre, Chatswood. May 17 to June 2, 2024.

Sometimes you go to a community theatre production and the divide between the amateur and the professional shows is understandably vast.  Once in a blue moon you go to community theatre and you are hard pressed to distinguish the difference between the two.  This was the case at the opening night of Willoughby Theatre Company’s first offering for 2024, Jersey Boys.

Beautiful Burnout

By Bryony Lavery. WAAPA Third Year Acting. Directed by Matt Edgerton. Enright Studio, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. May 16-18, 2024

Beautiful Burnout is a Scottish play that explores the world of boxing - both the passion and love for the sport as well as its potential for damage. Explored through young boxers including a young Cameron Burns, and from the outside from the perspective of Cameron’s mother, this 90-minute play was performed by half of the current WAAPA Third Year Acting Cohort, and crewed, designed, and built by WAAPA Production and Design Students.

Girl Asleep

By Matthew Whittet. Third Year WAAPA Acting. Directed by Tasnim Hossain. The Enright Studio, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. May 16-18, 2024

Girl Asleep was performed by 6 of the Third Year WAAPA Acting cohort and designed, built, and crewed by WAAPA Production and Design Students It played for a very short season in WAAPA’s intimate Enright Studio, in conjunction with sibling production Beautiful Burnout.

Rootless Cosmopolitans

By Ron Elisha. Monstrous Theatre. The Loft, Chapel off Chapel, Prahran. 15 May – 2 June 2024

‘Rootless cosmopolitans’ was the snide euphemism for Jews in Stalin’s USSR.  Permanent outsiders, people who don’t belong, can’t be trusted – and yet are also greedy, much too powerful, etc.  Every antisemitic cliché that has justified pogroms, persecution, exclusion, the Holocaust and the simmering suspicion and antisemitism that never goes away – and always threatens to break out.  When I was a kid, ‘Jew’ was an insult.  Such is the subject of Ron Elisha’s play.  That and contemporary ‘cancel

The Haunting

Written by Hugh James. Tugun Theatre Company, Gold Coast. Directed by Nathan Schulz. May 9th -25th, 2024

Are there ghosts afoot or is it merely synchronicity that sees two terrific ghost stories brought to the stage with days of each other, despite a year or more of planning?

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