Written & performed by Nicolette Minster. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The Westin – Westin Four. 27 March – 6 April 2025
What seems to’ve caught Nicolette Minster’s eye, and sparked her speculative imagination, was a news story about a snorkeller in full wet-suit gear being found drowned miles from the sea. Weird, eh? Turns out there is an explanation. A helicopter was involved... And water.
By Piotr Sikora. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The Motley Bauhaus. March 27 – April 20, 2025
This is the most moving one-man clown show I have ever seen.
Every few years there is some clown-type that comes from overseas and wows the Australian fringe comedy scene. It is often lo-fi (due to travelling light), highly embodied and has a certain je ne sais quoi that inspires a tier of young performers to go and study clown or physical comedy as soon as humanly possible. Furiozo by Polish artist Piotr Sikora is surely one of those shows.
FORM Dance Projects. Riverside Theatres Parramatta. 29 Mar – 5 April, 2025
That’s Two, Thank You is a new annual dance festival celebrating “the art of the duet”. Featuring local, regional, national, and international artists, the festival shows how “two bodies can dance a whole world of stories”. Some are intimate, some whimsical, some philosophical. They are told in innovative choreography that fuses dance and theatre in a myriad of ways.
Melbourne Comedy Festival. Comedy Theatre 240 Exhibition St, Melbourne. 27 March – 6 April 2025
Luke McGregor is a familiar face on the Australian small screen. He wrote and starred in Rosehaven with Celia Pacquola and has also appeared on Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, Thank God You're Here. More recently he raced his way around the world with his mum on The Amazing Race Australia. Part of his charm is an endearing awkwardness which he transforms into a surprisingly candid insight into his personal life.
By Samuel Beckett. Directed by Virginia Moore-Price. KADS Town Hall Theatre, Kalamunda WA. Mar 7-22, 2025
Endgame is named for the situation in chess, when you know how the game will end, but need to continue playing until the game ends. This show is about futility and has a sense of loss and despair, making it not the happiest or most uplifting play.
Adapted by Ronald Hanmer and Phil Park from the stage play by Charles K. Freeman (and Warner Bros film by James O’Hanlon). Bille Brown Theatre, Queensland Theatre, Brisbane. 22 March to 17 April 2025
Calamity Jane’s traditional 1950s views of gender roles may be the reason why the show often sits unperformed for a decade or so before being rediscovered, usually as a showcase for an exceptional leading lady. In Australia in 2016 and 2017, Neglected Musicals presented a stage reading and then a revival production with a musical cabaret makeover by director Richard Carroll. Richard reprises his role as director for this new 2025 production (and Queensland premiere), which features some of his original supporting cast.
Presented by Melbourne Recital Centre, 31 Sturt St Southbank Melbourne. Wednesday 26 March 2025.
The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (Freiburger Barockorchester) returned for a second concert featuring celebrated piano virtuoso Kristian Bezuidenhout who teamed up with the sparkling soprano Siobhan Stagg. Together with the orchestra they created an electric and vibrant atmosphere recreating the elegant tones of the 18th century.
George Zacharopoulos. JN Comedy Productions. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The Oxford Scholar, Swanston St, Melbourne. March 26 – April 20, 2025.
By Tennessee Williams. The Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Directed by Liesel Badorrek. 21 March – 26 April, 2025
The first thing you notice is the wallpaper. It says ‘1930s America’ most of the time, but in the middle there’s a giant portrait of a handsome man that has started to peel from the wall and, in a remarkable effect, collect in a large puddle on the floor. It’s part of a brilliant set design by Grace Deacon that includes a large outside fire escape and a tiny all-glass toy set, the menagerie of Tennessee Williams’ title.
By Thomas Sainsbury. Bad Company Theatre. Directors: Milla Chaffer and Finn Carter. Sound Design: Finn Carter. Tech operator and Stage management: Katrina Green. The Hidden Theatre, Tasmania. 21-29 March 2025
Families can be awful. Around the dinner table, we are often at our worst, reverting to childhood roles, throwing up long held resentments and uncovering family secrets. Sunday Roast by Thomas Sainsbury is a black comedy exposing a grotesque family at their worst. In a parody worthy of Aristophanes, the worst excesses of the privileged and corrupt are exposed.
