Reviews

This revival of Lally Katz’ 2011 hit was snatched from the New Theatre stage by COVID just before its opening night in March.  Now the plucky theatre – with strict protocols and distancing – has thankfully reopened its doors, and this play, with a different director, designer and some cast changes. 

Neighbourhood Watch is a deceptively difficult darkish comedy, telling in cinematically short scenes and flashes, an Australian neighbourhood story of inter-generational friendship, as historic griefs are reforged into new hopes.

From the moment we join the socially distanced queue, we can feel an air of excitement that, for most of us, has been missing for the last six months. Not only is it a night out at the theatre, but at a newly rebuilt one: Her Majesty’s Theatre is a splendid reinvention of the original building. The façade remains but nearly everything behind it is new, with an almost-1,500 seat auditorium on three levels (though in these times, only every other seat was used) and it is furnished with rich reds and a forest of curved wood.

Another interesting production from Moreton Bay Theatre pushes beyond their normal choices. What was this? It proved to be as the name implied, with a wide range of songs of British origin, of course, from artists including “Rocket Man”, Queen and The Beatles. Thrown in for variety were skits based on The Two Ronnies, Benny Hill, Monty Python, and other comedians of the past. To round out the show, there were scenes featuring the characters of Ireland and Scotland.

We knew she was good, but we didn’t know she was that good! Amy Lehpamer has been visiting Brisbane for the past few years as a leading lady in The Sound of Music, Beautiful and The School of Rock, but it was the breadth of her talent that was on display last night at QPAC’s Lyrebird Restaurant. Simply amazing!