Reviews

Through dimly lit stairways and passages chillingly lined with black plastic, groups of twenty triaged ‘patients’ are led into the dreamy, delusionary miasma and hazy treatment wards of an off-the-grid sanatorium. Here, led by an obsessive clinician known only as The Doctor, a team of eccentric medical recruits ghoulishly prepare to share some unconventional therapies based on bizarre research and questionable experiments.

Tea Tree Players have been tailoring live community theatre to their loyal audiences since 1976 and My Friend Miss Flint, the first of this year’s offerings, is no exception.

Premiering in 1984, My Friend Miss Flint is an often performed, typical British comedy. However, times have changed and references to “fat, unattractive women” are unnecessary and could be cut without affecting the play’s integrity.

It is not hard to imagine how the visual splendour of the original 1994 film could be transposed to the stage. This tenth-anniversary return run lives up to every expectation and is just as flamboyant and impish as the film. This musical version is an absolute extravaganza of glittering costumes, awesome sets and fabulous musical talent.

Self-proclaiming “three-time Helpmann Award-winner” Mitchell Butel is here the vessel through which God steps down to revise with us his now musty Ten Commandments. 

It’s a God, of course, more queenly than godly, an acidic, point scoring showman who, while correcting many of our biblical misunderstandings, ends a little conflicted about his values.