By James Graham. Ensemble Theatre (NSW). July 7 – August 20, 2016.
The Australian premiere of Welsh playwright James Graham’s delightfully poignant play sits beautifully on the intimate Ensemble stage. First produced in Wales in 2009, the play has been acclaimed in the UK and Broadway. It’s a gentle, touching story about love, fear … and some of the good things about modern technology. In the deft hands of director Nicole Buffoni, this production finds the “all heart and love” the play deserves.
By Joshua Harmon. Aleksandar Vass & Vass Theatre Group Production. Director: Gary Abrahams. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. 12 - 31 July 2016.
Joshua Harmon’s corrosively brutal comedy Bad Jews takes the dynamics of a dysfunctional family to the extreme. The day after their grandfather Poppy’s funeral, in a cramped New York studio apartment, two Jewish brothers, their cousin and a gentile squabble over a piece of religious jewellery that belonged to the deceased. Throughout his internment in a concentration camp Poppy hid the Chai (which in Hebrew means living) from the Nazi’s under his tongue.
By Penelope Bartlau & Barking Spider Visual Theatre. Fairhall Exhibition House, The Johnston Collection, Melbourne. 12 July – 20 September 2016.
The Johnston Collection of Georgian, Regency and Louis XV paintings, furniture, objet d’art and bric-a-brac is held at ‘Fairhall’, an 1860s house in East Melbourne. Now a private museum, it was the house of William Johnston (1911-1986), an antique dealer and collector. He bequeathed his Collection and the house to the people of Victoria ‘as a place of historical and educational interest’. He wished for his collection to be accessible – no velvet ropes and restricted areas – and for it to be regularly rearranged, which it h
By Noël Coward, adapted by Emma Rice. Directed by Jane Sherwood Stirling Theatre, Innaloo, WA. 1-16 July 2016
Based on the Noël Coward play, Still Life, Brief Encounter is an adaptation of the film of the same name. This adaptation is by Emma Rice, who enhances the story with songs by Noël Coward, set to music by Stu Baker.
Jane Sherwood has cast this show very well, her excellent choices giving lovely chemistry and very commendable performances.
By Eugene O’Neill. Directed by Andrei Schiller-Chan. Sol III Company. Chapel off Chapel. July 7 – 24, 2016
There is a small core of classic playwrights, but some are eternal, and some are of their time; not thematically, for they all use the same tropes and traditions of universal storytelling, but in terms of language, sophistication and their ability to connect with us years later. Shakespeare wrote for the masses 500 years ago, and yet is timeless. Eugene O’Neill wrote less than 100 years ago – yet seems dated in his storytelling, even though both wrote about the same themes many times over.
Play by Mary Chase. Nash Theatre. Director: Bianca Butler Reynolds. Merthyr Road Uniting Church, New Farm, Brisbane. 9-30 July 2016
Until The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons revived Harvey on Broadway in 2012, productions of Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize winner had been thin on the ground. Formerlya staple on the community theatre circuit it now seems to be back in favour again. Nash Theatre’s production is the second I’ve reviewed this year.
Despite being written in 1944 the play about a man whose best friend is an imaginary six-foot rabbit still has currency. That’s because at its heart it’s a play about friendships, beliefs and morals.
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeaton. Story and Book by Peter Stone. Directed by James Cutler. StageArt. Chapel off Chapel. July 7 – 24, 2016
“Charming” is an odd word to use about a show which tells of the death of more than 1,000 people, but charming is the first word that comes to mind with Titanic. Maury Yeston’s lovely score (albeit a little repetitive) is poignant and evocative, and Peter Stone’s book quite brilliantly establishes 60 unique and very different characters in just a few vignettes each, creating people we actually care for. It’s also often witty and clever, providing much needed chuckles to break the tension of what is to come.
Opera by Gioacchino Rossini. Libretto: Cesare Sterbini based on Le Barbier de Seville (1775) by Pierre Beaumarchais. Conductor: Roland Peelman. Director: Lindy Hume. Opera Q. Playhouse, QPAC. 9-23 July 2016
This year celebrates the 200th anniversary of Rossini’s beloved Barber of Seville and this Opera Q co-production with Seattle Opera and New Zealand Opera reminds us what a true sparkling confection it is and why it remains as popular today as it was back in the 1800s. A perfect example of Opera-Bouffa its story of mistaken identities and secret lover’s trysts has all the elements of farce and that’s what director Lindy Hume has given us in this highly choreographed door-slamming romp.
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeaton. Story and Book by Peter Stone. Directed by James Cutler. StageArt. Chapel off Chapel. July 7 – 24, 2016
“Charming” is an odd word to use about a show which tells of the death of more than 1,000 people, but charming is the first word that comes to mind with Titanic. Maury Yeston’s lovely score (albeit a little repetitive) is poignant and evocative, and Peter Stone’s book quite brilliantly establishes 60 unique and very different characters in just a few vignettes each, creating people we actually care for. It’s also often witty and clever, providing much needed chuckles to break the tension of what is to come.
By Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Company. Blackout Theatre Company. The Depot Theatre, Marrickville. July 6 – 9, 2016
Blackout Theatre Company’s production of The Laramie Project has shown the power of verbatim theatre – and how movingly effective it can be in the hands of a director and cast who believe so strongly in the message they bring to the stage. Even on closing night, the intensity of the company’s conviction was strong and the emotional impact on the audience compelling.
