Reviews

At the mention of Comfort Food Cabaret, this reviewer grabbed the opportunity to see this show. Promising to combine everyone’s favourite food with music, this show dishes up the goods in spades.

Michelle Pearson serves a tantalising feast for all five senses - singing and cooking her way through a three-course meal, plated up and fed to the audience. Heaven.

A show for the dark-humoured who appreciate quality writing and acting, with a generous splash of violence and a dash of the supernatural.

We join two lonely women and a homicidal maniac on a drama-filled night, venturing from light to darkness, ordinary to fantasy, as they push their limits and make deals with the devil.

We get to know each character intimately, although their names are never revealed. Through a series of monologues, we discover their rationalisation of their actions and eventually how their paths are intertwined.

Shakti is a dancer of Indian and Japanese heritage and the cultural influences are evident in her choice of choreography. Pandora takes us on a journey of self-imposed suppression and the artist uses the myth of Pandora’s Box as a catalyst for her performance.

This venue allows for a vast performing space. Dark lighting with a splash of red illuminates venetian blinds upstage. When open, they reveal Shakti, blindfolded with a red satin sash, her feet shackled and hands bound with handcuffs. She is wearing a black latex corset.

Brilliantly acted, with a spectacular set change, but lacking the emotional connection of smaller productions. That was one view which emerged in the foyer of the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre after watching this seminal Australian play, 31 years after it opened at the much cosier Griffin Theatre.

Director Matthew Lutton had the large stage to play with and steered the production more towards its Shakespearean allusions.