Reviews

Mordialloc Theatre Company always brings the goods to the Mornington Peninsula theatrical scene and Australia Day has certainly combined with all their tremendous work to date.

The play, written by Jonathan Biggins (an all-rounder performer, writer, and director in his own right), attempts to show what its like to sneak a peek into the conflict that surrounds the significance and substance of our National public holiday.

By a Thread is the name of the piece and also describes most of the action - the performers spend much of the night hanging by a thread, albeit a chunky one. They climb, swing balance, slide, catch, pull, twist and caress a single piece of rope to the delight (and gasps) of the audience.

Matt Byrne is never afraid to bring big musicals to the Adelaide Community Theatre scene. Aware of the success of Matt Byrne Media’s past musicals, such as Mary Poppins and Wicked, I expected Saturday Night Fever to be a feast of energy, fantastic singing and dancing, a strong storyline, memorable performances and the disco beat of the iconic Bee Gees’ songs.

On the show’s opening night some of my expectations were realised, namely in key performances, but various elements outside the cast’s control let the production down.

I encountered this production in Dandenong last year, at the start of another tour of the country. With another invitation to review, I thought it might have been a new production, but it wasn’t, and many of the performers were retained.

It worked very well with an Australian translation and scenery. The period costumes didn’t quite fit, but no one minded. I don’t recall Cherubino rifling through love letters from his girl-friends to find his commission last time, so that was a welcome innovation.