Reviews

Kalamunda, Here I Come

By Noel O'Neill. Directed by Caroline McDonnell. KADS Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda, WA. Feb 14 - Mar 3, 2018

Kalamunda, Here I Come, by West Australian author Noel O’Neill, had its World Premiere and a successful run at the Irish Theatre Players in late 2016. KADS now present this show in its “spiritual home, in Kalamunda.

Noel O’Neill, who is Cork born, and often has an Irish flavour in his writing, now lives in Kalamunda and tells the tale of a young Irish woman who is considering a move across the world to the strange sounding Kalamunda. A kitchen-sink drama of the best kind, it deals with family life and is warm and funny.

Fiddler on the Roof

Book by Jospeh Stein. Music by Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Rockdale Musical Society. Rockdale Town Hall. March 2 - 11, 2018.

The characters of Fiddler on the Roof remind the world of the effects of oppression in one of the most effective ways possible – through theatre and music. Though set in the mythical, 19th century town of Anatevka, the effects of change and discrimination faced by that small community are not too far away from the changing and troubled places in the world today.

Twelfth Night

By William Shakespeare. Melbourne Shakespeare Company. Victoria Gardens. Mar 2 - 4, 2018.

Twilight is a magical hour in the gardens, especially on a balmy March evening sipping my chardonnay and enjoying the magnificent Twelfth Night, the new production by Melbourne Shakespeare Company performed in the sumptuous Victoria Gardens.

Hamlet

By Brett Dean (musical score) and Matthew Jocelyn (libretto). A Glyndebourne Festival Opera Production. Adelaide Festival 2018. Festival Theatre, Adelaide. March 2 - 6, 2018

Hamlet (the opera) is one of the jewels of the Adelaide Festival of Arts. It is a juggernaut, featuring an orchestra of 70, a cast of approximately 60 and a set that is monumental.

The Festival Theatre was packed to the rafters on the first night of this long-awaited opera and anticipation was at a peak. The audience was not disappointed.

The real heroes of this opera are Shakespeare, Brett Dean (musical score) and Matthew Jocelyn (libretto).

A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer

By Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel with Kirsty Housley. Complicité Associates. Directed by Kirsty Housley. Canberra Theatre Centre 28 February - 3 March, 2018; Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne 7 - 18 March; Seymour Centre, Sydney 22 - 29 March.

“Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick,” wrote Susan Sontag in Illness as Metaphor. In A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer, Bryony Kimmings leads the audience by the hand from the kingdom of the well into the kingdom of the sick in a way that’s both gentle and deceptive. Initially there’s a kind of amateur drama informality with self-effacing humour and rock songs. At this point the cancer is theoretical—viewed through books and activists’ quotes.

I Still Have No Friends

Adelaide Fringe. Presented by SAYarts. Devised by On The Fringe. Written by Alan Grace. Directed by Claire Glenn. Tandanya Theatre, 253 Grenfell St, Adelaide. 28 Feb - 4 Mar, 2018.

Knowing that this is a show enacted by youth performers, the title might lead you to expect a well-mannered examination/dramatization of teenage loneliness and/or online bullying. What we get instead is a pretty fierce and frightening depiction of human relations that, when faced with the sudden breakdown of society as we know it, descend into the kind of tribalism that signals a very bleak future indeed.

Annie Get Your Gun

Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Old Nick Theatre Summer School. Darren Sangwell (Director). Glenn Schultz (Musical Director). Maddie Smith (Set Designer). Hobart College. February 23- March 3 2018

Annie Get Your Gun is a show this author needed to see twice. Every February, Old Nick, as part of their annual Summer School, produce a high-quality energetic production which never fails to disappoint. 

Kill Climate Deniers

By David Finnigan. Griffin Theatre Company. Director: Lee Lewis. SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney. 23 September - 7 April 2018

When writer David Finnigan speaks about his play Kill Climate Deniers he calls it “stupid, over-the-top, flashy, ridiculous, fun — and angry, because I am angry.” That’s a long list, but one that looks good after its dynamic premiere at the Stables Theatre. Winner of the $10,000 Griffin Playwrights Award for 2017, the play shows off its class effortlessly.

Kosher Bacon

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2018.Presented by Michael Shafar. The GC at The German Club-Cellar. Feb 27th to March 4th, 2018

1. The word kosher, literally meaning “clean” or “pure,” refers to food that has been ritually prepared or blessed so it can be eaten by religious Jews.

2. kosher (informal) genuine and legitimate.

The humour begins even before the show. It takes great wit with a generous helping of ironic humour for a good Jewish boy to do a show called Kosher Bacon at The German Club and he comments on this.

The Manganiyar Seduction

By Roysten Abel. Can & Abel Theatres Production - Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), March 1 and 2, 2018; then Arts Centre Melbourne, and Botanic Park, Adelaide.

When you imagine a show called ‘spectacular’ it usually conjures a giddying, colourful array of acrobats, jugglers, plate-spinners and exotic dancers. Well, the Manganiyar Seduction is all of these things – only the visions occur in your mind’s eye – a mirage, an oasis created by the power that comes from 40 musicians performing traditional folk music together.

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