Reviews

Pramkicker

By Sadie Hasler. Dirty Pennies Theatre Project. Theatreworks, St Kilda, Vic. December 12 – 18, 2021.

UK Playwright Sadie Hasler has insightfully addressed the hazy line between the mothers’ and the non-mothers’ dilemma in her play Pramkickers, presented by Dirty Pennies TheatreProject and Theatreworks, directed by Poppy Rowley.

The Best of Broadway

Director Tim O’Connor. Presented by QuidPro Co. Hayward Street Studios, Brisbane. Dec 10 – 12, 2021

This brief return season follows up on a successful season in October and it is obvious why it needed to return. Obviously there are differing opinions of what are the best of Broadway but the selection offered here is great. The tunes come from hit shows including Les Misérables, Funny Girl, Carousel, Annie Get Your Gun and The Wizard of Oz, featuring songs from most of the Broadway greats. How was this done?

Circus in a Tea Cup

Vulcana Circus and Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane. 16 to 18 December 2021

Circus in a Tea Cup is a brilliant concept, well executed, highly entertaining as well as moving and enlightening, dealing delicately but also boldly with the theme of surviving domestic violence. In this show, a humble home becomes the setting to explore what it is like to feel safe, laughing over a cuppa with friends, only to have that world turn topsy turvy and upside-down.

Boyle and Waters in LEOTARD

Debase productions and Metro Arts. New Benner Theatre, Brisbane. 9 to 18 December 2021

If you did ballet as a kid, or aerobics as an adult, if you had a sister who was an acting student or a cousin who was a dancer, your life has crossed paths with the leotard – that innocuous plain-colour or sequined-enhanced theatrical costume that, due to its versatility, has survived the decades. When performers Bridget Boyle and Neridah Waters stockpiled a collection of leotards to develop a new show, the nametags lovingly stitched into each hand-me-down piece got them thinking about the women who wore those items.

let bleeding girls lie

Written by Olivia Satchell with Chanella Macri, Belinda McClory & Emily Tomlins. Dramaturg Emma Valente. Directed by Olivia Satchell. Lauren Bennett and VIMH. La Mama Courthouse. 8 – 19 December 2021

Three quite different women sit in a row; they are giving blood at the Blood Bank.  Played by three very fine performers, they are clearly strangers, a random collection, no connection whatever beyond being there that day and donating blood.  And they are trapped.  Unless they rip the cannulas from their arms and bolt, they are stuck with each other for the hour or more the process takes.

Celebration Gala Melbourne

The Australian Ballet, with Orchestra Victoria. State Theatre Melbourne. 9th – 18th December, 2021

The Australian Ballet is back, but not as we’ve known it. And this is not a bad thing. I have long bemoaned the seeming inability of the Corps de Ballet to dance in unison. After all ,the purpose for the members of the Corps should be to blend in, not to stand out. The sloppy nature of the Corps for the last several years has driven many away from The Australian Ballet, as the Principals improved and those in the Corp lost their way.

Bumming With Jane

By Tahli Corin. The Studio, Holden St Theatres, Adelaide. 9 – 11 December 2021

Written by Tahli Corin (actor-trained in Adelaide), Bumming With Jane had its debut in 2008 at Belvoir St Downstairs, Sydney.  The work is inspired by the poem of the same name by German/American underground writer Charles Bukowski but doesn’t quite attain the sense of depravity Bukowski might approve of with his infamous, nothing-to-lose truthful approach to writing.

Imogen Says Nothing

By Aditi Kapil. Modicum Theatre Directed by Anna Quercia-Thomas. Melville Theatre, WA. Dec 9-11, 2021

Modicum Theatre presents Imogen Says Nothing at Melville Theatre. Inspired by a ghost character in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, and set backstage with Shakespeare’s theatre company, it comes hot on the heels of Melville Theatre Company’s William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play, accidentally giving Shakespeare fans a mini season of Shakespeare inspired work.

Death of a Salesman

By Arthur Miller. Sydney Theatre Company. Director: Paige Rattray. Roslyn Packer Theatre. 3rd to 22nd December, 2021

Death of a Salesman is a ‘modern tragedy’ that follows all the traditions of Greek tragedy –   except that Arthur Miller’s tragic hero, Willy Loman, is not a ‘noble’. He is just a ‘common man’ who has realised he has no chance of achieving the American Dream – namely that “life can be better for every person if he or she has the opportunity and willingness to work hard— regardless of their background or social class”.

S.S. Metaphor

By Ash Flanders. Directed by Sarah Giles. The Malthouse Outdoor Stage, 113 Sturt St, Southbank Melbourne. 5 - 19 December, 2021

This show has all the components of a very promising cabaret show. Four talented performers, many of whom are almost veterans of the genre, a strong concept and a very inviting venue. S.S. Metaphor is set on a cruise ship which, from the outset, has a bizarre sense of doom lurking in the background. It parodies the cheesy atmosphere that is often associated with cruise ship culture, starting with the ‘has been’ entertainers singing a medley of equally cheesy melodies that are supposedly designed to encourage “Love Boat” style romance.

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