Reviews

Staging One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in Australia requires a lack of sanity.

First, Cuckoo’s Nest is filled with American cultural references.

Second, the early 21st Century is the wrong time for this play. Modern psychiatric hospitals are mostly dissimilar from what you see on stage.

Third, the play calls for a cast of 16. While several actors in the ensemble only have a short time on stage, few of the roles are interchangeable.

Yet somehow Monster Media made the play work.

If you think you know what school students are really like, you should see these grade eights at the notorious Barrington East School.  Work and good behaviour are foreign to them. The dominant person is Erica Yurken, who  believes  she is destined for a glittering stage career. Alison Ashley arrives as a complete contrast to the others – she is beautiful, rich, clever and well behaved. The school’s one week camp brings everything to a head when they  stage the camp play.

True Westis a strong and interesting play by Sam Shepard. It seems to be produced every now and again but not as often as Cowboy Mouth, and not surprisingly as it is challenging for both actors and audience.

It is a courageous choice for Mount Players and its success is a testament to the especially strong ethic of team playing that this company thrives on.

The remarkable aspect of this performance is that not all the dancers are hearing.

Out of Earshotbrings its audience closer to an awareness of how individuals experience sound and vibration and how it may and may not inform movement.

We all have our own unique rhythms - a kind of beat of your own internal drum.  As a hearing person it is fascinating to consider what a Deaf person actually hears or feels or sees with regard to sound and rhythms/pulses.