Reviews

Impermanence

Sydney Dance Company. Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay, February 16 - 27. Adelaide Festival, March 10-11, followed by a national tour.

Rafael Bonachela’s new work was cancelled a year ago when COVID closed our theatres just days before its opening.  No wonder it’s called Impermanence.

Bonachela then reforged it into a full one-hour work, with his frequent musical collaborator, Bryce Dessner, the American founder of the rock band The National, now Paris-based.  Impermanence was of course enveloping us all, our climate, the Australian bushfires, the incineration of the ancient Notre Dame and Trump’s America. 

Sea Wall

By Simon Stephens. Flying Penguin Productions. Adelaide Fringe. Space Theatre. February 16 – 21, 2021

It is interesting that one of my first thoughts on leaving this performance of Seawall, was a line from Hamilton – he is going through the unimaginable….

A play, crossing paths with a musical - so different, but inexorably linked through trauma.

House

By Dan Giovannoni. Barking Gecko. Directed by Luke Kerridge. Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA, Perth, WA. Feb 14-20, 2021

The World Premiere of Barking Gecko’s House was delayed slightly by Covid, but was well worth waiting for. This warm hug of a family show is from the same writer / director team who created the brilliant Bambert’s Book of Lost Stories, and has a similar combination of wonder, charm and surprise.

The Last Five Years

Writer and Composer: Jason Robert Brown. The Mitchell Old Company (TMOC). Director: Mitchell Old. Pioneer Theatre, Castle Hill. February 11 – 14, 2021

Mitchell Old is a talented young man with enormous courage and tenacity. Fancy deciding to establish a new theatre company in the middle of a pandemic when theatres had been closed for months and the arts devasted! But the Mitchell Old Theatre Company (TMOC) was founded as a direct response to that devastation.

Antigone

By Sophocles, adapted by Jane Hille. Fenceline Theatre. Fringe World Encore Season. Directed by Jane Hille. Maalia Mia Theatre, Swan Christian College, Middle Swan, WA. Feb 17-19, 2021

Fenceline Theatre’s lead-up to its presentation of Antigone this week has been especially fraught. While not quite equal to the trials suffered by our Sophoclean heroine, this show’s original season was wiped out by Perth’s recent Covid lockdown, but would have been closed due to being in the yellow zone during the bushfires - an event that required several of the cast to be evacuated from their homes.

Heathers (High School Edition)

By Ken Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe. Old Nick Co, Tasmania. Director: Ellen Roe. Assistant director: Ella Wescombe. Musical director: Grace Ovens. Choregrapher: Helen Kershaw. Design: Chris Oakley. Costumes: Helen Cronin. Mount Nelson Theatre. February 5 - 13 2021

Old Nick has been able to present a Hobart Summer school every year since 2005. The last three have been darker coming of age stories, with the 2021 offering a macabre and surreal twist on the high school musical in the form of Heathers.

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare. Shakespeare Under the Stars. Australian Shakespeare Company. Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. 30 January – 6 March 2021

From the moment the hero warrior Macbeth (Hugh Sexton) returns to his castle, already Thane of Cawdor, the words of the Witches running in his head, and his childless wife, Lady Macbeth (Alison Whyte) sweetens her bullying and blackmail with passionate kisses, we know where this will lead. 

Who Dunnit? The Big Shot

Written and directed by Adam Leeuwenhart. Fringe World. The Actors’ Hub, Kensington Street, East Perth WA Feb 13, 2021

The Actors’ Hub presented a series of interactive Who Dunnit events as part of its Naughty Nights at Nine series for Fringe World. Each Who Dunnit was set in a different decade, and the final one, The Big Shot, was set in a New York Speakeasy in the 1920s.

Covid restrictions meant that The Big Shot was a little more static than originally intended but audience members were still split into two groups - each receiving a slightly different perspective, before being re-united to solve the mystery. 

Is Anybody Out There?

Written and directed by Amanda Crewes. Fringe World. The Actors Hub, Kensington St, East Perth, WA Jan 24-Feb 13, 2021

Is Anybody Out There? is part of one of The Actors’ Hub’s Fringe World Seasons. 4x4x4 features four shows over four nights a week, over four weeks of the festival, with the shows performed in repertory. What I hadn’t realised in my earlier review of a show in this season is that the shows all feature the same five performers. Kudos to this strong young ensemble, as well as director/writer/teacher/mentor Amanda Crewes.

We Will Rock You

By Ben Elton and Queen. Riverside Theatre, Parramatta, Packemin Productions. Director Wayne Scott Kermond. 12-27 February, 2021

The original production of We Will Rock You opened in London almost nineteen years ago. Despite being panned by the critics, it ran for over three years. The critics obviously failed to take into consideration the wide fan base of Freddie Mercury and Queen. Failed to understand that the eclectic, international appeal of their music would never “bite the dust”! That it would defy “the laws of nature and come out alive” for generation after generation.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.