Reviews

Here is a boisterous, fast, romantic, ad-libbing, slapstick-funny production of Shakespeare’s malleable play.  Like all great comedies, there is more to it than comedy.  Director Nicholas Hytner freely admits the ‘influence’ of Peter Brook’s famous production of the Dream he saw in 1970, and the much more recent A Handmaid’s Tale - the first in irreverent  style, the second in sexual politics - and reflected in Christina Cunningham’s austere costumes.  Mr Hytner strips out the seats from the very adaptable Bridge Thea

This sketch comedy show has both whimsical and existential qualities. Gerry (Belinda Campbell) and Frankie (Jennifer Piper) are two close friends who are perpetually trapped by their own indecision, fuelled by fear and anxiety. Their limbo existence on a railway platform, aptly named Panic station, is interjected with comedy sketches that parody elements of society that are merely trying to mask the crippling realities that some people must endure, which can lead to mental ill-health.

It takes courage, sensitivity and empathy to delve into tragic tales of the past and endeavor to give them a voice again. Akram Khan has a reputation for provocative choreography that pushes the boundaries of not only endurance, but the human spirit. His latest work, Outwitting the Devil is inspired by a fragment of the 12 broken clay tablets, which together make up one of the world’s oldest works of literature, the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh.

On an empty stage devoid of set and props Omar Musa cuts a lonely figure as he uses the death of his hero Muhammed Ali as an entrée to an hour of storytelling, poetry and rapping.

Musa interweaves sleek threads to create a rich tapestry of stories about life growing up in a country town. Water flows through the piece in the same way that the river runs through Queanbeyan, where Musa grew up.