Reviews

Awakening

By Daniel Lammin, based on the play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind. Presented by fortyfivedownstairs and Monash Uni Student Theatre (MUST). Fortyfivedownstairs, Flinders Lane, Melbourne. May 10 – 21, 2017

Six young actors (Nicola Dupree, Samantha Hafey-Bagg, Eamonn Johnson, James Malcher, Sam Porter and Imogen Walsh) embody the teenage characters of Daniel Lammin’s rewrite, direction and concept of Wedekind’s ‘scandalous’ 1891play, Spring Awakening. The concept gives them the challenge of switching characters from scene to scene.  They begin in appropriately period Austrian school pupil costumes: knickerbockers with braces, full skirts and stout boots – but there are some deliberate anachronisms, such as ‘selfies’ on a mobile phone.

Fire Bucket

Indigenous storytelling by Uncle Wes Marne. Yirramboi First Nations Arts Festival. Weelam Ngalut – Meat Market – Garden. May 9 and 10, 2017

There is so much awesome Indigenous Art being presented in the Yirramboi Frist Nations Arts Festival across Melbourne.  In amongst it I was lucky enough to catch this marvelous mystical storytelling event.

After being enthusiastically greeted, the audience was warmly welcomed and walked to the garden to experience a smoking ceremony before getting comfortable around a fire bucket to enjoy most remarkable evening of story from 95-year-old Uncle Wes Marne.

The Witches

By Roald Dahl, adapted by David Wood. Directed by Ryan Taafe. Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana, WA. 12-27 May, 2017

Koorliny Arts Centre’s production of Roald Dahl’s The Witches (as adapted by David Wood) is a generous, lavish production with the ‘big show’ feel of a musical - to the point where you half expect people to burst into song.

Played on a gorgeous set, designed by Jon Lambert, locations are usually designated by single set pieces, but these are beautifully finished, highly detailed and slide smoothly into position with expert precision.

After Dinner

By Andrew Bovell. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. Directed by Petr Divis. Playhouse Theatre, Hobart. 12 -27 May 2017

Sometimes all the creative stars align to create a perfect theatre experience. After Dinner, presented by Hobart Repertory Theatre Society,was one such show – words, actors, costumes, set, lighting, timing, production crew and audience all conspired to create a wonderful play. Director Petr Divis “got” Andrew Bovell’s deliciously funny script, the actors “got” each other and the director’s intentions, and the audience “got” the result.

Australia Day

By Jonathan Biggins. Pymble Players. Directed by Jan McLachlan. May 3 – 27, 2017

The attention to detail in the set immediately impressed. On the walls of the scout hall (which was the location for meetings of the Coriole Shire Australia Day Committee) were the most authentic looking Girl Guide honour roles, knots and a faded dusty portrait of the Queen.

The Flood

Play written & directed by Tim Horgan. Anywhere Theatre Festival, Queen Alexander Home, Coorporoo. 11 – 21 May, 2017

The Flood is a black absurd comedy set in 2011 around the Brisbane flood. Four young housemates at an existential crossroad of their lives share an old Queenslander on the Brisbane River. Glenn a corporate lawyer and Karl a photographer who writes pretentious food and coffee reviews are interrupted in their efforts to get stoned by Sandra and Damo returning home from holiday. All hell breaks loose when Sandra sees the mess the house is in and that the guys have eaten all the food in the pantry.

Black is the New White 

By Nakkiah Lui. Sydney Theatre Company. Wharf 1 Theatre. May 5 – Jun 17, 2017

Nakkiah Lui’s new play delights with the same deliciously naughty racial lampooning as her work on ABC TV’s Black Comedy.  Here race and cultural background clashes with class as we open in the upmarket holiday home of an affluent Aboriginal family, and what promises to be an awkward Christmas reunion.

A View From the Bridge

By Arthur Miller. Canberra Repertory. Director: Chris Baldock. Theatre 3, Acton. 4–20 May 2017

Though Arthur Miller wrote A View From the Bridge more than six decades ago, it retains still the emotional power that forced its producers to circumvent then U.S.

Die Fledermaus

Music by Johann Strauss II. Libretto by C. Haffner and Richard Genee. English translation and music arrangement by Ian Gledhill. Canberra Opera. Directed by Karyn Tisdell/Belconnen Theatre Centre. May 5 – 14, 2017

This merry production of the cheerful operatta Die Fledermaus is a welcome addition to Canberra Opera’s reputation. The operetta has moved from nineteenth-century Vienna to the 1950s in London, with the characters enjoying a reprieve from war-time rationing and availability of goods. The von Eisensensteins, Gabriel (played by Andrew Barrow) and Rosalinde (played by Keren Dalzell) live in a London apartment and their maid Adele (played by Madeline Anderson) shows how she is not awed by wealth, but sees it as an opportunity to make the most of life.

Areté: Gamma

Dionysus Theatre. Cube 37 – Frankston Arts Centre. Thurs 11th – Sat 13th May, 2017

Based on a different theme each year, Areté: Gamma is the third festival offering from the vivid company Dionysus Theatre, a company that always engenders thoughtful debate and discussion in their works.

Aretéis an innovative performance and visual arts festival, where all work presented responds to a specific theme.  The 2017 theme - ‘Science is a way of thinking, much more than it is a body of knowledge’ - Carl Sagan

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