Reviews

After lengthy queueing outside on a crowded pavement, patrons were invited to enjoy the live from Europe livestream of Medea, on a large cinema screen. A complex and ambitious live streaming undertaking, an audience in Mount Gambier was also simultaneously able to enjoy the experience, opening some of the best of the Festival up to both  country and city patrons.  Fortunately, audience members in all parts of Her Majesty’s had a clear view of this English sub-titled Netherland production, with both sound and visual quality being excellent.

Through the haze, a dozen conversations riff from one person to another, a comment or question from one prompting a response from another. It’s a strong opening, well written and tightly performed, framing a production collectively created by the members of SAYarts and pulled together by Sophia Simmons.

Independent theatre company The Hive Collective follow up their first 2021 production, a Greek myth mash-up, with another take on ancient Greek history – this time it is the turn of infamous siblings Elektra and Orestes – children of murdered hero of the Trojan war, King Agamemnon – to tell their tragic tale, with a modern twist. This play is a warning of the spiral of events that can be somehow predestine some family histories to repeat down the generations – especially when betrayal, revenge and murder are involved!

Black Brass is a beautifully told story presented by Performing Lines, for Perth Festival. Based on over twenty hours of interviews with people from various African countries who have come to call Australia home, this story of an African immigrant on the evening before an interview which may lead to his citizenship, is supported by songs in Swahili, Lingala and French.