Reviews

SIX

By Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Louise Withers, Michael Coppel and Linda Bewick, by arrangement with Kenny Wax, Wendy and Andy Barnes and George Styles. Theatre Royal, Sydney. Opening Night: 30 October, 2024

It’s easy to see – and hear – why Six, its queens and their Ladies in Waiting have been wowing audiences around the world since its debut at the Edinburgh Festival in 2017! How clever of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss to turn history around and write about the wives of Henry VIII rather than their errant husband!

Rhinoceros

By Eugene Ionesco, in a new version by Zinnie Harris. Presented by Spinning Plates Co. Directed by Cassandra Fumi. fortyfivedownstairs theatre, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 31 October – 17 November 2024.

Spinning Plates Co. demonstrate exceptional inventiveness in this quirky and highly stylised production. It maintains all the political spirit of Ionesco’s text while carefully and effectively infusing it with the absurdist and bizarre qualities that characterise his work. The attention to detail in the characterisations, the staging and especially the costuming is truly impressive. The inhabitants of this fictional town are subject to an invasion by rhinoceros, slowly but surely transforming them, one by one, into the beasts.

The Kingdom of Eucalypts

A play by Alice Spigelman. Moira Blumenthal Productions. Bondi Pavilion Theatre. October 30 until November 17, 2024

Miles Franklin is the flavour of the month – with the Melbourne Theatre Company about to open the musical adaptation of her novel My Brilliant Career and in Sydney the premiere of a new play about her life.

Franklin fans will enjoy this nicely staged production that provides an insight into lesser-known aspects of her life. Without a general knowledge of Franklin, the drama will be less satisfying.

One Man, Two Guvnors

By Richard Bean. Cairns Little Theatre. Directed by Jason Klarwein. November 1st to 9th, 2024.

Derived from an Italian play written in 1746, One Man, Two Guvnors moves the action to 1960s Brighton in the U K. In this version the dialogue and the action are so fast-paced that the audience can be left playing catch-up.

SSO Romantic Adventures

Ingrid Filter performs Chopin. Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. October 30 – November 2, 2024

Image (above): Ingrid Filter. Photographer: Gary Houlder

They’re dubbed the Romantic Generation of composers.  All were born around 1810 and all died early, Robert Schumann, hallucinatory, suicidal and in mental anguish; Frederic Chopin from tuberculous, and Felix Mendelssohn at 38, melancholic and after a series of strokes.

A Night at the Movies – A Musical Cabaret

By various, including Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Old Nick Society. Bianca Paine/Ben Paine (Direction). The Hidden Theatre, Hobart. 30th October – 2nd November 2024

A Night at the Movies - a Musical Cabaret offers comfy seats, high quality entertainment AND popcorn.

This cabaret reprises 21 Chump Street, recently presented at the Hobart One Act Play festival, and augments the programme with two other brackets of musical theatre pieces all of which have a connection to the movies.

A Night with the Villains

Concept by Elodie Boal and Trent Sellars. Presented by Mira Ball Productions, Our Yakka, and Salad Bowl Collective. Ron Hurley Theatre, 29 – 31 October 2024

A Night with the Villains is a hilarious, sexy, spooky cabaret show packed full of great singing, lively dancing, and comedic acting. The mood is set from the start with a sign above the entrance in bloody lettering warning you to ‘Enter if you Dare’. The staircases inside the theatre are lined with black candles and cobwebs, and tombstones flank the stage. The show features some of the best of the worst characters from history and fiction, singing beloved musical numbers with a twist. In many cases the lyrics are cleverly re-written or tweaked to suit the character.

The Wharf Revue: The End of the Wharf as We Know It!!!

By Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe, and Phillip Scott. Jonathan Biggins, Mandy Bishop, Drew Forsythe, Phillip Scott, and David Whitney, directed by Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe, with musical direction by Phillip Scott. Canberra Theatre, 25 October to 2 November 2024, and touring to Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Brisbane, and more.

 

Billy Hughes P.M. – “Dirty Little Rat”

Written by Kevin Summers. Devised by Dennis Coard and Summers. La Mama Courthouse. Oct 26 & 27, 2024

Ex - Prime Minister Billy Hughes at the age of 84 performs as himself in the movie Smithy (Ken G Hall,1946), based on Aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (1897- 1935). History recalls Hughes rejecting Smith’s application back in 1919 to compete for  a ten-thousand-pound prize in the first England to Australia flight. Nevertheless Kingsford- Smith went on to become a national hero and now celebrated forever on the twenty dollar note.

Criollo

NUDO Dance Company, presented by Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre (BEMAC). Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre, Brisbane. 26 October 2024.

NUDO Dance Company is relatively new on the Brisbane performing arts scene, and they certainly made their presence felt with their new show Criollo. ‘Nudo’ means ‘knot’ in Spanish, and that perfectly reflects the tone of the group – tethered lovingly to their Hispanic roots but not so tightly as to exclude modern and hybrid dance influences from the creative mix. There is a small but strong community of people in Brisbane of Spanish descent, and it was a very tightknit community who turned out to a completely sold-out show at the Talbot Theatre.

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