Reviews

Ellida

By May-Brit Akerholt, from Henrik Ibsen. WAAPA 3rd Year Acting. Directed by Will O'Mahony. Roundhouse Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. Mar 25-31, 2021

Ellida is a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Lady of the Sea, performed by WAAPA 3rd Year Acting students, with the creative support of WAAPA Production and Design students, and sensitively and thoughtfully directed by Will O’Mahony.

This 1888 work (nicely adapted) about marriage and freedom, still resonates today and features some excellent roles, especially for women. It is also an ideal vehicle for beautiful imagery and the production team have embraced their freedom with this wonderfully poetic work.

Nath Valvo: Chatty Cathy

Written & performed by Nath Valvo. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Max Watt’s Music Room. 25 March – 18 April 2021

Nath Valvo is close to ecstatic at being back in front of a live audience again – and the full house audience is delighted to have him there. Not only is all that buzzing can’t-keep-still energy magnetic, there’s also his very engaging nearly 40-years-old-but-still-boyish persona. 

Geraldine Hickey: What a Surprise

Written & performed by Geraldine Hickey. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Melbourne Town Hall, Supper Room. 1 – 18 April 2021 + extra show Melbourne Arts Centre, Playhouse, 10 April.

Geraldine Hickey is a yarn spinner.  That’s not a put-down or a diminishing of what she does so well.  In her own way (more on that in a moment), she’s part of an Australian tradition.  You can see her propping up a pub bar (‘the pub’ gets frequent references in her show) and holding an audience spellbound.  Her tales of, well, nothing all that special or out of the ordinary are rendered absorbing by her comic timing, inclusive warmth and our immediate recognition of what she describes.  She also illustrates her experiences with occasional an

Incognito

By James Hazelden & Nicholas Rasche. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. La Mama Courthouse. 30 March – 4 April 2021

Incognito is a farcical – well, absurd - spoof on those Agatha Christie mysteries in which members of an ill-matched but well-heeled group are picked off one by one.  Set in an exclusive health spa in the Swiss Alps, the characters are soon snowed in, trapped with the murderer - who can only be one of them. And the police cannot get there till morning. 

The Rover

Written by Aphra Behn. Directed by Jacqui Somerville. Presented by Griffith University Queensland Conservatorium. Burke Street Studio Theatre. 25 – 27 March, 2021

This popular work by English author Aphra Behn – the first female playwright to have a play published - premiered in March 1677. Griffith University’s Class of 2021 acting students, directed by Jacqui Somerville fittingly present their performance in the same month, 344 years later.

Come From Away

Book, Music & Lyrics: Irene Sankoff & David Hein. Director: Christopher Ashley. Musical Director: Luke Hunter. Musical Staging: Kelly Devine. Junkyard Productions & Rodney Rigby Production. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. From 28 March, 2021.

Come From Away has finally made it to Brisbane and the production that was on display last night is a carbon copy of the Broadway original. Directed by Christopher Ashley, who directed it on Broadway, its honorable intentions and feel-good vibe, not to mention the occasional moist-eye, should see it do similar business to that in Melbourne, where it broke the box-office record at the Comedy Theatre.

Into the Woods

By Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. WAAPA Third Year Music Theatre. Directed by Nicole Stinton. Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA. Mar 26-31, 2021

WAAPA Third Year Music Theatre students feature in this unconventional retelling of Sondheim and Lapine’s Into the Woods, playing in the Studio Underground, in the State Theatre Centre. With most production and design elements by current WAAPA students, and the majority of the orchestra WAAPA music students, this is a chance to see the talents of students from many areas of the academy in a more public setting.

Caucasian Chalk Circle

By Bertolt Brecht - translated by Alistair Beaton. WAAPA Third Year Performance Making students. Directed by Emily McLean. The Enright Studio, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. Mar 25-31, 2021

The Caucasian Chalk Circle is an often studied, and consequently an often detested work, but this production, performed by WAAPA’s Third Year Performance Making students is a dynamic, beautifully cohesive and sensitively performed incarnation, that charms its (too small) audience and is simply the best version of this play I have ever seen (and I have seen it many, many times).

In Her Eyes

Indefinite Dance Company. Meat Market, North Melbourne. March 27 & 28, 2021.

In Her Eyes is an explorative new dance show by the all-female youth company Indefinite Dance Company, choreographed by the founder Casey Chellew and featuring choreographer Freya List in ‘Unravel’ in the closing of Act One.

Colour-Fool

Directed and choreographed by Yumi Umiumare and performed in conjunction with ButohOUT 2021! Ensemble. Dancehouse, Carlton, Vic. 25-28 March, 2021.

Colour-Fool is a bold theatrical experiment which explores the confusion and anxiety that characterises the new normal in a global pandemic context. Yumi Umiumare orchestrates an environment which is everything but normal and this a recurrent thread throughout the entire performance. It quickly becomes clear to expect the unexpected. 

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