Reviews

Hamlet in the Other Room

By Good Company Theatre. Rumpus Theatre, Bowden, SA. Nov 30 – Dec 12, 2021

‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t’. An apt quote by Polonius from Shakespeare’s Hamlet to describe this brilliant piece of theatre from Good Company Theatre. The setting is the final night of an all-female, non-binary production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The cast decide that the play no longer serves them, so they seek to destroy it - to create something that does.

Little Women

Book by Allan Knee. Music by Jason Howland. Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott. Directed by Neroli Sweetman. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. Dec 3-18, 2021

Old Mill Theatre’s Little Women is a beautiful coming of age story, of family and love, set in the 1860s. Presented with fine acting and beautiful polish, it is charming capacity audiences.

Reviewers can be reluctant to describe shows as “gentle”, as it can often be a euphemism for slow or boring, but gentle is the perfect description for this well paced, and at moments quite exciting show. It is lovely, in that there are no real villains, and it touches the heart, bringing both tears and genuine laughter.

Annie Live!

Music: Charles Strouse. Lyrics: Martin Charnin. Book: Thomas Meehan based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. Director: Lear deBessonet, Alex Rudinski. Musical Supervisor: Stephen Oremus . Choreographer: Sergio Trujillo. Telecast NBC, USA. 2 Dec 2021

Who knew ‘Cookie’ could sing? Taraji P. Henson, better known as ‘Cookie’ in the TV drama series Empire, was one of the brightest things about NBC’s ‘Live’ holiday offering, back again after a Covid absence last year.

Lost in Space or A Space Oddity

By Cheap and Dodgy Productions. Directed by Carole Dhu. Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. Dec 5-7, 2021.

Cheap and Dodgy’s production at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre is a much-anticipated annual event that attracts sell-out crowds (despite being staged Sunday to Tuesday) - and the excitement in the audience is palpable. A themed variety show that includes an overall story (of sorts), songs and sketch comedy, this year’s space themed show has the audience travelling on the good ship Venus Probe, with the mission of inhabiting and populating a new planet.

Picasso’s Women

By Brian McAvera. Harbour Theatre. Directed by Jarrod Buttery. Camelot Arts, Mosman Park, WA. Nov 26- Dec 5, 2021

Picasso’s Women was an expertly performed monologue production, simply staged by Harbour Theatre at Camelot Arts Centre. Featuring three superb performers, it explores the lives of some of Picasso’s wives and lovers.

Season Closing Gala

Rossini: Overture to La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie). Debussy: La Mer (The Sea). R. Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier (The Kight of the Rose). Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Umberto Clerici. Concert Hall, QPAC. 4 Dec 2021

Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s Closing Gala was a musical delight, offering familiar yet beloved works that showcased the prodigious talent of the orchestra. Under Umberto Clerici’s baton, the orchestra, in top form, raced through this selection of classics with brio and verve.

The Comedy of Errors

By William Shakespeare. Presented by the Melbourne Shakespeare Company. Directed by Ben Adams. Rose Garden, St. Kilda Botanical Gardens. 3 - 19 December 2021.

This is a delightful comedy that is primarily built on mistaken identities and the confusion caused by identical twins separated at birth and the process of their rediscovery. Melbourne Shakespeare Company has taken an extremely jovial and energetic approach to the text and infused it with wry humour, great slapstick comedy and endearing musical interludes. The combination makes the show a powerfully entertaining piece of theatre.

Jack and the Beanstalk

By Ben Crocker. Wanneroo Repertory. Directed by Gwen Browning. Limelight Theatre, Civic Dve, Wanneroo, WA. Nov 25 - Dec 11, 2021

Wanneroo Repertory’s Jack and the Beanstalk is true British pantomime with lots of audience involvement, traditional responses, and great fun.

It's perhaps not surprising that this production understands the genre, with the director, stage manager and at least 7 of the cast hailing the British Isles. Lots of genuine British accents on the stage (and indeed in the audience).

My Brilliant Career

Written & directed by Christine Davey, adapted from the novel by Miles Franklin. Skin of Our Teeth Productions. La Mama Courthouse, Carlton. 3 – 5 December 2021

Playwright Christine Davey takes Miles Franklin’s iconic novel and gives it a broadly comic, lively, near vaudevillian treatment – and adds a perspective and a context.  She puts the author, (Stella) Miles Franklin (Madelaine Swain) on stage as an external narrator, an older woman looking back at her novel and its heroine, Sybylla (Molly England).

The Lyin’ Queen

By Trevor Ashley and Phil Scott. Tim Lawson and TAE. Sydney Opera House, Studio. Nov 30 – Dec 12, 2021

Nothing too demanding here as we peep back into the theatres.

After two years of pandemic, the outrageous Trevor Ashley returns with his own ridiculous show, The Lyin’ Queen, co-written with Phil Scott. It’s a much needed, froth and bubble adults only musical which is ably sung and often very funny.

Ashley is Gaye Wray, a washed-up old soapie star saved from Hollywood oblivion by the eccentric Doctor Rabbitborough (Todd McKenny), keen to use her as the commercial face of his new Jurassic Park- style theme park off the coast of Queensland.

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