Reviews

There is much that is familiar about Andrew Upton’s reworking of Three Sisters at The Drama Theatre, and much that is profoundly strange. There are the sisters alright — Olga Prozorov, at 28 the eldest, a provincial school teacher; Masha, short tempered, disappointed in marriage; Irina, youngest and desperate to return to Moscow and taste true freedom. But the time is Now, or thereabouts, not the 19th century. Duels can no longer be picked and fought. The town’s garrison doesn’t march out of town to a jaunty band.

Welcome to the 1920’s era of booze, jazz, murder, greed, corruption… (well, you know the rest! Jazz hands!).  

For their final season of the year, Fab Nobs present Chicago, a musical that requires all performers to be triple threats in order to maintain the fervent musical numbers and stylized flair of the script.

The Testament Of Mary is a cheerless, emotionally demanding monologue centred on the world’s most iconic woman, Mary the mother of Jesus Christ. Mary has always been a loaded figure, contrived to propagate The Church’s impossible model of The Ideal Woman. Here Coln Toibin reimages Mary, brilliantly rendered by Pamela Rabe, throwing all prior assumptions under the proverbial bus.

This is a snappy, fun show with direction that has led to wholehearted participation from everyone involved. From the principal roles to each member of the chorus, each performer has their own part to act and sing and is dedicated to it.

The gamblers start the show with Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Ben Wilson), Benny Southwest (Tristan Foon) and Rusty Charlie (Joe Moores) setting the scene on Broadway with fine harmonies and good characterisation.