Reviews

Footloose – The Musical

Music by Tom Snow, lyrics by Dean Pitchford, book by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie. Directed by Tim O’Connor. Harvest Rain & Students of BAMT. Hayward St. Studios Brisbane. March 17 – April 3, 2021

This musical follows the path of young students as they strive to have a school dance, something we take for granted. It begins with a teenager, Ren McCormack, who loves to dance to relax and what happens when he and his mother have to move from Chicago to an ultra-conservative town named Bomont. After a tragic death of four teenagers some four years before, the town had banned dancing, along with many other joys of the young, under the direction of Reverend Shaw Moore, an ultra conservative.

Firebird – An Instrumental Spectacular

Weber: Overture to Der Freischutz. Mozart: Piano Concerto No.19 in F, K.459. Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 version). Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Umberto Clerici. Soloist: Simon Tedeschi. Concert Hall, QPAC. 19-20 March 2021

The Queensland Symphony Orchestra was in fine form for this concert, which married a vibrant suite from Stravinsky’s incomparable Firebird ballet, with some virtuostic playing by Simon Tedeschi, and a little pre-Wagner dark German folklore by Weber. It proved to be a great mix.

National Theatre of Parramatta's Launchpad Double Bill

Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. 18-20 March, 2021

The Sorry Mum Project

Written and performed by Pippa Ellams

Directors: Hannah Goodwin, Tasha O’Brien

Girls’ Weekend

By Karen Schaeffer. The Players Theatre, Ballina. Director: Fran Legge, Assist: Liz van Eck. 19th – 28th March, 2021

Ballina’s first offering for 2021 is a frothy comedy.

As the title suggests it’s a Girls’ Weekend but before long (through a series of secret assignations) a number of gentlemen appear and the merry romp begins.

The plot - four members of a book club gather to ‘discuss’ the chosen ‘tome of the week’. Like many plots in this genre, the first act is a little flat as the characters and their connection to the story are introduced.

Appropriate

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Sydney Theatre Company. Directed by Wesley Enoch. Roslyn Packer Theatre. Mar 15 – Apr 10, 2021.

A visceral set and soundscape, that enveloped this gripping play, made this night in the theatre resonate deep in your bones. It opens in complete darkness, with the screeching sound of cicadas getting louder and louder.

When the lights finally come up, we see the chaos of the inside of a southern American homestead - the crumbling deceased estate of the patriarch of the dysfunctional Lafayette clan.

Ordinary Days

By Adam Gwon. ACP and Playlovers. Directed by Alide Chaney. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo WA. Mar 3-13, 2021

Ordinary Days had a less than ordinary journey to production. Originally scheduled for a run at His Majesty’s Theatre during FringeWorld, it was postponed, then cancelled during the most recent Perth Lockdown. Three of the four actors changed during the rehearsal period. Eventually Ordinary Days had a very successful Covid-capacity run as a co-production between ACP and Playlovers at Stirling Theatre, warmly supported by Stirling Players.

Conviction

By Zoey Dawson, presented by The Hive Collective and Metro Arts. New Benner Theatre, Brisbane. 17 to 27 March 2021

Conviction is a postmodern, ‘anything goes’ one-act play in three slices, each one taking us inside the mind of a young female playwright – in a play by a young female playwright. The character is named ‘Zoey’ and is a semi-fictional version of the playwright herself as she procrastinates her way through the day, with looming deadlines and domestic pressures.

The Opposite Sex

By David Tristram. Directed by Alan Cooke. Townsville Little Theatre (TLT). Pimpac Performing Arts Centre, Townsville. March 17 – 20, 2021.

THERE is a great deal to be said for living in regional Australia, where we have been relatively untouched by this pandemic, and as we slowly come out of this hole called 2020, community theatre companies are rather like tortoises cautiously poking their heads out to gather the lay of the land.

They are responding to the fact that people have woken up to the fact that they have been starved of live entertainment and consequently this may probably well lead to larger audiences as we – who had been spoilt with so much choice – realise what we have been missing.

The Trauma Project

By Elizabeth Walley. Directed by Elizabeth Walley and Alec Gilbert. Presented by Double Garage. fortyfivedownstairs theatre, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 17 – 28 March 2021.

This is an extraordinarily elegant piece of theatre which addresses its highly confronting and timely topic in a delicate and sensitive manner. The central event which inspired this production is Walley’s own personal experience of witnessing an incident of domestic violence homicide on her street.

The Ladies Foursome

By Norm Foster. Harbour Theatre. Directed by Jarrod Buttery. Camelot Theatre, Mosman Park, WA. Mar 12-27, 2021.

Harbour Theatre’s The Ladies Foursome is proving very popular, and you may need to fight huge crowds of lady golfers to purchase one of the few remaining tickets. This funny but poignant play, by Norm Foster, one of Canada’s most popular playwrights, is set entirely on a golf course, but covers a plethora of issues, and is expertly performed.

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