Reviews

For every theatre student who has ever suffered through studying Anton Chekhov’s comic masterpiece The Cherry Orchard, finding it tedious and very unfunny, comes salvation in this local adaptation by Adriane Daff and Katherine Tonkin. Black Swan’s production for Perth Festival is set in South West WA, during the late 1980s, and this fresh and interesting adaptation finds the humour in its examination of humanity in the midst of a terrible situation.

Every now and again, a show tumbles out of Adelaide Fringe as the start of something much, much bigger. This is one of those shows.

Based on theories that the plot of the 1978 film Grease is really a coma fantasy, Mary Angley plays the role of a lecturer delivering her evidence to a room full of students in this sublime comic theatre. She commands the stage from the moment she pokes her head around a door.

A great cast, whose professionalism shines through every bead and spangle, brings this flashy version of Mel Brooks’ politically incorrect valentine to Broadway of the fifties gloriously to life. With expert direction by director and choreographer Joseph Simons, this whacky paean to the Third Reich bursts with flamboyant performances.

There’s something special about an opening night that’s not only an opening night but also the opening night of a society’s first-time production. And so it was with Camden Musical Society’s opening night of Seussical. Something of a formal affair, with society president Craig Davidson zhuzhed-up in bow tie and giving a short speech prior to performance, in front of a full audience that included many local councillors.