Reviews

StageArt keep raising the bar for Independent Musical theatre: so much so that one wonders, when one looks at how far they have come, just how far they can go. It’s certainly an interesting journey, as are their choices in musicals we haven’t seen before in professional productions.

The beauty of Saturday Night Fever is its demographic appeal. The Bee Gees have written so many songs that are now pop standards and it’s unlikely that anyone in the audience hasn’t been touched by these iconic melodies at some time in their lives.

A showcase of music, circus antics and eccentric characters make this an event not to be missed. Performed in a large tent within the Royal Croquet Club, enormous video screens either side of the performing space means there is not a bad seat in the house.

Stoppard’s Arcadia was inspired by the book, Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick. Such a title should be enough of an alert to the intricate nature of this piece; enough perhaps to deter first-timers to Stoppard; but somehow STC have managed to present the text tangibly without detracting from its intelligence. Of course if you’re worried, it doesn’t hurt to pick up a copy of the play and become acquainted with the cerebral subject matter before walking in.

Australian playwright Daniel Keene has placed – or displaced – his characters into a world of insecurities and confusion that “plucks apart the underlying tensions of what we feel about where we’ve been and where we imagine ourselves going, exposing how illusion and wish fulfillment are as powerful guiding forces as fact.” (Cathy Hunt, Director).

On the surface the set and the characters are very ordinary: a run-down hotel lobby; and seven people who are trying to make sense of the perceived disorder of their lives.