Reviews

Sophocles and his fellow Athenians thought it mandatory for every citizen to join the debates of their new democracy – and that included going to the theatre.

It was surely the start of a good tradition.  So, we should all vote, and also go see Sport for Jove’s urgent new version of Sophocles’ Antigone.

Antigone and her siblings were born of her brother Oedipus bedding his mother.  Oedipus of course ended blind and wandering, and Thebes shattered by civil strife between Antigone’s two warring brothers. 

With Anything Goes Babirra have reached new heights. The set was amazing! Walking into the auditorium we found portholes along the walls. There were projections on the side, often depicting video of the ocean. There were a couple of structures with stairs which were rolled into different positions for various scenes.

In this production, the National Theatre of Parramatta (NToP) has created the opportunity for Arab Australian artists, thinkers and performers to create a piece of theatre that calls upon the past as a means of explaining the present and expressing hope for the future.

In the supportive and creative hands of director Paula Abood, six performers have used “imagination, memory, knowledge (and) aesthetics” to devise a theatrical performance that summons the long, involved history of the Middle East through the effects of conflict on a village and a family.

With The Critic, versatile Gabriel Bergmoser gives us a ‘play of ideas’.  The crux of the piece is the very real moral, ethical and indeed aesthetic dilemma of the central character.  It is a dilemma familiar to anyone who reviews any artistic endeavour, a dilemma any reviewer – or the higher status ‘critic’ – confronts with dread: the review of a play, novel, musical composition or artwork created by a friend.  But the dilemma – tell the truth or betray oneself or one’s principles and judgement by lying - is one we all