Reviews

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Music: Dan Gillespie Sells. Lyrics & Screenplay: Tom MacRea. Director: Jonathan Butterell. Streaming on Amazon Prime from 17 Sep 2021

The movie version of the West End London hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is like a breath of fresh Yorkshire air and a massive feel-good experience.

The real-life story of Jamie Campbell, a 16 year-old teen from Sheffield, England, and his twin desires to become a drag-queen and go to the school prom in a dress, has echoes of Billy Elliot and The Prom, and a million gay clichés we’ve seen countless time before, but it still manages to inject humor and reality into the cliches thanks to its excellent cast.

Tilt 2021 - Program 1

Written and directed by WAAPA 3rd Year Performance Making Students. The Blue Room Theatre, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. Sep 15-18, 2021

Tilt is WAAPA Performance Making students’ final independent project after three years of study, and is an opportunity for graduating students to take full responsibility for their creative decisions. Two programs of work are being presented over a two week period, with the first program featuring six pieces of work.

Rats’ Tales

By Carol Ann Duffy. Curtin Theatre Arts. Directed by Leah Mercer. Hayman Theatre, Curtin University, Bentley, WA. Sep 14-18, 2021

Curtin Theatre Arts’ production of Rats’ Tales was a highly engaging and unusual evening of collective story telling. A warm and well co-ordinated ensemble piece, it was a fun theatre, with appeal for all ages.

A group of young people gather together to tell stories. With the feel of travelling players, they bounce off each other to collectively tell seven stories - one traditional, The Pied Piper, then six original tales.

Ordinary Days

Written and composed by Adam Gwon. Javeenbah Theatre Company (Gold Coast). Directed by Rachel Love and Ricky Moss. Sept 17th – October 2nd, 2021

Do you remember that feeling from the past when you received an unexpected gift, a delightful surprise which made you feel warm and embraced? That was the feeling last night at Javeenbah community theatre – and the gift was their latest show, the sung-through chamber musical Ordinary Days.

Cabaret

By Joe Masteroff, John Kander and Fred Ebb, based on the play by John Van Druten from stories by Christopher Isherwood. WAAPA Third Year Music Theatre and Music Students. Directed by Tamara Cook. The Roundhouse Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, My Lawley, WA. Sep 10-16, 2021

WAAPA’s Cabaret, the swansong from Third Year Music Theatre and Music Students, and designed, built and crewed by Production and Design Students, is intimate and gritty  and raw, but performed with precision and polish.

Cabaret sounds great under the guidance of Music Director David King, excellent singing is backed by a nine piece orchestra, all students, apart from David King on piano, with expert sound design by Georgia Snudden.

Julius Caesar

By William Shakespeare. WAAPA Third Year Acting Students. Directed by Humphrey Bower. Subiaco Arts Centre, WA. Sep 14-18, 2021

Stepping off the WAAPA campus for this visually striking and auditorily stunning production, Third Year Acting students present Julius Caesar, a show designed, built and crewed by Production and Design students.

Set and costume designer Emily Chong gives us a modern era production, with a clean and studiously simple set, that harks to the Roman era, and costumes that are a lovely blend of American politics with Romanesque flavour. She works well with Lighting Designer Georgia Beswick, who uses colour to great effect. 

The Triumph of Man: A Comedy in Two Acts

By James Watson. Presented by James Watson and Paper Mouth Theatre. RUMPUS, Bowden SA. 14 – 26 September 2021

RUMPUS was founded in 2019 as a response to the perceived lack of a thriving second tier theatre industry.

Come From Away on Apple TV

Book, Music & Lyrics: Irene Sarnoff & David Hein. Director: Christopher Ashley. Music Staging: Kelley Devine. Music Supervisor: Ian Eisendrath. Streaming Apple TV from 10 Sep 2021 (1hr, 46mins)

Since it opened on Broadway in 2017, Come From Away has picked up Tony and Olivier Awards, a book of rave reviews (‘Broadway’s biggest and best surprise of the season’), and a slew of admirers, thanks to director Christopher Ashley cloning his Broadway production around the world.

Simon Gallaher’s The Pirates of Penzance

Music: Arthur Sullivan. Libretto: W.S. Gilbert. Director: Thomas Armstrong-Robley. Choreography: Simon Lind. Musical Director: Robert Clark. Ipswich Musical Theatre. Ipswich Civic Centre, Ipswich, Qld. 11-19 Sep 2021

Gilbert and Sullivan have often been called the fathers of musical comedy, so it’s good to return every now and then to their body of work to experience where it all began. Long before Stephen Sondheim came on the scene, Gilbert was the master of wordsmithery, and coupled with Sullivan’s easy-to-remember melodies, they created a genre that we all know and love and is still relevant today.

Of Auburn - The Untold Stories of Women in War

Written by Steven Oppes and co-produced by Steven Oppes and Jean-Marc Spiler. Auburn FrenchFest. The Stables, Rising Sun Inn, Auburn, SA. September 10-12, 2021

The world premiere of Of Auburn at the Auburn Frenchfest on 11 September was a delightful surprise to this reviewer and a clear hit to the packed audience. Written by Steven Oppes, co-produced by Steven Oppes and Jean-Marc Spiler, and directed by Lisa Harper Campbell, this is a clever multimedia presentation on the Great War.

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