Reviews

Few of us could ever imagine philosophy might prevail in a meeting between Roman Emperor Caligula and his Senators, but instead we’d almost certainly expect mindless depravity, decadent sex and gruesome violence to be high on the agenda.  The 1979 Penthouse Magazine/Bob Guccione movie starring Malcolm McDowell has fostered that enduring impression, but the savagely funny and playful David Greig translation of Albert Camus’ 1940’s play Caligula looks at the notorious Emperor through a very different prism.

End of the Line is the second of Andy Kabanoff’s plays to be produced by Wyong Drama Group. Sepia Secrets, staged in 2016, was a drama exploring his family’s life before and after WWII, which was well-received by local audiences. This is a ‘prequel’ of sorts, inasmuch as it delves further back into the life of his paternal grandmother, Elizabieta, a Polish immigrant who grew up in Russia during the revolution.

Continental Quilt is like a game of Happy Families, except these families are not so happy!

Set in the 80s, Mike is anticipating an erotic evening with his new girlfriend.  His attempts to bed her are hindered by the arrival of his brother/mother/sister-in-law/father/previous girlfriend and neighbours.

A classic door farce requires split second timing and lots of pace. This production had both in bucket loads. There was barely a silent moment on stage with doors opening and closing and characters changing rooms faster than their clothes.

Rousing the social conscience by mocking social and political conventions, Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, penned in 1894 and set during and after the 1885–86 Serbo–Bulgarian war, opens by introducing us to the character of an enemy officer, the Swiss Captain Bluntschili, fleeing massacre, and Raina — fiancée of Sergius, who led the route of Bluntschilli’s Serbian forces.  From there, tensions between proper behaviour and honourable acts  in