Reviews

Two Hits and A Ms

Created by Christopher Horsey. Musical Director: Craig Schneider. Starring: Christopher Horsey, Bobby Fox and Nicole Melloy. Hamer Hall, Melbourne. April 11, 2022. Chapel Off Chapel, Melbourne. May 1, 2022

Two Hits and A Ms is a 60 minute showcase of all things tap and the music that made it popular. The show is the brainchild of Christopher Horsey, an original cast member of Hot Shoe Shuffle and Tap Dogs, as well as a former Fred Astaire International Tap Champion.

Summerfolk

By Maxim Gorky, adapted by Kate Wild. Burke Street Studios, Brisbane. 31 March to 9 April 2022

Maxim Gorky’s famous 19th-century contemporary and critic (and co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre), Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, once vented his frustration with actors’ obsessions: “Non-stop smoking, cold food, sausage, herring, gossip, vulgar flirtation, backbiting, jokes, and vodka.” He could be describing the characters in Gorky’s Summerfolk. And one of this play’s funniest lines is the disdainful “The house is full of theatre types!” as the cast of characters expands.

My Mother Said I Never Should

By Charlotte Keatley. Playlovers. Directed by Alida Chaney. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. April 6-16, 2022

Playlovers’ My Mother Said I Never Should, presented at Old Mill Theatre, is a poignant and beautifully presented look at mother and daughter relationships over four generations of women. Thoughtfully directed by Alida Chaney, and acted by a strong and united small ensemble cast, this is a fulfilling production.

Cinderella

Victorian State Ballet. The Concourse, Chatswood. 9 -10 April, 2022

Each year the Victorian State Ballet brings a production to Sydney for three performances. This year it was Cinderella, performed by a corps of 25 dancers – supported by 40 young dancers, chosen from over 70 aspiring local ballet students.

Breaking the Castle

By Peter Cook. Director: Caroline Stacey. Riverside Theatre, Parramatta. 7-9 April, 2022

Breaking the Castle premiered in Canberra in 2020 and had a short season in Melbourne in 2021. This season in Parramatta is short too. A pity, because it means far too few have seen this extraordinary piece of theatre that looks closely into addiction – how it gains power, how it holds power and how hard it is to break that power.

She Wrote the Letter

By Kieran Carroll. Directed by Cathy Hunt. St Martins Theatre, 28 St Martins Lane, South Yarra, Melbourne. 5-10 April, 2022.

Based on a true story, this play recounts the long-term friendship between performer Tania McNaughton and Ute Dahike. Their friendship spans decades and media platforms. They started out as teenage pen friends in two remote and distant places: Tania in New Zealand and Ute in East Germany.

Lawrence Mooney – Beauty

Written & Performed by Lawrence Mooney. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Atheneum Theatre 2. 8 – 10 April 2022. (Other venues & dates to follow)

At one point in his stand-up routine, Lawrence Mooney says, ‘Isn’t it great to discriminate – you just have to pick your minority.’  Listening to his audience, he picks right.  He runs the gamut: sexist jokes, racist jokes, penis, pudenda, and arsehole jokes, mocking disability jokes, graphically obscene descriptions of dicks (circumcised or not), arseholes (hairy or not), and Gladys Berejiklian’s appearance and love life.  Having a quick one off the wrist while watching Nigella Lawson. 

Dear Ida

Created & directed by Lisa Petty. La Mama Courthouse. 5 – 10 April 2022

A trip back to the dance halls of WWII Australia – the good times and the not so good.  The big band sound, the waltz, the foxtrot, the quickstep, the Gypsy Tap…  Women’s work in factories, laundries, homes.  Dressing up for a bit of fun on a Saturday night.  The letters from faraway places: ‘Dear Ida… Of course, I can’t say where we are…’  In the newspapers, the casualty lists.  The priest delivering the telegrams.  The wowsers.  The ridiculous claims of no alcohol, and no sex at the dances

In Blood

By Zachary Kazepis. La Mama HQ. April 5 – 10, 2022.

A one man show performed, devised, and written by Zachary Kazepis, In Blood is a confessional noirish tale set in a small rural town, about an innocent working class, twenty-one-year-old man, who once had dreams of breaking free from his origins, so he could be “somebody or someone”.

The Velveteen Rabbit

By Margery Williams, adapted by Greg Lissaman. Directed by Phillip Mitchell. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, 1 Short St, Fremantle, WA. April 4-23, 2022

The Velveteen Rabbit is somewhat of a stalwart for Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, but the latest incarnation feels particularly poignant given the current pandemic. The original book, which features a young child, very ill, was written in 1922, in the wake of the Spanish Flu Pandemic – although the child has scarlet fever, which probably harks to the British Scarlet Fever epidemic of Margery Williams’ childhood.

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