Reviews

I went to the box office of the Sydney Opera House with my wife – we were two Jews attempting to walk into the theatre – but the front of house lady could not see our name on the list. No matter how hard I tried she would not budge, so it was looking like two Jews walk out of the theatre.

Initially the play relates the disputes and power struggles that occurred in families at the best of times and the worst times, after deaths in the families. Thus Orlando is removed by his brother Oliver, Rosalind by her uncle Frederick and Duke Senior also by Frederick. That is just the start of the intrigue and the relationships that develop. Rosalind disguises herself as a boy (Ganymede) and travels with cousin Celia as Ganymede’s sister Aliena to the Forest of Arden where all the exiles have gathered.

This delightful little play looks at how our ideas change with age and experience. The fact that it does so through one woman’s shifting perceptions of a painting over eleven years, makes it a refreshingly different take on an age-old theme – as does the style of the play. Set on an empty stage, the play takes place is a series of art galleries that have a pianist playing in the foyer. The music (played by Philip Eaves) supports – and transports – the action from Sydney, to London, to New York.

Black Swan’s 2018 Season is made up of a series of “conversations” between two productions. In the first concurrent pairing, ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’, Taylor Mac’s relatively new play Hir sits beside Australian classic Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, which is playing upstairs in the same building. Both plays feature men who return ‘home’ to find things irrevocably changed and both deal with themes of masculine identity.