Reviews

Yoruba and Ngati Tuwharetoa musician Samuel Gaskin has a lot to say about racism and injustice. That he does it through music makes his message clear and strong – especially in this performance where graphic visuals reinforce and sustain his words. Reckoning is using theatre not just to entertain but to reflect society and to herald the need for change. It is activism in its less strident but equally powerful form.

The show begins before the show.  It’s opening night.  As the audience waits on the deck outside the La Mama HQ theatre, Maude Davey and Jane Bayly come out in white blouses and long white skirts.  We don’t know why these outfits, and I don’t think we ever find out.  Maude has fourteen strips of white cardboard, each with the name of a song, or a poem, or a piece of prose, that will make up the show My First Bike.  It’s all very chatty and relaxed, like we all know – and like – each other, and we love Maude and Jane.

Bell Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night played a short season at WA’s State Theatre Centre, as part of the National Tour which concludes at the Sydney Opera House in November.

A little bit of an unconventional start to Opening Night in Perth, with the originally scheduled 6.30pm start put back to 8pm to allow patrons to watch the Matildas play England. Australia’s defeat probably didn’t leave the audience in the best mood to watch a show, but by the second act the audience had relaxed, and laughs were flowing more freely.

Commissioned by the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Catastrophes is a beautifully drawn two-hander about new parenthood in a world accelerating towards its demise and being a mother in a world of pandemics, climate change and other catastrophes.