Reviews

The Memory of Water

By Shelagh Stephenson. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Directed by Rachel Chant. 20 October – 25 November, 2023

Opening in London in 1996, this first play by Shelagh Stephenson was awarded the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Comedy. Linking memory, bereavement and richly funny family relationships and events, it is given a full-on comedy production here by director Rachel Chant.

Set in a seaside Yorkshire house, expected to soon end up under water, an all-female family gather to deal with the death of their once sprightly mother from Alzheimer’s disease at 75. It’s Winter and blowing a gale, and the metaphor of water runs right through the play. 

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

Music: Richard Rodgers. Lyrics & Original Book: Oscar Hammerstein II. New Book: Douglas Carter Beane. NOVA Music Theatre Inc. Director: Noel Browne. Music Director: John Clancy. Co-Choreographers: Wayne Robinson & Julie Wright. The Round, 379-399 Whitehorse Road, Nunawading. October 20-29, 2023.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella is a timeless musical that has captured the hearts of audiences for decades. Originally starring Julie Andrews, Cinderella (the only R&H musical written directly for television in 1957) was watched by more than 107 million viewers in the US alone. Another adaptation in 1965 featured Ginger Rogers as the stepmother.

Girls in Boys’ Cars

By Felicity Castagna. Adapted and directed by Priscilla Jackman. National Theatre of Parramatta. Riverside Theatres Parramatta. 25 Oct – 3 Nov, 2023

Felicity Castagna writes about aspects of life that resound with ordinary people, especially ordinary young people growing up in the suburbs, away from the rarefied atmosphere of the CBD. Her characters come from different backgrounds, different cultures, from the Australia that is busy and varied, bubbling with hopes and expectations – and the strength that comes from overcoming disillusion and disappointment.

Alzheimer’s The Musical

By Maureen Sherlock. Directed by Dale James. Roxy Lane Theatre, Maylands WA. Oct 13 – 22, 2023

As a person in my fifties, it is rare that I feel young in an audience, but I felt decidedly youthful in the crowd at Roxy Lane’s Alzheimer’s the Musical, subtitled “A Night to Remember”. Less about Alzheimer’s than the complexities of aging in general, this three-woman show is part jukebox musical, part revue and part skit comedy, and kept a capacity audience chuckling throughout.

The Glass Menagerie

By Tennessee Williams. Hobart Repertory Theatre Company. Director – Jeff Kevin. Set – Jill Munro. Lighting – Jason James. The Playhouse Hobart. 13-28 October, 2023

Rarely has set, sound, light, language and performance so perfectly coalesced as in this production of Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie.

Flake

Written by Dan Lee and co-created by Chi Nguyen. Red Stitch. October 11 – November 5, 2023.

In a small basement kitchen, somewhere in Hanoi, a seething drama unfolds between two old friends and a go-between. New Australian play Flake by Dan Lee, co-created by Chi Nguyen, developed and produced through the Red Stitch INK program, is directed by Red Stitch’s Artistic Director Ella Caldwell.

Heathers – the Musical

By Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, based on the film by Daniel Waters. Blackout Theatre Company. Director Jordan Anderson. Pioneer Theatre Castle Hill. 20 – 29 October, 2023

Coming to this production ‘cold’ but having been advised of the ‘cult following’ of the movie on which it is based, I was still surprised by the exhilaration of the audience and their exuberant reaction to the characters and the music. The theatre vibrated with an air of expectation as the house lights faded. It was clear that most of the audience was there to greet the production with enthusiastic joy – and Jordan Anderson and his cast and choreographers didn’t let them down.

Florescence

Australian String Quartet. Ithaca Auditorium, Brisbane City Hall. 19th October, 2023

Since its inception in 1985, and based at the University of Adelaide, the ASQ has become one of Australia's first and foremost string quartets and is currently on tour around the country. With the use of 18th century Guadagnini instruments for the program, worth over six million dollars in total, and performing a variety of works from three famous eras of music in one of Brisbane City Hall's atmospheric old venues, this was indeed an enjoyable night for those who enjoy the timbre of the traditional string quartet ensemble and its historical significance.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

shake & stir theatre co. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 14 to 28 October 2023

Much creative effort has gone into producing this stage version of Frankenstein, the classic cautionary tale about the dangers of technology. But, with its heavy use of cutting-edge stage videography, this production runs the risk of being like the monster at the centre of Mary Shelley’s gothic tale – a creature whose sum of separate, sewn together parts don’t quite add up to a satisfying whole human.

A Little Night Music

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Hugh Wheeler. Hayes Theatre Co. October 18 – November 18, 2023.

A Little Night Music at the Hayes took me on a retro 50-year flashback to a revelatory night at the then new, now gone, Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney; an evening which redefined the possibilities of musical theatre for me.

Spellbound, I returned on student rush tickets as often as my teaching scholarship funds allowed.

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