Reviews

Tequila Mockingbird

Writer: Nelle Lee. Presented by Shake and Stir Theatre Company & QPAC. Director: Michael Futcher. Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane. 5 - 15 October 2016, then touring statewide

Shake & Stir are presenting this award-winning repeat production from 2013 here in Brisbane as the beginning of a Queensland tour. It's a good choice for further presentation having a superb team at the helm and a well-conceived adaptation of the time-worn themes of racial tension and alcohol in our community, particularly in more tight-knit Australian towns.

The Cartographer’s Curse

National Theatre of Parramatta and Third Space Productions. Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. October 5 – 8, 2016.

In this production, the National Theatre of Parramatta (NToP) has created the opportunity for Arab Australian artists, thinkers and performers to create a piece of theatre that calls upon the past as a means of explaining the present and expressing hope for the future.

In the supportive and creative hands of director Paula Abood, six performers have used “imagination, memory, knowledge (and) aesthetics” to devise a theatrical performance that summons the long, involved history of the Middle East through the effects of conflict on a village and a family.

The Big Bad Wolf

By Matthew Whittet. Awesome Festival Directed by Rosemary Myers. Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA. 5-8 October, 2016

The Big Bad Wolf had to have been one of the sweetest parts of the Awesome Festival. Written by Matthew Whittet, this awesomely cute modern fairy tale was a joy for kids, while still having plenty of appeal for their adult companions.

The Big Bad Wolf really isn’t bad at all, but the people of Alarmsvile fear him all the same, and he is terribly, overwhelmingly lonely. When he meets diminutive, dynamic, seemingly indomitable over-achiever Heidi Hood, it seems an impossible pairing, but they form an unlikely alliance.

The Critic

By Gabriel Bergmoser. Bitten By Productions. Club Voltaire, North Melbourne. 6 – 15 October 2016.

With The Critic, versatile Gabriel Bergmoser gives us a ‘play of ideas’.  The crux of the piece is the very real moral, ethical and indeed aesthetic dilemma of the central character.  It is a dilemma familiar to anyone who reviews any artistic endeavour, a dilemma any reviewer – or the higher status ‘critic’ – confronts with dread: the review of a play, novel, musical composition or artwork created by a friend.  But the dilemma – tell the truth or betray oneself or one’s principles and judgement by lying - is one we all

Patience

By Gilbert and Sullivan. Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney. Director: Elizabeth Lowrencev. Musical Director: Rod Mounjed. Smith Auditorium Lyric Theatre: Shore School. September 30 – October 8, 2016

Elegant and stylish, this production had class stamped all over it. From the broad brush detailed backdrop, to beautiful costumes, excellent diction and sumptuous orchestra, there was much to admire.

The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney company has grown in stature to fill its larger venue at Shore School and taken its standards up several notches, since it moved from the company's former long term home at the Zenith Theatre.

The Effect

By Lucy Prebble. University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. Little Theatre. 5 - 15 October, 2016

Megan Dansie is again to be congratulated for bringing a fresh and challenging piece of theatre to Adelaide. Lucy Prebble’s The Effect is a complex work dealing with many themes relating to ethics, love, consent and the complexities of the human mind.

Out of the Ordinary

Alex Vickory-Howe. Accidental Productions. Bakehouse Theatre, Adelaide. 4-15th October 2016

Playwright Alex Vickory-Howe explores many themes in his play Out of the Ordinary. His motivation for doing so stems from his theory of what it is to be successful, how important success is and whether being an artist rather than an accountant should warrant more or less adulation.

Communicating Doors

By Alan Ayckbourn. Pymble Players. October 5 – 29, 2016

Why does director Diane Howden love this play? “It has a bit of everything: thrills, comedy, murder, mystery and farce.” Add an accumulation of complications as unsuspecting dominatrix, Poopay, is carried from 2036 to 2016 to 1996 in a revolving hotel box room, and two wives trying to avoid their own murder, and you have a play that stretches the imagination as much as it stretches the set designer and the cast.

Dream Lover - The Bobby Darin Musical

Book by Frank Howson, John-Michael Howson, Simon Phillips and Carolyn Burns. Directed by Simon Phillips. Choreography by Andrew Hallsworth. Lyric Theatre, Sydney. Opening night: October 6, 2016

Pound for pound this was the best opening night for a new Australian written musical since The Boy From Oz. Even our biggest hit of recent times - Priscilla  - was trimmed after the premiere. This production felt like it had rolled off the Broadway production line.

At its heart is a very good story. Bobby who? was the question many asked when the musical was announced. The director Simon Phillips was amongst the many who did not know much about him.

The Masque of Beauty

Concept, script & production by Peter Green. Direction, dramaturgy, original music & keyboard by Faye Bendrups. La Mama Courthouse, Carlton (VIC). 5 – 9 October 2016.

The Masque of Beauty really is a ‘masque’ – i.e. not a ‘play’.  Or at least, it is masque-like.  The performers wear no masks, instead opting for elaborate make-up.  Nor does it conclude with traditional celebratory images of beauty and concord in homage to whoever is in power.  On the contrary.  La Mama’s quarterly handbook of coming attractions calls it a ‘renaissance cabaret’.

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