Reviews

Apologia

By Nicola Gunn. Malthouse, The Beckett. 6 – 18 August 2024

An ‘apologia’ is not an apology.  On the contrary, it is a defence (written, spoken, passionate, logical, whatever) of one’s actions or beliefs.  So what is Nicola Gunn defending here?  It is the ambiguity of something is translated, transformed, recreated, replicated, copied, or incorporated into something else.  What then is the nature or essential essence of the ur-thing that is translated, transformed and so on?  What is its authenticity?  (Some may recall the Abbas Kiarostami movie Certified Copy.)

Horizon

Presented by QPAC and Bangarra Dance Theatre. Choreographed by Sani Townson, Deborah Brown and Moss Te Ururangi Patterson. QPAC Playhouse, 8 - 17 Aug 2024

Horizon is a commanding double bill that intertwines cultural exploration and artistic expression. It opens with Kulka which is choreographed by Bangarra alum Sani Townson followed by the centrepiece, The Light Inside, a collaborative creation by Bangarra alum Deborah Brown and Māori choreographer Moss Te Ururangi Patterson. Together, these works navigate the quest for cultural and ancestral ties, examining themes of matriarchy, birth, and creation, connection to home, and the rich history of storytelling that defines Indigenous identities.

Silent Sky

By Lauren Gunderson. Presented by St. Jude’s Players. St Jude’s Hall, Brighton, SA. 8 – 18 August 2024

‘Lucky for us the universe doesn’t much care for what you wear’ says an indignant Henrietta Leavitt on first meeting her supervisor who asserts superiority through being a man, only for him to discover she’s just as qualified, and more eloquent with it.

Playwright Lauren Gunderson has created a superb story which director Lesley Reed has brought to life so beautifully on the St. Jude’s stage.

La Rondine

By Giacomo Puccini. Presented by Victorian Opera and Orchestra Victoria. Palais Theatre, Lower Esplanade, St Kilda. 8-10 August 2024

Puccini’s lyric opera is not often performed, perhaps because it is not a sweeping tragedy of complex characters with multiple opportunities for displays of vocal excellence, but it is a pity. It has energy and sufficient opportunities for pathos and vocal displays. This production, directed by Stuart Maunder using his varied experiences in musical theatre and opera together with the wonderful voices of Kiandra Worth (Magda) and Won Whi Choi (Ruggero), revealed its possibilities.

Echoed Voices

Queensland Art Song Festival. Presented in partnership with the Queensland Conservatorium and University of Queensland. 7th August, 2024

Renowned Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg and repetiteur Nico de Villiers wowed the audience last night with a selection of art songs, primarily by lesser-known Dutch/American composer Richard Hageman (including his well-known art song 'Do Not Go My Love'), finalising their tour and bringing to light Art-Song as an additional return to this traditional form of chamber music.

Magnificent Setting Green Amphitheatre

Barrier Reef Orchestra. Queen’s Gardens, Townsville as part of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Conducted by Theodore Kuchar. 28 July 2024.

IT WAS a tranquil and beautiful setting – a magnificent green amphitheatre that framed the orchestra and audience on a beautiful mild winter’s afternoon for Sunday’s performance of the Barrier Reef Orchestra in Queen’s Gardens.

Presented by the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the annual free concert was emceed by Steve Price.

Chicago

Lyrics by Fred Ebb. Music by John Kander. Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. John Frost for Crossroads Live, Jones Theatrical Group in association with Barry and Fran Weissler. Festival Theatre, Adelaide. 8-31 August 2024 (and then to Canberra from 7 September)

‘Give ‘em the old razzle dazzle,’ sings Billy Flynn, and it’s an apt song to describe this visually stunning production of the Bob Fosse musical. It’s a visual spectacle of dance and song that tells the story of killer women who take shameless advantage of their celebrity status in the hope that it will relaunch their flagging careers – oh, and get them acquitted by an adoring jury.

Arlington

By Enda Walsh. Empress Theatre and Seymour Centre. Director Anna Houston. Seymour Centre. 2 - 24 August, 2024

To many the word “Arlington” evokes pictures of the thousands of white headstones guarding thousands of American souls lost to wars since 1861. It’s a dark picture – and Enda Walsh’s play of that name is similarly dark. He conjures a dystopian society beyond 1984 or Brave New World or Severance that interrogates its citizens and leaves them empty of their dreams in locked rooms in high tower blocks with open windows tempting their will to live.

Snow White

By the Brothers Grimm, adapted by Georgia Turner. Stray Cats. Directed by Karen Francis. The Fishtrap Theatre, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. Jul 25-28, 2024

As I child I found Snow White the most terrifying of the fairy tales, with the Disney film the scariest in the Disney stable. This version from Stray Cats leans into the darkness of this classic story, in a stylish production aimed at an adult audience.

Breaker Morant

By Kenneth G. Ross. Directed by Garry Lawrence. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. Aug 2-17, 2024

It has been over two decades since we have seen Breaker Morant on stage in Perth, with the last incarnation also directed by Garry Lawrence, that time for Playlovers. Not easy to cast, with over a dozen men needed, this historical drama is both historical documentary and a courtroom drama. 

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.