Reviews

Director Anne Blythe-Cooper and the Hobart Repertory Theatre bring us the musical Anne and Gilbert, sequel to their successful production of Anne of Green Gables last year. Many principle and ensemble performers reprise their 2023 roles, alongside a few new faces and the very welcome addition of a live band (replacing last year’s prerecorded accompaniment). As a sequel, written around 40 years later, the plot is self-contained, however, the musical (like the first) is unashamedly written for those who already know and love LM Montgomery’s original novels.

The director Gavin Roach has chosen an approach which caricatures the zoo personel (Perri Cummings, Rupert Bevan) and the PR company’s two workers (Dax Carnay, Asher Griffith-Jones). There is sudden, incomprehensible shouting, hardly believable motivations and an awful lot of overt sexualised behaviour which would lead to instant stand downs in any workplace. Unfortunately, while being somewhat funny, and perhaps wanting to draw a parallel to animals, this approach undercuts the very real issues being addressed.

Christopher Samuel Carroll – the director, lead performer and probably lead devisor – says in the closing moments of I Have No Enemies, ‘This is a play about surveillance.’  It is - and as this witty, subversive, rocket speed, and superbly performed show demonstrates, we are all under surveillance.  You might say, ‘Me?  Surely not.  I have no enemies!’  Maybe not, but should you acquire some or just an algorithm (and not even know it), your data is being collected every moment and could be used against you.  Watch ca

Ensemble Q kickstarted their 2024 season as Company in Residence at QPAC with the first of three specially curated concerts. The Trout was a considered and thoughtful program by Paul and Trish Dean, Ensemble Q’s co-artistic directors, who also perform on clarinet and cello. Collated to bring to light underappreciated and underperformed works, the five quintets by Reicha, Beach, Skipworth, Glazunov and Schubert all added up to pure musical afternoon delight in what felt like an intimate family affair.