Reviews

Girls’ Weekend

By Karen Schaeffer. The Players Theatre, Ballina. Director: Fran Legge, Assist: Liz van Eck. 19th – 28th March, 2021

Ballina’s first offering for 2021 is a frothy comedy.

As the title suggests it’s a Girls’ Weekend but before long (through a series of secret assignations) a number of gentlemen appear and the merry romp begins.

The plot - four members of a book club gather to ‘discuss’ the chosen ‘tome of the week’. Like many plots in this genre, the first act is a little flat as the characters and their connection to the story are introduced.

Appropriate

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Sydney Theatre Company. Directed by Wesley Enoch. Roslyn Packer Theatre. Mar 15 – Apr 10, 2021.

A visceral set and soundscape, that enveloped this gripping play, made this night in the theatre resonate deep in your bones. It opens in complete darkness, with the screeching sound of cicadas getting louder and louder.

When the lights finally come up, we see the chaos of the inside of a southern American homestead - the crumbling deceased estate of the patriarch of the dysfunctional Lafayette clan.

Ordinary Days

By Adam Gwon. ACP and Playlovers. Directed by Alide Chaney. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo WA. Mar 3-13, 2021

Ordinary Days had a less than ordinary journey to production. Originally scheduled for a run at His Majesty’s Theatre during FringeWorld, it was postponed, then cancelled during the most recent Perth Lockdown. Three of the four actors changed during the rehearsal period. Eventually Ordinary Days had a very successful Covid-capacity run as a co-production between ACP and Playlovers at Stirling Theatre, warmly supported by Stirling Players.

Conviction

By Zoey Dawson, presented by The Hive Collective and Metro Arts. New Benner Theatre, Brisbane. 17 to 27 March 2021

Conviction is a postmodern, ‘anything goes’ one-act play in three slices, each one taking us inside the mind of a young female playwright – in a play by a young female playwright. The character is named ‘Zoey’ and is a semi-fictional version of the playwright herself as she procrastinates her way through the day, with looming deadlines and domestic pressures.

The Opposite Sex

By David Tristram. Directed by Alan Cooke. Townsville Little Theatre (TLT). Pimpac Performing Arts Centre, Townsville. March 17 – 20, 2021.

THERE is a great deal to be said for living in regional Australia, where we have been relatively untouched by this pandemic, and as we slowly come out of this hole called 2020, community theatre companies are rather like tortoises cautiously poking their heads out to gather the lay of the land.

They are responding to the fact that people have woken up to the fact that they have been starved of live entertainment and consequently this may probably well lead to larger audiences as we – who had been spoilt with so much choice – realise what we have been missing.

The Trauma Project

By Elizabeth Walley. Directed by Elizabeth Walley and Alec Gilbert. Presented by Double Garage. fortyfivedownstairs theatre, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 17 – 28 March 2021.

This is an extraordinarily elegant piece of theatre which addresses its highly confronting and timely topic in a delicate and sensitive manner. The central event which inspired this production is Walley’s own personal experience of witnessing an incident of domestic violence homicide on her street.

The Ladies Foursome

By Norm Foster. Harbour Theatre. Directed by Jarrod Buttery. Camelot Theatre, Mosman Park, WA. Mar 12-27, 2021.

Harbour Theatre’s The Ladies Foursome is proving very popular, and you may need to fight huge crowds of lady golfers to purchase one of the few remaining tickets. This funny but poignant play, by Norm Foster, one of Canada’s most popular playwrights, is set entirely on a golf course, but covers a plethora of issues, and is expertly performed.

See You Later, Mum

A play written by Christine Firkin with lyrics and music by Kay Proudlove. Adelaide Fringe 2021, Breakout at The Mill. Mar 18 – 20, 2021

These are stories and songs of a daughter’s relationship with her mother: transcending the separation between England and Australia, revealing the differences and commonalities across three generations of mothers.

Jali

By Oliver Twist. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre. March 16 – 27, 2021

Young Oliver Twist is a very accomplished jali, or as they mean in West Africa, historian or storyteller. 

Alone on Griffin’s suitably intimate and newly reopened stage, Twist shares his confronting refugee journey from Rwanda through war and hardship – before landing in Sydney as a stand-up comedian.

Chicago

Music: John Kander, Lyrics: Fred Ebb Book: Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Campbelltown Theatre Group Inc. Director: Kirsten Jowsey, Musical Director: Laura Glynn, Choreographer: Brendan Cascarino Town Hall Theatre. March 12 – 27, 2021.

Campbelltown Theatre Group’s Chicago is a skillfully polished brilliant production that cleverly evokes the style of the late ‘90s professional revival. Permeating this show is a lively pace, dark humour, and sassiness (not the negative-meaning “sass”).

For those unfamiliar with the 90s revival, that was the version which went for the sparse stage and with black being the dominant colour for costumes and set, the “much shorter skirts” being the basic style. Angela Cascarino’s costumes and set brilliantly achieve their goal.

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