Reviews

Proof

By David Auburn. Tugun Theatre Company. Directed by Judy Neumann. 10th-26th August, 2023

Tugun Theatre is one of the coast’s original community theatre companies - dating back more than 50 years. It punches way above its weight and produces 4 very different productions every year, with very few financial resources.

Guys & Dolls

Music & lyrics Frank Loesser. Book Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Antipodes Theatre Company. Chapel off Chapel. 10 – 19 August 2023

Guys & Dolls has been called ‘the perfect musical’ ever since its premiere in 1950.  It isn’t ‘challenging’ and not even ‘relevant’, but it is certainly one of the greatest, most enduring American music theatre pieces, up there with the work of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Bernstein, Kander & Ebb, Sondheim, et al.

The Weekend

Adapted by Sue Smith, from the novel by Charlotte Wood. Belvoir Street Theatre. Director Sarah Goodes. 5 Aug – 3 September, 2023.

Three old but very different friends, now in their seventies, arrive to clean up the beach house of a fourth deceased friend who’d been the thread keeping them together.

Sue Smith’s artful stage adaptation of Charlotte Wood’s popular novel about their secrets, regrets and potential, as these women peel back their friendship and look squarely at life and death, is anchored in three remarkable performances.

Cry Baby: The Musical

Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium Musical Theatre students. Queensland Conservatorium Theatre. 3-12 August 2023

Based on the screen version, this fun-filled musical follows the style of that other John Waters film-to-stage adaptation, Hairspray, featuring characters who break from the confines of 1950s norms in squeaky clean Baltimore (Waters’ home town). The musical is much more fun than the film, with a book by Tony Award-winning Mark O’Donnell (Annie, The Producers, and Hairspray) and Thomas Meehan (Hairspray), and songs by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger (who worked together on The Daily Show).

Marriage is Murder

By Nick Hall. Serial Productions. Directed by Jacqui Warner. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth WA. Aug 11-26, 2023

Serial Productions present Marriage is Murder at Old Mill Theatre. This intense but very funny two hander tells of divorced writers Paul and Polly who reunite to continue their series of ‘Miss Charlie Murder Mysteries’ - rehearsing murders to ensure their practicality and realism.

The action takes place over a few days in Paul’s New York apartment, realistically designed by George Boyd. Lighting is designed by Bailey Fellowes and the production features jaunty and very clever music between the scenes.

The Fence

Written by Fleur Murphy. Presented by: Speaksy and 29 Scenes. Directed by Alice Darling. Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre. 9th – 20th August 2023

Fleur Murphy unflinchingly examines the threads of violence in our society with delicacy, insight and humour. The central character (Louisa Mignone) has a toddler who isn’t sleeping well and a husband who has become emotionally and practically absent.

The play starts when the fence is torn down by their new neighbour leaving the houses and their occupants exposed to each other. There are unsettling events suggestive of family violence in the house next door and making choices about how to respond is challenging.

Present Laughter

By Noël Coward. Directed by Jeff Watson. Roxy Lane Theatre, Maylands, WA. Aug 11-27, 2023

Present Laughter is a classic comedy by Noël Coward. The latest incarnation, which includes some impressive performances, is playing to very receptive audiences at Roxy Lane.

Reel Classics

Queensland Symphony Orchestra. QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane. 11th and 13th August, 2023

Composer, arranger and conductor Nicholas Buc was the perfect choice to lead the QSO in last night's performance of a fascinating and eclectic selection of the music of famous film score composers. With his impressive experience in the industry and passion and knowledge of the subject and the inclusion of scores from the 1930's up to the 1980's, it was indeed a night of mixed emotions not only because of the music itself but also the reminiscences associated with those memorable movies buried deep in our psyche.

The Other Side of Me

Presented by the NT Dance Company and the Darwin Entertainment Centre in association with the Darwin Festival. Choreography: Gary Lang. Co-creator, writer and dramaturg: Dr Laura Fish. Co-creator and dramaturg: Liz Pavey. Rehearsal director: Noelle Shader. Performers: Alexander Abbot and 'Cheeky' Chandler Connell. Soundscape and Sound Designer: Arian Pearson. Lighting Designer: Joe Mercurio. Costume Designer: Jennifer Irwin. Animation: Chloe Rhodham. Darwin Entertainment Centre, 9–12 August 2023. Darwin Festival.

“Every morning our people would crush charcoal and mix that with animal fat and smother that all over us, so that when the police came, they could only see black children in the distance. We were told always to be on the alert and, if white people came, to run into the bush or run and stand behind the trees, or else hide behind logs or run into culverts and hide. Often the white people – we didn't know who they were – would come into our camps. And if the Aboriginal group was taken unawares, they would stuff us into flour bags and pretend we weren’t there.

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

Film version. The Metropolitan Opera, New York, USA and Sharmill Films. In select Australian cinemas, August 19, 2023.

Every now and again a new opera version is performed that changes your views about the text, music and how is to be performed. Simon McBurney’s new version of Die Zauberflöte is just such a production.

I have been involved in theatre for over fifty years and have never seen a production of this Mozart classic that is so well thought out and entertaining. It is truly opera on steroids.

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