Reviews

I’ll admit, reviewing Impromptunes was completely indulgent on my part. They have been reviewed before, but I just really wanted to see it. I was not disappointed.

Impromptunes is exactly as described. A completely new improvised musical at every performance. A cast of six (the line up varies) and a pianist, take a suggestion from the audience and perform that title over the next hour. Previous titles include Quarter Life Crisis, Texas Homeschool Prom, Mummies in Brunswick and Toyota Corolla.

This year and over the last couple of years in Adelaide, we have celebrated significant milestones for a number of amateur theatre companies. It is these sorts of companies that are the lifeblood of amateur theatre and the training ground for many prominent Australian actors. These companies also serve to provide pleasure, skill development, leisure, team building and collaboration skills, and entertainment for audiences and performers alike.  

There’s a certain anticipation as you enter Track 8 of Sydney’s Carriageworks and are greeted by a former prisoner or parole officer. You are here for a unique performance, where they will test your preconceptions of rehabilitation and the capacity of ex-offenders to reintegrate with society. The audience is asked to act as parole board and judge if one former prisoner - John Tjepkema at our performance - deserves freedom.

Sydney Town Hall has been transformed into a long, thrust stage surrounded by wooden tiered seating spread with brightly covered foam cushions. Colourful peaked gables arch above the lighting loom. Expectant patrons savour delicately flavoured lamb biryani before making their way to their seats for Belvoir and Co-Curious’ mammoth undertaking of S. Shakthidharan’s family saga, Counting and Cracking.