Reviews

Love Bird

By Georgina Harris. La Mama. La Mama at Trades Hall, Carlton VIC. 3 – 7 October 2018

Love Bird is ridiculous – or ‘absurd’ as director Phoebe Taylor’s program note has it – but it is great fun, funny and underneath its nonsense it has something to say about ‘love’ in several manifestations.  A talented cast commit to the absurdity and – as when farce works best – play it straight.

The Architect

By Aidan Fennessy. Melbourne Theatre Company. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. 27 September – 31 October 2018

Aidan Fennessy’s The Architect is a comedy drama about dying – and dying with dignity - but it’s also, almost as much, about class.  Helen (Linda Cropper), a retired literature teacher, and her lawyer partner John (Nicholas Bell), both in their sixties, live in a spacious, open plan house in a leafy suburb.  But Helen has inoperable brain tumours.  John wants to go to an event in England but of course doesn’t want to leave her alone.  She’ll need a carer and if the right one can’t be found, he won’t go. 

Funny Girl The Musical

Music: Jule Styne. Lyrics: Bob Merrill. Book: Isobel Lennart. Theatre and Company. Riverside Theatres Parramatta. September 28 – October 6, 2018.

Theatre and Company's second production, following their rousing inaugural production earlier this year of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, was another smashing hit.

Funny Girl The Musical is the semi-biographical piece based on the life and career of Broadway star Fanny Brice and her fiery relationship with entrepreneur Nick Arnstein.

McNirt Hates Dirt

Created by Miranda Hampton. Directed by Teddy Dunn. The Seagull Tent, Perth Cultural Centre, WA 1-6 October, 2018

McNirt Hates Dirt is an adorable mini-musical at Perth’s Awesome Arts Festival for Bright Young Things. This lovely short show is aimed at the very smallest of bright young things, with a suggested age of 3-5 years, and winning over many even younger than that.

Sleuth

By Anthony Shaffer. Ipswich Little Theatre. Director: Les Chappell. Incinerator Theatre, Ipswich. 19 September – 6 October, 2018

Sleuth premiered in London in 1970, running 2,359 performances and 1,222 on Broadway. Since then Anthony Shaffer’s ingenious two-handed cat-and-mouse thriller has been produced by every almost theatre company around the world and has long been a favourite on the community theatre circuit.

Ruby’s Wish

By Holly Austin, Adriano Cappelletta and Jo Turner. Directed by Jo Turner. Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA. 1-12 October, 2018

Parents who accompany their children to Ruby’s Wish, playing as part of the Awesome Festival, are in for a treat. In a festival aimed at children, this truly is a wonderful experience for all ages, and if you can tear your eyes away from the stage for a moment you will notice that the grown-ups, even jaded critic types, are just as engaged as the children.

The Man With the Iron Neck

By Ursula Yovich (original concept by Joshua Bond). Legs on the Wall Production. Brisbane Festival. Brisbane Powerhouse. 26-29 September, 2018

It is a sad truth that indigenous people are twice as likely to commit suicide than other Australians. The reasons are many and complicated. And, in a world premier for the Brisbane Festival, The Man With the Iron Neck wrangles this difficult subject matter like a three-ring circus. It deals simultaneously with the haunting impact of colonisation, Aussie masculinity and racism in sport, and how young people deal with disturbing ripples in their family’s history.

Ascent

By Jayde Kirchert. Citizen Theatre. Melbourne Fringe. Theatre Works. September 28 – 30, 2018.

Ascent is an amazing experimental fusion of sight and sound!

The story revolves around a woman who is having a serious body image crisis and a chorus of mocking and witty assistants who rally around her. Along with her exquisite team of creatives, writer and director Jayde Kirchert has developed a beautifully choreographed and composed piece of animated theatre.

Horror

Devised and Directed by Jakop Ahlbom. Presented by Datacom and Brisbane Festival. Playhouse Theatre QPAC, 26 – 29 September, 2018

Here’s the perfect show for audiences looking for something unique from their theatre experiences. Horror takes you on a dark and visceral journey through the myriad tropes of horror films in a manner that’s sure to astound. It’s set in a spooky house where we see a young woman and her friends arrive on a rainy night. It’s the former home of the woman, who soon starts being haunted by her terrible past.

Out of Sight …Out of Mind

By Fred Carmichael. Mousetrap Theatre Redcliffe. Directed by Jean Bowra. September 28 – October 14, 2018.

The play begins with author Peter Knight grinding out a murder story in an old mansion where another author had been murdered years before. A weird electrical storm has cosmic effects and his characters come to life. Naturally they are the typical characters of murder mysteries that had appeared in such novels in the past. They are the ingénue, the seductress, the butler, the nasty old lady, the lawyer, the juvenile and the maid who is always pregnant. Oh, he has a normal maid. Peter loses control of his characters and the murders begin to occur – as in a novel.

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