Reviews

Wanneroo Repertory’s WA Premiere of Hands on a Hardbody opened to a small but appreciative audience at the Limelight Theatre. Based on a documentary and a real-life event, it is set around a competition in Texas, where competitors must keep a hand on a truck for the longest time, in order to win the vehicle.

Very much an ensemble piece, we meet the ten competitors, two competition organisers, local radio host and a smattering of competitors’ family and supporters.

Set in ancient Polynesia, as was the film, and this musical tells the story of Moana, the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a coastal village. She is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with the goddess Te Fiti.  When blight strikes the island, Moana sets sail in search of Maui, a legendary demigod, with hopes of saving her people and her island. With waves breaking on stage, the audience follows Moana’s efforts with hopes for her success. Making it even more attractive is the wide ranging use of song and dance.

Madness of Two is an innovative new theatre company, founded by theatre-makers Ellen Graham and Jamie Hornsby. In Starweaver, they are partnering with the State Theatre company and premiering a new piece of very high-quality science fiction performance with innovative staging and effects.

When this production was first conceived by Opera North in 2018, Donald Trump was in the White House and the #MeToo movement was a dominant cultural force,  which partly inspired the Director Edward Dick to give it a modern sensibility.

The story was transplanted from Rome during the Napoleonic wars to an unnamed present-day country where Church and State collude.

In one of the most striking parallels about powerful men behaving badly, the villain Scarpia sings about his desire to both bed Tosca and discard her after his prospective conquest.