Circa Cairns. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 22 to 25 November 2023
Son is a performance piece by Circa Cairns, making its world premiere in Brisbane, the first show from Circa’s creative spinoff group to do so. As with Circa’s productions, the piece is multi-media, combining dance, physical circus skills and acrobatics, lighting and music – in this case the sublimely blissful work of music group, Kardajala Kirridarra.
Libretto and lyrics by W. S. Gilbert. Music by Frederic Clay. Preceded by Cradled Among The Reeds by Diana Burleigh. Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria. Director: Diana Burleigh. Musical Director: Geoff Urquhart. Directed by Naomi Tooby. The Malvern Theatre, Melbourne. November 23 - 26, 2023.
Ages Ago opened to huge success in 1869 at The Royal Gallery of Illustration (a name for a taboo 'theatre' in Regent Street, London) running a staggering 350 performances. This premiere by the iconic GSOV (Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria) is a real treat for Melbourne audiences to enjoy a rare glimpse into the world of W. S.
By Peter Heavenheld. Cracked Actors Theatre (CAT). 15 to 26 Nov, 2023
Playwright and producer Peter Heavenheld, of Ukrainian-Hungarian ancestry, has cleverly intertwined the migrant experience and Greek mythology in his new play Cleo’s Stratos, now showing at Cracked Actor’s Theatre in Albert Park.
Performed and co-devised by Carly Sheppard. Presented by A Daylight Connection. Directed & Co-Devised by Kamarra Bell-Wykes. Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street Southbank. 22 November – 3 December 2023.
Carly Sheppard returns to the Malthouse stage with an extended and developed version of her show Chase. The performance features a variety of characters that could be described as her alter egos. Sheppard retains much of the subversive and confronting content and her musings cover a range of topics such as intergenerational first nations trauma, environmental disaster and the pervasive and perverse nature of contemporary social media activity.
Written & directed by Kamarra Bell-Wykes. Presented by A Daylight Connection. Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street Southbank. 22 November – 3 December 2023.
This is a well-focused text that addresses the trauma of First Nations people in a graphic and emphatic manner. There is an explicit determination in this production to address the various aspects of this trauma: issues such as unjust incarceration, racist abuse, sexual violence, dispossession, and discrimination are all thoroughly and often viscerally addressed in this performance.
By Anton Chekov, adapted by Annie Baker. Presented by Theatre Guild Student Society. Little Theatre, Adelaide. 22-25 November 2023
Uncle Vanya looks after the run-down house on the family estate. He lives and works there with his mother, Maria, and his niece Sonya. She is the daughter of Vanya’s late sister and the now ageing Serebryakov, who has turned up at the estate with his new – and much younger – wife, Yelena.
By Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Canberra Repertory Society. Directed by Ylaria Rogers. Theatre 3, Acton, Canberra. 15 to 26 November 2023.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s madcap medley of Shakespeare’s plays has once again appeared in the fair city of Verona [strike that: Canberra! – Ed] Canberra, with Canberra Repertory bravely challenging the Bard to cut all the excess verbiage and condense his entire oeuvre to its most essential 97 minutes. To make the challenge more interesting, after declaiming the oeuvre’s inclusion of no fewer than 1122 characters, the script demands that the complete “reduced” collection of 37 plays be performed by just three actors.
By R. Johns. La Mama HQ, Carlton, Vic. Nov 15 – 26, 2023
Set in London’s Belmarsh Prison, dubbed “Britain’s Guantanamo Bay”, in the high security unit, the high-profile Julian Assange is detained, along with many terrorist suspects held there without charge. Playwright Rosemary Johns was stirred by a PEN event she attended back in 2019, where Human Rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson spoke of freedom of expression in defence of her client Assange. Inspired by the talk, Johns spoke to Robinson, who told her of her conversations with a women’s volunteer group known as the Tea Bar in Belmarsh Prison.
By Ken Cotterill and Tanya Paige. Richmond Players. Director: Neridah James. Richmond School of Arts. Nov 4, 11, 18, 24, 2023
The flyer says: “The movie will never be the same again” and it’s not wrong! This is a spoof on the movie, with the sort of innuendo and slapstick you might expect from a 1970s British sit com! There aren’t any chases or slamming doors, but there is a “knees up” in steerage, and some funny goings on in one of the cabins … and in a car stored in the cargo hold!
By Elise Esther Hearst with Phillip Kavanagh. Melbourne Theatre Company. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. 14 November – 16 December, 2023
Lead Writer Elise Hearst and Phillip Kavanagh take the structure (more or less) of the classic Dickens story A Christmas Carol but make it the story of a Jewish family and their ghosts, via the clash of Christmas and the contemporaneous Jewish festival of Hanukkah. They don’t have Dickens’ prose, but they tell a story that is much, much funnier, more real and way less sentimental.
