Reviews

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Book by Rachel Sheinkin. Music and Lyrics by William Finn. Originally Conceived by Rebecca Feldman. Javeenbah Theatre Company, Nerang, Gold Coast. Director: Bradley Chapman. 9th March - 24th March 2018

Javeenbah Theatre Company’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is one of the hottest ticket in town.

The talented cast includes Flynn Anderson as Chip Tolentino, Sebastian Angliss-Li as William Barfee, Nicola Barrett as Logainne Schwartzandgrubbeniere, Chelsea Burton as Olive Ostrovsky, Nadine Chia as Marcy Park, Nic Van Litsenborgh as Leaf Coneybear with Sally Wood, Cameron Sarasola, Bradley Chapman, Micheal Ware and Olivia Chilvers French.

Can You Hear Colour?

Patch Theatre Company. Adelaide Festival. AC Arts Main Theatre. March 9-15th, 2018

“Can you hear colour?” Michaela Burger asks the rapt audience of Adelaide mums and dads accompanied by tots through to ten year olds, who are all eager for the show to begin. And, with a little help from Girl, engagingly portrayed by Burger, along with some very clever technical effects and a magic tree (that cleverly hides lots of clever and talented magic ‘helpers’), we can hear colour, see colour and even taste colour. It is Burger’s role that cleverly links and drives the whole story.

Rock of Ages

Book by Chris D'Arienzo. Arrangements & orchestrations by Ethan Popp. Directed by Stephen Carr, Musical direction by Kate McIntosh. Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana, WA. Mar 2-17, 2018

Rock of Ages is playing to packed, very enthusiastic houses at Koorliny Arts Centre with a energetic, enthusiastic cast, who rock out with abandon.

Thank Q for the Memories

Led by John Shortis and Moya Simpson. The Q, Queanbeyan, 8–10 March 2018

Compered by stalwart Canberra–Queanbeyan singer–songwriting team John Shortis and Moya Simpson, Thank Q for the Memories celebrates the decennary of the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre (The Q) with highlights from memorable productions of the past ten years.

 

Us/Them

By Carly Wijs (Belgium). Adelaide Festival 2018. Bronks / Richard Jordan Productions / Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Big In Belgium. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. 8 - 12 March, 2018

Carly Wijs’ Us/Them from the Belgium youth theatre company BRONKS is based on the Belsan school siege in Russia in 2004.

Two young actors enter onto an open stage with a large green chalkboard up-stage, a large bunch of helium-filled black balloons, with six steel pillars marking the performance area. The young actors are playing two ten-year-old children who were involved in the Belsan school siege.

That Daring Australian Girl

By Joanne Hartstone. Adelaide Fringe, The Arch, Holden Street Theatres. March 6-18, 2018

From beginning to end, Joanne Hartstone’s performance in That Daring Australian Girl is a triumph. With subtle nuance, expression and gestures, all in keeping with a woman at the turn of last century, Hartstone captures little celebrated Muriel Matters and her extraordinary life with colour and passion.

Written and performed by Hartstone, the performance is staged in Holden Street’s Arch venue; the old church building immediately evoking bygone eras.

Young Marx

By Richard Bean & Clive Coleman. National Theatre Live from Theatre Bridge, London. Nova Cinemas, Carlton VIC (& other participating venues). 17-28 March 2018.

Rory Kinnear plays the eponymous Marx brilliantly – albeit as a comic character.  His Marx is self-absorbed, self-serving, selfish and shifty – a man who loves mankind in the abstract, but is quite prepared unthinkingly to ignore and exploit the people who love and support him.  At the same time, he is preoccupied, constantly applying his forensic and analytical skills to the 19th century industrialised world’s political economy – and making some very prescient predictions about the future of Capitalism, predictions which have turned out to be al

Marble

By Marina Carr. Darlington Theatre Players. Directed by Rodney van Groningen. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount, WA. Feb 23 - March 10, 2018

First time director Rodney van Groningen has assembled a stellar cast for the West Australian premiere of Marina Carr’s relationship drama, Marble, produced by Darlington Theatre Players.

Art has a vivid dream about making love to his best friend’s wife, on the same night that she has the exact same dream about Art. Marble is an intense drama about two couples, that at times can be quite bleak.

Edges

By Benj Pasek & Justin Paul. Adelaide Fringe. Irregular Productions. The Parks Theatre, Angle Park. 7 March - 11 March, 2018.

Looking for a genuinely pleasurable, easy-going time in the theatre, but one that doesn’t skimp on emotional substance or musical quality, and which serves as a showcase for professional-level performers? Of course you are! Which is why Edges is such a cinch to recommend.

Technically this is a song cycle, but the deft staging and superb ensemble acting bring it very close to being a piece of sung-through musical theatre. Whatever label you want to place on this brilliant production of Edges, it’s a winner every which way.

Don't Dress For Dinner

By Marc Camoletti. Mousetrap Theatre Redcliffe (Qld). Directed by Keith Wilson. February 23 - March 11, 2018

The setting is Bernard and Jacqueline’s country home, a converted French farmhouse northwest of Paris, in the 1980’s. While Jacqueline is to be away for the weekend, Bernard arranges for his Parisian mistress to call, for his friend Robert to be there too as an alibi and finally a cook to prepare the gourmet meals. What could go wrong? Everything.

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