Reviews

Playwright Catherine McKinnon explains that, as part of trilogy centred on the life-changing effects of traumatic events, “Hurt wrestles with the complexities of our actions towards one another at a time of crisis”.

Three people, implicated in an accident involving a child, face each other in the stark, impersonal space of a hospital waiting room. Their emotions and reactions, distorted by guilt and grief and fear, expose the fragility of the human psyche and the tensions that arise when self control crumbles.

As part of the 2016 Flanders Fields Poppy Trail commemorations, the State Opera Company of South Australia is presenting this musical tribute to both the Australian forces and their allies who fought on the Western Front in World War One. Hew Wagner, Courtney Turner, Desiree Frahn and Andrew Turner appear onstage in period costume, sing songs from the era (including popular standards like “Long Way To Tipperary” and “Keep The Home Fires Burning”) and recite poetry which reflects upon the human cost of the conflict.

Annie was an ideal choice for Eltham Little Theatre. They regularly include a junior musical in their program, and this allowed for plenty of juniors, as well as the adults, to have a sing.

Towering over the production was the Daddy Warbucks of John Leahy. Having seen him before, I was expecting his big voice and strong personality, but I was quite taken aback by his sensitive singing. Nicola Ramsay also sang well and was a strong Grace Farrell.

Sometimes a smaller-scale reimagining of a blockbuster serves to better illuminate the emotions and themes that form the core of the story than any big-budget staging could. Such is the case with this, the first amateur production of Wicked to be staged in South Australia. Though it can’t hope to match Broadway in terms of lavish spectacle, Matt Byrne’s conception of the show is still quite visually striking in its own, more modest way and the emotional journey of the main character comes through with an intensity that commands the audience’s attention.