Reviews

Peter and the Starcatcher

By Rick Elice. Playhouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 14 March to 6 April 2025

Based on the 2004 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, (published by Disney), Peter Pan’s ‘origin story’ comes to life on stage as a theatre piece by Rick Elice, developed by Disney Theatrical Group, which premiered on Broadway in 2012 and went on to be nominated for a dozen Tony Awards, winning four for its design elements and one for best actor. That’s a lot of pressure on subsequent productions to live up to!

Nunsense

By Dan Goggin. Primadonna Productions. Directed by Carole Dhu. The Fishtrap Theatre, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. Mar 7-9, 2025

Primadonna Productions’ (essentially) all female production of Nunsense included two performances on International Women’s Day during its three-day season. Playing to packed houses, audiences were treated to a fun musical showcasing some great female talent.

Djuna

By Eva Rees. Darebin Arts Speakeasy & Bullet Heart Club. Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre. 12 – 23 March 2025

Image (above): DJUNA by Eva Rees. Dion Mills (outcry). Photographer: Darren Gill

At a key point in this gripping thriller, Marcus (Dion Mills), a cool, self-possessed businessman, quotes Oscar Wilde: ‘Everything in the world is about sex, except sex.  Sex is about power.’  This aphorism provides the central idea of Djuna.  It’s also a play that, with chilling insight, is about self-hatred turned outwards and it’s about the way a victim can be overwhelmed and fall into a kind of love with the abuser...

MUD

By Maria Irene Fornes. Produced by Salad Days Collective. Directed by Callum Johnson. Venue: PIP Theatre, Milton. 14th to 22nd of March, 2025

Image (above): Jasmine Prasser as Mae, Alex O’Connell as Henry, and George Oates as Lloyd sit around the table.

Salad Days Collective’s production of Maria Irene Fornes’ MUD at PIP Theatre is an unapologetically raw, hauntingly beautiful portrayal of poverty, power, and longing for freedom — and it’s hard to shake even after the final blackout.

Ladies in Black

By Tim Finn (Music and Lyrics) and Carolyn Burns (Book). Beaumaris Theatre, Vic. March 7 – 22, 2025

Ladies in Black is an Australian stage musical written by Split Enz and Crowded House co-founder Tim Finn (Music and Lyrics) and Carolyn Burns (Book). It is based on The Women in Black 1993 novel by Madeleine St John and was the recipient of several Helpmann (Best Musical and Best Score), Matilda, and Green Room Awards

The Haunted Through Lounge and Recessed Dining Nook at Farndale Castle

Written by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jnr. Director: Sharon White. St Luke’s Theatre Society, Queensland. Playing March 14 – March 29.

There have been a number of plays about the dubiously staged productions by the ladies of the fictitious Farndale  Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Dramatic Society, and they have made a spectacle of themselves yet again.  That, of course, is the reason the audience was there in such good numbers on opening night. Initially, it seemed to be no more than a shambolic rehearsal with calls for lines, the right props and so on but finally the ladies improved their skills by adding deaths and murders within the castle walls.

Macbeth

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Courtney Stewart and Lisa Fa'alafi. Dramaturgy by Sue Rider. La Boite Roundhouse Theatre. 6 – 22 March, 2025

The Scottish play has undergone a wicked witchy makeover in this latest production staged at Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre. Courtesy of the vision of co-directors Courtney Stewart and Lisa Fa'alafi and the dramaturgy of Sue Rider, this Macbeth is stripped back to the narrative’s bare essentials, resulting in an exciting, fast-paced tale of manipulation, ambition, and destruction. This treatment of the work highlights the ways in which the women use their words to influence those around them, while the men use violence.

Lizzie

By Steven Cheslik-Demeyer, Tim Maner and Alan Stevens Hewitt. Milky Way Productions. Directed by Kieran Ridgway and Luke Miller. City of Gosnalls Don Russell Performing Arts Centre, Thornlie, WA. Mar 14-22, 2025

Milky Way Productions’ Lizzie is described as a musical but might better be described as Rock Opera come Rock Concert. Performed on a reduced stage space with the band prominent and visible, this almost sung through show is very music focused. Lizzie is the story of Lizzie Borden, famously accused and acquitted of the brutal axe murder of her father and stepmother.

The Narcissist

By Lori Stewart, Tweed Theatre Company. Directed by Leonie Richards. Tweed Civic Centre Auditorium, 21 Brett Street. March 14th-23rd, 2025.

The Narcissist, a play written by Tweed Theatre’s own Lori Stewart, takes place on the Coast itself, and shines a light on the harsh realities of being in a relationship with a narcissist, as the main character Georgina falls in love with coffee shop owner Adam.

The Platypus

By Francis Greenslade. Adelaide Fringe. The Arch at Holden Street Theatres. 11-23 March 2025

The platypus is a semiaquatic, venomous, egg-laying mammal whose first presentation to European scientists at the turn of the 19th century was judged to be several animals sewn together. It defied a clean categorisation and has its own genus – a genre, if you like, of the animal kingdom. Francis Greenslade’s first original play of the same name attempts to do the same in the performing arts kingdom, where a domestic drama spirals downwards across many, many genres stitched together.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.