Reviews

Orange Thrower

By Kirsty Marillier. Director: Zindzi Okenyo. National Theatre of Parramatta. Riverside Theatre Parramatta. 30 March – 2 April, 2022

Kirsty Marillier is a new, young writer who has honed her style carefully. “It’s not often you come across a new writer that already possesses such a unique and well-formed writing style,” writes director  Zindzi Okenyo.

School Of Rock

Based on the Paramount movie written by Mike White. Book by Julian Fellowes. Lyrics by Glenn Slater. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Directed by Kylie Ball. North Queensland Opera and Musical Theatre (NQOMT), Civic Theatre, Townsville. 30 Mar – 2 April 2022.

LOOKING for all the world like a line-up for Young Talent Time, the one over-riding take-home impression from this production is not only the amazing wealth of young talent, but also if this is a portent of what our future holds for musical theatre in Townsville, then it is in good hands.

Stay Woke

By Aran Thangaratnam. Malthouse Theatre / Darlinghurst Theatre Company. Eternity Playhouse. Directed by Bridget Balodis. 26 March – 17 April 2022

Has there ever been a better stage setting at Sydney’s Darlinghurst Theatre? Matilda Woodroofe’s wonderfully realised Scandinavian wood cabin is terrific, with many acting areas and a glass back wall against which the snow has piled.

Girl From The North Country

Book by Conor McPherson. Songs by Bob Dylan. State Theatre Company South Australia. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide. 25 Mar — 10 Apr 2022

Bob Dylan says of his Minnesota heritage: “I was born in Duluth – industrial town, shipyards, ore docks, grain elevators, mainline train yards, switching yards. It’s on the banks of Lake Superior, built on granite rock. Lot of fog horns, sailors, loggers, storms, blizzards.”  Overlaid with a 1930’s wintry patina, this is the bleak, down-at-heel setting chosen by Irish writer/director Conor McPherson for Girl From The North Country.

Rabbit Hole

By David Lindsay-Abaire. Ad Astra, Brisbane. 24 March to 9 April 2022

How does a family deal with grief so deep it is debilitating? That is the difficult brief American playwright David Lindsay-Abaire sets out to fulfil with his Pulitzer-winning play about the spiralling effect of grief over the loss of a child. And the team at Ad Astra show their usual bravery in not shying away from exploring challenging material.

It’s Dark Outside

Written and Directed by Arielle Gray, Chris Isaacs and Tim Watts. The Last Great Hunt Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA, Perth, WA. Mar 16-Apr 2, 2022

The Last Great Hunt present the 10th Anniversary Production of It’s Dark Outside downstairs at the State Theatre Centre. This beautiful and emotive production - originally commissioned by Perth Theatre Company, and predating the founding of The Last Great Hunt - remains a very moving theatrical experience, visually exciting but gentle and touching.

King of Pigs

By Steve Rogers. Red Line Production and Critical Stages Touring. Directed by Blazey Best. The Q: Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. 24 – 26 March, 2022

What is shocking is how familiar all this is. Three every-day domestic horrors play out, simultaneously harrowing and horrifyingly ordinary. This is brutal and honest theatre.

Blood on the Wattle

Written and directed by Geoffrey Sykes. Richard Wherrett Studio, March 25 and 26 and Chippen Street Theatre, Chippendale, March 31-April 9, 2022.

Playwrights often have a lot to say. Sometimes they try to say it all at once. Sometimes that can be a little confusing, a little overwhelming, even a little disturbing. Such is the case with Blood on the Wattle. It touches on tawdry party politics, climate change, refugee detention, racism, discrimination, misogyny, stalking … even rape. Significant themes. And theatre is a good way to air them. But packaging them into one play means a fair bit of manipulation. And a fair bit for the audience to navigate.

The Bright Side of Life

Written and directed by Siobhan Wright. Roxy Lane Theatre, Maylands, WA. March 25-April 10, 2022

The Bright Side of Life is a World Premiere comedy, set in an aged care home, written, directed and unexpectedly starring Siobhan Wright, playing at Maylands’ Roxy Lane Theatre.

The story follows Julia Casey who enters the home, ostensibly for a few weeks, while her son Paul organises a granny flat to be built in his garden. The play follows her interactions with the other women in the home and explores the stories of the other residents, Bright and funny, but touching on some serious issues, it offers some lovely roles for mature performers.

Blithe Spirit

By Noël Coward. Sydney Theatre Company. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Mar 21 – May 14, 2022

Theatre makers often say that after lockdowns we need something light and bubbly to cheer us up.  I’m not so sure, given some of the crimes recently staged in the name of laughs, including a couple at the Sydney Theatre Company,

Page Rattray’s exquisitely comic version of Blithe Spirit is not among them.  Interestingly, Noël Coward wrote his acclaimed farce during his own lockdown in the depths of wartime in 1941 (and took just six days to complete it).

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