Reviews

Heroes of the Fourth Turning

By Will Arbery. Outhouse Theatre Company. Directed by Craig Baldwin. Seymour Centre, Sydney. 31 March – 23 April, 2022

This is an exceptional production of an important modern play and it's unclear why the Sydney Theatre Company hasn’t claimed it for itself. Chekhovian in its comic view of the blighted lives of its characters, it reveals what’s going on in the minds of the followers of that damned modern hero – Donald Trump.

Will Arbery’s thrilling new American play has been nailed by director Craig Baldwin in this quietly absorbing production that is not to be missed.

GlamourPussy and The Hip Replacements

Goodwood Theatre and Studios, SA - 2 April 2022. Chapel off Chapel, Vic – 30 April, 2022

She's a spicy mix of glamour & decay.  Young at heart…and slightly older in other places.  GlamourPussy declares herself with honesty, verve, style, and glittering sardonic repartee.  By way of her presence and talent she owns the stage from start to riveting and poignant finish and unhesitatingly claims the spotlight on behalf of all females of a particular life stage. 

Tartuffe

By Moliere. Directed by Trent Baker. WAAPA Third Year Acting. The Roundhouse Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. Mar 31- Apr 6, 2022

Tartuffe, presented by WAAPA Third Year Acting students, and designed, built and crewed by WAAPA Production and Design students, is a fun vibrant and highly energetic incarnation of this more than 300-year-old play. Larger and brighter than life, the concept is bright and bold.

A is For Apple

Written and produced by Jessica Bellamy. Directed by Scarlet McGlynn. Griffin Lookout Season. SBW Stables Theatre. March 29 - April 9, 2022.

Comedies about Jewish coming of age have long been fodder for writers – think of 13 the musical and the movie 66, where the World Cup upstages a British boy’s big day.

Joining this club is the sassy and hilarious comedy A for Apple, which  is so good I could imagine it being staged in a little theatre off Broadway.

Kelly

By Matthew Ryan. Directed by Subra Velayutham and Kylie Gral. La Mama HQ, 205 Faraday St, Carlton VIC. 29 March – 3 Apr 2022.

The details of the last days and hours of Ned Kelly's (Subra Velayutham) battles with local authorities and his own conscience are fully explored in this intricate play. The text cleverly exploits the rumours that Dan Kelly (Sean Paisley Collins) did, in fact, survive the last stand at Glenrowan. It imagines a clandestine encounter between the two brothers shortly before Ned's execution. Dan, supposedly disguised as an Irish priest, seeks to reconcile with his brother.

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.

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