Reviews

Two haute bourgeoise sisters meet for lunch every Tuesday at a ‘fine dining’ restaurant.  Usually, they would discuss the minutiae of their lives, complain about their husbands or their hairdressers or their health, or the state of the world hors de combat.  There is even a reference to Sondheim’s ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ but here it’s minus the corrosive, angry irony of that song.

This triumphant theatrical saga about three Bavarian brothers immigrating to America in the 1840s and from a fabric shop in Alabama building a global investment bank has had a long gestation.  

Originally a three act Italian play, adapted by British playwright Ben Power and directed for London’s National Theatre by Sam Mendes in 2018, applauded and translated around the world, this finely tuned epic is performed by just three remarkable actors. 

Taku Mbudzi is a talented storyteller whose work successfully transposes across platforms; podcasts, filmmaking and stand-up comedy are among them. In this show Mbudzi takes a very personal approach and considers her achievements as an African woman trying to make her way in the world.

She has many intriguing and engaging anecdotes related to her African heritage and settling in Australia. Many of the stories have universal appeal; the pressure to get married, dealing with expectations of family members and getting ahead in the working world as a woman of colour.

Shakespeare’s magical comedy here opens darkly on a ruined wall of old planks and openings, fronted by a clutter of upturned tables and chairs.  No colour or fairy lights in sight.

Indeed, this foreboding atmosphere suits the cruelty at stake in Athens as Theseus orders that Hermia (Ahunim Abebe) must face execution if she doesn’t obey her father and marry Demetrius (Mike Howlett).  Hermia however longs for Lysander (Laurence Young), while her old schoolmate Helena (Isabel Burton) adores the unyielding Demetrius.