Reviews

This story of a mother-daughter relationship has you continually shifting sympathy. One minute you’re on the side of the moody 18-year-old daughter, who has been on medication since she was 11 and who now has proof (Proof!) that all those pills have stopped her creative flow. Next minute you’re on the side of the single mother, desperate that her depressed, hormonal daughter is heading for self-destruction. Now she’s an adult, with a boyfriend, what will happen when the maternal chains are loosened?

Although Stephen Sondheim’s ‘concept musical’ Company was groundbreaking in its time there have been few professional productions of it in Australia, so it was a bold choice for Griffith Music Theatre third-year students to produce it as one of their showcase musicals of 2018.

I must be upfront in presenting this review of the music theatre classic, The Sound of Music.

I have known Glenda Kenyon for a long time, indeed directing her as Maria many years ago. I also admit to designing and creating the scenery for this production. Both the direction and design of this production is unashamedly traditional, not a T shirt in sight, or a milk crate or ladder. This production is Glenda’s directorial debut, fitting, as she knows this show so well, having performed the role of Maria on several occasions.

The nexus of Emilie Collyer’s play is netball – a game you can see being played any night of the week in any city and a lot of country towns across Australia.  Under lights, all seasons, mostly women – and women of all ages.  A lot of fun, a lot of bonding – and a lot of commitment – to be there, to give up something else, to work hard, to be fit and to compete.  Besides, the exercise, the physical demands, the game, the playing to win, means you can switch off for an hour from all your troubles and life’s myriad dissatisfactions.  The