Reviews

Strictly Gershwin

Queensland Ballet. Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 28 September to 7 October 2023

Queensland Ballet’s theme this year has been ‘Every step a story’. And what a 20th century story the songs of George and Ira Gershwin are. The modern music that George Gershwin composed reaches across classical composition, swing and modern and New Orleans jazz and New York blues. It’s hard to believe that the iconic jazz-influenced ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and symphonic ‘An American in Paris’ are both nearly 100 years old. They sound as fresh and bold as if they’d been written yesterday.

The Dictionary of Lost Words

Adapted from the novel by Pip Williams by Verity Laughton. State Theatre Company South Australia and Sydney Theatre Company. Adelaide Festival Centre, Dunstan Playhouse, September 22-October 14th 2023, then Sydney Opera House, October 26th to December 16th, 2023, and Arts Centre Melbourne from February 17 to March 10, 2024.

In 1898, it was the norm for your sex and scholarship to define your destiny, but for Esme Nicoll, aged four, this was the beginning of her love affair with words. Before she could pronounce it, her dream was to be a linguist, a wordsmith, a person who compiled or edited dictionaries; a Lexicographer.

My Sister Jill

By Patricia Cornelius, adapted from her novel. Directed by Susie Dee. Melbourne Theatre Company. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. 23 September – 28 October 2023

My Sister Jill is an intimate drama about an ‘ordinary’ working class family across three decades – the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, from the aftermath of WWII to the turmoil of the Vietnam War.  What makes this family different is that the father, Jack (Ian Bliss) is a returned soldier, a man who spent three and a half years as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese.  It’s an experience that has left him struggling to be a ‘good father’ (and he does struggle), unable to hold on to a job, disturbed, resentful and sometimes violent.&nbsp

Not a Clue!

By Bob Charteris. Stirling Players. Directed by Bob Charteris. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo, WA. Sep 15-30, 2023

Stirling Players have championed many local writers in the last few years and are currently hosting the World Premiere of Not a Clue, written and directed by Bob Charteris. A fun parody of detective novels, TV shows and plays, Not a Clue! brings six vaguely familiar detectives together on an isolated and remote Scottish island.

Journey to The Centre of The Earth

By Jules Verne, adapted by David Innes and Robert Lloyd. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne. Sep 28 – 30, 2023

In this fabulous revue we see two rambunctious local comedians, David Innes and Robert Lloyd, offer a plethora of sci-fi adventures extracted from the Jules Verne classic Journey to The Centre of The Earth, first published in French in 1864.

Men At Arms

Based on the Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Adapted for the stage by Stephen Briggs. Directed by Aaminah Khan, assisted by MIchael Ruhl. Townsville Little Theatre (TLT). Pimpac Performing Arts Centre, Townsville. September 27-30, 2023.

THERE IS always an inherent challenge in adapting a book into a play, and particularly in re-creating the vivid and comical Discworld of Terry Pratchett on to the stage.

I fully acknowledge that there are strings of devotees of the Pratchett series of 41 novels about this fantasy dystopian world of assassins, trolls, dwarfs and clowns, but I must also acknowledge that (a) these completely passed me by - and will probably continue to do so - and (b) that this was my first experience of a dramatic adaptation of Pratchett.

Claire Della and the Moon

By Ella Graham and Jamie Hornsby. AWESOME Festival. Rehearsal Room, State Theatre Centre of WA Sep 26-30, 2023

This gentle little production playing in the Rehearsal Room at the State Theatre may be a good AWESOME Festival choice for quiet or anxious children that are averse to the chaos and loud nature of many children’s shows.

Banging Denmark

By Van Badham. Director Madeleine Withington. New Theatre, Newtown, NSW. 20 – 30 September, 2023

New Theatre spices up Sydney Fringe with Van Badham’s feisty feminist comedy Banging Denmark.

Grug and the Rainbow

Adapted from the book by Ted Prior. Windmill Theatre / AWESOME Festival. Directed by Sam Haren, Studio Underground State Theatre Centre of WA, Perth WA. Sep 27-30, 2023

Windmill Theatre is in Perth for the AWESOME Festival, and I was lucky enough to join a capacity audience - mostly aged under 10 - for this warm and exciting retelling of this popular book.

All the Things I Couldn’t Say

RUMPUS Theatre and Deus Ex Femina. Flinders Drama Centre – Flinders University, Bedford Park (Adelaide). Sept 26 to Oct 1, 2023

How many times have we all wished we had phrased a comment differently, or, worse still, said something that for many reasons we chose not to say?

This is the premise of RUMPUS Theatre and Deus Ex Femina’s latest production All The Things I Couldn’t Say. Written and directed by Katherine Sortini, inspired by the poignant confessions on the website The Unsent Project (definitely worth a look), this multi-disciplinary vignette show brings together the raw emotions and untold stories from anonymous individuals across the globe.

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