Reviews

Choreographer Lucas Jervies has spent years working on this world premiere of Spartacus, the latest iteration of Aram Khachaturian’s epic work. For The Australian Ballet, this piece has been spruiked far and wide as the jewel in the crown of this year’s season.

Brisbane’s newest independent community theatre Oz Theatricals is presenting the Queensland premiere of Peter Rutherford and James Millar’s darkly themed musical The Hatpin. An art-house piece, it’s a brave choice but one that paid off handsomely.

Set in Sydney in 1892 and based on a true story, director David Harrison has given this Dickensian tale an almost grand operafeel with a heightened sense of reality that underlines the horror of the plot - a young single mother who puts her baby into care with tragic results.

“I have always had such a sense of pride in our community and wanted to create a story that not only our mob could see themselves in …”. Nathan Maynard has certainly achieved that in this very natural and moving play about the importance of family, traditions, trust and the strength that comes from belonging.

Depicting three generations of an Italian-Australian family, Jurassica weaves backward and forward to unravel the estrangements between grandfather, father, and son, using English and Italian dialogue to great effect.  The play is not entirely realistic: individual speech and action substitutes, in places, tropes for substantial content, and old / middle-aged / teen stereotypical characteristics for individual character traits, resulting in anachronisms of character.  And severa