Reviews

Mamma Mia! may well be the most often performed musical in WA, in the last few years, but Stray Cats’ big, bright, and beautiful production at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, shows that it can still attract and thoroughly entertain a capacity crowd.

Touted as the best playwright who ever lived, William Shakespeare died 400 years ago, but his work is more popular than ever. Worldwide, new generations are finding and revisiting the Bard, in part because of the breadth of the strong themes that run through each piece. His works are relatable, timeless and universal, and appeal to new generations of actors and audiences, and this is very much the case with The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild’s current production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

After lockdowns and community disruptions, this wonderful collection of tales about the strength of community when people are committed to a cause is balm for the soul. Four small stories cover-the battle for Wilson’s Promontory’s protection in the late 1880s, the impact of a group of people who volunteer to support people with disabilities to exercise, how a group of mothers combined their efforts to provide resources to other mothers while also reducing waste, and the birth of the Pride March in Melbourne.

In a dim-lit bare space suggested only by outlines of green neon, a haggard woman, Maria (Helen Hopkins) stares out a window, scanning the street below.