Reviews

The 400 singers of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and their 72 piece Orchestra certainly fills out the Opera House Concert Hall in every way with this generously long, one-off concert.

Music from the Movies has a head start by drawing on thrilling scores from memorable films: what we hear returns us to what we saw and felt watching the original, some of it tissue box moments, all of it heightened. 

The Mad Hatter’s tea party gets a gothic horror twist in the delightfully dark Wondered. Appearing at the back of a hyper-hip café in Brisbane’s West End for the Anywhere Theatre Festival, this creatively twisted tale is certainly no children’s story. The Mad Hatter is more like a psychotic hatter, putting Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the Tweedles in terribly hot tea indeed.

What a laugh! What a hoot! What a play! Tugun’s current offering Don’t Dress for Dinner is a wonderful mix of humour, great performances and good direction.

Written by Marc Camoletti (he also wrote Boeing, Boeing), it is brim-full of comedy and slapstick, reminiscent of the good old days of farce. The scene is a refurbished barn conversion, two hours from Paris, with workable barn doors that seemed to be mastered by everyone except the home owner!

If you’ve ever been to a social gathering where you’ve felt a bit awkward or out of control, you’ll relate to The Dinner Party. The action takes place around a large table, commandeered by elegant hosts played brilliantly by Jake McLarnon and Lizzie Vilmanis.