Reviews

Tarzan

Music and lyrics by Phil Collins. Book by David Henry Hwang. Stray Cats Theatre Company. Directed by Karen Francis. Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. 11-14 October, 2018

The Western Australian premiere of Tarzan burst into live in a very lavish production, presented by Stray Cats Theatre Company and Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.

The jungle of Western Africa is gorgeously recreated in a highly detailed set designed by Bronwyn White and Karen Francis, with projection by Alan White, establishing high production values from the outset. Costumes are also impressive, with makeup, by team led by Jodie Mars, giving credence to the gorilla characters.

Frogman

Devised by Curious Directive (UK). Melbourne International Arts Festival. Theatre Works. 11 – 15 October 2018

With a solid gripping story that is not too long,  and finely tuned treatment and operation of Virtual Reality, Frogman is excellent festival fare.

The Boy from Oz

Music & Lyrics: Peter Allen. Book: Nick Enright. MLOC Productions. Director/Choreographer: Rhylee Nowell. Musical Director: Matthew Hadgraft. Shirley Burke Theatre. October 12 – 20, 2018

Having seen a professional production earlier this year, I wasn’t sure how I’d react to an amateur company performing The Boy From Oz, but came away feeling thoroughly entertained.

The stage was quite shallow and the band was on two levels at the back. Many entrances were made through the auditorium, which kept the audience involved.

Song for a Weary Throat

Conceived & performed by The Rawcus Ensemble & Invenio Singers. Rawcus Ensemble. Melbourne International Arts Festival. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. 10 – 14 October 2018

What happens after overwhelming catastrophe: a nuclear blast, carpet bombing, house to house street warfare?  A motely group of survivors gather in an empty, ravaged dance hall.  The explosions that put them there are shocking, deafening, dazzling, frightening.  Now these survivors look around, look inward, look at each other and find ways to realise that, yes, they are alive.  Now what? 

The Trojan Women

By Euripides, translated by Emily Wilson. Dionysus Theatre. McClelland Secondary Performing Arts, Karingal (Vic). 12-20 October, 2018

This year Dionysus Theatre looks back at an Ancient Greek tragedy - The Trojan Women – set against a backdrop of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Written by Euripides in 415 BC, director Emma Sproule has used a new translation by Emily Wilson, but has forged a new connotation on the tragedy through the lens of the Harvey Weinstein case.

Fire Gardens

Compagnie Carabosse/ Melbourne International Arts Festival. Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 10-13 October 2018

Fire Gardens is everything you would hope.  It is one of those unique and rare experiences that can be enjoyed with a group of people or as a pensive individual in a crowd.  It is a unifying, nourishing, transcendent, personal journey.

My plus one and I wandered, happily intrigued, from sunset for at least 90 enjoyable minutes.  

An Enemy of the People

By Melissa Reeves after Henrik Ibsen. Belvoir. Upstairs Theatre. October 7 – November 4, 2018

Belvoir again sets an Ibsen in contemporary Australia, played out in another glass box with mics. And just like Belvoir’s Wild Duck, which even flew to success in Stockholm in Ibsen’s own homeland, this Enemy of the People translates into compelling Australian political theatre.

Catastrophe threatens the economy of a town when heavy metal pollutants force the closure of new baths. 

The Feather in the Web

By Nick Coyle. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre (NSW). October 5 – November 17, 2018

Kimberley (Claire Lovering) is a fiery, passionate soul who does what she wants whenever she feels like it, with hilarious consequences. She leaves emotional, and more tangible, destruction in her wake as she storms through her world. Well meaning interventions by friends, policemen, and even court ordered visits to the psychologist are no match for Kimberley: her impulsiveness and shrewd insights into the inner lives of those who would try to curb her excesses are enough to defeat them all. But will she be able to conquer love with her incisive wit?

Suddenly Last Summer

By Tennessee Williams. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, East St Kilda VIC. 5 October – 4 November 2018

Stephen Nicolazzo and designer Eugyeene Teh are the ideal choice to give this Southern Gothic piece a heightened, stylised reality.  There’s an ironic, riskily comic mode at first, but when the luminous Kate Cole takes over the story and the stage, the darkness and horror of this fable close in and dominate to the shattering conclusion.  

The Graduate

Adapted by Terry Johnson, based on the novel by Charles Webb and the motion picture screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry. Matt Byrne Media. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. October 10-27th, 2018.

Multi-award winning British dramatist and director Terry Johnson adapted and presented The Graduate to the stage in 2000. Based on the 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film rdirected by Mike Nicholls and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingha,  based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, the film has legendary status and remains in America’s top 20 significant films. The play, too, has had success on both the West End stage and on Broadway.

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