Reviews

Improv Attacks Humanity

Fringe World. Aberdeen Hotel, Northbridge, WA. 18 Jan - 17 Feb, 2019

Improv Attacks Humanity is an improvised show based on the popular card game ‘Cards Against Humanity’. In the first section of the show, the audience use the cards to make 4 premises. These are then improvised by the cast. As the show progresses, the four scenarios are brought together, so that they overlap, influence and combine.

Homophonic!

Performed by 3 Shades Black and compered by artistic director Miranda Hill. Midsumma Festival. La Mama Courthouse 349 Drummond St, Carlton. 31 January – 2 February 2019

Homophonic! is in its 8th year and is dedicated to performing new classical music by queer composers. This is a spectacular event that is determined to celebrate the vibrant and often titillating talent of queer composers and to draw attention to their presence in our culture. Hill is exceptional at highlighting this tradition and narrates the stories related to the compositions in ways that are as intriguing as they are entertaining. Her ability to convey the collaborative energy of this ensemble creates a seamless cohesion in the performance.

Rebel

Highwire. Midsumma Festival. Melba Spiegeltent, Collingwood. Jan 30 – Feb 3, 2019.

Rebel is more than just a fantastic David Bowie tribute show - it traverses boundaries and fuses circus and cabaret performances with fuzzy rock n’ roll energetic style.

Melba Spiegeltent boasts a friendly casual atmosphere where you can meet up for drinks, soak in the ambience and enjoy the show. Rebel is a Midsumma event that offers a fully rounded, packed show for all ages.

DivaLicious - Defying Gravity

Fringe World. Directed by Nicole Stinton. De Parel Spiegeltent, The Pleasure Gardens, Russell Square, Northbridge, WA. 29 Jan - 3 Feb, 2019

DivaLicious - Defying Gravity is the very funny, very clever, latest offering from the dynamite soprano duo - DivaLicious. A wry look at growing older gracefully (or disgracefully for that matter) and defying gravity, this hour long show had the audience giggling throughout, while remaining an absolutely stunning vocal performance.

The Butch Monologues

Collected, collated and edited by Laura Bridgeman. Directed by Julie McNamara. Hot Pencil Press, Vital Xposure & Theatre Works. Theatre Works, Acland Street, St Kilda VIC. 29 January to 3 February 2018

Playing to a packed house of gender diverse folks at Theatre Works, five performers tells tales of – as the press release has it – butch beginnings, desire, desirability, bravado, vulnerability, butch-on-femme sex and butch-on-butch sex..

The Illiad – Out Loud

Adapted by William Zappa. Sydney Festival. Belvoir Street Theatre. January 23 – 27, 2019

Celebrated Greek Australian actor William Zappa has been fashioning this nine hour marathon storytelling event for years.

He’s ploughed through multiple translations of Homer’s ancient epic poem about the Trojan War, the oldest surviving work of Western  literature, and delivers it in three three-hour parts with just four actors.

Grace

By Zachary Sheridan. Fringe World. Directed by Phoebe Sullivan. The Blue Room Theatre, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. 22-26 January, 2019

Graceis a new work from the team who presented last year’s award winning production, The Cockburn Incident. More absurdist than its older sister, but just as quirky, Grace deals with some very heavy issues including hoarding, mental health and the destruction of the environment, but remains funny despite its poignancy.

Wozzeck

By Alban Berg. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. January 25 to February 15, 2019

William Kentridge, South Africa’s renowned master of ink and charcoal animations, delivers us a visual and musical feast in his direction and astonishingly kinetic design of Alban Berg’s 1925 opera.  Not that poor Wozzeck himself gets many crumbs. 

Based on Buchner’s fragmentary play a century earlier – arguably the first major tragedy with a common man as its hero – the impoverished Wozzeck is bullied, exploited and taunted; and finally driven mad by the world’s cruelty, murders his unfaithful wife.

Melba

By Dawn Farnham. Fringe World (WA). Directed by Susie Conte. The Queen Room, Lady Beaufort, Beaufort St, Mt Lawley. Jan 27-Feb 10, 2019

Dame Nellie Melba became infamous for her many farewell tours. This production by Tempest Theatre for Lady Beaufort, as part of Fringe World, is set in an Australian dressing room, before one of Melba’s farewell performances.

A Midnight Visit

Fringe World (WA). The Old Girls School, East Perth. 22 Jan - 3 Mar 2019

A Midnight Visit is a site-specific interactive theatre piece, beautifully immersed into the Old Girls School. A unique theatrical experience, it combines the life of Edgar Allen Poe with a haunted girls school, in a choose your own adventure piece of theatre.

As you wander through three levels of the building, you will discover various elements of the story, meet a variety of characters - all beautifully acted, and visit a variety of locales, as you “journey to the edge of madness”.

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