Reviews

Finucane & Smith’s The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez

Finucane & Smith. Chapel off Chapel, Prahran. 20 – 30 June 2024

After a tour of the goldfields and various interruptions and cancellations, The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez comes to Melbourne, the very place where the legendary Lola received such a rapturous reception – from some - back in the 1880s…  The Argus newspaper called her performances ‘utterly subversive to all ideas of public morality.’  Just the kind of criticism to guarantee a box office smash. 

A Streetcar Named Desire

By Tennessee Williams. Free-Rain Theatre. Directed by Anne Somes. A.C.T. Hub. 19–29 June 2024.

The tragedy of living in a world of make-believe finds timeless expression in Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire, in the character of Blanche DuBois, a woman close to forty hoping that her pretensions of class, glamour, and (greater) youth will bring her the prince of her dreams.

Trophy Boys

By Emmanuelle Mattana. Director Marni Mount. Seymour Centre. 19 Jun – 7 Jul, 2024

Like director Marni Mount, as soon as I read about this play I wanted to see it. I wanted to see how Emmanuelle Mattana would approach the intricate cobweb of the topic, how the stickiness of the web would become theatre, how the female cast would become the “elite private schoolboys” for whom Mattana would spin their web – and how it would entrap an audience.

The End: Reuben Kaye

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2024. June 21st -22nd, 2024

To celebrate the end of another Adelaide Cabaret Festival, it seemed fitting that the 2024 cabaret icon award recipient Reuben Kaye would host a cross-section of talented performers to bring us 90 minutes of raucous entertainment. Joining him to celebrate the hilarity was Adelaide Cabaret artistic director, Virginia Gay.

Kaye sashayed through the crowd as we entered, greeting audience members like life-long friends. His trademark lavish lashes, mischievous smile and immense talent are what makes this performer a sensation at many cabaret and comedy festivals across the world.

The Platypus

Written & directed by Francis Greenslade. Buckets Nijinsky Productions. Theatre Works, St Kilda. 19 June – 6 July 2024

This bold mix of genres and blatant artifice delivers a witty, delightful, entertaining – if finally melancholy – evening.  Rebecca Bower and John Leary are wonderful; they ring the many changes, playing multiple roles with huge assurance, never faltering.

When Night Comes

Created by Broad Encounters. The Austral, 202 Johnston St, Collingwood. Jun 11 – Aug 3, 2024

In an old and abandoned picture theatre there resides a dark and mysterious zone for anyone who dares to enter. When Night Comes is a spectacular immersive theatrical experience created by the Broad Encounters team behind Moho Magic Bar and Love Lust Lost.

There is a waiting time in the foyer, a bar at hand, people milling around and hooded cloaks to wear. The atmosphere is delicious. We the audience are expecting the unexpected, gathered in groups of ten or so at the hidden entrance that will begin our shapeshifting hedonistic journey.

Comedians on Stage Auditioning for Musicals

Adelaide Cabaret Festival: Adelaide exclusive. Banquet Room: Festival Centre. June 21st and 22nd, 2024

There is no doubt that the sold-out season of Comedians on Stage Auditioning for Musicals heralds a new, at times, cringeworthy cult show. Michelle Brasier and her ‘ex-husband’, Director, Ben Russell are searching for a new star for the Wagga Wagga Amateur Theatre Society. It may be for a role in Les Misérables or Cats. Who knows? I am not sure that they do. Indeed, it is possible that the auditionees are somewhat confused about it too.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare. Jay Bloodsworth Productions. The Brightside, Fortitude Valley. June 16, 2024

Jay Bloodsworth Productions brought a refreshingly unconventional rendition of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream to The Brightside in Fortitude Valley. Directed and adapted by Jay Bloodsworth themself, this vibrant production shook off traditional norms, embracing the venue's live music ambiance with gusto.

The Last Train to Madeline

By Callum Mackay. Fever 103 Theatre. The Meat Market, North Melbourne. Jun 18 – 29, 2024

Produced by theatre company Fever103, the play ‘The Last Train to Madeline’, written by Callum Mackay, directed by Hayden Tonazzi, produced by Harry Dowling, was staged at The Meat Market in North Melbourne. What instantly drew me to this play was that it’s a love story. As a poet and writer who writes politically through the lens of love, I had to see what this is all about. 

Cost of Living

Written by Martyna Majok. Co-directed by Priscilla Jackman and Dan Daw. A Queensland Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company Co-Production. Bille Brown Theatre, 20 June – 13 July, 2024.

Martyna Majok’s 2018 Pulitzer Prize winning play Cost of Living had the opening-night audience at Billie Brown Theatre in fits of laughter from the get-go. It wasn’t long however before this play about the many ways in which people physically and emotionally need people was also breaking our hearts.

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