By Stephen Sewell. Belvoir. February 23 – March 20, 2016
Stephen Sewell wrote this political drama in 1983 as Australia slipped into recession and drought and faced economic changes which, while enhancing wealth for some, forever shifted the moral debate around our national and community behaviours.
Despite illusions of freedom, capitalism he says always finds a way to win. This surviving Marxist talk, and allusions to Allende’s lost democracy in Chile just a decade earlier, may date this play but only superficially.
The Pleasure Garden, Fringe World, Northbridge WA. Jan 22 - Feb 21, 2016.
If, like me, your childhood literary loves consisted of mainly British fare — especially Enid Blyton style adventure stories, you will be right at home in Fringe Worlds' Get Lost Maze.
Set loose in a labyrinthian hedge maze, you will meet a variety of lovely characters including Mother, Father, Jane and Peter - a very Blytonesque family out on a picnic, with their loyal red setter.
By Tyler Jacob Jones and Robert Woods. Directed by Tyler Jacob Jones. The Stables, Perth Cultural Centre, Fringe World, Perth, WA. Feb 8-14, 2016
Dr Felicity Rickshaw's Celebrity Sex Party is the latest musical by Tyler Jacob Jones and Robert Woods, whose previous musicals, Falling to the Top - A Musical Trashtacular and Point and Shoot - A New Musical, have won multiple awards at Fringe World. I expect, given the cleverness, freshness and polish of Dr Felicity, that this production will receive similar accolades. It certainly deserved its sell-out crowds.
No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability. Adelaide Fringe. February 16th-21st, 2016
Who we are bubbles beneath the surface of all of us. Choices, directions, decisions - all causing noise and at times confusion in our own minds. Some of the most special theatre can be when you can relate to the performer’s message or laugh at the dialogue you yourself have used many times.
No Strings Attached produces professional theatre by people with a disability, combating stereotypes while demonstrating that (often) the only real difference between being with or without disability is opportunity.
Directed by Tyler Jacob Jones. The Hellenic Club, Fringe World, Northbridge, WA. Feb 13 - 21, 2015
Skin Deep is a clever, funny and disarming look at the beauty industry. One of the hits of last year's Fringe World, it returns this year in a "new and improved formula."
Written by cast member Cynthia Fenton, with director Tyler Jacob Jones, the show is both an examination of those who work in the beauty industry and a celebration of those who use it. It looks at beauty trends past and present and uses songs and humour.
By Alana Valentine. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross. Feb 5 – Mar 26, 2016.
Alana Valentine’s new play promises to be a thorough dissection of Broome’s dispirit gay community, honed by her familiar research and interview skills, and enlivened by the infamous drag appearances at Broome’s Ladies Day races.
Indeed, recent arrival Liam wittily sums up the different gay types in town, before urging his bestie Mike (aka Madame Ovary) to pack a dress and fascinator and come up from Melbourne.
By Tarah Carey. Directed by Maude Davey. The Big Top, The Pleasure Garden, Fringe World, Northbridge, WA. February 14-21, 2016
My Life in Boxes, beautifully written by Tarah Carey, starts as an intimate drama. Immediately captivating, your mind is unlikely to wander from what you are watching, but if you have chosen this Fringe World show at random, you might wonder why this beautifully developing love story is being presented in the circus venue, The Big Top.
By Cerise De Gelder. Directed by Kelly Mildenhall. Adelaide Fringe / Wanderlust. The Bakehouse Theatre, Adelaide. February 16-27, 2016
The Umbrella Plays see a small ensemble of nine impressively versatile actors – Adam Tuomien, James Sherwin, Matt Houston, Rosie Williams, Timisha Ward, David Salter, Joshua Colwell, Maxim Bevan and Tamara Bennetts - play multiple characters in a series of ten loosely connected comedic skits, each of which is focused upon an absurd argument or social misunderstanding, with umbrellas featuring in all of them somehow.
By Gordon Graham. Nice Productions. Gasworks, 90 Graham Street, Albert Park. 10 – 20 February, 2016
This extraordinarily perceptive text by Gordon Graham is being thoroughly honored by Nice Productions’ exemplary staging in the comfortable Studio Theatre at Gas Works.
As a rare and illuminating opportunity, to see what Stephen Sewell based his remarkable screenplay for the powerful and haunting (1998) film The Boys, on, it is not to be missed.
By Anne Brooksbank. Christine Harris and HIT Productions. Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, February 17 – 20, 2016, and touring.
This carefully – and lovingly – researched play is story telling at its most gentle and revealing. Through the words and lives of two of Australia’s most revered literary icons, Dame Mary Gilmore and Henry Lawson – played by Kim Denman and Dion Mills – playwright Anne Brooksbank reveals not only the story of an enduring love, but a rich insight into the social and political history of the time.
