Reviews

The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race

By Melanie Tait. Hunters Hill Theatre at Club Ryde. Director Jennifer Willison. 17 Nov – 3 Dec, 2023

Melanie Tait’s wonderful play about Australian women going into bat for equality is a great way for Hunters Hill Theatre to conclude its 2023 season. And with five women on stage, a woman directing and at least half of the creatives and crew also women, it is a tribute to the strong female cohort at all of Sydney’s community theatre companies! Go girls!

Company

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by George Furth. Wanneroo Repertory. Directed by Gillian Binks. The Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo, WA. Nov 24 - Dec 3, 2023

After a particularly fraught opening, and delays caused by Covid in the cast then bushfire evacuation, Wanneroo Repertory finally opened their quality production of Company. Now playing to capacity crowds, this is a superbly sung, expertly acted show.

On the evening of his 35th birthday, Robert, the lone bachelor in his friend group, surrounded by his crazy couple friends, contemplates whether to wish for a romantic partner or to be happy with his situation.

The Final Line

By Sreekanth Gopalakrishnan. The Great Indian Theatre Company. Directed by Sreekanth Gopalakrishnan. Nexus Theatre, Murdoch University, WA. Nov 24-25, 2023

The Final Line is the first full-length production for new theatre group The Great Indian Theatre Company. Subtitled “The Untold story of India’s Great Divide”, it tells the story of the 1947 partition of India, which accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent.A line on the map created two independent dominions - India and Pakistan - leading to mass migration, sectarian violence, religious cleansing and the deaths of up to two million people. 

Dirty Birds

By Hayley McElhinney and Mandy McElhinney. Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA. Directed by Kate Champion. Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA. Nov 18 - Dec 18, 2023

The McElhinney sisters, Hayley and Mandy, appear together on stage for the first time, in this beautifully performed, self-written World Premiere.

This ambiguous two-hander explores play, memory and ritual, and is performed on a set by designer Bruce McKinnon that evokes images of childhood funny houses - it looks cosy and simple but seems to be made of cardboard - and potentially able to collapse at any time. Lighting, designed by Paul Jackson is intimate and emotive, and sound design and composition by Rachael Dease is organic and heartfelt. 

99 Dalmatians, the pantomime

Written and directed by Cath Willacy. Cairns Little Theatre – Rondo Theatre. Nov 24 – Dec 9, 2023

Based loosely on the film, this panto version follows the adventures of 99 Dalmatians and the attempt to abduct them for their fur.

Playing the Dalmatians are a talented group of children who also make an excellent chorus in a number of wonderful supporting songs.

Outstanding is Dwane McColm as Nanny S. Tate, the obligatory panto drag queen. Dwayne dominates the stage and delivers a montage of side-splitting one-liners.

Into the Spotlight

Ensemble Musical Theatre Company. Direction: Jo-Maree Courtney and Elise Bagorski. The Hidden Theatre. KickStart Arts Theatre. 17th-18th November 2023

The Hidden Theatre, in the KickStart Arts Centre, has become the venue for new small companies. True West by Jacob Golding and Sam Tooker (2022) , The Wasp by Crying Chair Theatre are examples of high-quality innovative theatre (2023) that chose this venue for its intimacy and comfort.

Improv RPG Call of Cthulhu

The Blue Room Theatre, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. Nov 24-25, 2023

Improv RPG Call of Cthulhu is a new show from the people who have been running Improv D+D for the past eight years Like its predecessor, it is based on a role-playing game and is longform improvisation, with roadblocks and turns of fate designed to interrupt and complicate the action.

The Seagull

By Anton Chekhov, in a new adaptation by Andrew Upton. Sydney Theatre Company. Roslyn Packer Theatre. November 21 – December 16, 2023

Andrew Upton’s translation of The Seagull for the Sydney Theatre Company he once ran seems more radical, more flamboyant, than Benedict Andrews’ translation a decade ago which he also memorably directed.

That Belvoir production was set outside a south coast fibro holiday retreat; Upton’s is also somewhere Australian, in about 2000, on a now decrepit lakeside farming estate.

The History of the Devil

By Clive Barker. Presented by Polymorphic Productions. New Benner Theatre, Metro Arts, Brisbane. 23 November to 16 December 2023

It’s not often you see the horror/fantasy genre on stage at this time of year (although Scrooge’s tribulations come to mind) and there would not be too many productions that start with a content warning more comprehensive than Rage on ABC’s late-night timeslot. But the warning about ‘morbid humour, coarse language and blasphemy’ should also include a caveat – that this is all jolly good fun (for age-appropriate audiences that is)!

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

By Edward Albee. Red Stitch Actors' Theatre. Directed Sarah Goodes. Rear 2 Chapel Street, St Kilda East. 18 November - 17 December 2023.

Red Stitch have created a cracking theatrical coup with this production of Edward Albee’s most famous play. The attention to detail and the highly refined performances produces a level of excellence that has made this a sell-out show. Albee’s acerbic and astute observation of the way married life perpetuates a patriarchal system that promotes misogyny, materialism, and dog-eat-dog ambition is confronting. The play was written in 1962 and reflects the society of its time and despite the faithfulness of this production, it still resonates for a contemporary audience.

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