Reviews

‘Tis certainly the season in Adelaide for releasing our dark sides onto the musical stage! MCMT’s production of the classic R.L. Stevenson tale is an example of musical theatre that takes us back in time while attempting to both touch our emotions and jangle our nerves, rather than simply push our nostalgia buttons. Boasting a brilliant central portrayal, some strong supporting performances, a talented ensemble, and generally impressive musical/technical qualities, this Jekyll & Hyde is a winner.

''I was going through some difficult times,'' Neil Simon says. ''This marriage I was in was breaking up. My daughter's husband was killed in an automobile accident. It seemed like rough going. And I said I wanted to work, because work is always a cathartic process for me, and I thought it would be really good just to get into a comedy.''

Tim Winton’s Shrine is a play about grief.  How grief is experienced differently by different people; how grief can mask guilt or be poisoned by it; how grief can be driven by anger and blame; and how grief can be simply an aching emptiness. 

Two performers (Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse) are six hours on stage.  They speak at each other – and often past each other – but not to each other.  They speak into cameras and they read from auto-cues (so they don’t have to remember six hours of text).  We can see them, on stools or advancing toward or retreating from their cameras, stage right and stage left.  We can see their faces in Close-Up or Extra-Close-Up on monitors down stage.  Their ‘dialogue’ begins as a heightened version of two boxers, pre-fight, attempting