Reviews

Archimedes War

By Melissa Reeves and directed by Susie Dee. Darebin Arts Speakeasy. Northcote Town Hall. 23 November – 2 December 2021

Arki (Harry Musgrove) is 15, addicted to single shooter video games, and in trouble.

The Boomkak Panto

By Virginia Gay. Directed by Richard Carroll and Virginia Gay. Belvoir. Nov 20 - Dec 23, 2021

Australia doesn’t really get pantomime. The Christmas tradition which the poms go berserk over, gets lost in the translation when summer is too hot and sticky to lure parents to make their children spend time indoors, when they could be by the pool.

The idea behind this production was a good one.  A  little country town,  which has a tomato sauce factory,   (in homage to the Belvoir Theatre’s own origins)  has to put on a panto to save itself from a big bad developer.

The Lovely Bones

By Bryony Lavery. Adapted from the novel by Alice Sebold. Directed by Deborah Mulhall. New Theatre, Newtown, NSW. 23 November – 18 December, 2021

The Lovely Bones traces the aftermath of the rape and murder of a teenage girl as she looks down from a sort of ‘halfway house’ to heaven. She sees her family’s grief and disbelief at her disappearance at the fact that her body has never been found. She feels the frustration of not being able to tell them that her father is on the right track when he suspects old Mr Harvey, who builds doll’s houses and monuments to his dead wife and hides “trophies” of other murders in a hidden casket.

Musica Viva

Sofia Troncoso, Patrick Nolan and Alex Raineri. Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. 24 November 2021

This Musica Viva programme should have been titled 'Proustian Paris: A Salon with Marcel' – as most of the chosen pieces are from the writer's revolutionary turn-of-the-century period that includes the Belle Epoch. And the represented composers are those whose works Proust would have been familiar with; some more intimately connected with his life, such as Reynaldo Hahn, the Venezuelan composer who lived in Paris and became Proust's lover. Appropriately the two artists met at a Parisian Salon.

The Bleeding Tree

By Angus Cerini. Directed by Ian Michael. The Blue Room Studio, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. Nov 23 – Dec 11, 2021

The Blue Room’s The Bleeding Tree, set in an isolated Australian town, is an hour-long tale about the ultimate revenge. Featuring a cast of three First Nations women, it tells of a mother and daughters who despatch the abusive man of the house, then need to deal with the consequences.

Dracula

Ballet based on the novel Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker. Queensland Ballet & West Australian Ballet. Choreographer: Krzysztof Pastor. Composer: Wojciech Kilar. Libretto: Pawel Chynowski. Musical Arrangers: Michael Brett & Joshua Davis. Camerata Chamber Orchestra, Conductor: Nigel Gaynor. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 24 Nov – 4 Dec 2021.

Will we ever get over our fascination with Transylvania’s most famous citizen? Since Englishman Bram Stoker first penned it in 1897, his epistolary novel Dracula has had countless reincarnations for the stage, film and television. This ballet version re-imagines the character as a ‘romantic villain’, a reinterpretation that was first used in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Verdi

Opera Queensland. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Johannes Fritzsch. Soloists: Eva Kong, Sofia Troncoso, Rebecca Cassidy, Hayley Sugars, Rosario La Spina, Virgilio Marino, Jose Carbo, Samuel Piper and Timothy Newton. Compere: Jason Barry-Smith. Opera Queensland Chorus: Chorus Master: Narelle French. Director: Patrick Nolan. Concert Hall, QPAC. 20 November 2021.

Verdi was a showcase for the stars of Opera Queensland who rose to the occasion delivering some beautiful and haunting performances singing his ‘Greatest Hits’. Director Patrick Nolan and conductor Johannes Fritzsch assembled a collection of duets, trios, quartets and ensemble pieces from La Traviata, Macbeth, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Don Carlo, Nabucco, La Forza del Destino, Otello, Falstaff and Aida, that offered a complete overview of the composer’s work.

Callum Straford: Your Best Worst Nightmares

Written & performed by Callum Straford. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne CBD. 22 – 27 November 2021

Callum Straford is an engaging, amiable young bloke, who does sketches, stand-up routines, and sings his own songs, accompanying himself on piano or ukulele.  His material may veer briefly into satire, but mostly it’s about the trials and awkward interactions of contemporary life, such as an inept attempt to hook up at a party, a very decisive, even cruel dumping of a girlfriend, insomnia, the indifference of God, or talkback radio.  He is intermittently interrupted and corrected, to his chagrin, by a mentor/producer/director via the PA.  It’s the old self-referen

The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of A Christmas Carol

By David MacGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr. Darlington Theatre Players. Directed by Gail Palmer. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount WA. Nov 19 - Dec 4, 2021

The first Christmas themed show of the season, Darlington Theatre Players present this show-within-a show, about a dramatic society where everything is going wrong. In a slight case of life imitating art, this show had a rough last few weeks of rehearsal - but has successfully made it to the stage.

Happy Days

Book by Garry Marshall. Music and Lyrics by Paul Williams. Murray Music and Drama Club. Directed by Tammy Peckover. Pinjarra Civic Centre, WA. Nov 12-27, 2021.

The Murray Music and Drama Club’s production of Happy Days is a nostalgia filled trip back in time. Based on the TV series of the same name, and written by the series’ creator, the show is good, clean, fun.

Central character Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzarelli is convincingly played by Rp van der Westhuizen, in a well sung, highly charismatic performance that anchors the show well.

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