Reviews

‘It’s up to you’ — the consistent refrain from specialist doctors and nurses when asked if your (very expensive) IVF treatment should be continued. An 8th round of treatment for a 45-year-old woman over the edge of middle age? ‘Well, it’s up to you.’ And the woman in Julia Leigh’s play must make her way home passing the Bentleys in the hospital parking lot. 

The historic Princess Theatre was host to The Best of Musical Theatre on Saturday, a collection of songs, mainly male and female diva anthems, from six of the most popular musicals from the past three decades – The Phantom of the Opera, Anastasia, Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd, Jekyll & Hyde, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The interesting thing about the selection was the inclusion of story-songs not normally programmed in a concert.

“That voice that cries out doesn't have to be a weakling's does it?” Jimmy’s anguished appeal to his wife Alison in John Osborne’s famous play Look Back in Anger.

Look Back in Anger follows a young husband and wife, Alisonand Jimmy Porter, as they attempt to steer their way through class conflict and deal with a crumbling marriage in 1950s England.

It is arevealing look at class, sex, politics, and the conventions of 1950s England, all from the point of view of angry youth.

Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers has never been more eloquently portrayed than in Queensland Ballet’s revival production of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s classic which broke box-office records when the company first danced it in Australia in 2014. The production is a remount of the 1992 Birmingham Royal Ballet production with set and costumes by Paul Andrews, lighting by John B. Read and swordfights by Gary Harris.