Reviews

Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black

By Susan Hill adapted by Stephen Mallatratt. Produced by Woodward Productions and Neil Gooding Productions. Directed by Robin Herford and Antony Eden. His Majesty’s Theatre, Hay St, Perth, WA. May 30 - Jun 9, 2024, and touring (other dates and venues at the end of this review).

Thriller, The Woman in Black is currently frightening audiences in Perth, during its fourth stop on a National Tour. This exciting play, with its gentle manner, is directed with precision and features perfectly tuned acting performances.

When Arthur Kipps approaches an actor to help him tell his “story that must be told”, the actor turns the story into a performance piece - but has he taken on more than he bargained for, and are we witnesses to the rehearsal of this presentation, being drawn into something very sinister?

Head Over Heels

Based upon ‘The Arcadia’ by Sir Philip Sydney. Conceived and Original Book by Jeff Whitty. Adapted by James Magruder with music and songs from The Go-Go’s. Directed by Timothy Wynn. Presented by Ipswich Civic Centre and THAT Production Company with Mira Ball Productions. Ipswich Civic Centre, 31 May – 1 June 2024

Making its Queensland debut at the Ipswich Civic Centre, Broadway smash hit musical Head Over Heels captivated the opening-night audience from start to finish. The romantic comedy is based on The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, a tale from the 1500s that explores themes of patriarchy, gender, and love across the spectrum. Despite its centuries-old premise, the show is strikingly modern, resonating well with contemporary audiences.

Multiple Bad Things

Devised by Bron Batten, Breanna Deleo, Natasha Jynel, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Ben Oakes, Scott Price, Tamara Searle, Ingrid Voorendt. Back To Back Theatre. Malthouse Theatre, The Merlyn. 29 May – 9 June 2024

We see what seems to be workshop in which a half-built structure of gold and glowing scaffolding (designed brilliantly by Anna Cordingley) occupies and dominates the stage.  Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price and Bron Batten are the workers whose job it is to assemble this intricate structure, joining and slotting pieces together.  What it might be is revealed, beautifully lit by Richard Vabre, at the very end.  Only Mainwaring, who has doggedly done the bulk of the work, is there to see it – and it does not make her happy. 

A Night on the Tiles

By Suzanne Hawley. The Performing Arts Association of Notre Dame Australia (PAANDA). Directed by Sophie Kelly. University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, WA. May 29-Jun 6, 2024

This semester’s show from The Performing Arts Association of Notre Dame Australia (PAANDA) is 2009 Australian play A Night on the Tiles. Set in the bathrooms on the evening of Jess’ 40th and 41st birthdays, the bathroom becomes a safe place where relationships are discussed and feelings revealed, in a funny yet poignant play.

Love – an Act of Bravery: Katie Noonan x Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall. May 30, 2024

What is love if not an act of bravery? Loving someone despite the hardships. Loving someone even if their actions cause you pain. As a poet, deciphering love is one of my passions, so I was curious then to attend this show to see – or more so hear – interpretations of love. I have a certain obsession with music. It can capture what words cannot. Having a full orchestra on stage excites me. Katie Noonan with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, together with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, conducted by Carlo Antonioli – I wasn’t missing this. 

Dido and Aeneas

Music: Henry Purcell. Libretto: Nahum Tate. Prologue: Kate Mulvany. Pinchgut Opera. City Recital Hall. 30 May – 3 June, 2024

Purcell’s opera, based on Book IV of the poet Virgil’s Aeneid, tells of the love affair between Dido, Queen of Carthage, and the Trojan hero Aeneas, who abandons Dido to pursue his own destiny – the establishment of the city of Rome. A contemporary Dido might have happily waved him farewell, content to rule the strong city that she had established after her brother rejected her and killed her husband.

[ gameboy ]

Created by Amy Zhang. Presented by Metro Arts and Mad Dance House. New Benner Theatre, 31 May - 1 Jun 2024

[ gameboy ], an innovative new dance theatre work by Amy Zhang, is a inimitable fusion of street and contemporary dance styles that thrusts its audience into a dynamic and surreal exploration of life’s challenges. Staged at the Metro Arts as part of the Dance24 festival, this piece boasts a unique blend of dance and performance art inspired by Japanese game shows, video games, and internet culture.

Sunset Boulevard

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber. Book & Lyrics: Don Black & Christopher Hampton. Based on the Billy Wilder film. Director: Paul Warwick Griffin. Opera Australia & GWB Entertainment by arrangement with The Really Useful Group. Princess Theatre, Melbourne from May 21, then Sydney Opera House from August 28, 2024.

In the words of Norma Desmond: 'I don't know why I'm frightened', I am in a state of mild terror, with the task of critiquing this epic musical, starring the legendary Sarah Brightman (one of my all-time favourite singers) for my 50th review for Stage Whispers. Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard is based on the iconic 1950 black and white film noir directed by Billy Wilder.

dog

By shayne. KXT on Broadway, Sydney. 24 May – 8 June, 2024

The downloaded program gives fair warning. ‘The production of dog explores sensitive content and mature themes around Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, depression, mental ill health, bodily harm, alcohol addiction, suicidal ideation, animal cruelty and grief.’ Add long sections of ‘full front nudity’ and off we go.

Ride the Cyclone

By Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. Director: Richard Carroll. Hayes Theatre. 28 May – 22 June, 2024

Disembodied pieces of rollercoaster rail coil on Benjamin Brockman’s set in a deepening curved void reaching back to a circular screen. Wooden frames surround them. Smokey haze hovers and drifts and loud music thumps as the Hayes Theatre continues its commitment to bringing “the extraordinary to life” in this premiere production of Ride the Cyclone.

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