Reviews

MARVELous

Action Reaction Entertainment. Riverside Theatre, Parramatta. Mar 15 – 21, 2025

Marvelous at Riverside Theatre is a spectacular showcase that would make even Iron Man (or woman) tip a helmet. This supercharged show sends audiences flying higher than Captain Marvel and is wrapped in a bundle of aerials, live vocals, dance, stunts, and a risqué edge.

Samwise Holmes (creator, director & writer) opens his tale with a cheeky hint of what’s to come. It’s naughty, loud, and packs a punch as it turns the other cheek. 

It’s Only a Play

By Terrence McNally. Pymble Players. Zenith Theatre, Chatswood. March 14 – 22, 2025

It’s opening night of a brand new Broadway play and the party is jam-packed with celebrities. Upstairs in the main bedroom, the cast, creatives, a critic and a coat-check boy are holed up, waiting for the reviews which will automatically ‘make’ or ‘break’ the show.

Two Hearts

By Laura Lethlean. Space Jump Theatre at Flight Path Theatre, Marrickville, Sydney. Directed by Kirsty Semaan. March 18 – 29, 2025

This play covers a relationship, born at a loud Sydney party, to its death a few years later in trauma and grief. Who’s to blame? How could the two participants have done things differently? Two Hearts follows the exciting formation and bitter ending of the kind of relationship we could all do without, but which will probably be heading our way.

The Importance of Being Earnest

By Oscar Wilde. Presented by National Theatre Live and Sharmill Films. In cinemas from March 27, 2025

Written in 1895, The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde’s most popular play. It is a comedy of manners, the story of two bachelors getting into increasingly complicated situations in the pursuit of the women they adore.

The National Theatre production takes the script and gives it a Bridgerton makeover with bright primary colours and performances ‘as camp as a row of tents’.

Grand Septet

Ensemble Q. QPAC 2025 Series. Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 17 March 2025

Ensemble Q started their 2025 QPAC Series with an enticing program for septet that was engaging, enlightening and highly enjoyable. The Concert Hall reverse seating allows the audience to view the performers and their instruments at close range, as befitting the chamber music mode. The Grand Septet program was unique – a trip across Europe, featuring music from Hungary, Czechia and Sweden – and a world premiere of new music from Ensemble Q’s composer in residence for 2025, Melody Eötvös.

Peter and the Starcatcher

By Rick Elice. Playhouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 14 March to 6 April 2025

Based on the 2004 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, (published by Disney), Peter Pan’s ‘origin story’ comes to life on stage as a theatre piece by Rick Elice, developed by Disney Theatrical Group, which premiered on Broadway in 2012 and went on to be nominated for a dozen Tony Awards, winning four for its design elements and one for best actor. That’s a lot of pressure on subsequent productions to live up to!

Nunsense

By Dan Goggin. Primadonna Productions. Directed by Carole Dhu. The Fishtrap Theatre, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. Mar 7-9, 2025

Primadonna Productions’ (essentially) all female production of Nunsense included two performances on International Women’s Day during its three-day season. Playing to packed houses, audiences were treated to a fun musical showcasing some great female talent.

Djuna

By Eva Rees. Darebin Arts Speakeasy & Bullet Heart Club. Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre. 12 – 23 March 2025

Image (above): DJUNA by Eva Rees. Dion Mills (outcry). Photographer: Darren Gill

At a key point in this gripping thriller, Marcus (Dion Mills), a cool, self-possessed businessman, quotes Oscar Wilde: ‘Everything in the world is about sex, except sex.  Sex is about power.’  This aphorism provides the central idea of Djuna.  It’s also a play that, with chilling insight, is about self-hatred turned outwards and it’s about the way a victim can be overwhelmed and fall into a kind of love with the abuser...

MUD

By Maria Irene Fornes. Produced by Salad Days Collective. Directed by Callum Johnson. Venue: PIP Theatre, Milton. 14th to 22nd of March, 2025

Image (above): Jasmine Prasser as Mae, Alex O’Connell as Henry, and George Oates as Lloyd sit around the table.

Salad Days Collective’s production of Maria Irene Fornes’ MUD at PIP Theatre is an unapologetically raw, hauntingly beautiful portrayal of poverty, power, and longing for freedom — and it’s hard to shake even after the final blackout.

Ladies in Black

By Tim Finn (Music and Lyrics) and Carolyn Burns (Book). Beaumaris Theatre, Vic. March 7 – 22, 2025

Ladies in Black is an Australian stage musical written by Split Enz and Crowded House co-founder Tim Finn (Music and Lyrics) and Carolyn Burns (Book). It is based on The Women in Black 1993 novel by Madeleine St John and was the recipient of several Helpmann (Best Musical and Best Score), Matilda, and Green Room Awards

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