Reviews

A Night at the Theatre

A series of Five Comic One Act Plays by David Ives. STARC Productions. Bakehouse Theatre, Adelaide. 17-27 July, 2019.

I always think it is a really good thing when you have been to the theatre that when you leave you need to discuss it and you keep discussing what you have seen all the way home and then you think about it when you are lying in bed.

A Night at the Theatre is a series of comic one act plays by David Ives, the leading American writer of Absurdist theatre. Theatre of the Absurd usually does not get much of an airing, so it is both interesting and worthwhile that STARC Productions presents these short and technically difficult plays.

La Bohème

By Puccini. Opera Van Diemensland & Cordelia’s Potted Operas. Directors: Martin Buckingham and Stee Cordilia. Conductor: Alan Cook. Abbotsford Convent (Vic). July 7, 2019.

There are an amazing number of opera companies, amateur, semi-professional and professional, now operating in Victoria. Opera Van Diemensland started in NSW with the aim of bringing semi-professional opera to country centres, and has now moved to Victoria. This was the only Melbourne performance, and was well attended.

My Urrwai

Written by Ghenoa Gela. Directed by Rachael Maza. Produced by Performing Lines in association with Ilbijerri Theatre Company. Presented by QPAC. Studio 1. 17 – 22 July, 2019

Ghenoa Gela is funny, friendly and fierce in My Urrwai. The show intersperses storytelling with contemporary and traditional dance, comedy, poetry and song. It’s a powerfully moving exploration of the impacts of colonialism on first nations people.

Central Coast Gang Show 2019

Laycock Street Theatre July 18 – 20, 2019

For the last 34 years, Central Coast Scouts and Guides have come together in the July School holidays to put on their annual variety show. They are always spectacular, and this year is no exception. Gang Shows are a nearly 80-year-old tradition of the Scouting and Guide movement, starting in the United Kingdom before spreading around the world in the decades that followed. There are roughly 15 Gang Shows still produced around Australia.

You Are the Blood

By Ashley Rose Wellman. Directed by Peter Blackburn. Spinning Plates Co. The Stables, Meat Market, North Melbourne. 12 – 26 July 2019

A serial killer’s murder of seven young women haunts his family.  David Boden, the killer (Andrew Blackman), is incarcerated for life.  His daughter, would-be stand-up comic Shelby (Jessica Stanley), and stay-at-home son Ben (James Cerché) are frightened by and obsessed with their father: are they tainted?  Is he in their blood?  Shelby can reel off the names of the victims.  Boden’s now alcoholic wife Linda (Vivienne Powell) can’t help loving the man Boden was – or she thought he was – before…  But now, suddenly, Bod

The Wizard of Oz Arena Spectacular

Written by L. Frank Baum. Music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y Harburg. Background music by Herbert Stothart. Adapted by John Kane. Produced and Directed by Tim O’Connor. Presented by Harvest Rain Theatre Company. Brisbane Entertainment Centre. 12 – 13 July, 2019

It’s always impressive to see a massive cast of thousands all working together in a well-rehearsed show. That’s exactly what this production delivers. Aside from the core cast, it includes over 700 young performers in its ensemble. The scale is mind boggling as hundreds and hundreds of munchkins appear out of nowhere, popping up right next to you in the aisles, singing and dancing their little hearts out.

A View from the Bridge

By Arthur Miller. State Theatre Company SA. Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide. 12 July – 3 August 2019

‘There was a future, a trouble which would not go away,’ says Alfieri, the lawyer of Arthur Miller’s classic tragedy, narrating a man’s attempts to stumble through love, loyalty and the awful impact his choices have on those he loves in an ever-changing world.

One Small Trip

Ross Daniels. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne. July 15 – 20, 2019

Ross Daniels is a hilariously funny, almost weird little guy, but not quite. He has guest starred in several classic Australian television dramas over many years and has been at the high end of the comedy circuit in Melbourne since the nineties.  His hilarious new show One Small Trip takes us on a wild and wacky journey to the moon, along with his  bunch of loony misfits.

Whiteley

Music: Elena Kats-Chernin. Libretto: Justin Fleming. Opera Australia. Conducting: Tahu Matheson. Direction: David Freeman. Video and Projection Designer: Sean Nieuwenhuis. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. July 18 – 30, 2019

When a new opera begins with the lead character calling for the "Hairy Balls Masturbation Club" to meet for a "gang wank" then you know it won't be boring. Even more so when such lyrics are delivered in full operatic voice with all the gravitas of a Wagner aria.

Whiteley wears its Australian spirit on its sleeve: the show's touches of larrikinism and refusal to paint (sorry) Brett Whiteley as a saint add to the impact of this work, especially when it gets more profound. The dashes of irreverence and humour emphasise the deeper messages.

The Bacchae

Script and Direction by Robert Reid. A Robert Reid and MUST Co-Production. La Mama Courthouse Theatre, Carlton. 10 – 21 July 2019

Writer/Director Rob Reed has inspiringly woven a rich tapestry around themes of revolt, rebellion and war that Euripides’s The Bacchae speaks of.  One can only sit back and enjoy this lengthy but swiftly flowing work.  At the same time it is impossible not to marvel and wonder at the enormous amount of targeted research required to create such a beguiling and masterfully thought-provoking piece of theatre.

All the linkages, that I could grasp, made perfect sense.  Those I couldn’t grasp I was happy to believe were making perfect sense.

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