Reviews

Your Bard

By Nicholas Collett. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2018. Treasury 1860: 17 February - 4 March, 2018 and Stirling Fringe @ Coventry Library: 11-12 March, 2018

The sub-title for Your Bard is ‘An Informal audience with Will Shakespeare in the Pub’ – and that’s exactly what you get. In the intimate front bar in Treasury 1860, and in just one hour, Nicholas Collett gives you the entire life of William Shakespeare.

Smoking with Grandma

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2018. Threewoods Playwright (Hong Kong). Bakehouse Theatre: 26 February - 10 March, 2018

Smoking with Grandma is a ‘mixed media’ work from Hong Kong, involving a warm and loving relationship between a Chinese grandmother and grand-daughter.

You enter the darkened main studio at the Bakehouse Theatre, and the mood is sombre and intriguing. On a screen up-stage is film footage of single wafts of smoke, whilst the stage floor is lit from a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, under which is single wood chair.

19 Weeks

By Emily Steel. Adelaide Fringe Festival. Adina Basement Pool/Apartment Hotel Adelaide Treasury. 27th February - 17th March, 2018

In 2016 writer Emily Steel was faced with a heart-breaking decision. In her second trimester of pregnancy she found out she carried the marker for Down Syndrome. After more probing tests, she was given conclusive positive results, meaning she would have to make the unenviable decision as to whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. Her play, 19 Weeks, reflects the painfulness of that time.

Livvy and Pete

Adelaide Fringe Festival. Fortuna Spiegeltent. 26th February, 2018

Acclaimed cabaret performers Amelia Ryan and Michael Griffiths have teamed up for this year’s Adelaide Fringe to pay homage to Australian treasures Olivia Newton-John and Peter Allen.

Sashaying down the winding staircase with maracas in hand and wearing a floral shirt was Griffiths, who looked comfortable camping it up as he sang the opening bars of “I Go to Rio”. He was accompanied by drums and bass and it took only moments for the audience to start singing along.

Ivy + Bean The Musical

Based on books by Annie Barrows, with book, music and lyrics by Scott Elmegreen. The Gemini Collective / Adelaide Fringe. Bakehouse Theatre. February 16 to March 3, 2018.

Ivy + Bean was the perfect afternoon show to attend with my five-year-old granddaughter. The play is adapted from the books by Annie Barrows, which follow the imaginative lives of two seven-year-old girls who live in Pancake Cort.

The set, like the props the girls use to create their worlds is made from bits and pieces that can be found lying around our homes and serves its purpose beautifully.

The Irresistible

Written by Zoe Pepper, Adriane Daff and Tim Watts. Directed by Zoe Pepper. Presented by Side Pony Productions & The Last Great Hunt in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse. Visy Theatre, 23 - 24 February, 2018

It’s so wonderful to see the little-explored genre of science fiction on stage in a theatre. Of course it’s harder in theatre to create the special effects you see in a science fiction film, so it’s easy to see why writers and directors might avoid it like the plague. The Irresistible shows us all you can do sci-fi very well on stage very well indeed, special effects and all!

Courtney Act - Under the Covers

The Edith Spiegeltent, The Ice Cream Factory, Perth, WA for Fringe World. Feb 20-24, 2018

Courtney Act - Under the Covers begins with Courtney Act literally under the covers of a brightly covered bed that takes up most of the stage. She bursts from the bed, stunningly attired, to sing Bjork’s cover of Betty Hutton’s cover of Horst Winter’s “It’s Oh So Quiet”. A show about covers - musical and otherwise - with more depth than you would expect.

Permission to Speak

Composed by Kate Neal. Directed by Tamara Saulwick. Presented by Chamber Made in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse. Powerhouse Theatre, 23 - 24 February, 2018

Chamber Made’s Permission to Speak played Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre as part of the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) schedule for 2018. If you’ve not heard of it, APAM showcases contemporary performing arts to the international sector. This work is certainly one you can imagine touring the world. It would be just as at home in a modern art gallery as it is in a theatre or any other number of performance spaces. It’s unsurprising then, to know Chamber Made has presented over 90 performance seasons in Australia and internationally since 1988.

Lysistrata or War! Whoa! What Is It Good For?

Directed by Phil Miolin. Hayman Theatre, Curtin University, Bentley, WA. Feb 23-Mar 3, 2018

Aristophanes’ Lysistrata is performed in a one hour cutting and ‘update’ by Hayman Theatre. A thoughtful production bookended with ‘modern’ scenes, it shows that this 411 BC comedy about a woman who gathers other women to end the Peloponnesian War by denying all of the men sex, remains relevant in 2018.

Vicki

An original musical play by Rodney Stewart. Lane Cove Theatre Company (NSW). Feb 23 to 25, 2018.

Hats off to the Lane Cove Theatre company for giving one of their loyal members, Rodney Stewart, a chance to revive a musical he penned 40 years ago. At the time (1973) investors splashed out on a fully professional staging of the work under the title Nuclear and lost their dough. The musical lay in the bottom drawer until Rodney dusted it off a decade ago.

The revival production was staged in Lane Cove’s home turf – a hall at the back of a church on Sydney’s north-shore - with a basic set of a double bed, table and computer.

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