Reviews

Yma Sumac - The Peruvian Songbird

Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre. June 14 – 16, 2018.

For those who have never heard of her, Yma Sumac is the legendary Peruvian soprano who was said to have been a descendent of the last Inca Emperor. Possessing an astounding five octave range, she passed away in 2008 at the age of 85.

Beginning her career in Peru, she became famous in America, then travelled to Russia and Europe before returning to the States.

A Noble Cause: Labour Prime Ministers from Watson to Keating

By Neil Cole. La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond St, Carlton. 14 - 24 June 2018.

Chris Watson, Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating are vividly brought to life in this delightful collection of vignettes and musical interludes. The journey down memory lane is always a pleasant one but the pathway is littered with both accomplishments and shortcomings and allows Australia’s highly political history to come to the forefront.

The Hypochondriac

By Molière, in a new version by Hilary Bell. Darlinghurst Theatre Co. June 9 – July 1, 2018

Molière’s play is set in the bedchamber of Argan, a rich, neurotic and gullible man who employs adoctor and an apothecary who treat his imaginary illnesses on a full-time basis because of the lucrative fees they can charge. Add a greedy wife, a sleazy lawyer, an outspoken maid and a petulant daughter and you have the makings of a comedy that fits the genre in which Moliere chose to write, one that is based on double images – wise and foolish, right and wrong, good and bad.

Bliss

By Peter Carey. Adapted for the stage by Tom Wright. Belvoir and Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne. Director: Matthew Lutton. Belvoir Theatre, Sydney. 9 June – 15 July 2018

Adapted by Tom Wright, Artistic Associate of Sydney’s Belvoir Theatre and directed by Matthew Lutton, Artistic Director of Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre, this twin-company adaptation of Peter Carey’s first novel Bliss should be a winner. The fact that it isn’t has nothing to do with the cast, who give their all during its three-hour running time.

Lone

By Emma Valente & Kate Davis. Presented by The Rabble and St Martins. Set & Costume Designer - Kate Davis. Lighting & Sound Designer - Emma Valente. Artistic Associate - Katrina Cornwell . Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall. 8 – 17 June 2018

Due to its unique and somewhat provocative nature, and very limited number of tickets, Lone is likely to be a difficult to catch during its short season at Arts House.   

Holy Cow

Joyce Slaughters the Sacred Cows of English Literature. Directed by Jennifer Sarah Dean. fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 13-17 June 2018.

The Bloomsday in Melbourne script team have cleverly adapted the episode in which the protagonist Leopold Bloom (Hunter Perske) visits the maternity hospital in James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses. This is an exceptionally complex text and focusing on this lively episode is a good way to tackle the enormous literary tradition housed in this text.

Lea DeLaria

Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Festival Theatre, 11 June, 2018

Lea DeLaria opened her show in Adelaide with a beautifully arranged jazz adaptation of the Bowie classic “Boys Keep Swinging”. It is no accident that these lyrics, heard so many times before, are suddenly heard in a new way. As DeLaria sings, ‘Heaven loves ya, The clouds part for ya, Nothing stands in your way, When you're a boy’, there can be little doubt that the woman standing before us keenly feels the inequalities between the genders.

Assassins

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by John Weidman. Directed by Dean Bryant. Choreography by Andrew Hallsworth. Musical Director Andrew Worboys. Set and Costume Design Alicia Clements. The Hayes Theatre Co. June 7 – July 1, 2018

The return of Hayes’ Theatre’s stunning production of Assassins to the stage of the Playhouse was marred by a painful injury to Bobby Fox just as he concluded his brilliant, light, swift-footed, crazed depiction of Charles Guiteau (hanged for the assassination of President James Garfield in 1881). After an amazing song and dance routine, including a skipping sequence with a fluorescent rope, Fox faltered and fell.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Play by Simon Stephens based on the novel by Mark Haddon. Director: Marianne Elliott. National Theatre of Great Britain. Concert Hall, QPAC. 12 – 24 June 2018 (and touring)

When it opened in London in 2012 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time consolidated the acclaim heaped upon director Marianne Elliot following her groundbreaking War Horse.

Eight gigabytes of hardcore pornography

By Declan Greene. The Tasmanian Theatre Co. The Moonah Arts Centre. Director: Melissa King. 6-16 June 2018

The set says it all. Separate spaces not much larger than a grave plot; two venetian blinds (from which to view the world or hide our secret selves) evoke the confessional; a shared space mediated by a grid of computer components. This is how we live. Alone, rarely together and mostly in the ether. Pared of the commodities which insulate, the characters are stripped bare, naked as they came into the world and naked as they will leave it.

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