Reviews

The Australian Ballet School and the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) join forces in their inaugural collaboration, Le Sacré.

The striking pink, blue and yellow silks strung high at the back of the stage give a glimpse of the dynamic performance to come. One by one the cast enters the stage, lying close together to form a human mound. The mound starts to twitch. The lights finally dim. Black-and-gold clad performers enter the stage, a stark contrast to the fluorescent mound. From there it is a flurry of movement, with animalistic strength and suppleness.

HMS Pinafore has docked in Ballina and what a great show it is. This production is billed “for the 21st Century” and, as such, may take some ‘purists’ a little getting used to. It’s a fabulous introduction to the wonderful world of G & S.      

Director/Choreographer Jaime Sheehan along with Musical Directors Marie Caldwell and Warwick Binney have, once again, given us rollicking interpretation of this ageless classic.

The full title to this presentation should leave punters in no doubt regarding what they’re going to get and whether it should appeal to them. On the other hand, it also seems fair to warn that those with no stomach for cheerfully adolescent vulgarity (there really are such people, so they say) should probably go elsewhere to find an evening’s entertainment. For the rest of us forever-young-and-childish Eighties-addicts, “Sunglasses at Night” will hit the spot.

To a mostly live, powerful accompaniment composed by Brendan Woithe, played by the Zephyr Quartet, and sung by Karen Cummings and Heru Pinkasova, a troupe of nine dancers performed the world premiere in Canberra of The Beginning of Nature, the full-length (80-minute) version of a new work that patterns itself on various aspects of the natural world.