Reviews

All Rise. Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra and the SSO

Composer Wynton Marsalis. Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. 31 Aug – 1 Sept, 2023

The stage of the Concert Hall is filled with sixteen members of New York’s  Lincoln Center Orchestra, their brass instruments shining, surrounded by the splendid Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Above them 170 members of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs almost fill the balcony under the towering pipe organ.

Conductor Benjamin Northey stands before them, baton in hand. There is an extended expectant hush … and then the men sing “Ah Zum” …

Witness For The Prosecution

By Agatha Christie. KADS. Directed by Peter Neaves. KADS’ Town Hall Theatre, Kalamunda, WA. Aug 25 - Sep 9, 2023

A good murder mystery, especially one by Agatha Christie, is usually a recipe for box-office success and KADS seem to be on a winner with Witness for The Prosecution, with a capacity house on Opening Night. This play is currently enjoying a long run in London, testament to the play’s ongoing popularity.

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill

By Lanie Robertson. State Theatre Company South Australia. The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre. 15 August- 9 September, 2023

Having spent time visiting some of Billie Holiday’s early performing venues in Harlem recently, it was with great enthusiasm and reverence for her talent that I attended Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at the Space Theatre.

Julius Caesar

By William Shakespeare. Produced by Melbourne Shakespeare Company. Directed by Richard Murphet. fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 24 August - 3 September 2023.

This is a play replete with intriguing and complex political subterfuge and this has been effectively brought to life by this vibrant Melbourne Shakespeare Company production. The casting of this show is well considered and contributes to the overall clarity it brings to the dramatic events and the compelling psychological study that the text offers. All the performances, both large and small, prioritise the emotional turmoil of each of the characters and give great insight into the personal and political ambitions that drive their actions.

SARAH Quand Même

Written and performed by Susie Lindeman. Directed by Wayne Harrison. Meraki Arts Mainstage, Darlinghurst. August 29 - September 2, 2023.

A little gem of a production is tucked away upstairs in a cosy theatre on Oxford Street, but alas just for a few days.

The audience waits in the sumptuously upholstered green room wine bar, then enters the small black box theatre for an audience with actress Sarah Bernhardt.

A lush French couch, dressing room table with lights and an elegant screen are the bones of the set which Susie Lindeman floats around like a butterfly in the one act monologue.

Celebrity TheatreSports 2023

Enmore Theatre. Sunday September 27, 2023

It’s always a packed house! A noisy, boisterous packed house! A packed house of people of all ages, from under 8 to over 80! Some alone, some in pairs, some in family groups! All excited because most know what’s coming, and those who don’t are just caught up in the buzz and vibe. The vibe that is TheatreSports – and Celebrity TheatreSports in particular!

Prophet

By Jodi Gallagher. Presented by Poiesis. Theatre Works, St Kilda. 23 August – 2 September 2023

Prophet is an intense experience – rhetorical, demanding, driven by Jodi Gallagher’s underlying anger – and her wish to expose the ills of the present by depicting a dystopian future.  The program quotes Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto: ‘All that is solid melts into air, all that is sacred is profaned…’  That sentence continues, ‘and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.’ 

Reckoning – Te Waiata Paihere Wairua

Writer, Director, Performer: Samuel Gaskin. Riverside Theatre Parramatta. Thursday 24 August, 2023

Yoruba and Ngati Tuwharetoa musician Samuel Gaskin has a lot to say about racism and injustice. That he does it through music makes his message clear and strong – especially in this performance where graphic visuals reinforce and sustain his words. Reckoning is using theatre not just to entertain but to reflect society and to herald the need for change. It is activism in its less strident but equally powerful form.

Décadence!

BelleKat Productions. The Evan Room, Panthers Penrith Leagues Club 19th August, 2023. The Wintle Theatre @ The Juniors, Kingsford 29th October.

‘Tis not often one gets the chance to see genuine cabaret, Moulin Rouge style! Think high kicks, seductive showgirls, sultry singers and a smidgeon of suggestive innuendo! And you don’t have to go to Paris to see it! Last Saturday it played to a rapturous audience at lovely downtown Penrith. In October it moves to Kingsford.

My First Bike

By Maude Davey. Music by Jane Bayly. La Mama HQ, Carlton. 23 – 27 August 2023

The show begins before the show.  It’s opening night.  As the audience waits on the deck outside the La Mama HQ theatre, Maude Davey and Jane Bayly come out in white blouses and long white skirts.  We don’t know why these outfits, and I don’t think we ever find out.  Maude has fourteen strips of white cardboard, each with the name of a song, or a poem, or a piece of prose, that will make up the show My First Bike.  It’s all very chatty and relaxed, like we all know – and like – each other, and we love Maude and Jane.

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