Reviews

There are laughs galore in this madcap production of the already hilarious 39 Steps. Director Hartney-Smith and her cast run riot with the consistently farcical script and the addition of some marvelously crazy props (a plumber’s plunger for a gear stick - toy planes joining the chase) and whacky physical business (the chase across the roof of the train is simply brilliant) make for a night of delicious silliness and belly laughs galore.

The ever-popular Cinematic concerts entered their fifth instalment this year and are likely to become an annual event judging by the bulging concert hall on opening night. What with a simultaneously packed frenzied Friday night of patrons in the Lyric Theatre, the whole complex was a-buzz of a slice of Brisbane theatre-goers eager to escape into the world of showbiz, including an understandably somewhat stressed mix of QPAC staff.

Moving a popular television series like the ABC’s Mother and Son from the screen to the stage is never easy, especially when the characters involved were as clearly defined and well-loved as Arthur Beare and his ageing mother, Maggie. However, if the adaptation is done by the original writer, who also writes for stage, there’s a chance that the move will work! In this case, it does!

Koorliny Arts Centre’s production of Come From Away, the WA Amateur Premier of this very popular show, has created quite a buzz, and the full, very theatrical crowd on Opening Night can testify that this production is very much worthy of the hype.

This story of the town of Gander, whose residents cared for thousands of people from stranded airplanes following September 11, has quickly become a modern classic.