Reviews

Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse for England.

Presented by The Holden Street Theatres’ Fringe Award. In Association with Joshua Beaumont, Matthew Emeny and Roxy Dog. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2025. February 18th – March 23rd, 2025

After a successful run in Edinburgh, English actor and writer Alex Hill has brought his one-man show to Adelaide in its Australian premiere. A high-energy football romp, which explores patriotism, mateship, and the need to belong.

Stand and Deliver

Written and Directed by Arthur Brown. Fringe World. Presented by Thanks Tina. Hayman Theatre, Curtin University, Bentley WA. Feb 4-9, 2025

Set in the preparation room before a High School Debate, this sharp and clever play is a nostalgia trip for anyone who was a high school debater, and a clever commentary on high school relationships. Presented by Thanks Tina, this play was originally presented as part of Hayman Theatre’s lunchtime theatre program, often a launchpad for new writing. 

The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty

By Gilbert and Sullivan, adapted by Richard Carroll. Hayes Theatre. From February 14, 2025

What they lacked in numbers on stage, they made up for in wit and inventiveness. Richard Caroll’s The Pirates of Penzance quintet was a clever and entertaining night in the theatre.

Patrons walked into the Hayes Theatre via the veranda entrance, and part of the stage was adorned with couches for members of the audience to sit on, and bulk up the cast when required.  It was a great idea and helped give a sense of a rollicking chorus.

Maho Magic Bar

Adelaide Fringe. Created, designed and directed by Kirsten Siddle. The Garden of Unearthly Delights. 14 February - 23 March 2025

Once again through the shoji, Maho Magic Bar recreates neon-bright Japanese nightlife for a fifth year at Adelaide Fringe. Fusing old and new Japanese culture with whip-smart close-up magic, five magicians wow the cocktail-drinkers with sleight of hand and edgy humour.

A Nightime Travesty

By A Daylight Connection (co-created by Kamarra Bell-Wykes and Carly Sheppard). Presented by Malthouse Theatre and Asia TOPA. Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo. Beckett Theatre, Malthouse, 113 Sturt St, Southbank, Melbourne. 19-22 February 2025.

The premise for A Nightime Travesty is a grim one and, in fact, much of the imagery in the play evokes ideas around apocalyptic death and destruction. This grim view of the current state of global affairs is contextualised as a final flight to escape earth. The idea is ingenious as it imagines the reality of the last remaining individuals who are pointlessly trying to escape their fatal destiny after exploiting and exhausting the earth’s resources.

Improbable Fiction

By Alan Ayckbourn. Castle Hill Players. Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill Showground. February 7 – March 1, 2025

It was a stormy night as the audience took their seats at the Pavilion Theatre and little did they know, they were also in for a hurricane of hilarity with Improbable Fiction. 

This tale sails through the chaotic seas of creative writers’ block and inspiration, employing a script that teems with ingenious wordplay and sharp direction by Dave Went. 

Truth

By Patricia Cornelius. Presented by Malthouse Theatre, directed by Susie Dee. Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse, 113 Sturt Street Southbank, Melbourne. 13 February – 8 March 2025.

Nowadays the word truth has become a loaded term given the rise of fake news, misinformation and disinformation and a scepticism towards the very notion of truth. Patricia Cornelius addresses this head on in her new play which covers the main events around controversial figures of Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and Chelsea Manning.

Dear Diary

Kay Proudlove. Adelaide Fringe. The Studio at Holden Street Theatres. 18 February - 9 March 2025

Kay Proudlove brings to Adelaide her stories of growing up in New South Wales. Her teenage diary is the source of tales from personal Spice Worlds to underage drinking, first crushes to first guitar, sharing her tender, naïve, and sometimes painful memories with us. Proudlove’s infectious personality brings us close, and there’s plenty of knowing chuckles with the familiarity of growing up in the nineties, being worried about the shape of your body, desperate for certain boys to notice you, and how there’s always a girl who seems to have it all figured out.

Romantic Masterpieces: Tchaikovsky, Brahms & Koh

Performed by Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Conducted by Hans Graf. QPAC Concert Hall. 16 February, 2025

Internationally acclaimed Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) had their Australian debut in Brisbane on the weekend to a Concert Hall filled to the brim with classical music enthusiasts. The orchestra was joined by two fantastic soloists - teenage violin wunderkind Chloe Chua, and Australian-born principal cellist Ng Pei‑Sian. The conductor was the renowned, Grammy Award-winning SSO Music Director Hans Graf.

POTUS - or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive

By Selina Fillinger. Lightning Jar Theatre in association with fortyfivedowstairs. fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne CBD. 13 February – 2 March 2025

This satiric black-as-black and very funny farce could scarcely be more timely.  But the producers, Hannah Greenwood and Tilly Legge, say that’s fortuitous.  They were already in rehearsal before the 2024 US election and ‘No matter what administration is in charge,’ they say, ‘idiocy is bipartisan.’  Be that as it may, they’ve found no reason to amend the script, and no one is going to watch POTUS without thinking of the dangerous circus occurring right now in the real White House.

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