Reviews

Queensland Pops’ last concert for the year was a love-fest of tenor tunes, dazzling concert showpieces and Latin music. It was also a 20year celebration of Greg Moore’s first appearance with the Pops.

Moore, Adam Lopez and Nathan Kneen met each other at university back in the nineties and have been friends ever since. The fact that they all have terrific tenor voices is a plus.

Playwright Steve Rodgers, who adapted this story by Peter Goldsworthy for the stage, says this play “is about love and grief”. Director Darren Yap describes it as a “deeply moving story … full of pain and full of love, where family is everything.” It is all of this – and more – and, as such, it is a play that requires tenderness and understanding, sensitivity and compassion.

Arriving at the theatre knowing only that I was to see two female actors in a play about how Matt Damon and Ben Affleck came to write Good Will Hunting, I was totally unprepared for what ensued.

Rusalka is an interesting exploration of mermaids throughout the world, their history and impact on modern day folklore. The different incarnations of mermaids are interspersed with circus acts using the theme, glitter and scales of mermaids.

The actual story of Rusalka is the last of the stories. It is the tale of a young woman who had died in or near a river and would return as an undead. She was not invariably evil, and could die in peace if her death was avenged.