Reviews

I have never been a big fan of updating classic operas to the present day, that is, until now. Thanks to director Nicholas Cannon, State Opera have presented a relevant, accessible and highly enjoyable modern take of The Marriage of Figaro!

Even after updating, the story is much the same. The Count has his eye on Susanna, Figaro’s bride-to-be. She might just be a servant, but Susanna’s clever and determined he won’t have his way, especially on their wedding day!

Burke Street Studio Theatre was transformed into a dystopian future for the setting of Queensland Academy of Excellence in Musical Theatre’s second year student production of Urinetown. The unassuming theatre provided the perfect venue for the students to showcase their talents and skills honed over their time at the Academy.

‘Twould be wonderful if Mikhail Bulgakov could be spirited into the Belvoir St Theatre to the see what Eamon Flack, his cast, and a host of creatives have made of his book The Master and Margarita. He’d see all his characters – the Devil, his assistant, a naked witch, a huge black, talking cat with a liking for vodka, an assassin, a poet, a writer, Christ and Pontius Pilate – corralled together in a riotous romp that’s mad and magical – and as mischievous as Bulgakov meant it to be!

”Why have we kept doing this?” Anna, the anguished mother in labour cries. The audience, likewise, ponders the same question. Childbirth and motherhood can be such a traumatic assault on the senses and yet, we go back for more.