Reviews

No Dragon No Lion

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2025. TS Crew. Ukyio at Gluttony, Rymill Park, Adelaide. Feb 21 – March 2 2025

TS Crew from Hong Kong is a group of performing artists with different backgrounds, and it is known for blending Chinese opera, dance, martial arts and stunt performance in its repertoire.

An Unwasted Evening - The Genius of Tom Lehrer

Adelaide Fringe. The Jade, 142-160 Flinders Street. Sun, 23 Feb - Sun, 16 March, 2025

Whilst in 1960, South Australia’s Chief Secretary slapped a ban on five of Tom Lehrer’s songs, describing them as being ‘in poor taste’, the Fringe crowd for the opening of An Unwasted Evening - The Genius of Tom Lehrer at Jade, sang, clapped, laughed and waved their hands in sheer undisguised enjoyment. My, how the times have changed.

Grimm DNA - a double bill.

Presented by Actually Acting Youth Theatre. Adelaide Fringe, Theatre at Tower Arts Centre. 22-23 February 2025

One of the best things about Adelaide Fringe Festival is not just the variety of performances, but the diversity of performers from all ages and cultures. It was a pleasure to experience the hard work of the students from Actually Acting Youth Theatre in their double-bill performance of The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon by Don Zolidis and Dennis Kelly’s DNA.

Baby Jane.

Adapted by Ed Wightman from the novel Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, by Henry Farrell. Canberra Repertory, directed by Ed Wightman. Theatre 3, Acton. 20 February – 8 March 2025.

Baby Jane follows the increasingly twisted dynamics between two sisters bound to each other by their involvement in a terrible car accident: Blanche, whom t

Fledermaus!

Music: Johann Strauss II. Libretto: Carl Haffner and Richard Genee. English version by Robert Ray. Orchestral score for small ensemble: Geoffrey Urquhart. Presented by: Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria. Director: Robert Ray. The Knowe, 4 Clarkmont Road, Sassafrass, 15 February – 2 March 2025. The Round – Studio, 379-399 Whitehorse Road Nunawading, 8 March – 9 March, 2025. Moe Plaza – 2 Moore Street, Moe. 12 April, 2025

Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria is celebrating their 90th birthday having been formed in August 1935. They could not have done better than to present Fledermaus! which showcases the deep experience of a group of people who love this art form and are prepared to do the myriad tasks which bring such a show to life.

Checkmate,

By Leslie Sands. Tugun Theatre Company. Feb 7 – Mar 1, 2025

 

Checkmate is intriguing!

 

This is a Room

By Tina Satter. Half Straddle / Perth Festival. Directed by Tina Satler. Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA. Feb 14-17, 2025

This real-life thriller was presented by Half Straddle as part of Perth Festival. The play is formed from the FBI transcript of the day that American translator Reality Winner (her real name) was surprised by the FBI and interrogated in the back room of her house.

House Party for the Apocalypse

By Macy Sharp. girlcatboycat productions for Fringe World. Directed by Adrijan Levis. Hayman Theatre, Curtin University, Bentley WA. Feb 4-9, 2024

House Party for the Apocalypse presented by girlcatboycat productions for Fringe World is a post apocalyptic play with a nice blend of comedy and the concerning, as a group of friends are holed up in a house avoiding a rapidly spreading zombie virus.

As Will’s house-warming stretches into many days, the food runs out, tempers get short and conspiracy theories abound. In the meantime television broadcasts from the local news anchor become more and more strange.

A friend of Dorothy: Anthems of Pride

Written and performed by Lindsay Prodea. Presented by Matthew Liersch. Adelaide Fringe: World Premiere. Plant 4 Bowden. Sat, 22 Feb - Sun, 16 Mar, 2025

Local performer, Lindsay Prodea has had a huge last 12 months. This show is Lindsay’s solo cabaret debut, but he is a seasoned and sought after performer as both a singer and actor. In 2024, he won the prestigious Adelaide Critics Circle Individual Award for his ‘Body of Work’, having mesmerised Adelaide audiences as Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz, and as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys, as well as Simply Brill during Adelaide Fringe 2024.

Comedy Carousel

By Werner Trieschman, Sean Guy and Shirley Toohey. Garrick Theatre Club. Directed by Ali Louise, Carly Ranger and Lynne Devenish. Garrick Theatre, Guildford, WA. Feb 6-15, 2025

Garrick Theatre Club’s Comedy Carousel was an evening of three comic one act plays, combining to make an evening of very varied entertainment.