Reviews

Heart is a Wasteland

By John Harvey. ILBIJERRI. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. 25 – 27 August 2022

Heart is a Wasteland begins as a sort of rom com that becomes a road trip - with some noir thrown in – of four days and nights up the Stuart Highway - from Cooper Pedy to Alice Springs.  But this ill-matched indigenous couple, Raye and Dan, carry the heavy burdens of their own pasts - and the pasts of their indigenous people: poverty, child removal, addiction, land theft, and despair.    

Arsenic and Old Lace

By Joseph Kesselring. Tea Tree Players Theatre. Yatala Vale Rd, Surrey Downs, SA. 24 August to 3 September 2022.

Adelaide’s rich community theatre scene stretches to the outer suburbs where passionate theatre goers have created companies whose work is particularly tailored to loyal local audiences. Since a small group of enthusiasts banded together in 1976 to establish the first live theatre within the City of Tea Tree Gully, Tea Tree Players (TTP) have come a long way. By fundraising and with local and state grants, funds were garnered, and over 46 years TTP have mounted 304 productions.

La Traviata

By Verdi. State Opera South Australia. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide. 25 Aug - 3 Sep, 2022

 “… a love that is the heartbeat of the entire universe …”

Not only a love story, director Sarah Giles has placed feminine strength and individuality at the fore of this stunning production of Verdi’s La Traviata, “the fallen woman”.  The opera was not well received in 1853 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice as the contemporary, risqué themes, and portrayal of an independent and openly sexual woman did not distract and entertain the audience in the way more regal and fantastic operas did.

Crossing Delancey

By Susan Sandler. The Guild Theatre in Rockdale. August 12 – September 10, 2022

Crossing Delancey has opened at The Guild Theatre in Rockdale.  The story is warm and charming, combining Jewish tradition, a well-intentioned grandma, cultural shifts, a book store, a variety of pickles and the romantic potential of a new hat.

Lyn Lee has assembled quite a strong cast for this production.  The set design is very clever, especially considering the confines of the space and the costumes feel historically accurate.  There is an ease about the whole stage that is very welcoming.

Amleth – No-lander mark.

Adapted for Naghali by Elnaz Sheshgelani. Directed & performed by Elnaz Sheshgelani. La Mama HQ, 205 Faraday St, Carlton. 24 August - 4 September 2022.

This show is a part of a project aimed at preserving an ancient form of Persian storytelling called Naghali. It explores stories through specific codified gestures and movement which culminate in a very stylised corporeal expression. The performance has an elegance and beauty that is seen in both the action and the overall design. There is a magnificence in the cohesion of the set and the intriguing atmosphere this creates.

Whitefella Yella Tree

By Dylan Van Den Berg. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre. Aug 19 – Sep 23, 2022.

Two Aboriginal boys regularly meet in the bush to relay information about the new white settlers to their different mobs.  It’s early 1800’s Australia, but they dress and talk like any kids today as they compete, strut and banter with each other.  

Soon, as teenagers they fall madly in love.

Celebrity Theatresports 2022

Enmore Theatre. 21st August, 2022

The best yet? If not, it’s certainly in the running! With host Andrew Denton in sparkling red sequinned tails, co-host Josie O’Reilly in glittering gold and black and Music Man Benny Davis in shining silver, this annual theatrical treat was everything a charity impro event should be. The hosts were hyped, the teams were primed – and as usual the audience, warmed up by the inimitable Ewan Campbell, was ready for anything.

But the hype wasn’t just about improvisation.

Hamlet

By Brett Dean and Matthew Jocelyn, adapted from the play by William Shakespeare. Metropolitan Opera, Manhattan USA. In Australian cinemas from September 6, 2022.

Brett Dean and Matthew Jocelyn tread on dangerous ground when adapting Shakespeare’s iconic masterpiece Hamlet for the opera stage. It could be a raging success or a dismal failure. Fortunately, it is the former. This production, staged by the Metropolitan Opera, delves deep into the psyche of the Prince of Demark, revealing his darkest fears.

Humpty Dumpty: The Egg’s Files

By Tony Nicholls. Bunbury Musical Comedy Group. Directed by Jan Phillips. The New Lyric Theatre, Bunbury, WA. Aug 12-21, 2022

Bunbury Musical Comedy Group gave us a winter warmer pantomime with a science fiction twist, with Humpty Dumpty: The Egg’s Files. With the audience given a tutorial on appropriate pantomime responses, everyone had a chance to join in and get involved.

Caught

By Christopher Chen. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. 16 August – 11 September 2022

Cast member Jing-Xuan Chan (as herself?) thanks us for coming to this performance of Caught but she warns us that there is content some may find distressing.  However, Red Stitch staff are on hand in the foyer to help.  Curious.  No other Red Stitch show that I’ve seen has begun like this.  Of course, we accept that this is ‘real’.  By the end, we’ll realise that this welcome was another fiction, one of many serial fictions (or tricks), that we have kept accepting as ‘real’ only to have our trust disabused and the carpet