Reviews

Welcome To Your New Life

By Anna Goldsworthy. State Theatre Company South Australia. Directed by Shannon Rush. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. 10-25 November, 2023.

”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.

The Wharf Revue: Pride in Prejudice

By Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe. Soft Tread Productions. Director Andrew Worboys. Seymour Centre. 8 November - 17 December, 2023 and touring.

Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe are looking back on another year with their usual perspicacious percipience, pertinent parodies and just a little poignant plaintiveness! They satirise prominent politicians with punchy pride, bi-partisan prejudice and intense irreverent irony. And if you find that little lot of alliteration laborious imagine writing a whole sketch of it! In fact, imagine planning a program of sketches satirising people and politics – and performing them perfectly!  

Ok! Ok! I’ll stop!

A Murder Is Announced

By Agatha Christie, adapted by Leslie Durbon. New Farm Nash Theatre, Qld. Directed by Sharon White. Nov 10 – Dec 2, 2023.

The action takes place in the village of Chipping Cleghorn in Miss Blacklock’s house, Little Paddocks, which seems innocent of any dangers until an article appears in the local paper to say a murder was to take place that Friday 13th at 6.30pm at her house.

Is it real?

Who is to be murdered?

Metaverse of Magic

JONES Theatrical Group. Sydney Coliseum Theatre from 7 November 2023, Canberra Theatre Centre from 22 November 2023 & QPAC Concert Hall from 4 January 2024

The Metaverse of Magic is an extraordinary experience that seamlessly blends illusion, spectacle, and storytelling along with interactive audience gameplay. 

Brought to life by a remarkable cast of performers, it is fronted by Lenox (Ash Hodgkinson, AKA Ash Magic), who leads the audience into the mystical Metaverse. Along with his AI sidekick Digi (Erin Bruce), both he and the audience must complete a series of tasks to level up in a magical playground. 

Song Circle

Clancestry Festival 2023. Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 11 November 2023

Imagine sitting around a campfire with some of Australia’s best singer-songwriters! That was QPAC’s Song Circle, a passion project for Troy Cassar-Daly, featuring Shane Howard (Goanna), Dan Sultan, Neil Murray (Warumpi Band) and Sara Storer. The 3-hour gig included a warm and welcoming opening set with Jem Cassar-Daly, her keys and a bunch of original songs. The evening drew together a key theme that, despite the vastness of the Australian landscape (a reality these travelling musicians know only too well) it is the stories and songs that draw us all together.

‘night Mother

By Marsha Norman. Holden Street Theatre Company Inc. Holden Street Theatres: The Studio. November 7-25, 2023

When I started directing plays, a very wise and experienced director shared some sage advice saying, “The secret is to cast well” and this magic formula stands out in American playwright Marsha Norman’s ‘night Mother currently on at Holden Street. The play won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, and is, in this production a fine example of perfect casting.

The Dream / Marguerite & Armand

The Australian Ballet. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House / Tubowgule. Nov 10 – 25, 2023

Amy Harris exquisitely dances the role of the fragile courtesan in Marguerite & Armand but leaves the Australian Ballet this month after 22 years. This short ballet was made famous by the ice-and-fire partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev; it was choreographed for them in 1963 by Britain’s Sir Frederick Ashton – no wonder principal dancers left the work alone for years.  

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

By William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin. Murray Music and Drama. Directed by Lori Anders. Pinjarra Civic Centre, WA. Nov 10 - 25, 2023

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has been one of the more popular shows of recent years, but this fun musical comedy is still managing to attract a healthy audience. Murray Music and Drama’s current production seems to have found some points of difference, meaning even those who have seen the show multiple times could find something new.

The Memory Palaces

By WAAPA Third Year Performance Making Students. Directed by Michael Barlow (with Assistant Director Anja Starkiss). The Ellie Eaton Theatre, Claremont Showgrounds, WA. Nov 10-11, 2023

The Memory Palaces is the latest production in an annual collaboration between Spare Parts Puppet Theatre and WAAPA - a partnership that began in 2015. WAAPA’s final year Performance Making Students celebrate their graduating performance using puppetry.

A highly visual new piece of theatre, it has been inspired by “ancient methods of recall that have left traces on cultures around the ground”.

Much Ado About Nothing

By William Shakespeare. EGL353 Acting and Producing for the Stage. Directed by Dr. Alys Daroy, Dr. Sarah Courtis and Dr. Stephen Platt. Nexus Theatre, Murdoch University, WA. Nov 9-11, 2023

William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is presented by EGL353 Acting and Producing for the Stage as part of their coursework. Playing for a short season, in Murdoch’s lovely Nexus Theatre, it is a chance for students to showcase what they have learnt. 

In this course students both produce and perform in the show, undertaking backstage and on-stage roles. Students make and source materials for set design, music, costumes, props, programs as well as managing publicity, stage management and all other areas of production.