Reviews

Face to Face

By Emily Wells. Clancestry Festival 2023. Cremorne Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 8 to 12 November 2023

Playwright Emily Wells is a graduate of the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts and holds a Bachelor of Entertainment Industries from the Queensland University of Technology. Her experience as a producer and collaborator with First Nations creatives across Australia means she certainly knows how to tell a story and entertain an audience. Face to Face is her debut play.

Scarlett O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot

By David Williamson. Directed by Geoff Brittain. St Jude’s Players, Brighton, SA. November 9-18, 2023.

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

I’m very glad I had the opportunity to walk into this ‘gin joint’. The play, Scarlett O’ Hara at the Crimson Parrot at St Jude’s is very deserving of full audiences as it is nostalgic and funny. Geoff Brittain has again assembled an excellent cast and tells the story with empathy and great humour.

The Normal Heart

By Larry Kramer. GRADS - The Graduate Dramatic Society. Directed by Barry Park. The Actors’ Hub, Kensington St, East Perth, WA. Nov 2-18, 2023

In November and December, most community and professional theatres are delivering fun shows, with multiple Shakespearian comedies, bright musicals, farces and pantomimes on offer. GRADS - The Graduate Dramatic Society have clearly decided to go in another direction, with the current production, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, set in the early years of the AIDS crises.

Oil

By Ella Hickson. Sydney Theatre Company, Wharf 1 Theatre. Nov 4 – Dec 16, 2023

Oil is an enthralling theatrical leap through the story of black gold, from freezing dark poverty in the 1800’s without it, our imperial desperation to plunder it, the Middle Eastern power games to keep it, and then back to the cold without it in 2050. And that’s Ground Zero.

William Barton: Sky Songs

Clancestry Festival 2023. Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 9 November 2023

Sometimes when musical worlds collide, the resulting alchemy is simply magical. The musical landscape of multi-instrumentalist William Barton combines his influences – from birdsong and didgeridoo to acoustic guitar and concert piano – and Sky Songs, his stage show for Clancestry’s celebration of First Nations arts and culture, showcases his ability to incorporate the didgeridoo with classical music to create a unique soundscape.

Dead Man Walking

The Metropolitan Opera HD Live. In cinemas nationally from November 11, 2023

In 1993, Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir Dead Man Walking launched her on the national stage and inspired the 1995 Oscar-winning movie of the same name starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

Dead Man Walking is the latest release on the Metropolitan Opera, Live HD series. American composer Jake Heggie’s masterpiece, it is the most widely performed new opera of the last 20 years, and now a powerful new production by Ivo van Hove.

Good Grief

By Keith Waterhouse. Therry Theatre. Arts Theatre, Angus St, Adelaide. Nov 2-11, 2023

Grief naturally follows a bereavement in the family. Sometimes however, there is a humorous side. Therry Theatre have picked a winner in Good Grief by Keith Waterhouse (of Billy Liar fame). Despite a seemingly melancholy premise, it is packed with its share of laughs and life lessons.

Nunsense

By Dan Goggin. Camden Musical Society. The Old St Thomas Chapel, Narellan. Nov 8 – 12, 2023

Could anything be any more perfect than staging Nunsense in a church? Camden Musical Society nailed venue choice with their latest offering, and they’ve done fabulously with the show itself. Nunsense is an hilarious and heart-warming musical comedy that combines wit, charm, and a touch of irreverence. Written by Dan Goggin, the play follows the misadventures of six nuns from the Little Sisters of Hoboken who find themselves in a fundraising predicament after a tragic cooking accident wipes out most of their convent.

As You Like It

By William Shakespeare. Roleystone Theatre. Directed by Paul Treasure. Araluen Botanic Park, Roleystone, WA. Nov 4-12, 2023

Roleystone Theatre’s annual Shakespeare in the Park has become an entrenched tradition within a few short years. Once again directed by Paul Treasure, As You Like It plays in Araluen’s gorgeous amphitheatre, using both the stage and what would be considered the “audience area” to create a truly immersive experience.

The Music Man

Book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson. Story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey. Normanhurst Uniting Church Musical Society. November 3 – 18, 2023.

In writing one of those ‘perfect’ musicals from Broadway’s Golden Age, composer / lyricist Meredith Willson drew his inspiration for The Music Man from his own musical career, including his time in the 1920s as a member of ‘The March King’ John Philip Soussa’s band - not one of those 76 trombonists, though, but a flute and piccolo virtuoso.