Stage Briefs

Sarah Gaul says she hasn’t been sleeping lately and it’s all because of the issues chasing each other around in her head. There’s Hyponchondria and of course, Happiness and what about Veganism and Christianity? Plus, there’s always Irony and also that biggie, The Debt Crisis.

After being evacuated from Gallipoli during the First World War, over fifteen hundred Australians were treated for shell-shock, neurasthenia, or an illness poignantly termed “disordered action of the heart”. The latter is now more commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Some service personnel were treated and returned to their units, while others were sent home for discharge.

This correspondent met her mate of over forty years by being quirkily computer-matched with him for attendance at a university ball back in the days when computers filled a room; certainly well before the internet existed.

Yours truly was therefore more than a little intrigued to hear of Matt Byrne Media’s 2014 Adelaide Fringe production, dateless.com, which runs from February 11 until March 16 at the popular Maxim’s Wine Bar, Norwood.

This summer marks a quarter of a century of Shakespeare in Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens. To celebrate the 25th Anniversary, the Australian Shakespeare Company has remounted A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the first play performed in 1988, that over the decades has proven to be Melbourne’s favourite Shakespeare under the stars.

Season dates run from 21 December - 15 March 2014, with tickets on sale from Ticketmaster and www.shakespeareaustralia.com.au