Author: thedialogtheatreblog

A log of student theatre reviews at the University of Melbourne. A dialogue between theatre makers and audiences.
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A Matter of Family: This Ambitious Noir Musical Delivers Killer Looks, Songs and Story

Reviewed by: Grace Dwyer I’ve had the privilege of seeing two Four Letter Word shows this year – the student-led production company specialising in original musical works has demonstrated an impressive capacity to produce spectacularly grand shows with tight turnaround. Their Semester One production, Cancelled, was fun and flashy, with a large cast of memorable characters – but in A Matter of Family, co-directors and … Continue reading A Matter of Family: This Ambitious Noir Musical Delivers Killer Looks, Songs and Story

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Queen’s College and The Matchmaker: A Compatible Pair

Reviewed by: Tom Worsnop Edited by: Hallie Vermeend Queen’s College’s latest production, directed by Gabriel Donaldson and Avi Walsh-Davis, offers a delightfully light-hearted piece of theatre, Thornton Wilder’s 1954 play The Matchmaker. Perhaps better known in the form of its musical adaptation Hello Dolly!, the play is set in 1880s New York, and centres around an old curmudgeon, Horace Vandergelder, who is trying to stop … Continue reading Queen’s College and The Matchmaker: A Compatible Pair

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What You Want Is St Hilda’s College’s Legally Blonde

Reviewed by: Lilah Shapiro Edited by: Mya Helou It was just one of those nights, where no-one (not even my most periphery down-for-a-good-time friends) was available to see a college production of Legally Blonde with me. So, there I was, by myself on a Saturday night, ready for three hours of whatever St Hilda’s college had in store for me. As the opening number – … Continue reading What You Want Is St Hilda’s College’s Legally Blonde

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Cancelled For Blowing The Roof Off

Reviewed by: Michelle Yu Edited by: Lola Sargasso “People pay to hear our music, not listen to what we represent.”  Is cancel culture valid? Should public figures who have been cancelled ever be forgiven? These are the compelling questions posed by Cancelled, Four Letter Word Theatre’s latest production. I had the privilege to be there on opening night. Featuring Ethan Francis D’Amour’s catchy tunes and … Continue reading Cancelled For Blowing The Roof Off

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Into The Woods And Out Of The Woods

Reviewed by: Shixin Wang Edited by: Aditi Acharla It seems like every fairy tale has a woods full of stories. Little Red Riding Hood is seduced by the Big Bad Wolf and deviates from the correct route on the way to her grandmother’s house and enters the woods; Rapunzel lives in a tower deep within the forest; Snow White is driven into the darkness and … Continue reading Into The Woods And Out Of The Woods

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The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals: A Musical Takeover Triumph

Reviewed by: Katya Ewing Starkid, a musical theatre company founded in 2009 by a group of Michigan university students, have long given us hilariously quirky musicals. ICAC, directed by Hannah Crompton, rose to the occasion, exploding with contagious vitality and joy in their side-splitting interpretation of Starkid’s The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals. The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals launches us into the world of … Continue reading The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals: A Musical Takeover Triumph

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Cake, Crinoline and Colonial Sins at Picnic

Barkly Theatre gets off to a sinister, spell-binding start with their debut production. Picnic at Hanging Rock would be a bold choice for any debut. Published coinciding with the 1967 First Nations referendum, Joan Lindsay’s carefully manicured novel sculpts a world in turmoil. Four schoolgirls, perfect Anglo-Australian citizens, disappear from a Valentines’ trip to Hanging Rock; two are never found. Lindsay’s curlicued prose chronicles the … Continue reading Cake, Crinoline and Colonial Sins at Picnic

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Out of this World with ‘Crystalline Consciousness’

EMMA PARFITT DISCUSSES THE DEAD END COLLECTIVE’S DIVE INTO OUTER SPACE Dead End Collective advertised their new production, The Crystalline Consciousness That Speaks Meaning Into Flesh, as ‘a romp’, and a romp it most certainly was. With a talented ensemble cast and captivating production design, this show is a promise of more excellent things to come from Dead End Collective. In their brand-new original work, … Continue reading Out of this World with ‘Crystalline Consciousness’

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A Candid Look at ‘Cancelled’ Culture

MILO PENNEFATHER AND JULIAN MACHIN ON THEIR PROBLEMATIC NEW PRODUCTION Cancelled, Four Letter Word Theatre’s brazen new production, pulls none of its punches. The musical stars one Max Richmond, an arrogant lead singer whose disastrously insensitive remarks have spelled the collapse of his musical career. With the help of THEM, a down-and-out pop icon, Max hatches a plan to get back on top and win … Continue reading A Candid Look at ‘Cancelled’ Culture

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The Effect: Pulls You In—Hook, Line, & Sinker

Reviewed by: Zimo Lee The Effect by Lucy Prebble is a story about two volunteers in an antidepressant clinical trial. There, the characters Tristan (Freddie Carew-Reid) and Connie (Hazel Pigrum) form an unexpected attraction to one-another that blossoms into a heart-wrenching romance; are their feelings their own, or simply an Effect of the drugs? Short Straw Theatre Company boasts a performance that keeps the audience on their … Continue reading The Effect: Pulls You In—Hook, Line, & Sinker

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