REVIEWED BY ALEX LAWRY EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER Ormond College’s production of Anything Goes took to the Union Theatre from the 20th to the 22nd of August 2026. The 1934 musical comedy created by Cole Porter follows the passengers of an ocean liner as love triangles, public enemies and chaos reign supreme. The powerful vocals of Zoe Cowlishaw as Reno Sweeny, Nick Sharr as Billy … Continue reading Anything Goes at Ormond College
REVIEWED BY IVY KAYE EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER Walking up the stairs of Parkville’s Arts and Cultural Building, I was transported into a kind of theatre within a theatre. Having taken my seat, and waited for the lights to dim, I was met with A Chorus Line’s familiar opening of ‘Again!’ coming from just a few rows ahead of me. The show, following a group … Continue reading A Chorus Line: St. Hilda’s College Asks What it Means to Become “One”
REVIEWED BY GRACE DWYER EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER I firmly believe that any form of dinner-party, kitchen-sink or friendship-fallout drama is perhaps one of the strongest formulas to ensure an entertaining, well staged and tightly written piece of theatre. From the classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf to last year’s Big Bear, there’s nothing more satisfying than watching a web of relationships collapse, preferably in … Continue reading All Good Things and the Dreaded Friend Group Breakdown
REVIEWED BY KIT WILLS EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER Content Warning: contains references to sexual assault, trauma, shame and mental health. There must’ve been an event running in the bar space of the Motley Bauhaus when I arrived, as the building was warm with loud talking and small groups of people drinking pints and laughing amongst themselves. I walked past the groups gathered in the bar … Continue reading Look to Your Left, Look to Your Right crashes into you and leaves you to pick up the pieces
REVIEWED BY KIERA EDELSTEIN EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER The palimpsest of all stories ever, wherein sediments of human experience over millennia each pose fruitful matter for excavation, has delivered us into an age where the only logical answer seems to be adaption. A successful adaption must take old works and reconstructing them to find new meanings and new audiences, while maintaining truthful to its source(s). … Continue reading Old dogs speak with new tricks in ‘William Shakespeare’s Reservoir Dogs’
REVIEWED BY ANNA RYLEY EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER In student theatre, it’s a good mark when you feel totally unconcerned with the possibly of awkward scenes or halted dialogue as an audience member. This was certainly the case with Newman Theatre Association’s stellar production of Oliver!, with the student theatre group going from strength to strength in their growing capabilities to stage spectacular mainstage musicals, … Continue reading Consider Yourself in Good Hands: Newman Theatre Association’s Raucous and Entertaining Oliver!
REVIEWED BY KIT WILLS EDITED BY AZMY Content Warning: The play Gruesome Playground Injuries, as well as this review, contains reference to self-harm, graphic imagery of physical wounds and blood. The play also contains references to vomit, suicide, death, ableist language, trauma and allusions to sexual abuse/assault. As a squeamish person, entering the Motley Bauhaus to watch a play titled Gruesome Playground Injuries filled me … Continue reading Barkly Theatre’s Gruesome Playground Injuries: Thankfully Only Emotionally Gut-wrenching
REVIEWED BY ELLA CALLOW-SUSSEX EDITIED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER StarKid fans are a cult – and one I heavily ascribe to. Few other shows live in perfect perpetuity on the internet, but The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals is one high on my list. It is a triumph of accessible art. But what a joy to see one live. The challenge of putting on a beloved … Continue reading MUST’s The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals: Forget Kool-Aid, come and drink the weird blue shit!
REVIEWED BY KIT WILLS EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER Sometimes the upsetting truth about growing up alongside someone is that eventually you can grow apart. Thomas Dallimore and Tarquin O’Toole’s play GAS presented as part of La Mama’s Explorations 2026 explores the messiness and heartbreak of young adulthood, with simmering relationships that inevitably boil over. I’d never been to a play at La Mama before. … Continue reading An explosive new work: GAS brings the heat
REVIEWED BY ELIJAH VALERY SLAVINSKIS EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER “Thank you for coming to my very public, very expensive therapy session” writes playwright Dax Carnay-Hanrahan in the program for Mr Big AKA Tatay, A Transwoman And That Tiring Tune (June 24th – July 5th @fortyfivedownstairs). Diana (Carney-Hanrahan), a trans immigrant, is preparing for her wedding, when she finds out her dad has died. Diana starts … Continue reading Who needs a shrink when you can go see Mr Big AKA Tatay, A Transwoman And That Tiring Tune?
