Loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Boheme, RENT follows the life of a group of creative friends fighting to overcome poverty in New York City’s East Village in the early 90s. Written and composed by Jonathan Larson in 1993, RENT opened on Broadway in 1996. Larson tragically passed away the night before the first preview of the show, explaining the lack of rewrites and the … Continue reading No Day But Today
The Med Review just wrapped up their 2016 production, Captain Australia: Emu War, a two and a half hour show of sketch comedy and music, written and performed by the cast. The introductory skit was lacklustre, with all the actors front of stage, deliberating on how to diversify the cast, with a series of jokes that just didn’t seem to land. Ultimately the punch line was … Continue reading Cheeky Comedy
Latecomers and (de)construct may have been developed separately, but their connections are clear. Both pieces are concerned with ideas of the self and the ways in which we are perceived and constructed by those around us. Whilst the two pieces explore these ideas to different ends, Open Body has created a compelling partnership that leads audiences to question the true impact of their behaviour towards … Continue reading Voicing The Unsaid
We all know the story of Elle Woods, a sorority girl who enrols at Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner. Originated by the writer Amanda Brown in the novel of the same name, Legally Blonde was made famous by its 2001 film adaption, starring Reese Whiterspoon in the lead role. In 2007, the film was brought to the stage by Laurence O’Keefe, … Continue reading Whipped Into Shape
Over twenty years ago, when Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins originally opened Off-Broadway, the composer expected disapproval of its ‘volatile’ subject matter. The musical tells the stories of nine people who attempted – some successfully – to murder Presidents of the United States, and explores what motivated the assassins, using the conceit of a carnival shooting game. Today, it seems people are transfixed more than ever by … Continue reading ‘Assassins’ A Dream
‘Don’t you see,’ Jeremy tells the Apocalypse Bear, ‘it was about who we are now and about our childhoods at the same time.’ This concept of duality is at the heart of Lally Katz’s Apocalypse Bear Trilogy. A narrative that stretches across time and space, forcing audiences to consider matters both dark and mundane – from domestic comedy to sexual violence – Katz’s absurdist play … Continue reading Enjoying the Apocalypse
Homecoming, the Melbourne Uni Law Revue’s 2016 edition, saw the student devised sketch comedy back on the stage where it first started, at the Union House Theatre. Written, devised, and performed by the cast, Homecoming’s sketches didn’t really have anything to do with the idea of a homecoming, apart from the opening rap. I expected the 80s prom theme to be something that all the … Continue reading The Law Reviewed
Open Body’s Unknown|show|Unknown|location is a piece about bodies in space, performed between concrete pillars in the underground car park by actors dressed in loose grey clothing and black boots. If that sounds a little unnerving and out of the ordinary, it was. Refreshingly so. The entire performance was improvised, though structured through sections with rules governing the behaviour of the performers. Sometimes they could run … Continue reading Improvisation Over Content
It is uncomfortable to classify Spirituality Piece as a performance. In one sense it is nothing more than you and Kim Ho sitting down having a chat about spirituality and eating some bickies. In other ways it was a complicated morphing of visual arts, where Ho creates complicated and colourful mind map while you describe your spiritual experiences. After the very first line ‘what is … Continue reading Spirituality Piece
Four Letter Word’s production Triptych introduces three new works written and directed by students from or affiliated with the University of Melbourne. Cherry Bomb, The Mutineer, and Terrorism vary widely in tone and subject matter, ranging from the politics of student theatre, to colonialism, to terror and surveillance. They combine to present a refreshing and thought-provoking collection of theatre. James O’Donoghue’s Cherry Bomb, directed by … Continue reading Triple Threat
The Dialog 