Peter Pan is sweet, nostalgic, moving, and magically impressive. The production is more true to James Matthew Barrie’s book than the film – amongst the friendships and warmth, there is a stronger sense of danger and fear in the face of adventure. Continue reading Peter Pan: Flying Back to Neverland
You’re on a flight from Uganda to England. One after another, your co-passengers all break into tears. Everyone except you. Five years after its initial run, British theatre artiste Daniel Bye’s Going Viral perfectly resonates with the paranoiac and alienating nature of our current times – afflicted as we are today with COVID-19. Continue reading Going Viral: Catch It While You Can
Howard Davies’ direction of this highly successful play does justice to Miller’s writing and accurately conveys the complex layers that make a father and son relationship unique. This is not only for dedicated supporters of Miller – even newcomers will enjoy the witty conversation between family and neighbours that are contrasted with scenes of raw truth, delivered by a strong ensemble cast. Continue reading All My Sons: Can Blood Ties Be Broken?
Without one word of dialogue, actors playing bears lay a tablecloth, put on deodorant, and eat foods wrapped in plastic. Unlike most other climate change art out there, Bears resembles a physical comedy with a dystopian tilt. Continue reading Bears: Peculiar and Non-Preachy, but Purposeless
Times may change, but the surreal voyeurism that Hamlet offers remains a constant source of entertainment for generations. Even then, this production stands out in its rawness, stripping Hamlet down – figuratively and literally – to its dirty, bloody, bones. Front row audience beware, blood splatter imminent. Continue reading Hamlet: The Madness of Isolation
Playing as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival, Our Father is a considerably dour effort that takes the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse and turns it into a very human drama. Structured mostly as a series of police interviews of the family of an accused man, there is a simplicity to the narrative that brings the characters and their experiences to the forefront. The mother, in a desperate turn by Sandy Morrison, is a well-meaning denial-case; the daughter, played with aloofness by the writer, Lucy Holz, is too detached to let herself see the repercussions of her father’s actions; and the son, in a melodramatic performance by Will Hall, is angst-ridden and standoffish in his it-should-have-been-me complex. The family is divided and in crisis, brought together only by the police officer, played with warmth by Benji Groenewgan. Continue reading Our Father: Portrait of a Family in Crisis
“To walk on mirror water is to walk on sky.” Stepping into Union Theatre, I see a lake. Onstage. Filled with water and reflecting the stars from a screen that falls to the floor behind it. This is a recreation of Lake Tyrell, the subject of Mirror’s Edge, and it is breathtaking. Throughout the play the screen changes from stars, to clouds, to trees – … Continue reading ‘Reflecting’ on Mirror’s Edge
Melbourne University Shakespeare Company’s Lɘar set out to re-conceptualise both conventional theatre and the traditions of Shakespearean representation. Presenting an ambitious and transformative portrayal of the Shakespearean tragedy, Lɘar explored the consequences of hitting rewind, delivering a thought provoking and admirable performance. Adelaide Greig’s direction of Lɘar created opportunity for a wild shift in the presentation of the perennial tragedy: King Lear. Beginning from the original … Continue reading Lɘar: Walking Backwards isn’t Easy
Playwright Katy Warner’s newest work SPENCER is touching, hilarious and Australian. Produced by Lab Kelpie’s Adam Fawcett and directed by Sharon Davis, the play is debuting at the intimate Chapel Off Chapel theatre. Scott (Jamieson Caldwell) is a man well on his way to becoming an AFL star but has come home to regain his focus before the next season. His mother (Jane Clifton) is … Continue reading SPENCER: A Charming New Australian Work
Jean Tong, producer and co-writer of Romeo is Not the Only Fruit, stated during the Q&A after the final show, “there’s never a non-political moment when you’re not a white person”. As such, let it be a truth universally acknowledged that Romeo’s writer is a queer person of colour, and will thus be in want of a politically-charged theatre show. Romeo is Not the Only … Continue reading Romeo is Not the Only Fruit: The Bitter Juice of Queer Deaths In Media
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