Tag: new works

English

Quelched! The Price of Building a Phallic Empire

REVIEWED BY JESSICA FANWONG EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER Presented as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2025, the University of Melbourne Musical Theatre Association (UMMTA) presented a delightfully absurdist new work (slash dating app with the quirkiest app sound) Quelched! Written by Conor Boussiotas and directed by James Pringle, this Fringe run is the full-show debut of Quelched! following its development session at UMMTA’s Sitzprobe … Continue reading Quelched! The Price of Building a Phallic Empire

thedialogtheatreblog
English

Curiouser and Curiouser: JCH’s Wonderful Wonderland 

REVIEW BY POPPY ELFICK EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER I walk into the Carlton Scout Hall and find my seat in front of the quaint stage. Before us are two sets of door frames – one full sized on the stage and a smaller set on the ground in front – and a tree wrapped in fairy lights. Here is the beginning of our trip down … Continue reading Curiouser and Curiouser: JCH’s Wonderful Wonderland 

thedialogtheatreblog
English

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’

thedialogtheatreblog
English

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

thedialogtheatreblog
English

LOVEMACHINE: A Striking Presentation of Modern Love

Reviewed by: Oscar Lidgerwood “My love for you was greater than my wisdom” To love is to hurt. It’s to break, and to heal. To love is knowing when it’s time to go. Through a striking blend of theatricality and a humane vulnerability, LOVEMACHINE finds a beautiful intimacy beneath the complexities of contemporary relationships, underpinning the timelessness of theatre. LOVEMACHINE delivers a nuanced mix of classic with a … Continue reading LOVEMACHINE: A Striking Presentation of Modern Love

thedialogtheatreblog
English

The Historical Hilarity of “Underneath Ms Archer”

Reviewed by: Molly Lidgerwood Editor: Sophia Zikic Louise Siversen and Peter Houghton’s time travel comedy Underneath Ms Archer intersects the complexities of the twenty-first century with the brutality of the Middle Ages, ultimately providing a hysterical, riotous, and dynamic 95-minute spectacle that is not to be missed. Set in contemporary London, the play depicts the consequences of Kelly Archer’s (Louise Siversen) controversial decision, as a … Continue reading The Historical Hilarity of “Underneath Ms Archer”

thedialogtheatreblog
English

“Emotional, Gripping, and Cathartic”: MUSC’s Patroclus and Achilles

Reviewed by: Oscar Hales Editor: Sophia Zikic As an aspiring historian, I know too well the painful phenomenon of treating historical homosexual couples as “very good friends.” Given their ashes were mixed together so they could be together in death, it seems downright insane to treat Patroclus and Achilles as “roommates”. Yet this is just what Shakespeare did, not even mentioning it in Troilus and Cressida, his telling … Continue reading “Emotional, Gripping, and Cathartic”: MUSC’s Patroclus and Achilles

thedialogtheatreblog