REVIEW BY CHARLOTTE FRASER EDITED BY EMMA PARFITT Sitting in the Kaleide Theatre looking at an eclectic mesh of lamps, fairy lights, CDs, mushrooms, rugs, a swing and a barren tree – an unfamiliar image that sparks a sense of nostalgia. Music plays softly, a folk indie mix that matches the scrapbook-esque staging before me. ‘Fable’ by Gigi Perez plays and I know that I’m … Continue reading Ashes Ashes: The Reunion You Can’t Run From
REVIEW BY JESSICA FANWONG EDITED BY OLIVIA DI GRAZIA Written and directed by Bronte Lemaire, Medusa is an evocative reclamation of the popular Greek myth, illuminating the gendered violence and macabre power plays often obscured in the age of gods and heroes. The overarching story remains fairly faithful to the canonical tale: at the show’s outset, Medusa (Ruby Grinter) serves as high priestess in Athena’s … Continue reading Medusa And The Monsters We Make
REVIEW BY ZENA WANG EDITED BY RACHEL THORNBY In contemporary theatre, exploring how to present the complexity of social structures through everyday narratives is an extremely challenging task. Mr. Inkleigh, written by Ben Jamieson-Hoare and directed by Katherine Bragagnolo, is precisely such a work — it uses an ordinary apartment building as a vehicle to weave a modern parable about loneliness, surveillance, paranoia, and the … Continue reading Mr. Inkleigh: An Urban Portrait Of Surveillance, Paranoia, And Existential Anxiety
REVIEW BY ZENA WANG EDITED BY EMMA PARFITT Student theatre thrives when it dares to capture both the nostalgia of the past and the restlessness of youth. The Mutineers, set in the very old English grammar school–styled Bellview Academy, does exactly that. With its 1990s backdrop of cassette tapes and schoolyard banter, the production becomes not just a story about teenagers, but a reflection on … Continue reading MUST’s The Mutineers: A Nostalgic Rebellion
REVIEW BY AKSHITA BENNY EDITED BY EMMA PARFITT Anyone who has ever done theatre knows the desperation of when things go wrong. Or if they have not experienced it themselves, they would at least have heard the horror stories. Maybe it was a skipped scene or a missing prop, an actor going on stage at the wrong time, or an incorrect cue from the bio … Continue reading Above Sea Level’s Endpapered Does Everything Right For A Play That Goes Wrong
REVIEW BY AZMY AZURITE EDITED BY EMMA PARFITT “Are you sure you’re ready for the backlash?” “Of course!” “He’s not.” Numa and Karl: The Extraordinary Man That He Was is the story of Karl Henrich Ulrichs, the first man in history to ever come out as gay. He invented his own word for the phenomenon—urning, its roots in Aphrodite’s epithet Urania, which emphasises Aphrodite’s more … Continue reading Numa and Karl: A Profoundly Emotional History
REVIEW BY BRONTE LEMAIRE EDITED BY MYA HELOU When we walk in, there are already whispers from the audience members as they look over the theatre. The set, designed by Sophia Murphy, has already created an off-kilter atmosphere; we’ve been blocked from seeing the stage. A piece of thin white plastic has been stretched across the stage like a translucent wall, embryonic. It’s too tall … Continue reading ISMENIA: Life Is Experienced in Moments
REVIEW BY ANNA RYLEY EDITED BY AUDREY MCKENZIE Taking snapshots of the nameless and lifeless who co-exist amongst us, Everyday stops to consider the rich stories that surround us when we are forced to pause. I was initially hesitant as to how a play could keep an audience engaged with such a bare set, small cast and minimal action, but I needn’t have worried in … Continue reading Everyday Rewards With The Beauty of Simplicity
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
The Dialog 