Eclectic. Explosive. Energetic. Exciting. Tastings 18 promised a radical evening of original new works, and the five shows that made up Group B were more than up to delivering. The night’s works explored what it means to be creative, to exist in the 21stcentury, to have a body. It’s hard to come away from a show like this feeling anything other than inspired and creatively … Continue reading Tastings 18: Program B
Curtains, St Hilda’s recent production at Union House Theatre is set in 1959 Boston and follows the murder of Jessica Cranshaw (Bebe Berryman). In this musical within a musical, Cranshaw is the supremely untalented leading lady of Robbin Hood of the Old West,a fictional cowboy musical, and whose death plays out as a parody of a typical ‘whodunit’. Detective Lt. Frank Cioffi (Eamonn Shorter), is … Continue reading Curtains: A Murder Mystery Musical Comedy
The seven-course dinner that was Tastings ’18 Group A brought together seemingly heavy subject matters, usually hidden by the mundanity of the everyday, and emphasised their immense weight. Five stand-alone performances stripped away their existential layers and provided us with a fleeting but intimate glimpse of bare emotion and experience. All seven performances in Tastings reflected different ends of the social and cultural spectrum – … Continue reading A Tasting[s ‘18] of Raw Emotion
It would be easy to rattle off some scatological quips about Newman’s latest musical outing, Urinetown. But that would ruin the whole conceit of Urinetown’s refusal to submit to cheap wordplay and throwaway gags. The script is taut, intelligent and undeniably charming in its revisionist agenda. And Newman’s cast pulls it off with success. Directed by Matt Healy, the production makes use of a relatively … Continue reading Urinetown: Nothing is as it Seems
Heathers: The Musical has to be one of the balliest musical choices, not only for the challenge of casting performers able to sing its absolutely mammoth vocal score, but also for the fear of offending any unsuspecting audience members with its gratuitously crude, dark sense of humor. And so, when I first heard the announcement that University College would be producing such musical, I was a … Continue reading Heathers: How Very Indeed
At a time when natural disasters headline the news every other day, Lab Kelpie’s Oil Babies taps into modern anxieties about a seemingly inevitable apocalypse, and the apparent futility of individual attempts to ‘save the planet’. Written and directed by Petra Kalive, the play depicts a dystopia not at all far away from our own world. Apocalypse is imminent, with the human race on the precipice … Continue reading Oil Babies: Anxiety and Apocalypse
It’s a fair assumption that, both in nature and reputation, college productions aren’t exactly supposed to be taken too seriously. However, this was not the case for audiences of Ormond College’s recent production of Chicago. The audience were forced to leave any such presuppositions at home as the cast and crew tackled this raunch-fest with surprising professionalism, style and finesse. Chicago tells the tale of two … Continue reading Chicago: Foxy and Full of Heart
Premiering at Union Theatre House, Things We Should Talk About is an experimental play that asks us to consider heavy and difficult subjects like gender, climate change, race, equality and censorship, and the means through which these subjects are discussed and debated, if they are allowed to be discussed at all. It is not structured as a conventional play, with scenes within an act that tell … Continue reading Things We Should Talk About: A Conventional Review of an Unconventional Play
Clocking in at almost three hours, Melbourne University Chinese Theatre Group’s adaptation of an Agatha Christie tale feels a colossal undertaking that never breaks a sweat. Immediately setting a dark tone, the play strikes a noir chord with an eerie soundscape and darkened set, save for the few scattered candles and a probing torch. We are given glimpses of gothic set pieces and portentous blocking … Continue reading The Unexpected Guest: An Unexpected Delight
We have all grown up with fairytales, and been enthralled by the spell they cast over us. These stories have had several different interpretations over recent years, each with their own unique twists. ICAC’s Into the Woods does just that, incorporating the Grimm Brothers’ fairytales, like Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood, with the original story of a baker and his … Continue reading Into the Woods: After the Happily Ever After
The Dialog 