Dear Son is a powerful piece of theatre that deserves full houses every night. It stars five Indigenous male actors who not only perform the work but embody the sentiments presented. The play has its roots in the book of the same name by Thomas Mayo, in which 13 Indigenous men wrote letters to their…
Partly drawn from the life of its Pulitzer Prize winning American writer Paula Vogel, Mother Play is theatre at its finest. It is a play about a lack of acceptance, about hurt and pain, courage and love in its many hues. It is a work built on recollections, those of the daughter in the piece,…
The enigma that was David Robert Jones (8th January, 1947 – 10th January, 2016), aka English singer songwriter David Bowie, is captured in style in a new narrative concert. The brainchild of actor, singer and writer Karlis Zaid, he features alongside gifted chanteuse Aurora Kurth. Accomplished musical direction is by Andrew Patterson, who tickles the…
While I sincerely wish it weren’t so, the power struggles the proliferate globally ensure that Shake & Stir’s brilliant adaptation of George Orwell’s prescient and dystopian novel 1984 appear chillingly real. We are in Oceania, where Big Brother rules with an iron fist. What BB says goes. If he says 2 + 2 = 5,…
I went to watch this play, like I do all others, without knowing anything other than its title. I never read the blurb on the website about what I am heading into, nor the program, which sometimes has playwright and director’s notes. In fact, Super’s program does contain playwright Emilie Collyer’s back story, which indicates…
Thirty years on Nick Enright’s play about young men and youths callous disregard for the fairer sex continues to resonate. Trash talk and surf culture go hand in glove in the fictitious seaside working-class suburb of Blackrock. After 11 months away, arrogant Ricko (Bailey Griffiths) – who others look up to – returns and resumes…
Evocative and entertaining, All is Good … in the Glow of Moonlight is a remarkable insight into the life and times of Soviet writer Isaac Babel and his creations. It is resplendent with vivid storytelling and fine music. Babel (played by Joseph Sherman) was born in Moldavanka, a historical part of Odessa, in the Russian…
Question: What does it take to really appreciate the life you have? Answer: Getting close to death. That is the conceit expertly explored by Andi Snelling in a zany, powerhouse show that grew out of the pain and despair she was feeling after being bitten by a tick. She contracted debilitating Lyme disease while on…
It is October 1915. Private James Martin (Oliver Tapp) is lying in bed on the hospital ship the Glenart Castle coughing his lungs out. Memories of his family back home in Australia come flooding back. This is the story of a boy who, after blackmailing his parents, enlisted in the Army, having falsified his age….
An unquestionable highlight of winter in Melbourne is Lightscape at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Now in its fourth year, it is bigger and better than ever, with many new and captivating light installations up above, in the trees and on the ground. It is a true A-lister, suitable for the whole family and how many…
