Down an Alley Filled with Cats is an Australian play written in 1987, by Warwick Moss. It is a two handed small-time conman comedy-thriller. Timothy Timmony, a Polish refugee second-hand book seller matches wits with a petty Aussie ‘crook’, Simon Matthews, in search of a 12th Century Sung Dynasty vase treasure (The Maltese Falcon?!) worth…
The contention is hardly conventional, but the vitriol and resultant humour crafted by one of Australia’s foremost playwrights, Joanna Murray-Smith (Switzerland), makes Three Little Words a most enjoyable, inflated slice-of-life reality piece. Catherine McClements plays Tess, a book editor and Peter Haughton is Curtis, a teacher. They are a happily married couple (or so it…
Minefields and Miniskirts surfaced in 1993 adapted from Siobhan McHugh’s book and radio series of interviews with women affected in different ways by the Vietnam War. The stories were distilled into five characters – those on the frontline, the volunteer, the journalist, the nurse and the entertainer and the wife who was left at home….
Life is about choices right? Well, not really, according to British playwright Nick Payne’s Constellations, which is based on the scientific notion that we might be living in one of many universes which are co-existing simultaneously. It’s something to do with String Theory or Doctor Who philosophy 101 about alternative universes that exist separated only…
Chimerica, is a three hour (plus interval) play of epic scale, written by Lucy Kirkwood, that premiered at the Almeida Theatre, in London, in 2013. The play is epic in length, epic in production values, epic in cast, and best of all, epic in ideas. On a virtually empty stage, with the action of a…
Consensual is a play by British writer, Evan Placey. Mr Placey has written most of his plays with young audiences in mind. Consensual was commissioned by the National Youth Theatre Rep Company. It deals with sex and the classroom. It, like the 2006 film with Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal, deals…
Cults, brainwashing and exploitation seem to go hand-in-glove. So it is that a young woman, Lisa – played convincingly by Hayley Worsley – a tried and true member of a sect with Eastern leanings, practising spiritualism and free love, finds herself in the hands of a deprogrammer, Mel (Tim Ferris) in Heretics. Lisa agrees to…
The long-awaited 60th Anniversary production of Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady finally reached Brisbane last week, and word in the foyers is that sold-out audiences are not disappointed. A loving recreation of the original production, directed by none other than the first Fair Lady on Broadway, Dame Julie Andrews, the performances, music, costumes and…
Once, a reviewer in Edinburgh noted that Australian comedian Sam Simmons could read the phone book on stage and still be funny. So in his latest show, A – K this is exactly what he does, inset with a whole lot of randomness so cleverly crafted to tie its threads together that audience members remain…
County Kerry is a quiet, close-knit Irish community where everyone is a cousin or sorts and everyone’s stories have already been heard the night before in the local pub. So when a Hollywood crew comes to town to make a film (fil-em in the local dialect), there is excitement as many locals are hired as…
