Nonsense, fiddle-faddle and poppycock is the essence of Lewis Carroll’s timeless classic Alice in Wonderland. Now writer and director Penny Farrow has sourced characters, dialogue and poems from several sources to bring the adventure to life. These include Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, The Hunting of Snark and Rhyme? And Reason? (a collection of…
Sixty-five minutes of glorious mayhem. That is what you get with this extraordinarily detailed production. It is set against the sprawling layout of a full house – broken into five rooms – a major video screen as a backdrop and two smaller TVs, stage left and right. The cast does a mighty job with the material, which…
A musical for the littlies – I speak of preschoolers and primary school age children – Madagascar The Musical is based on the successful animated motion picture. It is colourful and fun, and involves live action and puppetry. The premise is that Marty the zebra was born in captivity in New York’s Central Park Zoo. Although he…
Vanya Polunin is to clowning what Sir Donald Bradman was to cricket – a genius. Honing his highly creative endeavour over decades, he is unique and ubiquitous. When he created Snowshow in 1993 he wanted to go beyond the regulation clown show. Taking a cue from the surrealist painters he admired so much, combining comedy with poignancy, Polunin…
A new Pharoah has stepped into Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Trevor Ashley, who played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray more than a decade ago, is that performer, who mimics Elvis in Las Vegas. It is a role he will also play in the upcoming Sydney season at the Capitol Theatre. At the Regent Theatre in Melbourne he is…
Sophia (Lou Wall) has been desperate to get into the property market for some time. So it is that (yet again) she puts the hard word on her father – Tony (Joe Petruzzi) – trying to guilt him into going 50/50 with her on an apartment she has found. He is far from impressed. It is small,…
Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf (1894) is a searing portrait of angst. Rita (Elisa Armstrong) is deeply in love with Alfred (Damien Harrison). He’s a writer and they have been married for a decade, but she fears his feelings for her have shifted. He’s just returned from a fortnight walking in the mountains, a trip he has…
As children, what do we fear the most? That the boogie man will get us. It is from that dark place that Monsters comes. It is all about the fear of the dark and the perception of visions in the blackness. It is a scary tale writ large. Monsters starts with acclaimed actor Alison Whyte wandering out in front…
The stakes are high from the outset of Queensland Theatre’s blockbuster season closer First Casualty. This is not just because of the play’s grounding in reality as the debut work from serving soldier and Afghanistan veteran Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Johnston CSC, but also because of its initial action. That sees Sapper “Thommo” Ken (Reagan Mannix)…
Vulnerability and how to make it as an actor. That is what The Mentor is all about. Amanda Redfern (Amanda Muggleton) is noted for one feature film, but of late parts have been few and far between for the ageing starlet. She spent time in Los Angeles, but has no desire to return. Now she spends her days…
