La Traviata Stripped and Dressed in Jazz and Blues is classic opera shortened and mashed with contemporary music. It’s operatic numbers interspersed with popular modern tunes … a fusion of the two. It is quite a heady mix and one pursued passionately by Emotionworks Cut Opera and specifically its creative force, Julie Edwardson. She’s a…
Fleur Kilpatrick’s stage adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five explores the horrors of war and the effects of PTSD. The play centres on the Allies’ firebombing of Dresden between February 13 and 15, 1945 in which tens of thousands of people died. The book’s narrator (and author), who’s also part of the play, has…
The ability to write, direct and act in your own play is no mean feat. Especially when it’s a world premiere! So, accolades to Megan Wilding for her creative, humorous and sometimes confronting storytelling in A Little Piece of Ash. It’s only when those closest to us are gone do we begin a new appreciation…
Australian theatre doesn’t get much rawer and stirring than Barbara and The Camp Dogs now playing at The Belvoir. For 90 minutes we were entertained by an excellent all-girl pub band, we shared a road trip to the country’s top end, and we bemoaned the shameful degradation of the indigenous population. There’s so much talent…
As an arts lover and reviewer, I try to enter a theatre without knowing anything about the production I’m about to see. It’s usually possible by steering clear of promotional guff. I like to be surprised and hopefully engaged by what I see through fresh eyes. In that way, I feel I can tell whether…
Tahir, Jimeoin, Arj Barker, Jimmy McGhie and Akmal were the standouts for me in a 12-strong, two-hour showcase of some of this year’s acts from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It’s a taste-test – and if you want more you can catch their individual appearances. There’s a lot to like. They’re slick, professional, well-rehearsed ……
Last year I saw the quintessentially Australian comedy film The Merger. Now I’ve be able to see one man – Damian Callinan – on stage doing it all, in the show that inspired the film. He fills multiple roles – primarily coach Troy Carrington, who is trying to lift his beloved Australian Rules team from…
It’s not hard to see why West Side Story has become such a staple. The tale it tells continues to resonate – in fact perhaps even more so today. Whether we’re talking gang violence or racial or religious divisions, the enmity continues unabated. The depth of feeling in the way the story is told –…
Brisbane Arts Theatre’s latest mainstage production sets a frenetic pace from its opening scene. It’s a necessity perhaps given its stated aim to share the complete history of comedy, albeit abridged. What follows is a somewhat comprehensive trip through comedy in many of its guises. These include the memorable tell of ‘the chicken’ and its…
Many of us will remember the television science program hosted by Professor Julius Sumner Miller in which he always famously asked “Why is it so?” This question is an underlying theme in Once in Royal David’s City. Playwright Michael Gow uses his central character Will Drummond (Francisco Lopez) to search for the meaning of life;…
