Adoration for ABBA in Australia shows no signs of abating if the crowd at The ABBA Show at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne is anything to go by. The audience (of a certain age) turned back the clock as they danced, swung their arms in the air and frequently cat-called “Ya” as a group of two Brits…
Well, here it is, a new Australian musical. It’s based on the film Muriel’s Wedding from 1994; an iconic, quirky, favourite of the nation. At its centre is a misfit, Muriel, who embarks on finding a life, an identity, away from the ‘closed’ world of her upbringing in Porpoise Spit, by hook or by crook…
Given the way they’re heralded around the world as an exciting and innovative physical theatre company, Circa is surely one of Queensland’s great cultural exports. And it’s always wonderful to have them perform to a home-town crowd. They will now be part of a multi-year partnership with QPAC, which begins with their show Humans, an…
High Fidelity is a musical of 2006, a famous Broadway flop (set in Brooklyn). It is based on the novel of 1995, by Nick Hornby (set in London), and the film of 2000, directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack (set in Chicago). It charts the growth of an emotionally stunted Rob (Toby Francis)….
Night Slows Down, is a new Australian play, by Phillip James Rouse. It is an ambitious play, with a flashback set of scenes interpolated into the forward action of the narrative, that attempts to illustrate the modern political world where the Nationalistic/Fascist tendencies of a government can lead to overwrought and misconceived expressions of power,…
The New Theatre is presenting a revival production of Jonathan Biggin’s 2012 comedy, Australia Day. It was first seen in the Drama Theatre for the Sydney Theatre Company in 2012. Australia Day is set in the local community hall in a country town called Coriole. Says, the director of this production, Louise Fischer, a girl…
The Kransky Sisters rock. They’re an eccentric’s delight and their oddball antics in A Very Kransky Christmas are a delicious treat. I knew nothing about them when I entered Alex Theatre. But I turned into an acolyte long before I exited their hilarious 100-minute pre-Christmas Christmas show. Let’s just say showing emotion isn’t their strong suit (think…
Solid performances feature in desert, 6.29 pm, a world premiere comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family. Events revolve around a difficult 17-year-old gay girl, Xan (Eva Seymour) who doesn’t warm to interaction with other family members. About to graduate from high school, she’s perpetually sullen and angry. Her older brother, Jamie (Darcy Kent), who doesn’t live at home,…
Marianne (Marta Dusseldorp) and Johan (Ben Winspear) are cosy in the comfort of their overly-scheduled, boring bourgeois lives … well that’s what they tell a magazine interviewer when being asked about their union. But what lies behind their facade and how long will it be before their imperfect love begins to dissolve? These are the…
Playwright Eddie Perfect (The Beast) has crafted a wickedly clever musical satire with Vivid White, which focuses on the overheated property market. Liz (Verity Hunt-Ballard) and Ben (Brent Hill) have been friends with popular performer Evan (Ben Mingay) for years. Evan is married to producer Cynthia (Christina O’Neill). Back in 2005 Ben and Evan won a major…
