Going Down gives cultural identity a good old-fashioned pounding. A stellar lead performance provides the highlight of this 90-minute play (no interval). Hmong-Australian playwright Michele Lee (winner of the 2018 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Rice) provides the source material. Going Down is one for the “me” generation; the hedonists who would rebel against their past. The…
Just where the line between sanity and madness lies is one of the questions in Bliss. Another concerns the true value of the contribution one makes in life. Everyone loves Harry Joy (Toby Truslove). The world revolves around the successful advertising man who runs his own agency. Then, on a sunny afternoon, when aged 39,…
You might not be able to buy love, but you can Rent it. I discovered this 22 years ago when I saw Jonathan Larson’s iconic rock musical on Broadway. That year it won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and received four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. As a self-confessed Renthead, I not only know the…
The MTC’s Wild is an example of a play in which technological achievement outdoes narrative content. To say any more about the former would be to spoil the surprise and I’m not about to be a party pooper. Andrew (Nicholas Denton) is an ordinary Joe one day – and America’s most wanted the next. The…
What a night; laughs galore, some of the funniest characters you’ll ever seen on a stage, amazing comic performances from a superb cast, brilliant set, lighting and costumes, a whole heap of catchy new music from Tim Finn and finally a well deserved and triumphant standing ovation. Shakespeare would have been applauding in his grave….
A crucible is a vessel in which substances are heated to high temperatures; when impure elements are melted away, only the pure parts remain. Metaphorically speaking, it therefore represents the perfect titular description for American playwright Arthur Miller’s award-winning classic The Crucible, a play which was itself written as an extended metaphor of the hysteria…
Who would have thought that making rhythmic noises from the mundane objects could prove to be such a sustained crowd-pleaser? But Stomp ‘18 isn’t just noise making, but crafted musicality par excellence. It’s vibrant, energetic, frequently hilarious and so much fun; with a soundtrack inspired by the commotion of everyday life. Stomp ’18 is…
Some people should not see this play – the squeamish, religious zealots and those who don’t have a sense of humour! Everyone else, line up for two hours of enthralling entertainment thanks to Deborah Mulhall’s successfully creative directorship. The New Theatre is a small, intimate venue and the audience had a great experience from any…
Desire, loss and madness are in the spotlight in the Australian premiere of Right Now. This comedic drama asks the question: what’s real and what is imagined? Quebecois playwright Catherine-Anne Toupin wrote the play, and Chris Campbell translated it from the French. Alice (Christina O’Neill) is a beautiful young woman. She’s been married for three…
Young Jewish comedian Michael Shafar relates stories about his life as they pertain to his girlfriend of nine years, Amanda, and his parents. They include a particularly lame “dad joke” that keeps haunting him and various body parts of his that his mother has kept. His grandmother also isn’t spared his opprobrium – all these…
