Let’s begin at the top. This is the BEST production I have seen at the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) for many a long year. Get your self a ticket ASAP. This production of Cloud Nine – a play by Caryl Churchill written in 1979 – is an absolute “knock out”. Directed for the STC by Kip Williams (their…
10 years is a long time between albums, so Scheherazade is a true welcome back to the simple folky rooted songs from Catherine Ann Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean of Freakwater. For some, this reunion is something special as their 1995 record, Old Paint, is always an album you may hear listed as helping put…
Think of the notoriously sinful cities Sodom and Gomorrah referenced in the bible that were destroyed by sulphur and fire because of their wickedness. That is the starting point for the satirical opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Premiering in Germany in March 1930, with text by Bertolt Brecht, Elizabeth Hauptmann and…
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 deceptively clever period crime drama, director Graham Moore’s The Outfit is a slow burn mesmeriser. Set in Chicago in 1956, all the action takes place at the premises of a bespoke tailor. Leonard (Mark Rylance) is a well-spoken, nondescript British “cutter” who takes great pride and pleasure in his work. His narrative about what…
Following its success last winter, a new, gorgeous exhibition of colour and creativity returns to the Royal Botanic Gardens this year. The after dark experience that is Lightscape features a stunning array of large-scale, colour-changing, illuminated sculptures. All but two are fresh designs. Back to captivate anew is last year’s piece de resistance, Winter Cathedral, and the…
An esoteric work for selective tastes, as far as I could make out An Organised Odyssey is about finding one’s true voice. According to Greek mythology, Scylla is a legendary, man-eating monster. She lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart, sea-swallowing monster Charybdis. Ancient Greek poet Homer described Scylla…
Slick, Cirque Bon Bon is a lively and most entertaining showcase of the circus arts. Its very funny front man is an ardent fan of Queen and Freddie Mercury. In fact, the music (and spot lighting) in this production are among its many highlights, led by a gifted cast of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, contortionists and…
Steve Jobs may have died from pancreatic cancer in October 2011 at the age of 56, but the American technology entrepreneur and inventor certainly left his mark on the world … and how. Much has been written and spoken about the man, and his divisive personality. The latter is certainly laid bare for all to…
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…
