During the Golden Age of Hollywood, which generally refers to the period from the late 1920s to the early ‘60s, with the peak in the ‘30s and ‘40s, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were regarded as royalty. Both were nothing if not colourful characters. Davis, whose maxim was “no guts, no glory” was wed four…
Families – you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. In short, that is what playwright David Williamson is playing with here … and it gets mighty hot in the kitchen. Well-to-do, widowed family matriarch Monique (Tracy Mann) is looking forward to celebrating her three sons’ birthdays, all of which happen to…
Many a prairie oyster has been consumed at Buckingham Palace over the years. Perhaps done none better than by the popular matriarch of the Windsors, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. With a penchant for a lunchtime gin and Dubonnet, she was a real advocate for ‘drinkypoos’ in the Royal household. This, and other ‘secrets’ of…
Watching characters on stage whose lives are steeped in suffering, sadness, loneliness, and despair can be one of life’s great therapies. There’s a strange comfort in witnessing their struggles, knowing that our own lives, by comparison, are far less tumultuous. When we leave the theatre, we may find ourselves reinvigorated, inspired, even uplifted. Uncle Vanya,…
A journey through art, music, love and the finer things in life is now on at the Ensemble Theatre. Master Class is an illuminating look at the interesting life and career of Maria Callas, arguably the greatest soprano of the twentieth century. The scene is the Julliard School of the Arts in the 1970’s. Ageing…
Australia’s most prolific playwright has come out of retirement and has his finger on the pulse, addressing the cost-of-living crisis. The title of his play refers to the haves and have nots in society. When David Williamson was a boy in the 1950s, the difference in salary between a worker and a managing director rarely exceeded fivefold. Now…
The word ‘Rhinestone’ immediately makes me think of ‘Cowboy’. So, when I saw the title of the current play at Ensemble Theatre Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica, I thought that David Williamson had delved into the great ‘Western’ genre. Well, he does a little bit. Set mostly in the living room of Monica in Sydney’s…
A fly-on-the-wall expose of the world of talk-back radio is the basis of Melanie Tait’s outstanding new play A Broadcast Coup. It is set almost entirely in the studios of Australia’s largest public broadcaster (conspicuously nameless). The play provides the impression of a workplace which runs by default and is dominated by individuals whose egos…
There’s no mistaking where The Caretaker is located. As the lights dim, the powerful throng of the bells of Big Ben ring 12 times. Mick, a builder with own van sits solemnly on a single bed in a shabby boarding house in the late 1950s. He is surrounded by meagre furnishings, junk knick-knacks, a gas…
One of the best ways to communicate a message is through humour. The One, now being performed at The Ensemble, is a fine example of how a good script, professional acting and comedic storytelling can convey the writer’s intended cause effectively. The story of post-war migrant families coming to Australia to build a better life…
