The complexities of marketing and manipulation at its finest are on show in a fictional horror show that has real world implications. It all goes down in the American Midwest 48 years ago, but the effects are felt today. Going toe to toe are two ad men. One is a seasoned Southern oil man, the…
Question: What does it take to really appreciate the life you have? Answer: Getting close to death. That is the conceit expertly explored by Andi Snelling in a zany, powerhouse show that grew out of the pain and despair she was feeling after being bitten by a tick. She contracted debilitating Lyme disease while on…
Gender bending and a hallucinatory trip are the focus of Bloomsday in Melbourne’s playful, highly original work, Circe’s Carnival of Vice. Temptation and temerity make for compelling bedfellows in a colourful and creative piece drawn from episode 15 of Irish writer James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The book, considered one of the most important works of…
The conceit behind the Australian premiere of the darkly comedic chamber opera Fat Pig feels all too real. What is it like to be constantly judged for being an overweight (I am talking morbidly obese) woman? No matter that you are smart, witty and a good communicator, the one thing you can’t shy away from…
Max Gillies is a living treasure who brings frustration, despair and humour to three fine pieces involving men at the tail end of their lives. In turn, they are excerpts from A Stretch of the Imagination by Jack Hibberd, Samuel Beckett’s Eh Joe and On the Harmfulness of Tobacco by Anton Chekov. In the first,…
Boys on the Verge of Tears is one of the toughest, grittiest plays I have come across. Having premiered at the Soho Theatre in London in 2023, it is an unrelenting 95 minutes of mainly toxic masculinity, in all its forms. These are boys and men, some grappling with their identity and feeling the pressure…
So much raucous fun, POTUS pushes all the right buttons when it comes to political incorrectness and scandal. In short, the President’s nearest and dearest are barely hanging on by their fingertips, as it is mayhem in the White House. I speak of his Chief of Staff Harriet (Carolyn Bock), Press Secretary Jean (Tilly Legge…
Featuring Sacred Harp, otherwise known as shape-note or fasola, singing, The Hall is a moving and superbly executed offering. It involves a community choir delivering a capella in four-part harmony. The story concerns three members of a family. Tup (Natasha Herbert) has been diagnosed with Stage 4 frontotemporal dementia. She is incontinent and prone to…
Writer Benjamin Nichol continues his incendiary anthology series of plays with the double bill Milk and Blood. Each 70 minutes in duration, they concern the trials and tribulations of a single mother and a gay escort. Both are hard hitting and powerful monologues, presenting snippets of the lives of characters simply called Mummy (in Milk)…
This is a Wilde/wild night all right – oh so deliciously wacky, in fact. Bloomshed has taken the essence of Oscar Wilde’s original farce, first performed in 1895 and given it an even more ribald and rambunctious twist. Who plays whom at any given moment appears to be somewhat of a lucky dip. Suffice to…
