A 16-year-old by the name of Levi Presley plunges to his death after leaping off the ledge of a tall casino hotel in Las Vegas, so an American voiceover tells us. That may appear to be the start of a horror story, but while the act and its repercussions most certainly are, The Lifespan of a…
Passion, intellectual rigour and the Holocaust collide in Joanna Murray-Smith’s intense, high verbiage, sexually charged drama Berlin. Australian Tom (Michael Wahr) has just landed in the German capital, keen to get to know the real city, not the tourist offering. He’s directed to a small, hole in the wall bar, where he meets and is immediately drawn…
What is appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in a relationship between two adults, when one is clearly more powerful and significantly older than the other?That is the question raised and dissected in a crackling new MTC drama, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes. It is 2014. Jon Macklem (Dan Spielman) is an acclaimed author with tenure at…
Compulsive hoarding (from which an estimated 1.2 million Australians suffer) is a major mental health issue. It is also ripe for comedic treatment and it sure gets the once over in Benjamin Law’s assured debut play, a world premiere by MTC. Humorous and at times poignant, Torch the Place focuses on a Chinese Australian family. Mum (Diana…
Think back to all that was good about the 1950s (consider the fashion, architecture and styling … and if you can’t because you have either forgotten or weren’t yet born, then simply Google it). That is how Judy (Nikki Shiels) and Johnny (Toby Truslove) have decided to live their lives in the Australian premiere of Home,…
A compelling and dramatic storyline and evocative score are matched by a series of stellar performances in MTC’s musical Kiss of the Spider Woman. The plot concerns the extraction of information through brutalisation and humiliation of prisoners held in an Argentine jail. More specifically, it involves the relationship between window dresser Molina (Ainsley Melham) and…
A compelling and dramatic storyline and evocative score are matched by a series of stellar performances in MTC’s musical Kiss of the Spider Woman. The plot concerns the extraction of information through brutalisation and humiliation of prisoners held in an Argentine jail. More specifically, it involves the relationship between window dresser Molina (Ainsley Melham) and Marxist…
Scientific subterfuge is at the centre of a gripping drama concerning the secret of life. We’re in London in the 1950s. Photograph 51 pivots around one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, no nonsense English woman Rosalind Franklin (Nadine Garner), who lived from 1920 to 1958. Franklin was a workaholic who was driven…
Black is the New White, not to be confused with the television series Orange is the New Black, is about racism, class and identity. Humour is the principle vehicle used to highlight inequity, but perhaps not as you might have expected it. Charlotte Gibson (Miranda Tapsell) is a hot shot young aboriginal lawyer who has…
Slapstick humour and pantomime feature in MTC’s version of Shakespeare in Love. Adapted for the stage by Lee Hall, with music by Paddy Cunneen, this Australian premiere is based on the 1998 film of the same name. More specifically, it’s based Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s screenplay for that movie. In the MTC’s production, laughs…
