Family secrets, past love, memory loss and addiction are just some of the issues explored in Sunset Strip, an Australian play by Suzie Miller, now on at the New Theatre. On the upside, this drama/comedy provides hope, inspiration and renewal. The setting is in the home of Ray (Vincent Melton), located in a rural community…
Something revealed in the opening scene of INK was Rupert Murdoch’s quandary about whether to dine on lobster or a very rare scotch fillet. With a taste for things rare and bloody, it seems an appropriate metaphor for how Rupert does business. Later in the play he prophetically states to his new editor “Create an…
Sometimes we forget how we used to get the news. Before social media and before the internet. Even before television and cinema newsreels. There were…newspapers! And the holy grail for a journalist was for their story to dominate the front page. Now playing at the New Theatre, The Front Page is a fast-paced: story. Written…
For those who like the unconventional, Sophia = (Wisdom): The Cliffs is heaven-sent. Promoted as “Part dada, slapstick comedy, part philosophical vaudeville interrogation into the human psyche and fully a production of the true avant-garde”. I couldn’t have put together a better word-salad myself. Written by American playwright Richard Foreman, the play falls into a…
The reach and influence of Vladimir Putin is breathtaking. In A Very Expensive Poison, writer Lucy Prebble details and explores the assassination of Russian Defector Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 and surmises that Mr Putin most probably authorised the hit. If it weren’t based on a real incident, A Very Expensive Poison may simply…
Sydney writer Chris Aronsten’s play Off the Record has had its world premiere at the New Theatre in Newtown. With some heavy issues covered, this drama has many humorous angles, making it intensely viewable, topical and enjoyable. Set in London, the story revolves around television presenter Jenny Gosper. As a professional journalist, her passion is…
It has been said that the first casualty of war is the truth. Unfortunately, as human casualties escalate, the task of knowing what the truth is becomes murkier. All My Sons looks into this issue at a family level, where grief, hurt and anger is matched by lies and cover up. Written by Arthur Miller…
America is obsessed with mythical superheroes. However, no one can eclipse China’s real-world superhero: Tank Man. He is the lone figure holding two shopping bags in front of a line of Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. It is an iconic and enduring image celebrating non-violent protest. Lucy Kirkwood, the author of Chimerica,…
Who knows what the future holds? One thing seems certain, namely artificial intelligence (AI) will play a controlling role in our lives. This issue is the fundamental theme in Control, a play by Keziah Warner, presented by New Theatre at Newtown. If not for Warner’s humorous style, the subject matter would be quite dark and…
If Shakespeare had the vision of Nostradamus, he may well have foreseen The Merry Wives of Windsor being set in a 1980s Australian backyard. Nonetheless, director Viktor Kalka has made the geographic transition and it is an interesting concept, to say the least. Inspired by “The Bard’s” intention to make the play contemporaneous, Kalka creates one…
