The Ham Funeral is a first play by Patrick White, written in 1947 in post war, blitzed-out London. Set in 1919 it was inspired by the painting by William Dobell known as ‘The Dead Landlord’ and on a story of Dobell’s experience in one of those great crumbling houses in Pimlico. This play begins with…
An intense study of vulnerability, heartache, anger and loss, Shrine packs punch. Written by Tim Winton – the only author to have won the Miles Franklin Award four times – the play is directed by Marcel Dorney. 19-year-old Jack Mansfield (Christian Taylor) has died in an early morning car crash. He was in the vehicle with…
In Owl & Cat’s new production Crush, Celia (Mardi Edge), editor of the (fictional) Melbourne Sentinel newspaper, is a having a less than satisfactory affair with a married man. Johnny (Seb Muirhead) – who has a deep-seated fear of drowning – is in love with Celia, or so he thinks. He is attracted to her passion and…
Energetic, powerful and haunting – such is Spring Awakening. This is a musical journey from adolescence to adulthood set in Germany in 1891. Teenagers struggle with the adversity of coming of age at a time when sexual education is deliberately ignored and adults appear to hold all the cards. The focus is on Wendla Bergmann (Jessie-Lou…
Big Brother is watching your every move and is judging you … harshly – very harshly indeed. In the case of Int, Big Brother is a “she” and she appears to have a firm grip on you; at least initially. That is what I took away from this 50-minute, one woman performance art piece – a polished…
Between the Streetlight and the Moon is a new Australian play by, Melita Rowston. It was shortlisted for both the STC Patrick White Award and The Silver Gull Award. Zadie (Lucy Miller) is an art academic/curator and PHD candidate, the Phd concerning the Impressionist artist Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) and her possible illicit relationship with her…
Growing old and frail, becoming ill and disabled, hardly seems like a whole heap of fun or a bundle of laughs. And yet that is the backbone of MTC’s latest production, Minnie & Liraz, which produces a surfeit of rib-tickling moments that the first night audience greatly appreciated. The cacophony begins even before the play starts,…
Down an Alley Filled with Cats is an Australian play written in 1987, by Warwick Moss. It is a two handed small-time conman comedy-thriller. Timothy Timmony, a Polish refugee second-hand book seller matches wits with a petty Aussie ‘crook’, Simon Matthews, in search of a 12th Century Sung Dynasty vase treasure (The Maltese Falcon?!) worth…
The contention is hardly conventional, but the vitriol and resultant humour crafted by one of Australia’s foremost playwrights, Joanna Murray-Smith (Switzerland), makes Three Little Words a most enjoyable, inflated slice-of-life reality piece. Catherine McClements plays Tess, a book editor and Peter Haughton is Curtis, a teacher. They are a happily married couple (or so it…
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…
