Mash black humour with absurdism and you have the starting point for 80 Minutes No Interval. Travis Cotton writes, directs and features in this delightful left-of-centre work. It engages, even enthralls, from the opening scene. Louis (Cotton) is a theatre reviewer and failed novelist. He’s about to propose to his girlfriend Claire (Martelle Hammer) at…
Neon Tiger is billed as the ‘adult gap year you never knew you needed’. Set to the beat of Bangkok, the musical love story promises karaoke, travel and romance. Rather than presenting a hustle-and-bustle travel tale of the tourist mecca, however, the two-hander tells an intimate account of an arduous and relatable relationship. Brisbane girl…
A feel good Aussie comedy with dramatic undertones, Astroman really comes into its own in the second act. Set in 1984, the play centres on a 13-year-old indigenous kid, Jiembra Djalu (Kamil Ellis), who loves video games. He and his sporty twin, Sonny (Calen Tassone), their 16-year-old sister Natalie (Tahlee Fereday) and mother Michelle (Elaine…
What a delight! Time just zipped by in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. This cleverly conceived and executed comedy is making its Australian debut. With book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder opened on Broadway in November 2013, going on…
Tennessee Williams’ one-act piece Suddenly Last Summer is intense and evocative. Vindictiveness is in play for an elderly mother who has lost her son. The year is 1936, and the place the garden district of New Orleans. The woman is Violet Venable (Jennifer Vuletic), who adored her son, Sebastian, a poet. Until the previous summer,…
Nine may not be a conventional musical, but it still has great power. It’s the story of a self-obsessed film director and writer, Guido Contini. Guido is about to turn 40, and his last three movies have been flops. He’s signed on to make a new picture, but has no idea what he’s going to…
David Williamson’s Nearer the Gods intriguingly promotes itself as a show about the politics of 17th Century science. This appears affirmed by its pre-show Purcell Chamber Music sounds and when Isaac Newton (Rhys Muldoon) appears seated at a table centre stage, he is wearing a periwig and dressed extravagantly according to the play’s Restoration-era setting….
Maggie Stone is an Australian play by Caleb Lewis. It was written eight years ago. This is its first outing in Sydney. Maggie Stone (Eliza Logan), a let-herself-go, middle-aged lower rung corporate slave – small loans officer – struggles to maintain an equilibrium of pleasantness around the ‘service’ she’s meant to dole out. Coming from…
Trustees is an obscure work that’s bound to polarise audiences. It’s also bold, audacious and evocative. I’m not convinced I made sense of it all. When the 90-minute play starts, five actors appear on stage One is a moderator, and the other four are on either side of a debate hosted by a (fictitious) body…
Plays like The Architect are why I gained an appreciation of theatre. Because it has the ability to move you … to feel deep-seated emotion. Helen (Linda Cropper) is a no-nonsense woman in her late 60s. She is dying. She lives in Victoria and is in a 10-year relationship with a doting partner, John Stafford…
