Well, the last Mary Rachel Brown play I saw in Sydney was Silent Night for the Darlinghurst Theatre Company late last year. It was a disaster. Approaching another evening with Ms Brown was a tentative commitment. However, I can say, it was worth taking a punt, for the experience was a better one. Permission to…
Unqualified is a new Australian play nurtured and commissioned by the Ensemble Theatre. Joanne (Genevieve Hegney) has found her TV star husband is heading to bankruptcy – and to Bali with his latest girlfriend. Enough is enough – this relationship MUST end. Felicity (Catherine Moore) has worked as a butcher in her father’s meat business…
What a luscious production of the timeless classic, Swan Lake. It is, of course, the love story of Prince Siegfried and the Swan Princess Odette, torn apart by the villainous sorcerer Rothbart. But wait, there’s more. The Imperial Ice Stars’ original version of Swan Lake premiered in Australia in June 2006. It then toured world,…
Marjorie Prime is an American play by Jordan Harrison, that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. The play is set in the mid-21st century. Tess (Lucy Bell) is caring for her ageing mother Marjorie (Maggie Dence). Marjorie is beginning to experience a creeping dementia. Jon (Richard Sydenham), Tess’ husband, has contacted a…
Dazzlingly frocked up, the seemingly ageless Rhonda Burchmore sizzles as the dastardly Carabosse in the delicious pantomime Sleeping Beauty, A Knight Avenger’s Tale. At one point she literally soars above the audience belting out Cher’s 1989 hit “If I Could Turn Back Time”. That’s one of several popular numbers that punctuate a familiar story with…
George Bernard Shaw wrote Saint Joan, in 1923, six scenes and an epilogue. Imara Savage, the Director of this production, has ambitiously taken many liberties with the original text. This Sydney Theatre Company production of Saint Joan occupies the stage for one hour and forty-five minutes, straight through, without an interval. A great deal of…
Good Cook. Friendly. Clean. is a new Australian play by newcomer, Brooke Robinson. It was short listed for the 2017 Griffin Award. Sandra, a 58 year old finds herself with a two week deadline to find new rental sharehouse accommodation in Sydney. Over nine scenes we travel with Sandra to a series of meetings –…
Some people should not see this play – the squeamish, religious zealots and those who don’t have a sense of humour! Everyone else, line up for two hours of enthralling entertainment thanks to Deborah Mulhall’s successfully creative directorship. The New Theatre is a small, intimate venue and the audience had a great experience from any…
Going Down by Michelle Lee is a new Australian play. Last year, the Griffin Theatre presented her play, Rice. Natalie Yang (Catherine Davies), a Chinese-Australian, has written her first book, “Banana Girl”, a no-holds-barred sex memoir. No-one is really interested. On the other hand Lu Lu Jayadi (Jenny Wu), an Muslim-Australian from Indonesia, has written…
In the Heights is an American musical that first saw the light of day in 2005. It arrived on Broadway in 2008. Nominated for 13 Tony Awards, it won 4, including best musical. This work was conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also wrote the lyrics and music. The show centres on a corner of shops…
