Imagine a well-spoken woman of a certain age describing the sex life of slugs, before transitioning to elaborate upon a swap and trade social media platform. That is what you get at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory with Rough Trade, which happens to be the moniker for a quirky, private Facebook group. Unlike Marketplace, the exchange of money…
It is the summer of 1967 and the Vietnam War remains troubling. Young Australians are being drafted to serve. Back home, life continues. Tom (Rupert Bevan) and Meg (Cait Spiker) are in a high school production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Tom takes a fancy to Meg and engages her in awkward conversation. When their respective parents…
Dinner is served, or at least about to be served. That is what we are led to believe in the latest, decidedly adventurous play at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory, Social Dance. Talk about creating a favourable first impression. Walk up the steep stairs to the theatre, turn left and you cast your eyes over a huge dinner table…
Will (Mina Asfour) and Katie (Laura Jackson) are millennial best friends who live together. Both single (Will is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and Katie is straight), each looking to find their perfect match. Most of the time they have fun together, which includes hosting a popular podcast – “Don’t Even Get Me Started” – where…
Irish writer and Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett’s works can be difficult to get your head around. So, it is with Worstward Ho at Theatre Works, featuring a bravura showing by Rob Meldrum who plays a figure wrestling with the end of the world. Now true confession time. I sat there for an hour and had no…
What a phenomenal piece of writing by Andrew Bovell (who wrote the powerful Australian film Lantana, which debuted in 2001). When the Rain Stops Falling is a magnificently rendered, complex work that continually shocks and surprises. Its drip feed narrative comes together to form a most disturbing picture. It is only when the full truth outs that you…
Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf (1894) is a searing portrait of angst. Rita (Elisa Armstrong) is deeply in love with Alfred (Damien Harrison). He’s a writer and they have been married for a decade, but she fears his feelings for her have shifted. He’s just returned from a fortnight walking in the mountains, a trip he has…
It is Melbourne 1991. Recession grips the country. A couple of outcasts are in love but out of work. They are going nowhere and make do by robbing small retail outlets, stabbing some victims and causing mayhem. Emma (Veronica Thomas) is the talker, someone who would like Jay (Matthew Connell) to express himself more. The pair drinks too…
Interactive theatre can be stimulating. In the case of Day After Terrible Day, while creative, I found it totally perplexing. Upon arrival, patrons are divided into groups and led to the double doors of what turns out to be an unfinished mansion. Once ushered inside, perched on a 10-rung ladder at the back of the theatre…
A superb, creative staging of the Greek tragedy Medea, knowledge of the story before entering the theatre would be a distinct advantage. To say I was excited by what I saw is an understatement. I was ecstatic. Medea: Out of the Mouths of Babes is one of the most remarkable productions I have had the privilege…
