SLUTNIK 2: Planet of Incels has cult classic written all over it. Think lashings of The Rocky Horror Show liberally mixed with Magic Mike and you have a starting point. The theme is women treated poorly and men behaving badly. It is a play with a series of up-tempo musical numbers, accompanied by buff male dancers. Unfortunately, I didn’t…
Faith is put under the spotlight in Jodi Gallagher’s immersive new work Prophet. Is it the story of Christianity? There are certainly elements of it in there. I am thinking of Jesus and one of his disciplines in particular. This journey started with Gallagher writing about Jewish mystic Sabbatai Zevi and his prophet, theologian Nathan of Gaza. Mind…
In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra was the twin sister of the woman said to be the most beautiful in the world, Helen of Troy. Their mother was Leda. Cygnets is a new take on sibling rivalry – the pain, the pleasure, the subterfuge. It shows the two girls had different experiences with their mother. It reveals jealousy and cruelty. An…
Unless you have context (and I didn’t before entering the theatre), this play will make little sense. By context, I am referring to the notes playwright Laura Collins has in the electronic program. I never read a program before watching a production. I do so afterwards and, even then, only after I have written down my thoughts. That…
Caroline Lee takes the stage as June, a woman of a certain age who hasn’t spoken to another person in more than a year. So, over that period – apart from accidentally speaking out aloud – she has lived in silence. Now June is taking us, the audience, into her confidence to break the drought and explain…
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…
