We Will Rock You is an ambitious show, especially for an independent theatre company. Yet, despite the accordingly variable talent levels on stage, Brisbane Arts Theatre’s production serves as a treat for classic-rock fans. The Orwellian rock musical, which is filled with about two dozen Queen songs, takes place 300 years into the future of…
Sparkling wit, energy and enthusiasm characterise Coral Browne: This F***ing Lady!. Maureen Sherlock’s smart script showcases the colourful life of a girl raised in Melbourne’s West who went on to conquer the West End. Now all but forgotten, BAFTA winner Coral Browne wasn’t one to pull her punches. After Melbourne success, she took all before…
Joanne (Jessica Meyer), Gillian (Babette Bellini), Lulu (Hayley Fielding), Beezus (Elizabeth Horrowitz) and Penny (Lauren Evans) are the equally loved and feared glamourous Real Housewives of Brisbane. One by one they introduce themselves at the start of the Brisbane Arts Theatre musical of the same name, in parody of the US media franchise of shows…
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…
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…
Unbridled ambition gets a thorough workout in Gloria. This Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama from American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is one of four MTC Australian premieres this season. Set in the offices of a prestigious Manhattan magazine, the play is a contemporary satire. The day-to-day drudgery is particularly wearing on a small group of editorial assistants. They…
Doesn’t matter whether you’re a ballet aficionado or novice, when one of the world’s most acclaimed ballet companies deliver the strength, beauty and purity of the timeless Swan Lake. The touring members of The St Petersburg Ballet Theatre – founded in 1994 – are on pointe from the get-go and don’t let up. You should…
Twenty new shows feature in the 9th annual Melbourne Cabaret Festival. Under the artistic direction of Dolly Diamond (for the second consecutive year), the festival is on right now at Chapel off Chapel, and runs until 1 July. Note that each show has only a small number of performances. The festival includes musical acts straddling…
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…
