Another New Direction in new Theatre’s best and freshest, from the US, Europe and Down Under: The Big One. Yes, it’s the one we were all waiting for. Well, some.
READ MOREJuly, 2010
Breaking news: Melb Theatre Company’s Simon Phillips to quit
One of the most influential theatre positions in Australia has opened up, with Simon Phillips announcing he will quit as Melbourne Theatre Company artistic director and chief executive.
READ MOREREVIEW: The Chekhov Term | New Theatre, Sydney
By the time you read this, it’s probably too late, since The Chekhov Term has enjoyed but a four-day season, in keeping with the nature of New Theatre’s annual New Directions festival, which showcases (as the name implies) new work from Australia, the US and Europe. Nonetheless, this might serve as a pointer to the validity of the festival overall.
READ MOREREVIEW: The Marriage Of Figaro | Opera Theatre, Sydney
I don’t know who coined the aggravating phrase ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’, but it does resonate, loudly, in Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro.
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REVIEW: Orpheus | Four Larks Theatre, Melbourne
The song is a hot coal in the hollowed pith of a great fennel, smouldering life, with music and voice, the kindling, and dance, too, an earthen floor, action, dust rising, song rising, hearts gaining, spirits waking, blooming in the astonishing, joyful space, as body and mind contend, whirling through forms, through dance and music, [...]
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INTERVIEW: Julian Meyrick, director of Do Not Go Gentle
From Friday, 6 August, Melbourne’s fortyfivedownstairs will present the world premier of Do Not Go Gentle… , written by Patricia Cornelius and directed by Julian Meyrick. It’s an award-winning script using Robert Falcon Scott’s final — and fatal — Antarctic expedition of 1910-13 as an allegory for life in an aged care facility and the [...]
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MIAF: something for everyone, and maybe that’s the problem
On the occasion of the announcement of Melbourne International Arts Festival’s 2010 program, let’s begin with a counter-intuitive diagnosis: MIAF’s first problem is that it gets too much funding. Its second problem is that it gets too little.
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REVIEW: Like a Fishbone | Sydney Theatre Company
It’s the bane of the theatre critic. The clock’s about to tick midnight and the electronic page is still blank. God. This is all I need. A play that makes you think. The worst kind. One glass of red too many at the post-theatrical booze ‘n’ schmooze (come to think of it, the latter is [...]
READ MOREREVIEW: Macquarie | Riverside, Sydney
Macquarie‘s been ’round. No, not just the early NSW gov’nor on whom it’s based, but the play itself. It was worskshopped, in Armidale, way back in ’71, but still holds up, after 40-odd years. In fact, it more than holds up. I’m not sure how much has changed, since this was my inauguration to it, [...]
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We’re selling our performers short by cutting previews
When a show opens on Broadway, especially a big musical, it is normal practice to have up to 28 previews before opening night. During the last week of these previews, critics are invited to the show, but by this time the cast is well and truly settled into their stage routine and also have become accustomed to the reactions and quirks of an audience. One could call this the ideal situation for big shows.
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