Apologia, in literature, is a defense; a justification of motive. It is not, Kristin bitterly insists, an apology. She has nothing to apologise for. She’s been on the barricades her whole life fighting for a better world. Fighting against apathy. Against the wretched complacency she sees in her children. When she sees them at all.
READ MOREFebruary, 2011
REVIEW: The Barber Of Seville | Opera Theatre, Sydney
Let me come clean, right off the bat: this is the best opera production I’ve yet seen. Down in the pit, with the fabulous Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, is Antony Walker, who ensures Gioachino Rossini’s infectious score is produced with the utmost precision. Then we have Elijah Moshinsky’s wonderful (yes, the superlatives will keep [...]
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REVIEW: Just The Ticket | Ensemble Theatre, Sydney
Somehow, the illustrious career of Amanda Muggleton has, ostensibly, passed me by. I’m the poorer for it. In Ensemble’s world premiere of Just The Ticket, by English writer Peter Quilter, she’s so astonishingly, enviably expert and effortless it’s eye-watering (for other actors, anyway). Directed by the irrepressible Sandra Bates, it presents yet another chapter in [...]
READ MOREREVIEW: Picture Perfect | Riverside Theatres, Sydney
Body Dysmorphic Disorder, or BDD, is the starting-point for this work, which has sisters collaborating. The sisters are choreographer Fiona and Dr Julie Malone, a clinical psychologist specialising in body-image issues. She, I imagine, has no shortage of work and isn’t likely to be hard-up anytime soon. It would be tedious to reiterate the obvious, [...]
READ MOREREVIEW: Shakespeare’s Mothers: Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know | Marian Street Theatre, Sydney
They’re taking it to the Adelaide Fringe, so why not use patrons of Killara’s Marion Street Theatre for Young People as guinea-pigs? Turns out we were pretty lucky to be experimented upon, theatrically. Shakespeare’s Mothers: Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know, written by production company Straylight’s manager Kath Perry, who also stars (with Cat Martin [...]
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REVIEW: The Ultimate Rock ‘N’ Roll Jam Session | Playhouse, Sydney
It came out of the blue. From nowhere. And, on paper, sounded unlikely. James Blundell, Doug Parkinson & Nick Barker sharing a stage?! Along with a relative newcomer, Ezra Lee. What will they think of next? Stranger things have happened, but not that many. But it worked a treat. It was a treat. And it [...]
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Two plays offer a gay old time for Sydney’s Mardi Gras
Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras offers more than a colourful street parade. The accompanying arts festival brings us two new plays dealing with important issues. In Sticks & Stones, two blokes are on death’s doorstep. Actually, they’ve already knocked on the door, and it’s been answered. At the moment, they’re in a waiting-room. Seems both heaven [...]
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REVIEW: Tuesdays with Morrie | QUT Gardens Theatre, Brisbane
I am someone for whom the book and film versions of Tuesdays with Morrie have wholly passed me by. I was aware of the name, certainly, and was also aware that it had received its fair share of critical acclaim over the last decade. But other than some vague notions that it was a true [...]
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REVIEW: Doctor Zhivago | Lyric Theatre, Sydney
Boris Lenidovich Pasternak wrote a novel. In a sense, his story is the story of Dr Zhivago: born in one world, he died in quite another. Pasternak was born almost exactly 121 years ago to the day, in what was then the Russian empire. But he died in the USSR, in 1960. He was the [...]
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REVIEW: ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore | Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne
If you’re looking for something to do in Melbourne, and you think an evening of exasperation and vexation might be fun, might I suggest the Gustave Moreau-John Ford double? First, head to the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Road and spend the afternoon admiring inscrutable virgins, oracular nymphs and haughty queens at Gustave [...]
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