Love breaks anything is its catchcry. Ain’t that the truth? Orange Flower Water deals strictly and single-mindedly with that sticky, fragrant commodity, so revered and reviled. Both, rightly so. Craig Wright has written a very good play, with at least one foot firmly planted in confronting realities. But what starts out and continues apace as [...]
READ MOREMarch, 2011
REVIEW: The Trial of Adolf Eichmann | Tower Theatre, Melbourne
by Vince Chadwick and Gemma Leigh-Dodds One goes to The Malthouse in the hope of seeing something we missed in the historical account of the SS-Obersturmbannführer who played a key role in organising the Holocaust, escaped via Italy to Argentina after the war, and was then kidnapped in 1960 off the streets of Buenos Aires [...]
READ MORE
REVIEW: Casanova | Ensemble Theatre, Sydney
Not so very long ago, as intrepid fans and foes of Curtain Call might remember, I put the boot fairly solidly into a production, starring no less a thespian than John Malkovich, that drew upon Casanova’s evocative memoir for its dramatic raison d’etre. And just as strange, me-too thematic coincidences occur, repeatedly, in Hollywood moviedom, [...]
READ MOREREVIEW: Missing The Bus To David Jones | York Theatre, Sydney
I’ve seen it before. It was very good then and even better now, with everything dusted, waxed and polished to a high sheen. Theatre Kantanka has been backed by Performing Lines and Seymour in reviving a play that, given a rapidly aging population, has legs (even if propelled with the aid of a Zimmer-frame or [...]
READ MOREREVIEW: Funk It Up About Nothin’ | CarriageWorks, Sydney
It’s tight; off da hook, dog! Funk-up Much Ado About Nothing, so it becomes, naturally enough, Funk It Up About Nothin’. It’s all the work of GQ and JQ. Well, not all their work, but all their idea, They’ve created this edgy, angular take on ye ole Bill’s comedy about two pairs of lovers, and [...]
READ MORE
REVIEW: These Are The Isolate | Theatre Works, Melbourne
Winner of last year’s Theatre Works Melbourne Fringe Award, These Are the Isolate is restaged here as part of Theatre Works’ exciting 2011 season. Well, anyway, I’m pretty excited — they’ve got Hayloft, Duck House and more Magnormous all lined up in season one. These Are the Isolate is the work of a young company [...]
READ MORE
The north and south of Sydney’s musical theatre: Cats, Scoundrels and Turns
‘The Shire’, as Sydney’s southern suburban sprawl is known to both insiders and outsiders, has a pronounced reputation for being parochial or, to put it more politely, if euphemistically, self-contained. Its constituents are thought not to venture beyond its boundaries unless pressed. Let’s face it, it’s East Berlin when the wall was still standing. Recently, [...]
READ MORE
REVIEW: Partenope | Opera Theatre, Sydney
George Frideric Handel was a serious man and muso, notwithstanding the most ridiculous wig. But he let his absurd hair down even more than usual with the playful Partenope, which hardly rates as one of the most famous operas of all time, but is definitely one of the most fun. And Opera Australia’s co-production with [...]
READ MORE
REVIEW: Connected | Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne
Dance Massive, a biennial dance festival, has been high-kicking-on at three venues around Melbourne this past week, at the Malthouse Theatre, Dancehouse and Arts House. Chunky Move’s Connected has just finished at the Malthouse. It’s a collaboration between director/choreographer Gideon Obarzanek and sculptor Reuben Margolin, performed by Stephanie Lake, Alisdair Macindoe, Marnie Palomares, Harriet Ritchie [...]
READ MOREREVIEW: Private Lives | Genesian Theatre, Sydney
Noel Coward’s Private Lives should be a failsafe for any theatre company. After all, it’s a tried-and-tested commercial farce. It would be handy to have the dearly-departed old dear on hand to calibrate our relative success in interpreting his works of profound urbanity. As for Genesian Theatre’s latest production, I can’t really discern where it’s [...]
READ MORE
