Tag: Caterpillar Arch
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Retrograde
CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐ The Drama It’s 1950’s Hollywood. Screenwriter, Bobby, and film executive, Mr Parks, are meeting in a spacious, but austere, office to discuss the signing of a young black actor, Sidney Poitier, to a major production. Both men are white. Bobby is Poitier’s ally, at least notionally. Mr Parks, from the…
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Back to the Future
CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐ The Drama If, somehow, you do not know the story…take this as your friendly spoiler alert! It’s 1985 and Doc Emmett Brown (Roger Bart) has built a time machine…from a DeLorean. It may have taken 30 years – since he fell from a toilet and hit his head and saw…
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Hadestown
CATERPILLAR ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐ The Drama It’s love at first sight in Hadestown. Orpheus (Noah Mullins) is a poet and a songwriter. Eurydice (Abigail Adriano) is his muse. Famine abounds and the young lovers live in poverty. But there’s warmth to be found in the Hadestown jazz and blues bar where Hermes (Christine Anu) plays master of ceremonies…
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Sunday
CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐ The Dramatic Premise Sunday Reed (Nikki Shiels), along with her husband, John (Matt Day), are patrons of the arts. They see life, itself, in painted works. Action. Pathos. Life. They can distinguish good art from bad art; the exalted from the derivative. And they are full of passion. Passion for…
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Sister Act
CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐ The Dramatic Premise Deloris Van Cartier is a promising singer with a booming voice. But her career has stalled. Her boyfriend, Curtis Shank, runs the night club at which she sings. But all his promises are hollow. After yet another failed undertaking, Deloris decides it’s time to part ways with Curtis…
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Dracula
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ By Bram Stoker Adapted and Directed by Kip Williams The Dramatic Premise Jonathan Harker is a newly minted English solicitor. His law firm has sent him to visit a client at his castle in the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe. The legal task at hand could not be more mundane;…
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Chicago
CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise Hello, suckers! It’s 1920’s prohibition-era Chicago. It’s a time of vaudeville, chorus girls, jazz, adultery and murder. A time when the line between criminal intent and celebrity is blurred. Roxie Hart is married to hapless mechanic, Amos. But she’s having an affair with Fred Casely. When Fred…
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American Signs
By Anchuli Felicia King CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise As we enter the theatre, we see three rows of desks. A large mirror, at the rear of the stage, reflects our image back to us and renders us part of the world in which the play exists. The (unnamed) business consultant is…
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The Divine Miss Bette
CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Moment of Comic Genius The Divine Miss Bette has been on stage, at the newly minted Concourse Lounge in Chatswood, for about an hour. She’s strutted, she’s preened, she’s shocked, she’s delighted. She’s made us laugh. And she’s made us happy. Now she leans forward from her waist, with one hand on…
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The President
COMFORTABLE EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise The First Lady of a small, unnamed European country is getting ready (albeit slowly) for a State Funeral. Her husband, the President, is – evidently from sounds emanating from off-stage – in the bath. Photo Credit – Daniel Boud / STC The story line unravels slowly as…
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No Pay, No Way
By Dario Fo and Franca Rame Adapted by Marieke Hardy CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic PremiseAntonia and Margherita are aghast! The economy is in the pits. They can’t pay the gas bill, let alone the rent. And the local supermarket has just doubled its prices! The cost-of-living crisis is at its zenith. Photo…
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A Fool in Love
COMFORTABLE EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic PremiseIt’s desperate times in the opulent, decadent and vacuous seaside town of Illescas. Otto Otavio is in a state of high anxiety. He has two daughters, Vanessa and Phynayah. Vanessa’s the smart one. And Phynayah? Well, her smarts ain’t so obvious. Photo Credit – Daniel Boud / STCPhynayah’s…
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In the Heights
CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise It’s almost July 4th in Washington Heights, NYC. At centre stage stands a bodega run by Usnavi de la Vega with the occasional assistance of his delinquent cousin, Sonny. Stage right features the Rosario Cab Company, where Kevin and Camila despatch taxis to and from the neighbourhood.…
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The Dictionary of Lost Words
THE DICTIONARY OF LOST WORDS caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH The Dramatic Premise Esme Nicoll is 4 years old. She spends her days at the Scriptorium in Banbury Street, Oxford, where her father is helping Sir James Murray compile the first Oxford English Dictionary. But whilst Sir James and his team of…
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Do Not Go Gentle
DON’T GO GENTLE caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH The Dramatic Premise Robert Falcon Scott is racing Roald Amundsen to the South Pole. It’s the Age of Heroic Antarctic Exploration. As the play begins, we join Scott and his team as they make their final push to their distant, unseen target. They are…
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Fences
FENCES caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH The Dramatic Premise Troy Maxson is a deeply troubled man. He’s done time in prison for murdering a man whilst committing a robbery. He blames his skin colour for his faltering baseball career, when his age after leaving prison may have played a role too. Now…
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The Rocky Horror Show
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH The Dramatic Premise You probably already know the story… Brad and Janet are a nerdish, newly engaged couple. Their car breaks down on a dark and rainy night and they seek refuge in a castle where a party is already rocking and rolling.…
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The Goat or, who is Sylvia?
THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH. The Dramatic Premise Martin and Stevie appear to be a happy couple, perfectly comfortable in each other’s imperfections. But Martin is harbouring a secret which goes well beyond the kind of imperfection a spouse might tolerate. Within the first one-third of…
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The Piano Guys
THE PIANO GUYS caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH. The Show I never thought I’d see the day when two self-confessed “dorky dads” – one who plays the piano and another who plays the cello – would be welcomed to the stage like rock stars! Yet that’s what happened in the Sydney Opera…
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Hubris & Humiliation
HUBRIS & HUMILIATION caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH The Dramatic Premise Elliott is a young man yearning for love. More specifically, he’s yearning for the love of his best mate, William. But William is marrying a sugar daddy. Will Elliott find love elsewhere? Meanwhile, Elliott’s mum, Bernice, has been fleeced by an…
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Velvet Rewired
VELVET REWIRED caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH. The Show Velvet Rewired is an intoxicating mix of disco, theatre, vaudeville, cabaret and Studio 54-style debauchery. Featuring disco legend, Marcia Hines, the show was a glittering rainbow of joy from start to finish. There’s a disco inferno burning up the dance floor. It’s a boogie wonderland which is raining…
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Amadeus
AMADEUS caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH The Dramatic Premise It’s 1781 and Antonio Salieri is the court composer to Emperor Joseph II in Vienna. He wants, with all his heart, to be the conduit of God’s glory through music. But he is about to meet child prodigy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Across the…
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Carmen
CARMEN caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH! The Venue I prefer reviewing theatre productions over theatres, but what attracted us to this production was the venue. Let’s face it, I haven’t seen an opera for a couple of decades. But it was Carmen and it was Cookatoo Island so we were there! In case you…
