Tag: High Arch
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Congratulations, Get Rich!
By Merlynn Tong HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Drama It’s the Opening Night: Seventh Night of Chinese New Year (AKA Human Day) Extravaganza at the Money Money Karaoke Bar. But the mood is sombre. Karaoke bar entrepreneur, Mandy (Merlynn Tong), is curled up on a podium. Her despair is palpable. Her boyfriend, Xavier (Zac…
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Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe
By Edward Albee HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Drama George (David Whiteley) and Martha (Kat Stewart) are not a happy couple. They stumble home from a party. Martha literally stumbles in her state of stinking intoxication. George seems more sober but stumbles in face of Martha’s attacks upon him. With her inhibitions even lower…
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Here You Come Again
CATERPILLAR EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐ The Drama Kevin is a man struggling with life. His boyfriend, Jeremy, is ghosting him. The flame appears to be dying out. He yearns to be a stand-up comedian, but his dreams have stalled. And – as if losing love and livelihood were not enough – we’re in the middle…
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The Talented Mr Ripley
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Drama A minimalist stage is brightly illuminated. Three or four large beach umbrellas stand in the middle distance. Somnolent Italian folk music plays in the background. A man selling colourful balloons strolls across the beach scene. Dickie Greenleaf (Raj Labade) and his girlfriend, Marge (Claude Scott-Mitchell), luxuriate in their…
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Circle Mirror Transformation
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Drama The stage lights come up. Five characters, in various forms of active wear, are lying on the floor of a multi-purpose community centre. One-by-one they call out a number as the group, collectively, counts to ten. When two characters speak over each other, everybody giggles. The stage lights…
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Drama It’s December 1918. The Great War has just ended and Roger Button is a happy man. As he walks – nay, prances – through his Cornish fishing village, Roger stops to tell various townsfolk that today is the day! Today is the day he will become a father. Oh,…
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A Comedy About Spies
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Drama It’s 1950’s cold war-era London. A rogue British agent has stolen the plans for a top-secret weapon. Project Midnight! Both the KGB and the CIA descend upon a Piccadilly hotel. KGB agents, Sergei and Elana, to retrieve the stolen plans. CIA agent, Lance (and his mother, Janet) to prevent…
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Kylie – Tension Tour 2025
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kylie Minogue, dressed in a red jumpsuit adorned with sequins, pauses between songs and gazes across the audience, a sexy smile on her red lips. She spots a sign but is confused by its message. “What does that mean?” she asks whilst pointing. “Have we met before? Or are we…
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MJ: The Musical
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The DramaThe performers wander into the studio in ones and twos in their eclectic active wear. Some are back-up singers. Some are musicians. Others are dancers. Some begin to stretch. Others stand in huddles and gossip. A couple start practising their dance moves. And then MJ arrives. He sidles in…
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4,000 Miles
By Amy Hertzog HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Drama Both the stage and the theatre are enveloped in darkness. Soft, reflective music is playing. This goes on for so long that I contemplate closing my eyes and enjoying a brief nap. Suddenly the stage is illuminated in startling yellow light. Vera (Nancye Hayes) stands in the foyer…
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Jesus Christ Superstar
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Dramatic Premise All is not well amongst Jesus (Michael Paynter) and his followers. One of his disciples, a man named Judas (Javon King), thinks the movement is heading in the wrong direction. He tells him so. Others, in the meantime, are eager for Jesus to lead them, triumphantly, into…
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Sweat
By Lynn Nottage HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Dramatic Premise We’re in Reading, Pennsylvania. It’s the early 2000’s and George W Bush has just been elected President. Childhood friends, Tracey (Lisa McClune), Cynthia (Paula Arundell) and Jessie (Deborah Galanos) are meeting at the local bar. There’s a jukebox in the corner and an electric…
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Golden Blood
By Merlynn Tong HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Dramatic Premise It’s 1990’s Singapore. Girl (Merlynn Tong) is 14 years old. Boy (Charles Wu) is 21. They hardly know each other. But following their mother’s sudden death, they’re suddenly orphans. Boy agrees to become Girl’s guardian. Initially, they tip-toe around each other. But they seem…
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Titanique
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Dramatic Premise It’s 1912. The Titanique is leaving Southampton. Soon she will be steaming across the Atlantic towards her destiny with a (surprisingly camp, but charismatic) iceberg. The passenger list is familiar to anybody born after 1997. There’s Rose Dewit Bukater (Georgina Hopson) and her fiancé, Cal (Keane Sheppard-Fletcher).…
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Gaslight
By Patrick Hamilton HIGH ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Spoiler Alert Gaslight (noun) – a light that is fuelled by gas. Gaslight (verb) – to trick or control somebody by making them think their beliefs are wrong. Whilst I have done my best to avoid giving too much away, it is well-nigh impossible to discuss Gaslight without alerting the…
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The Odd Couple
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ By Neil Simon The Dramatic Premise Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison are the best of friends. But they are nothing alike. Felix is slim and well dressed. He feeds off his nervous energy. He’s the neatest of neat-freaks. Oscar Madison is overweight and uncouth. He feeds off the junk food…
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The Woman in Black
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Based on the novel by Susan Hill Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt The Dramatic Premise Arthur Kipps (John Waters) is a dignified, stoic gentleman, haunted by an event from his youth. He stands in an empty Victorian theatre and begins to read from his manuscript. His voice is robotic and lacking…
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Trial by Jury
By Gilbert & Sullivan HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise The Tipstaff (played by Tim Channon, Consultant at Barry Nilsson) enters the Banco Court and stands with solemnity due the moment. For reasons which are never explained, his long jacket is adorned with the heads of two bin chickens! Banging his staff against the…
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Death of a Salesman
By Arthur Miller HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise Willy Loman stands centre stage. Behind him are the wooden bleachers of Ebbets Field where other characters sit in the shadows, like the dimly lit ghosts of all of Willy’s intangible pipedreams. Somebody asks whether Willy is liked. He spins around, with uncharacteristic agility, points at…
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The Lehman Trilogy
SUPREME EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise It’s 1844 and a young Jewish man from Rimpar, Bavaria, has just arrived in New York. He marvels at the American musical box playing out, before him, in real time. One window closes and another opens. One man sits down and another stands up. The majesty of…
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& Juliet
HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise It’s Elizabethan England and popular playwright, Will Shakespeare, is about to produce his romantic tragedy, Romeo & Juliet. But, suddenly, his wife, Anne, intrudes upon the scene! Why is Romeo so lame? And why isn’t Juliet the lead character in her own life? Why does she have…
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The Seagull
By Anton Chekhov and Adapted by Andrew Upton THE SEAGULL caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH The Dramatic Premise Constantine is a hopeful playwright and Nina’s an aspiring actress. Constantine and Nina burst onto the stage in Act I with all the manic, nervous energy you’d expect from creatives who are blessed by…
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Oil
OIL caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a HIGH ARCH The Dramatic Premise It’s Cornwall in 1889. Life is barely sustainable as May and her family endure another dismal English winter. Food is scarce. Warmth is fleeting. But May is pregnant and the family worry that the child will “either come out dead or hungry”. They…
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Got Back – Sir Paul McCartney Live
GOT BACK caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a HIGH ARCH It started to rain whilst we waited for Sir Paul McCartney to arrive on stage. But what the hell? If we’re going to enjoy some Liverpudlian music, we may as well embrace some Liverpudlian weather. Take the very, very good with the not so very…
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The Dismissal
THE DISMISSAL caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a HIGH ARCH The Dramatic Premise Is it “time” or is “time up”? It’s a time of change. A time for big dreams. The making of modern Australia. Gough Whitlam has been swept to power after years of Menzies-driven wilderness but, after re-election, his government is facing a…
