Tag: reviews
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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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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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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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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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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…
