Tag: Sydney Theatre Company
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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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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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Bloom
Book & Lyrics by Tom Gleisner SUPREME EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Drama The Pine Grove Aged Care Centre is in crisis. The inmates residents are unhappy. They are restricted to the centre, where activities are frequently cancelled and the food is barely worth living for. They have nothing to do except wait to die.…
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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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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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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 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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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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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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RETRO REVIEW | The Lifespan of a Fact
THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a SUPREME ARCH…THRICE! The Dramatic Premise John D’Agata has written a brilliant essay about the death of a Las Vegas teenager, Levi Presley, who threw himself from the top of the Stratosphere Hotel. The essay explores the vapidness of Vegas and contemplates what might motivate…
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The Importance of Being Earnest
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a SUPREME ARCH The Dramatic Premise Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing are friends leading a double life. Whilst visiting the country, they live up to all the core values of the Victorian times in which they live. They understand class structure. They adhere to all…
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On the Beach
ON THE BEACH caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a HIGH ARCH The Dramatic Premise There’s been a “Short War” in the Northern Hemisphere. The war was short because it involved a nuclear strike and nuclear retaliation and multiple countries. It’s a nuclear holocaust with, it seems, no survivors. Photo Credit – Daniel Boud / STC…
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The Poison of Polygamy
THE POISON OF POLYGAMY caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a HIGH ARCH. The Dramatic Premise When we first meet Huang Shangkang, he is not a good man. As the narrator tell us, he may be the hero of the story, but he is no hero. He neglects his wife, Ma. He spends most of his time –…
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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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Julia
JULIA caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a HIGH ARCH The Performance I can’t speak more highly of a performer who takes to the stage, largely alone, and holds an audience’s attention for ninety enthralling minutes. Following on from Eryn Jean Norville, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Heather Mitchell in RBG, Justine Clark delivers…
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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 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…
