Tag: Theatre Review
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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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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 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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Grease the Musical
COMFORTABLE EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️ The Dramatic Premise It’s Rydell High School in 1959. It’s the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies. It’s a time of teenage rebellion. Danny Zuko regales his friends with risqué stories of his summer love. Meanwhile, new girl, Sandy Dumbrowski, is introduced to the Pink Ladies and discloses that she, too,…
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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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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 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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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…
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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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Madama Butterfly
MADAMA BUTTERFLY caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a HIGH ARCH. The Dramatic Premise American naval officer, B F Pinkerton, marries Cio-Cio-San (aka Madama Butterfly) for his own selfish purposes. He knows Japanese divorce laws are lax. Cio-Cio-San, however, is in love and doesn’t see Pinkerton’s nefarious intentions. She even converts to Christianity, an act which…
