If you enjoyed Jersey Boys then you’re sure to love the latest jukebox musical to hit Aussie shores: Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. Starring the sublime Esther Hannaford and featuring an incredible collection of hits, Beautiful is slickly produced and expertly performed. It’s a guaranteed good night out for all. Billed as a musical…
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Over thirty years old, Diving for Pearls still has resonance for today’s audience. It paints a bleak picture of the future of manufacturing in Australia, which has been on a steady decline since the 1980s and 90s, when this play was written. It is a very Australian story, and the images the text and set…
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Modern Jesus is an intriguing new play that reminds us that you only need a tiny spark to start a raging inferno. It is thought-provoking look at what it means to be 20-something in Australia today, although the themes would resonate with audiences anywhere in the West. But a couple of things hold it back…
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The characters in Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance spend a lot of the play complaining about people they consider boring. But sadly for the New Theatre, the biggest bore in this production is the play itself. Despite some commendable performances by key members of the cast, this play just doesn’t seem to have anything to…
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Language warning: if the title makes you uneasy you probably won’t enjoy this show. It slaps you across the face with vulgarity, ugliness and brutality. But if you love innovative, challenging theatre, you must see SHIT at the Seymour Centre this July. SHIT is not so much a narrative as it is a profile of…
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In a theatre hidden in the back of a pub in the depths of Wolloomooloo gather a motley cast of characters who look to have stepped straight onto the stage from the street outside. Throw in a hefty dose of humour, a smattering of nostalgia and a generous amount of alcohol and you have This…
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When the Sydney Symphony Orchestra first planned a concert series based on the music of George Michael, it was envisioned as a celebration marking 30 years since the release of his first solo album, Faith. But in December last year, Michael’s name was added to the heartbreakingly long list of stellar artists that were lost…
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If you’re looking for a good time, call Belvoir! The iconic Sydney theatre’s latest production, The Rover, will have you doubling over your doublets with laughter. A delightful classical script, paired with comedically-gifted actors and a theatre company who knows how to have fun, make this show a must-see. Written in 1677 by Aphra Behn,…
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Outstanding performances from four extremely talented Australian actors make Sunset Strip worthy of the (relatively small) price of admission. The Uncertainty Principle and Griffin Independent Theatre have delivered a beautiful piece of theatre. Just don’t expect sunshine and laughter. By a dried up lake somewhere in regional Australia is a once-thriving holiday town called Sunset…
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According to the contestants on this year’s series of Masterchef, 30 minutes is not long enough to infuse a dish with the flavour punch the judges are looking for. But it’s more than enough time for the cast and crew of SLUT, on now at the Old Fitz theatre. This whirlwind of a play is…
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The Depot Theatre’s staging of Educating Rita is particularly timely for students studying HSC English; the opportunity to see a required text performed live should never be overlooked. For this reason, I encourage all parents and their teens to get out and see this play. This production has great heart, and it’s wonderful to see…
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Charlie Falkner wants to talk about sex. Specifically, the kind of sex tech-savvy, self-obsessed Millennials are having (or not having). His latest play, Sex Object, produced by JackRabbit Theatre Company and showing at The Depot Theatre, is a fast-paced, uber-real, laugh-a-minute look at what makes people tick in the modern age. And it is furiously…
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What happens when two masters of the unconscious meet at opposing ends of their careers? It’s an idea explored thoroughly by Hysteria, in which a near-death Sigmund Freud accepts a visit from a flashy young painter named Salvador Dali. In tribute to the genius of both men, Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s Hysteria is complex, thought-provoking and…
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A new take on a theatrical classic makes this Calamity Jane a must-see. And the classic I’m referring to is not the musical – it’s the oft ridiculed theatrical style of ‘Broadway dinner theatre’. Everything bar the meal is here: interactions with the audience, contemporary references (insert Trump joke here), entrances and exits through the…
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There are some standout performances in White Box’s production of Blackrock, now playing at Sydney’s Seymour Centre, but they’re not enough to lift it to the heights this play deserves. At a time when violence against women remains high in our nation’s consciousness, we need plays like Nick Enright’s Blackrock to hit us where it…
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Take a Cirque du Soleil show. Strip out all the colour, the costumes, the set. Turn off the music. What you’d be left with is something that looks a lot like Dimitris Papaioannou’s Still Life. Featuring feats of acrobatic strength and clowning, Still Life is a beautiful piece of moving art, created from the most…
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You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘wrestling with their inner demons’ – you may even know someone who has. In Institute, English physical theatre company, Gecko, has taken that idea and turned it inside out, giving us a powerful and beautiful physical representation of the inner workings of the human mind. Institute does not follow an…
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Native Earth Performing Arts’ Sydney Festival offering, Huff, is arresting, confronting, and oddly comedic. Immensely talented writer and performer, Cliff Cardinal, ensures the audience is continually unsettled, and you will find yourself laughing at circumstances that are far from funny. If you’re looking for a feel-good night out, safely ensconced behind the theatrical fourth wall,…
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Picture yourself at the edge of a rainforest, standing in the sun, eager to embark on a trek. Signs point you towards the path and provide helpful information about the journey soon to be undertaken. As you progress down the track, the canopy begins to close over you. New sounds emerge to drown out the…
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Urban Theatre Project’s Home Country is not so much a theatrical production as it is a full-bodied cultural experience, and it’s one not to be missed. Over three and a half hours of theatre, music and food, you are immersed into the worlds of others. It is a piece that challenges you to consider your…
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First-time playwright, Nathan Maynard, has created a real gem in The Season, premiering as part of the 2017 Sydney Festival. It’s a great yarn, full of laughter and pride in a culture that has been in the shadows for too long. The Season follows fictional family, the Duncans, on their annual pilgrimage to Dog Island…
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Which Way Home is a moving, charming tribute to the little things that make up a family. The play is both funny and poignant, delivering smiles and sadness in equal balance, leaving you to contemplate your own parental relationships. Produced by pre-eminent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander theatre company, ILBIJERRI, Which Way Home fits beautifully…
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The physical and comedic talents of a dynamic cast smash through the language barrier in this Russian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Combined with powerful design and masterful direction, Cheek by Jowl’s production is a treat for theatre fans and a highlight of the 2017 Sydney Festival lineup. Measure for Measure is a Shakespearean…
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Based on the novel The Women in Black, by Madeline St John, Ladies in Black is that all too rare thing: an entirely new Australian musical. There is no mistaking the country in which this show is set – from the home-grown accents to the local suburbs referenced in the text, this is a musical…
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The curators of The Hunger Games: The Exhibition has gone all out to ensure the odds are ever in their favour, creating a highly interactive, sensory feast for fans. Hosted in the sparkly new International Convention Centre Sydney, the exhibition is a tribute to The Hunger Games movies and books. Featuring numerous costumes and props…
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Nathan Maynard’s first play, The Season, is making its world premiere next January as part of the Sydney Festival, and the playwright couldn’t be more excited. The ‘season’ of the title refers to the annual mutton-bird harvesting that takes place on remote Big Dog Island, in Tasmania’s Bass Strait. Maynard is a descendant of the…
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Landing the plum role of Lisa in last year’s world premiere of Ladies in Black was a dream come true for Sarah Morrison, who received critical acclaim for her performance. Now, Morrison is set to reprise the role of the young, starry-eyed school-leaver when the show finally hits Sydney next month. I started by asking…
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Artistic Director of Urban Theatre Projects, Rosie Dennis, is no stranger to delving into the heart of a community for her theatrical inspiration. In the company’s latest work, Home Country staged for the Sydney Festival, Dennis takes audiences on a journey (both figuratively and literally) through a multi-storey carpark in Blacktown. We were naturally intrigued……
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Award-winning Canadian Indigenous performer and playwright, Cliff Cardinal, and Native Earth Performing Arts are bringing the critically-acclaimed one-man show, Huff, to Sydney this January. The piece follows Wind, a First Nation’s boy who escapes his own painful reality by sniffing solvent. Chatting to us from the theatre home of Canada’s VideoCabaret – where he is…
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The Depot Theatre has announced its 2017 season, promising another exciting year of Australian firsts, new writing and innovative interpretations of much-loved classics. Based in the historic Addison Road Community Centre in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west, The Depot Theatre aims to give a home to independent theatre-makers and creatives. In 2017, the Depot will…
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