Theatre

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,…

Even though it is billed as a cabaret, Vigil is something that is far from that label. This one-person show – commissioned by the Adelaide Cabaret Festival – is filled with songs and interludes that weave through its story. While cabaret is traditionally seen as something jovial, Vigil cannot lay claim to this. It is…

Front is a new theatre production whose name could mean lots of different things. The band could all be a “front” for something else, a group often has a “front” man and being an artist means you have to perform on-stage “front” and centre. The play is a rocking one that takes a walk on…

I’ve never had a hero like Tamblyn Lord. Well, unless Ash Ketchum, the protagonist of the 1990s animated children’s television show Pokémon, counts. Lord’s latest theatrical exploration, ‘Call of The Ice’, chronicles the voyage he painstakingly took in January 2016 to recreate the journey of his childhood (and lifelong) hero Sir Douglas Mawson. Now, as…

Do you enjoy watching scantily clad men and woman perform tantalising tasks, whilst  sashaying across a stage enclosed in the famed Speigeltent? Well do I have a treat for you, Blanc de Blanc has just landed in Melbourne! So come one come all to St Kilda’s Winter Garden where things are about to get just…

By definition, revolt means to “take violent action against an established government or ruler”, so the fact it is in the title of the show holds great weight in the tellings of this story. This original work by Alice Birch explores the notion of what being a woman means in the 21st century, and how our…

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…

Most people would be familiar with the story of Cyrano De Bergerac – doesn’t ring a bell? – perhaps you’re more familiar with the 1987 film adaptation Roxanne, with Steve Martin as the plays protagonist Cyrano. Written in 1897, the themes of Edmond Rostand’s play are as relevant today as when he wrote it. Questions…

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…

A show five years in the making – Wireless is eerily eruptive, quietly volatile and infinite in a confined space. A slightly different experience every time, the show works on ambient technology bending to the will of the performers in this dance theatre conquest. Director and Choreographer Lisa Wilson explained the show is deeply rooted…

June is married to Leo, but she’s also having an affair with his twin brother Rob, and her personal trainer Hellmut. And a Catholic priest, John. Leo, meanwhile, is sleeping with Rob’s sister Michelle, his therapist Dr Shaw, as well as the family au pair Melissa. On top of all of this, June and Leo…

The Red Stitch Theatre is utterly beguiling. I’m not sure if it is the fact that they are staging a play set in the Victorian era, or the inviting smell of mulled wine that makes me want to talk like this, but one thing’s for sure, it’s fitting. Affectionately dubbed ‘The Red Shed’, Red Stitch…

If having Jai Courtney in the title role wasn’t enough to draw theatregoers in, let it be known that this modern-day reimagining of Shakespeare‘s Macbeth is like watching a Hollywood blockbuster come to life on stage. Right from the get-go, it’s as if we are immersed into the world of Mad Max with its rough guts…

The first thing that surprised me about The 7 Stages of Grieving was that I laughed. A lot. With a title such as The 7 Stages of Grieving, laughter was not something I was expecting, but such is the extraordinary talent of writers Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman and the exceptional skill of performer Chenoa…

Blueprint, the new play currently on at the Blue Room, is tremendously watchable and involving thanks to the three actors, Sean Crofton, Jessica Russell, and Phoebe Sullivan. They exude a physicality and agitated nervousness that manages to convey an ambiently compelling story, even if I’m not 100 percent sure what’s happening a lot of the…

Liz Newell and Emily McLean have returned to The Blue Room Theatre with Toast, a charming exploration of grief, loss, and family. Following the sudden death of their mother, three sisters come together to clear out their childhood home. The headstrong Candice (Alison Van Reeken), recovering alcoholic Alex (Amy Mathews), and adoptive sister Sydney (Anna…

Melbourne’s Regent Theatre was filled up to the brim with people for My Fair Lady on Tuesday night, in anticipation for yet another classic tale of, well… not-quite-love, but respectability and a blossoming companionship. My Fair Lady needs no introduction. Its a story that has been cherished since the film of the 1940s, and as George…

The experience of the hit comedy The Play That Goes Wrong, currently touring Australia, starts before you enter the room, as cast members walk around the foyer, greeting guests, engaging in arguments and letting you know that they’ve lost a dog from the second act – a sign that indeed, things are about to go…

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…

The show must go on, and that is exactly what happened after director Gale Edwards stopped the show right before Sally Bowles‘ iconic number, “Cabaret”. Of all night’s for there to be serious mic/audio issues of course it had to be opening night, right?! That’s the beauty of live theatre. In what was a marvellous show of team…

Through May and June, Sydney’s The Lyric Theatre will serve as the first Australian venue to host The Bodyguard, a production which is as much a tribute to the life and music of Whitney Houston as her iconic 1992 feature-film debut of the same name. I write “iconic” because the film is fondly remembered for…

Our tale of love, magic, and adventure takes place in the fabled city of Agrabah where unusual friendships are formed, heroes outwit villains, and true love conquers all. Whilst most of the world knows the story of Aladdin, nothing quite prepares you for the absolute extravaganza that is Aladdin: The Musical. When it comes to…

What is the price of a heart? The very source of love and life is taken from one to give to another as flippantly as trading a piece of artwork… sold to the highest bidder. Except, in this case, it was stolen goods, traded by deceit. England, a masterfully crafted play by British playwright, Tim…

Not too often can you honestly say that a smaller independent production of a musical is undeniably better than a full-scale Broadway production, but Big Fish at the Hayes Theatre has surely got to be one of those times. The signature intimate theatre and the sincerity of the performances gives this musical the biggest of…

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…

Set among the beautiful surrounds of Robertson Park in Watsons Bay, Sydney, Shakespeare By The Bay presents The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In partnership with Bard on the Beach, Watsons Bay Hotel and the Woollahra Council, Romeo and Juliet plays out against an ocean backdrop, with the water lapping gently against the dock as…

Talk is a play that feels like Frontline version 2.0. It’s a satirical look at the modern state of journalism, a place that has seen many experienced reporters lose their jobs while amateurs and citizen journalists have risen up. This Sydney Theatre Company production is a searing indictment on the current media climate as it…

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…

Beginning in 1989, Chimerica brings us Joe Schofield, an American Photojournalist stationed in Beijing. Sitting in his hotel room during the Tiananmen protests, he manages to snap the all-famous photograph of Tank Man – a young student standing defiantly in the way of a line of tanks. Fast forward to 2012 and Joe, now back…

Diary of a Wombat is an Australian classic. I doubt there’s an Aussie kid born after 2002 who hasn’t read the charming picture book, or had it read to them! The story follows a rather rotund and determined wombat called Mothball who causes all sorts of trouble for a couple of humans after she discovers that…