Holding Achilles | Dead Puppet Society & Legs on the Wall
Morton’s Holding Achilles’ queer lens, and re-gendering/de-gendering of key roles, offers fascinating new insights into an old story. My two strongest ‘ah-ha’ moments connected with the themes of parent/child legacies, and about the true nature of heroism - are heroes those who have the short lives that are celebrated in epic tales, or those who seek the ordinary long lives that are celebrated on the warrior’s shield?
Brown Church | The Naavikaran Collective
It is not long before I find myself completely taken in by the artists who have now formed a circle of celebration, clapping their hands to time. Naavikaran’s white flowy skirt accented with silvery foil-like material has a life force of its own. The other performers look equally royal in their costumes, twirling, swirling, locking eyes with one another, immersing themselves in the beauty and safety of friendships they have forged amongst themselves. I smile so much at the unfolding of this dance sequence simply because it is unadulterated, unpretentious joy.
Sweatshop | Briefs Factory
A lot of the joy of Sweatshop is how engaged the performers are with the audience. Requests for cheers are met with enthusiasm from a crowd that is on their side from the moment they step on stage. This is the magic of Briefs: a group of performers doing unconventional things, presenting brightly and boldly to a room of people who are 100% there for every moment of it.
The Pillowman | Good Time Theatrics
Directors Hannah Boyd (who also played Arial) and Sophie Wickes (who played Katurian) chose to adapt this work with an all-female cast; having the two police officers dressed in bright pink, almost cyber-punk like jumpsuits and gender-swapping the storyteller Katurian and their brother Michal. As a director myself, I thought this was an intriguing concept that had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the inconsistency of direction resulted in this casting choice falling flat and undercutting the power of this award-winning text.
Homily | theatrePUNK co.
The painful journey of survival as young queer person in a distinctly hostile world is not one we can tire of hearing in all its variations, at least not until the damned trial of becoming ceases to be and our queer brethren can just live their lives as awkwardly and safely as everyone else.
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella | Crossroads Live
Advertised as a “surprisingly contemporary take on the classic tale”*, this 2013 adaptation of Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella fails to deliver any refreshing takes on the outdated traditional fairy tale. While there are certainly elements that are different from the well-known story—new characters, additional parties, expanded motivations for characters, and shoe things—the main problematic and patriarchal factors from the original plot remain intact.
Blanc de Blanc Encore
Blanc de Blanc Encore delivers a high-paced 100+ minutes of variety-style entertainment, ranging from song, dance and European-style clowning, through to foot-juggling, Chinese pole and aerials. Be ready for a quick and entertaining ride.
Ruby Moon | Ad Astra
Ruby Moon is an important work and was inspired by the headlines of missing children in the past. When we think of the tragic news of Daniel Morcombe and William Tyrell, and how today we live in a world where media plays such a big role in our lives that when a story like that happens it becomes almost unavoidable to not get caught up in the anxiety or feel the grief of their family. I think it does a great job at exploring the corruption of innocence and how our perceptions can drastically change after such incidents.
Our Blood Runs In The Street | Shane Anthony and Ensemble
All in all, Our Blood Runs In The Streets does the job it set out to do. It provides audiences with a hidden history of this place and does so in a way that is emotionally evocative rather than destructive – with a slightly more nuanced range of representations and more rehearsal I think this work could have left me a sobbing mess rather than a lightly weeping one.
An Ideal Husband | Lewis Treston & La Boite Theatre
An Ideal Husband provides a grim insight into how a lot of the peril we encounter currently – climate change, corruption, rampant racism, homophobia, and xenophobia – could have been prevented had a few more people stuck to their principles and didn’t give-in to corporate greed or a lust for power. All while managing to be the most joyous experience I’ve had in a theatre in a long time. Deeply hilarious. Wild(e)ly entertaining.
The Sunny Tribe District | Robert the Cat
The cast were tight knit; not a move or beat out of place in delivering this chaotic script. Each member of the cast effortlessly carried the weight of the responsibility placed on the ensemble. From the Olivia Rodrigo sing-along, to the synchronised, lavish dance sequences to the perky rap battles to the overly sexual demonstration of how to pour water over each other, everything that they threw at us no matter how absurd or obscene was executed to glorious effect.
La Traviata | Opera Queensland
What does it mean to choose love when it always ends (either in death or heartbreak)?
What is it to truly connect with people in a world obsessed with the immediacy of pleasure?
Why do men still feel entitled to scorn and humiliate women when they live in authentic ways?
Why must women only be one thing? Why can’t they decide to change? Why does society still berate them for their multitudes?
La Traviata | Opera Queensland
As curtains rose on the lavish opening party scene, I couldn’t help but feel it was simply an extension of the pre-show mingling that I’d borne witness to just outside the doors. I’d also heard that opera, in its penchant for the re-staging of classic works and the capacity to afford to do so, often offers a vivid window into an era, a place, or a moment in time. And for Opera Queensland’s La Traviata, this was true of both the stage and the foyer.
Cool Story Bro | Big Fork Theatre
One of the coolest parts of Cool Story Bro is that every show night is its own opening and closing night. What happened on Friday night will never happen again, and the only people in the world who got to experience it are those who were in the room. So for all those reading this, I’m sorry, but you will never, ever, get to experience the pure extasy of watching a group of people spontaneously assume the role of sperms and egg in the fight for fertilisation.
Love Lust Lost | Broad Encounters
This desire to return immediately to a show I have just seen is a trait I feel is unique to immersive theatre. Most theatre tickets will send you to witness a story, while a ticket to Love Lust Lost is a ticket to send you into a new world. A must-sea.
Love, Lust, Lost | Broad Encounters
Words cannot give this show justice, as the level of immersion and the depth of character cannot be overstated. Immersive theatre is the way of the future, and Love Lust Lost proves that. No show has ever made me so curious, and I want more people to see the show simply so that I can talk to more people about it. I would say I will see the show again, but I worry that won't be enough.
THREE 2.0 | Australasian Dance Collective
The dance pieces intrigued me and left me thinking about the meaning and message behind them. Each piece was abstract and unique, and brought out their own essence, mood and atmosphere. The choreography, utilising various techniques, with both soft and sharp movements, efficiently expressed human being’s emotional boundaries, the surrounding political physical space, our individuality, as well as our relationship with other people.
The Ugly One | AllEntertainment
This performance is lively and light-hearted, not skirting away from its darker undertones but embracing them with a jaunty devil-may-care attitude. It’s an absurd play, with the supporting actors playing multiple characters each with the same name; which had me tumbling for clarity on a couple moments. It is relentless; the scenes blur quickly into, across, under and over each other, and the actors did a fantastic job of taking us along for a ride with them.
Between Olas | NUDO
It was evident how dedicated the performers are at their craft. Each performer excelled in what they do, both bringing their own cultures to the stage, and performing in sync with each other, culminating in the dance routines coming off as flawless.
Club Extimacy | The Black Box Collective
Each character felt like a person I’d met in a club bathroom, or at least someone like them. The work was a revolving door of fleeting interactions, as the world of the club thumped just outside the piss-stained walls. A hilariously authentic depiction of the bathroom chats and antics that many of us know all too well, this show accurately captured the liminality of club bathrooms.