Jingle Bells Sucks Baubles | Ad Astra
Jingle Bells Sucks Baubles is a show that will 110% get you in the Christmas cheer, but is definitely not one for the children. From hallucinogenic cacti, to in house workouts via a smart watch to silent marches in Chermside over the environmental impacts of Christmas, Pierce Gordon’s script has it all.
Flat Out Like A Lizard | Robert the Cat presents the play by Norman Price
Flat Out Like a Lizard is a play that will have you feeling, though you have to spend some time untangling what it is that you are feeling and why. Presented by Metro Arts and Robert the Cat, it is a confronting piece of theatre that is minimalist in its execution and leaves nothing in the way of performer connecting straight to audience.
Tales from the Colony | Voices of Colour & Skin Deep Collective
It’s hard to believe that it took only ten days for ‘Tales from the Colony’ to be created and then performed on stage. For a work that was complexed, multifaceted and spoke on deep themes and issues, it was suspiring to hear how quick it took for it all to come together, but that’s also a testament to the rawness that was on full display. And when the ending came, the audience on their feet standing, clapping and cheering on in praise: the emotional toll on six incredible performers was evident, and with that the realisation of what we had experienced was more than a show, but a journey of exposing truths, finding identity and baring trauma.
Tales from the Colony | Voices of Colour & Skindeep Collective
Escalating emotions aside, one of the many highlights of the night was sharing the same space with such a rich mix of people of colour from so many different ethnic backgrounds. This truly felt like being back home again. Besides the delivery of the original material, what impressed was the message of hope and reconciliation this conveyed. The youth of the performers belied the intensity and ferocity with which they boldly embraced their storytelling by speaking out about taboo subjects.
Can I Help? | Aaron Dora & Renee Dobbyn
It’s strange to think about how when the lockdowns initially began, I was filled with anxiety and fear around what would happen to me both physical and mentally; to now watching a reading of a play that delves into those fears and anxieties, but finding myself laughing at certain scenes and then being taken back to sadness when the emotional scenes hit. ‘Can I Help?’ does a really good job at weaving in the drama and the serious nature of its topic, while also providing laughs and a fun quality to it.
Smiley | Liam Burke, Sergio Ulloa Torres & Matt Young
Any intimate production lives and dies in its casting and luckily, Smiley is in good hands. Sergio Ulloa Torres and Matt Young effortlessly bring both the comedic chops and depth needed to charm the audience and make Smiley work.
Being Male Is | Jaycob Beven-Delaney & Eli Bunyoung
It was clear to me that these two young performers were drawing on emotional truth when performing this story. They were present with each other and they were present with us. Their dialogue was underpinned by dynamic movement pieces that conveyed an emotional intensity beyond words.
Cosi | THAT Production Company & Mira Ball
The cast was sublime. There was not one actor that was better than the other. Maybe that sounds cliché but it’s the truth. They were a tight knit ensemble, which was exactly what a play like Cosi needs.
That's What She Said | The Good Room
At multiple points during its runtime, The Good Room’s That’s What She Said leverages my literal words and memories to emphasise a certain theme or evoke a particular emotion for its audience. Sitting in that audience, such moments feel particularly surreal and surprising.
The Neighbourhood | La Boite & Multicultural Australia
Directed by La Boite’s Artistic Director Todd MacDonald, The Neighbourhood is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful forms of storytelling that I’ve witnessed both on and off the stage. Featuring seven storytellers (Amer Thabet, Naavi Karan, Matt Hsu, Aurora Liddle-Christie, Anisa Nandaula, Cieavash Arean, Nima Doostkhah), it is a devised work in which each actor shares their own stories, through music, dance, rap or song and by using the space and the set as their own creative playground.
That's What She Said | The Good Room
Once again in ‘That’s What She Said’, The Good Room asks their audience to bare witness to the often unheard storiesof Australians. This time, they seek to tell the stories of the women in ourlives, created as a salute to the grand old broad, Metro Arts before it closed for good on 15 February 2020.
Tower of Babel | Baran Theatre
Tower of Babel is the latest work created by Baran Theatre, an independent Australian-Iranian theatre company based in Brisbane whose works aim “to create social change transformational experiences for audiences”. Co-written by Nasim Khosravi and Greg Manning and directed by Nasim, Tower of Babel is a dense and ambitious piece that tells the stories of migrants and refugees who have come to Australia, what they bring with them and how this benefits our country, and what they risk to lose as they settle here.
Awesome Ocean Party | Giema Contini & Brisbane Powerhouse
Giema Contini is arguably one of the best and most reliable theatrical performers in Brisbane City’s creative community. Regardless of the stipulations of a role or production, she brings a profound generosity and openness to her work that lends everything around her a strange and gentle veracity – a heavy and playful sense of emotional honesty.
Regis Anima | Timothy McGowan and Metro Arts
Directed and written by Timothy McGowan, Regis Anima is a one-woman starring Tenielle Plunkett that explores five women unexpectedly connected, ranging from 9th Century Iceland to today.
Bighouse Dreaming | Declan Furber Gillick
Bighouse Dreaming is the type of work that reminds one of the simple, devastating power of a well-crafted drama … a work that leaves you gasping for breath through sheer storytelling and performance craft.
Giantess | Cassie Workman
[Giantess] is neither scandalous nor tragic, although it offers poignant memories as punctuation to the tale of a little girl, kidnapped by a troll, who will not be released until she finds all the answers, and faces up to her fears. And the answer is revealed through a beautiful show presented as a comedy, but actually a more nuanced performance with storytelling, spoken word, and a fluctuating line of parable.
The Bluebird Mechanicals | Too Close To The Sun
The Bluebird Mechanicals may be one of the tightest, most considered and deliberate works I’ve ever seen. There isn’t an inch of the show that doesn’t feel like it’s been refined and distilled to its purest, most impactful essence. It knows exactly what it wants to say and exactly how to say it. But, the work’s choice of vocabulary and materials in articulating its ideas are so removed from the norm that, again, it can only easily be described as weird.
How to Spell Love | Anisa Nandaula & Queensland Poetry Festival
Anisa Nandaula’s poetry (which, again, is the heart of the work) is deeply confronting and evocative – challenging and documenting the crimes of colonialism, toxic relationships, racism, capitalism and the many unpleasant intersections thereof.
The Tempest | Zen Zen Zo
The Tempest is a play in which none of the narratives have much substance. Instead, the focus is on the complexities of being human and the consequences of our actions. On the surface, the play appears like a world of magic, love and loss, but Bradley asks us to look beneath the surface.
La Silhouette | Sui Ensemble
The central recurring theme of the piece seems to be compassion. This, along with the work’s larger context of appearing in a queer performance festival and explicit preoccupation with marginalised communities, is why its insensitivity and hurt is the framework of this critique.