by Laura Ferguson Tudor costumes, Tudor sets and Tudor morals shine in Stagecraft’s rendition of The Merry Wives of Windsor. The sound of feet tapping draws near and the cast come jigging by the side entrances, a lively and joyful entrance which keeps with the bawdy nature of the play. The director, Ewen Coleman, playing the ‘merry’ part of the title early on to seduce us into the spirit of the play.
Aimee Smith As the weather turns darker and drearier, some of us turn to the lighter things in life. Like, perhaps, an evening spent watching an excellent line-up of female comedians! On as part of the WTF! (Women’s Theatre Festival) at Circa Theatre, Hens’ Teeth may be just the stuff to fix a bleak mood.
by Laura Ferguson “I only am escaped alone to tell thee” this dire sentence from both the Book of Job and Moby Dick serves as motivation and inspiration for celebrated playwright Caryl Churchill’s newest offering Escaped Alone. Juxtaposing an idyllic summer afternoon with friends and morbid renditions of horrific events, Escaped Alone causes deep thoughts to unfurl in each audience member. The question of whether these events are from the past, present or future we can only speculate on, the divisiveness of our opinions becoming clear in the Q & A section after the play ends.
 By Evangelina Telfar
My Dad’s Deaths focuses on the relationship between storytelling comedian Jon Bennett and his melodramatic father. This coming of age story explores family relations, farming life and stand up comedy through a psychotic mash-up of poetry, Facebook statuses, and a list of his father’s many fatal accidents. As the audience sits enthralled, Bennett ties everything together with fast and fluid commentary, keeping the laughter going from start to finish. Aimee Smith
 Alexandra Frost“Psychological flexibility is the sign of a healthy mind. A friend once told me ‘people have the right to their own stories’. Both of these things seem true, and yet they work against each other.” We May Have To Choose demonstrates, even in its very title, that ideological conflicts don't necessarily live on either side of a fence called truth.
by Laura Ferguson My heart quickens as I walk up the stairs, the lights flash electric blue and 80s power rock blast through the room. The thumping bass reverberates through me; I head to the bar with a smile already on my face. I’m at Allergic to Love: Curse of the 80’s and I’m feeling the vibe strongly and so is the rest of the crowd. People are singing, head-banging, air-guitaring, hands in the air as they yell the lyrics to Pour Some Sugar On Me. Who doesn’t love a rock musical bursting into power ballads when they’re in love? Allergic to Love is ridiculous and amazing, the premise alone being enough to entertain. We all want to have a good time tonight, and Allergic to Love comes like a bat out of hell to deliver that for us.
Corey Spence  Colour Me, Nostalgia! is a cute flashback to what kids experience as they grow up. A devised collaboration co-directed by Adeline Esther, Elea Yule, and Ruby Hansen, Nostalgia! follows Will (Matthew Staijen-Leach) and his imaginary friend (Sarah Burton) take an episodic dip into how friendships evolve through the ages. It covers everything from the birds and the bees, to learning about crushes, to sharing your first kiss. It’s attractive and charismatic; I easily identify with and remember some of these episodes from my own childhood.
by Laura Ferguson Loquacious, voracious and tenacious, The Man enters Cavern Club from the rear, cavalierly greeting us. A latex outfit complete with coat-tails squeaks as he swishes through the crowd, the sound a delectable combination of menace and intrigue that only rubber produces. His painted yellow face leers at us through a grotesquely daubed black mouth, smiling, smiling, always smiling, no matter how dire the words it says are. However, this is a comedy show and I laugh through the pain, my hypocrisies staring me in the face. With learning, thinking and laughing being my trifecta of having a good time, it is needless to say that I loved it.
Corey Spence  Directed by Megan Evans, Maybe Laby Fugue combines translated words from Ōta Shōgo’s Barefoot Fugue with choreographed visuals. The audience watches from one-hundred metres away through a glass-encased stairwell as Raicheal Doohan, Pauline Ward, and Reuben Jensen portray ‘bodies’. At the same time, actors Nino Raphael and Izabelle Brown converse beside us as the ‘voices’. This dislocation of body and voice almost creates two separate performances, but the true beauty of Maybe Laby Fugue emerges when you listen and watch in tandem.
Bop Murdoch It’s a treat to see feminine physical theatre that commits fully and unapologetically to its form! Coupling body poetry with spoken word creates a performance-art feel that lends itself nicely to this teaser-sized trance, an element-oriented interpretation of healing.
|
