Tag: theatre review

Theatre review: Dredge

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Dredge:

To bring something unwelcome and forgot or obscure to people’s attention (Oxford Dictionary)

To remove something unwanted (like mud) from the bottom of a body of water (Cambridge Dictionary)

Dredge begins with seven amoeba like creatures pulsating around a well filled with fresh water. The bodies are diverse, but the costumes identical. It is quite a beautiful depiction of curiosity and discovery, initially.

As the show progresses, the well and the actors become muddied – corrupted – and what emerges is brutality, pain, violence, and exhaustion, to the point where the dancers frantic movement begins to destroy the very stage on which they perform – tearing at the curtains in desperation.

What is reflected through movement, water and mud, is the destruction of nature, gender roles, patriarchal systems, and escalating consumerism to the point where we not only consume the planet, but each other, and ultimately ourselves.

How did we get here? Where do we think we are going? And can we be redeemed?

My very smart friend who accompanied me very succinctly described the show as a depiction of the story from Genesis – the creation and fall of man.

What really stood out in this innovative physical theatre piece was the energy, physicality, and body confidence of the actors, who were bold in projecting the emotions the piece demanded of them.  

Dredge is an engaging, energetic and mesmerising piece of experimental physical theatre. Developed and directed by Brandon Armstrong, Dredge is a creation of Femmural Productions with support from The Anchor Theatre Company.

Dredge is showing at Theatre Works in St Kilda until 28th September, tickets can be purchase online.

Fringe review: Spunk Daddy

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I’ve heard a few stories from women friends about having a baby conceived through IVF. However, I’ve never given much thought to the donor of the sperm, jazz, spunk as it’s variously called. Then last night I saw Spunk Daddy, on as part of Melbourne Fringe at The Butterfly Club, a cozy venue perfect for settling in for an intimate story.

Enter the theatre and a young man, Darby James, is sitting there dressed in a sailor suit next to a ships wheel looking a bit like Bob Denver, the hapless first mate of the S.S. Minnow on 60s TV series Gilligan’s Island.

Spunk Daddy is a sweet, heartfelt and funny cabaret that takes us through the story and vulnerabilities of a young queer man deciding to become a sperm donor. From clicking on a random link on Facebook about donating sperm and grappling with the decision, to writing a letter to an unborn child who may never eventuate and that he will probably never meet, and all the dilemmas in between – which I will not venture into as it could spoil the experience.

Spunk Daddy is a clever, fast paced cabaret show. James leaves no stone unturned and fully exposes the ethical and moral dilemmas of having children or of donating sperm so that someone else can. His willingness to expose his inner thoughts and experience uncensored is refreshing and moving.

The Butterfly Club is quirky, kitsch-crammed parlour with a bar. Go early or stay late for a drink while you peruse the decor, and if you’re looking for a close by spot for a bite to eat, I can recommend Little Ramen Bar, a short walk away.

Spunk Daddy runs until the 22 October, so go on, support Fringe and the arts and grab a ticket here.

Theatre review: Night Sweat

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Over our lifetime we spend about six years in a night time dream state, but we rarely pay it much attention. As Foucault said, ‘every act of imagination points implicitly to the dream’, so it is little wonder that the sleep state is a fascination to artists. And sleepwalking takes the night time subconscious meanderings to a whole different level – remember Lady Macbeth exposing her murderous intentions while walking the castle in her sleep?

Night Sweat, on as part of Melbourne Fringe, is a playful, hypnotic exploration of night wanderings, boundaries and states of transition. A perfect place to abandon control and be taken on a journey.

The audience enters an intimate space and takes their seats around a figure clad in a boiler suit, face down asleep on the floor. The experience of entering the performance space is itself like entering a dream state. The stage technician and musical director (Kyle Muir) is leading an audience meditation and as people take their chairs, they close their eyes and slip into his rhythm.

Michelle McCowage’s performance blends physical theatre, poetry, song and humour, and has the distinct feel of improvisation. It is a little discombobulating in the way that waking in the middle of the night mid dream or somewhere other than your bed can be.

Moments of seriousness are interrupted by comedic delivery so you cannot remain in one state for too long. We meet various characters from the performers subconscious including an angel, a child, a fuck boy and Hugo Weaving playing explorer Ernest Henry Shackleton on an Antarctic expedition. On occasion the stage technician steps forward and becomes part of the performance just to throw the audience of kilter a little more.

Night Sweat is written and performed by Michelle McCowage and produced by Liv Bell. Michelle is an exceptional, engaging and versatile performer who keeps the audience captivated for the duration. Original music by Kyle Muir accompanies the performance.

Night Sweat is on at Trades Hall, which has a great little Bar, the Loading Dock, if you feel like a spot to chat before or after the show. The show runs till 8th October so grab a ticket and go along for an evening of suspended reality. You will not be disappointed.

Photographs by Ainsley Halbmeijer

Theatre review: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

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Even if you aren’t a big fan of musical comedy you will enjoy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. This farcical reimagining of Sondheim’s play set in Ancient Rome brings a modern twist to a classical story about mistaken identity. The show was inspired by playwright Plautus, and first performed on Broadway in 1962.

Packed full of slapstick satire and bawdy jokes, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a breathe of fresh air delivered by theatre company Watch This. The all female-identifying caste are packed with talent, and Mel Hillman’s fast paced and upbeat direction delivers a flawless performance.

The House of Senex is occupied by a family and their slaves. When Senex and his wife go on a trip and leave their son Hero in the care of the house slaves, Hero’s personal slave, Pseudolus, makes a bargain with his young master. If he helps the Master win the heart of the girl next door, his Master will grant him freedom. There are two neighbouring houses. One belongs a buyer and seller of beautiful women, the other to an old man who spends his life coming and going in search of his children who were stolen by pirates as infants.

The object of Hero’s desire, Philia, has already been sold to a famous warrior called Miles, who is expected to arrive at any moment to claim her. Pseudolus needs to come up with a plan so that Philia and Hero can stay together and he can win his freedom.

The entire caste are exceptional, but there were a couple of standouts for me. Charmaine Gorman, is pitch perfect and energetic as Pseuolus, and Mel O’Brien, who has honed the facial expressions of the pouty virgin for sale, had me laughing before even opening her mouth.

I highly recommend A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum showing at the iconic Chapel off Chapel until 24th September.

Comedy review: Ned Kelly: the Big Gay Musical

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There’s always been rumours about queer bushrangers. They say Captain Moonlite’s dying wish was to be buried beside fellow gang member, his beloved James Nesbitt. So despite the sensibilities of those who would deny it, queer has always been here, and Ned Kelly: the Big Gay Musical is testament to that view.

Written by Kaine, Ned Kelly: the Big Gay Musical is a drag king extravaganza about Australia’s most loved bushrangers. With an original score, live band The Glen Rowans (aka Apex Bloom – comprising Griffin McGookin, BJ Humphrey, Timothy O’Keefe) will get you jumping in your seats with its rocky tunes that start before you’ve even entered the theatre. This show is a fast paced, action packed, all singing, all dancing, gender bending re-imagining of the story of the Kelly gang, and it’s a hoot.

Part of Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival, this original show is written by Kaine, a music comedian from Ballarat. The venue is small, and the set simple, but the cast set the stage on fire. Monique Kerr (Dan), Sunny Youngsmith (Steve), Erin McIntosh (Joe) and Ellen Morning (Ned) deliver flawless performances as the Kelly gang with great energy and synergy. The fifth actor, Sian Dowler was a stand out, switching between multiple roles (the diary, bank teller, leprechaun, police officers and Queen Victoria).

I saw Ned Kelly: the Big Gay Musical last night and it was sold out, but I believe there are still tickets available for the final performances tonight and Sunday 23rd April. So, dust off your favourite sequinned boots or bushranger hat and get along to the Motley Bauhaus in Carlton for some unbridled fun. Find tickets here.

I can also recommend the Green Man’s Arms for dinner before the show.

Theatre review: Pear-Shaped

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Pear-shaped is a whimsical, funny and at times surreal show that explores the very serious issue of anorexia (trigger warning) and how it impacts families.

Culture, family tradition and sibling relationships take a front seat in this original work by playwrights Miranda Middleton and Ziggy Resnick. The script also draws on the story of Alice in Wonderland as metaphor.

Two sisters of Jewish heritage, played by Ziggy Resnick (Frankie) and Louisa Scrofani (Kayla), grow up in a close knit family with a mother who works relentlessly to support them and a grandmother who survived concentration camps and likes to feed people. When one of the sisters develops a psychological illness their relationship falters.

As Kayla struggles with anorexia, the family watch with horror. The mother works harder to try to hold the family together and pay medical bills whilst Ziggy who is trying to work on a show that is an interpretation of Alice in Wonderland becomes resentful at what she perceives as her Kayla’s deliberate insistence on losing weight because she believes she is fat. Her pleading and angry outbursts fall on deaf ears as Kayla remains trapped in her personal torment.

The performance slides between the past and present and slips into Alice in Wonderland with some fabulous moments of playful magical realism that provide both light relief from the sombre subject matter and help communicate it. Humorous puppetry and hand cameos are provided by Cameron Steen.

The young cast handles the difficult content and multiple characters well with fast paced direction to keep the narrative moving at pace. The show has great set design by Grace Deacon that adapts well to enable the beautiful moments of magical realism using the Alice tropes and Aaron Murray’s lighting effects.

Pear -Shaped is on at Theatreworks until 15th April. Find tickets here.

The Butterfly Foundation provides support for eating disorders and body image issues.

Theatre review: Devastating Beauty by Christopher Fieldus

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Midsummer show Devastating Beauty by Christopher Fieldus is an original performance fusing prose poetry, storytelling and cabaret.

From a boy in Thailand who felt he was ‘too much’ to a young lover in Melbourne who discovered he was ‘not enough’. Devastating Beauty is about growing up queer and personal crises.

Fieldus enters the stage in dazzling drag, including the most exquisite sequin platform shoes. They start to tell us about a young boy growing up in an expat family in Thailand who then moved to Melbourne.

As a story of longing unfolds, Fieldus tells of their journey to adulthood, shedding clothing along the way to reveal their true self.

Fieldus has an extraordinary vocal range reminiscent of a young Freddie Mercury or Paul Capsis. In Devastating Beauty they do justice to music by the likes of Celine Dion, Róisín Murphy and The Killers intertwined in a spoken word story of self discovery that will touch your heart.

Devastating Beauty runs nightly at 7.15pm till Saturday 11th February at The Motley Bauhaus in Carlton. The Motley is an intimate venue with a bar and snacks so go a bit early and grab a beer for the show.

Get tickets for Devastating Beauty and support Midsumma live performances, you won’t be disappointed.

Theatre review: promiscuous/cities by Lachlan Philpott

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Midsumma Festival, Melbourne’s queer arts and cultural festival runs 21 January to 12 February and boy has it come a long way since it began in 1989. Last night I went to see Promiscuous Cities written by Lachlan Philpott and showing at Theatre Works in St Kilda.

The production is set in the round and opens with a lone woman sitting on a stool, then it explodes. The props are sparse but versatile, and well designed costumes help bring the characters of the twelve talented young actors to life. The choreography is exquisite and creative and moves the actors seamlessly at pace from scene to scene in a way that enhances the aesthetics.

Promiscuous Cities has a bit of everything – at one moment like a cabaret, then a ballet, then a traditional play – but what sounds like a mish-mash works beautifully to tell a tale of the city of San Francisco. Multiple fast paced story lines run through the show exposing the underbelly of San Francisco, famed as a place of freedom and liberal thought.

What you get is glimpses into the cities many subcultures, the impact of the IT boom and the gentrification that has spawned homelessness, the ongoing legacy of the HIV pandemic, and the impacts of street violence and drugs. Promiscuous Cities show oozes queerness and reminded me of a trip I did to San Fran about eight years ago when I was lucky enough to get some insights from a local I met there.

Promiscuous Cities is a professional quality production that deserves a full house every night, so get a ticket before they all sell out. The show runs till 24th January.

Theatre review: Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical

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Enter an 80’s parallel universe through the quirky, boppy, playful romp – Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical – a nostalgic, rock-driven song and dance spoof poking fun at the 80s – you’ll recognise references to Dungeons and Dragons, Dirty Dancing and Slushie’s, just to name a few.

Not much happens in small towns – until it does. When teenager Will goes missing in Hawkins, Indiana in 1983, his nerdy mates go looking for him. Turns out Will has been kidnapped by an interdimensional monster and it takes a strange telepathic girl called Eleven to help find him.

The Australian premier of this Off-Broadway show inspired by the Netflix series Stranger Things is preformed by Salty Theatre. The choreography is excellent, the music nostalgically catchy and the acting to a professional standard. The character Barb Holland (Stacey-Louise Camilleri), a dorky girl with raging hormones, second fiddle to her gal pal, Nancy, stole the show for me with her larger than life personality.

If you’ve seen Stranger Things this show will be familiar but you don’t need to be a fan to enjoy the performance – it had me laughing out loud.

Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical is on at Meat Market in North Melbourne with its spectacular barrel vaulted ceiling. The venue is a heritage listed building that was home to Melbourne’s wholesale meat trade in the 1880’s and was transformed into an arts hub. There’s parking just around the corner in Bedford Street.

Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical runs till 19th November. Last night was a raucous full house, so get your tickets soon if you don’t want to miss out.

Theatre review: HYSTERICA

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I’m popping out a couple of extra posts this month as Melbourne Fringe is on and we all need to get out and support the performing arts in Melbourne…go on…

Women have always made history in equal measure to men, but with only about 0.5% of them traditionally appearing on the historical records, their contributions were often forgotten – that is until women started to rewrite the records…

In Melbourne Fringe show, HYSTERICA, actors Tess Parker and Mary Steuten deliver a piece of historical revisionism through monologue to tell the stories of four extraordinary women – Alice Anderson, business woman, garage proprietor and motor mechanic (1897-1926); Joy Hester, artist and member of the Angry Penguins movement and the Heidi Circle integral to the development of Australian Modernism (1920-1960); Elizabeth Gould (1804-1841), botanical artist and illustrator, much of whose work is believed to have been attributed to her husband naturalist and author John Gould (sigh); and the more contemporary story of Dawn Faizey-Webster who developed locked in syndrome after suffering a brainstem stroke that left her only able to communicate by blinking her left eye. Faizey-Webster still went on to complete a degree, a Masters and commence a doctorate.

Despite challenges with the shows lighting (the lighting deck got drenched in yesterdays downpour so the actors had to work under fluorescent strip lighting to avoid electrocuting anyone), Parker and Steuten put on thought-provoking performances that made me want to find out more about the characters they inhabited. Tess Parker’s portraits of Alice Anderson and Elizabeth Gould were particularly expressive and engaging.

HYSTERICA is showing at Theatre Works new venue, the Explosives Factory which is down a back alley and up a flight of stairs into a warehouse space in St Kilda. Running 4-8th October, tonight is the final show, so get in quick.

I stand on the sacrifices of a million women before me thinking what can I do to make this mountain taller so the women after me can see farther

Rupi Kaur