Present Laughter, ACT Hub, 4-14 June

 Noel Coward's 1942 comedy is a self-portrait, or at least a portrait of the self that Coward wanted to present to the public - a celebrity at the centre of his universe, looked after by his colleagues and staff but somehow caught in hetrosexual romantic entanglements and crises of his own ego. Recent revivals have allowed elements of Coward's own homosexuality to enter the picture (both this version and the Old Vic production filmed for NT Live with Andrew Scott) in different cross-gender castings in key roles, but the story largely remains the same - of an egomaniac under siege. It's a show that needs a gentleman of a certain age to play the Coward-substitute, meaning that of the big 4 Coward Plays ("Hay Fever", "Private Lives", "Blithe Spirit" and this), it's the least revived - quality leading men are a rare supply.

Fortunately, the ACT Hub has Jarrad West, in fine form as Garry Essendine, the centre of this play's universe. Petulant, self-important, hectoring, lustful and frequently getting as good as he gives, West gets to use several of his considerable talents in giving us a rounded picture of a celebrity at home - from the sarcastic bon-mots cast at his colleagues to the sufferings when people intrude on him and make him the target of their own agendas. It's a consummate star performance and completely owns the stage. 

Fortunately, he's supported by a cast just as strong - Callum Doherty has never been as beautiful as he is as the flirtatiously dopey David Skillington, calculating yet vulnerable. Jenna Roberts steals scenes openly as the grim Swedish housekeeper Miss Erikson, mordantly enjoying herself with her tales of suburban spiritualism and cadging a few cigarettes into the bargain. Leonidas Katsanis as the valet Fred brings a practical, direct manner to the character, rising above the madness. Tracy Noble as secretary Monica gives us the effort to wrangle her erring employer towards some level of engagement with things he needs to actually be doing, along with a genuine affection towards him. Crystal Mahon as Garry's not-quite-ex-wife Liz gives charm and slightly scolding affection in a way that indicates why they're not quite-exes-yet. Michael Cooper as the bumptious Roland Maule is a strong, startling presence as the self-confident steamroller of a fan who starts by insulting before switching to equally threatening worship. Amy Kowalczuk has grand efficiency as gender-swapped Henrietta. Joe Dinn is all emotional crisis as Morris, and Karina Hudson is effortlessly seductive as Joanna. 

Karen Vickery directs with a slightly loose hand (in particular the melencholic tag of the play feels like it goes on a little too long) but when the play is at full farcial energy, it is delightfully over the top and fun. Fiona Leach nad Jennie Norberry's costumes are beautifully chosen, and Karen Vickery and Michael Spark's set gives glamour and luxury to the ACT Hub space. 

This is a delight, with a strong company giving support to a definitive, undiluted Jarrad West Stunner of a performance. It's stylish, charming and utter fun. Catch it quick. 

If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You, Everyman Theatre, ACT Hub, 14-24 May

 

(photo by Ben Appleton, Photox Photography) 

John O'Donavan's play looks at two young men in modern Ireland, a country emerging from a long history of conservative Catholic dogma into a more modern and accepting world - both have recently robbed a group of service stations and the parents of one of them and are hiding on the roof of a house near their home, wating for the heat to die down. But the main thing they have to deal with is their mutual attraction and what they're going to do with it - with Mikey being out and Casey not, they find themselves talking around the topic and finding rationalisations for not taking things any further. The big bag of cocaine that was hiding in Casey's mum's boyfriend's toilet is an incentive to push them into being more honest about where things stand, and to make decisions that will affect both of them. 

Joel Horwood directs this with a sensitive ear for the moments between the pair - keeping them moving on a realistic isolated island of a roof (designed by Horwood and Isaac Reilly), in their distinctive casual wear (costumes by Winsome Ogilvie). Robert Kjellgren as Mikey has the broader role, confronting how being out in high school has hardened him and made it more difficult for him to deal with the opening up of the world around him - while Joshua James as Casey is more ruled by fear and doubt and coping mechanisms in a more tightly controlled performance. There's a great give and take between the pair as they open up in between moments of fear and doubt, and like the best of Irish drama there's a great joy in the use of language as the character's phrasing feels precise and true. 

Lachlan Houen's lighting adds to the mood, as various risks arise below, with low-angled lighting pointing up at the young men, and Neille Pye's sound design adds street effects to take us to the small-town Friday night feeling. 

This is a compelling tight 90 minutes of drama that captures an emotional journey between two men with heart and soul - a mix of crime, romance and coming-of-age. 

Posh, Queen Hades Productions, Old Fitz Theatre, 19 Apr-17 May

 Laura Wade's 2010 play is very much of a time and a place - the time is just after the general election that returned the Conservatives to government in Britain, and the place is a small country gastropub, a reasonable distance from Oxford University, where a club of ten young men are gathering for a dinner of extreme indugence - all in their finest coat tails and pin striped pants. It's clear that their club has a long and somewhat debauched history, and it's equally clear that many of the young men are not entirely confident that they can live up to the reputation of that history, though goodness knows they'll try. Various participants are responsible for preparing elements from an indulgent main course to a call girl for entertainment during the evening to cocaine to enjoy during the meal and an after-trip to Rejkavik. But for all their money, these young men's inadequacies are just as apparent and the resentment pushes outside to find whatever fresh victim is available nearby, once they stop picking at each other, leading to a truly horrific event...

This is a study of how the British colonise themselves, from the ruling class down, showing the pettiness and resentments that drive their behaviour into worse and worse territory. Director Margaret Thaons joins a long history of women directors who have tackled this play and does it with style and flair, making sure all 10 men are very different types, from the Bertie Wooster-ish George  (Tristian Black) to the one-upping Dmitri (Anthony Yangoyan) to the camp Hugo (Jack Richardson), the truly arseholish Harry (AJ Evans) and the darkly brooding Alistair (Christian Paul Byers). Nearly all of them are actors I've not seen before and all of them are actors I'm eager to see again as soon as possible - they're all compelling and bring the types to life.

Staging a play of this size in the old Fitz is a miracle of direction, maneuvering a large cast through such a small space dominated by a large dining table. With the audience up close any instance of artifice is instantly detectable and nothing slips for a second. It's a horribly fascinating view up close of those who believe themselves to be the best of the best, behaving as the worst of the worst, and it's essential viewing. 

The Wrong Gods, Belvoir St Theatre and Melbourne theatre Company, Belvoir, 3 May-1 Jun

 Writer S. Shakhtidaran has had a pretty good run with Belvoir, from his debut, "Counting and Cracking" in 2019 (reviewed here) to his follow-up "The Jungle and the Sea" (reviewed here) - both big-scale epics directed by company director Eamon Flack. This time he returns with a smaller scale show (cast of four rather than 16 in the first and 11 in the second), all set in one location rather than the multiple locations of the other two, but thematically it's dense material - starting as something simple and domestic between a mother who wants to keep her daughter in her small village living a traditional lifestyle and the daughter who wants to further her education and opportunities, and building in the second act to bigger questions about the whole village and potentially the nature of human civilisation itself. 

Keerthi Subramanyam's set and costumes are simple but stylish - the set with its deeply etched surfaces, and the costumes setting up the conflicts of the story with the mix of traditional garb and modern business wear. The quartet of Sri Lankan women in the centre of the cast are outstanding - Nadie Kammallaweera as the mother combines warm feelings for her daughter with a strong sense of tradition and connection to her culture, while Radhika Mudaliyar combines the family affection with the engagement with the wider world. Manali Datar lends strong support as someone converted to the village life, while Vaishnavi Suryaprakash presents with compassionate detachment that proves all too risky.

The build of the play could feel forced in other productions - there are points where the stakes get quite astonishingly huge - but somehow in this tight intimate production, it holds strong - while it in some was proves a little diadactic in its clear preference for traditional societies over modern progress (the titular "wrong gods"), it's still asks interesting and difficult questions to handle. 

Bloom, Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company, Ros Packer Theatre, 29 Mar-11 May

 Tom Gleisner has been on Australian TV screens for around 40 years (if you include his early D-Generation stuff) though he's only previously been involved in writing for the stage with a co-writing credit on Working Dog's 2014 play "The Speechmaker" (which was simulataneously a sell-out hit for Melbourne Theatre Company and something that the production team decided to never take anywhere else). Still, that kind of media profile tends to jump the queue for production, even in genres which the writer isn't really known for. Gleisner's never written a musical before but the form fits him like a glove - a mixture of sentiment and jokes in a very human story of lives in a retirement home. 

He's lucky to have the support of Dean Bryant, who understands the musical form completely - having previously directed "Fun Home" and "Dear Evan Hansen" for STC, he understands how to keep a musical moving and active and visually interesting. In this case, on Dann Barber's set that starts as institutionally bleak and realistic before finding magic places to go later in the show, there's a charming mix of comedy, rhythm, style and humanity in here as we get to know the lives of the residents, the staff and the management over the course of around 105 minutes. 

There are three performances at the center of the show - Slone Sudiro as the viewpoint character, Finn, a somewhat hapless aide brought in as a program for cheap work in exchange for a place to live gives him a millennial charm even as the character is frequently out of his depth; Evlyn Kraape as annoyed recent arrival, Rose, who gives the role a touch of edge, rage and mischevous charm; and Christie Whelan Browne as the retirement home Mrs MacIntyre who is brilliantly dislikably condescending, her solo number "Everything I Do" a particualr highlight as she stomps across the stage in tight skirt and high heels, imperious as always. Elsehere in the cast Vidya Makan and Christine O'Neill are a fine pair of nurses showing their experience, John Waters and Jackie Rees sell a sweet late--in-life romantic subplot, Maria Mercedes and John O'May are basically both given one-joke characters but sell their one joke well, and Eddie Muliaumaseali'i plays four different roles without ever losing the distinction between them. 

Katie Weston's score has a nicely bouncy style, though little really hangs around in the memory afterwards, it's more stuff that works in the moment. The main reason the show seems to be a musical is to allow a looser sense of reality to get into the plot and to let the characters more distinctly declare their desires in a tune rather than a speech - and that's enough of a reason. If this isn't the Great Australian Musical, it's the Perfectly Acceptable Australian Musical that people should enjoy. 

Blithe Spirit, Canberra Rep, 1-17 May

 "Blithe Spirit" is what is known as a warhorse - a comedy that has a broad popular appeal that attracts an audience and can reliably be seen as an appealing night out. I've reviewed it twice in the last decade-and-a-bit - once at Rep in 2014 and once by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2022. Coward's comedy about love-after-death-turning-into-the-same-petty-squabbles-after-death, with its rich range of characters and a plot that twists and turns thoroughly delightfully, holds up as a good night's entertainment.

In Lachlan Houen's production, it's also served by a strong cast of imposing personalities and some directorial ideas that make sure a 1940s comedy feels entirely at home here-and-now - from building focus on the maid Edith (playd by Liv Boddington with an enthusiastic glee and energy), to introducing more contemporary music into the mix. Two of the cast are back from Rep's 2014 go, but Elaine Noon has upgraded from the small role of Mrs Bradman to the substantial one of the medium-with-the-most, Madame Arcarti - she takes full advantage of Suzan Cooper's spectacularly eccentric costume to wheel around the stage delivering stenorian chants, gesticulate mysteriously, and otherwise natter endearingly as a thouroughly delightful eccentric. Peter Holland has returned to the central male role of Charles, but it feels like he's given the role a bit more manic energy and genuine emotional warmth between him and his ghostly ex-wife Elvira in between the more bitter banter. Winsome Ogilvie as Elvira has a sly glamour and charm with a wicked edge underneath that makes sure we're always guessing what her true motives are. Alex McPherson as second-wife-Ruth embodies the rising frustration as her husband's focus is split between her and a rival she can't see or hear. John Stead gives Dr Bradman a nice level of compassion and warmth, and Antonia Kitzel's Mrs Bradman enjoys her gossipy socialising while dropping huge chunks of exposition.  

Andrew Kay and Michael Sparks' set is highlghted by an art deco curve in the centre and creates a good set of spaces for the actors to play in, and Leanne Galloway's lighting moves from charming post-dinner conversation to spooky seance iwth aplomb and Marlene Claudine Radice's sound design makes sure all the spooky noises are suitably spooky. 

In short this is a war horse that engages in battle and rides well - showing off a few new tricks into the bargain. Funny, stylish and enjoyable. 

Sweet Charity, Free Rain, The Q, 29 Apr-18 May

 Free Rain's latest production is a retro delight, taking a 1966 musical that I'd previously been convinced was locked into it's old era (see my review of the 2015 Hayes Theatre company tour here) in a production that's stylish, clever and both a tribute to Bob Fosse's original choreography and prodeuction concept and a bright vehicle for new-to-Canberra-Stages Amy Orman. The show was originally a vehicle for Fosse's muse and wife, Gwen Verdon, and Orman is stage centre for 90% of the action, and absolutely owns the stage with confidence, charm and adorability - you take her to your heart in the first five minutes and never lose interest in her for the next two and a half hours of stage time.

The show itself is still the 1960's adaptation of Fellini's film "Nights of Cabiria" using the American phenomenon of taxi-dancers as a substitute for Fellini's prostitute, with a plot that is more a series of incidents in Charity's life rather than a developing narrative - but here, it's staged abstractly on Chris Zuber's set of abstract wire frames and see-through backdrops (with the orchestra visible behind), allowing the set to be cleared easily so the dance scenes can take over the stage whenvver required. A large chorus serves as both background, stage crew and occasionally furniture, as well as assembling for group numbers like "Big Spender", "Rich Man's Frug", "Rhythm of Life" and "I'm a Brass Band", but our focus is always on Charity's gentle, emotive reactions to the events that happen to her. The secret weapon of the show is Dorothy Field's sharp, slangy lyrics - sitting perfectly on the music while giving insight into character, always funny, fresh and surprising. 

Teaming with Orman is a talented supporting cast - Vanessa Valois as the cynical, sharp and yet gently loving Nickie, Kristy Griffin as the equally sharp Helene, Alissa Pearson as the Fandango Ballroom's gruff-but-with-a-soft-side chief Herman, Joshua Kirk as the neurotic-but-loveable-up-until-the-last-scene-Oscar, Eamon McCaughan as the haughty-but-goofy lounge lizard celebrity Vittorio Vidal and Kate Lis as the fantastically groovy Daddy Brubeck.

Joel Horwood keeps the show flowing, incorporating scene shifts around Charity, never letting the tone dip into depressing and even wrangling with the show's notoriously tricky ending tone with speed and vigour to wrap things up on a not-too-down note. Callum Tolhurst-Close brings together cast and orchestra to create great versions of iconic songs, and choreographer James Tolhurst-Close captures the Fosse essence in his chorus with tight, spectacular performances of dances both across the cast ("Rich Man's Frug") and tight trios ("There's Gotta Be Something Better than This"). Fiona Leach's  costumes are a rich mix of outfits from the elite black-and-white of the club Pompeii crowd to the sprawling colours of the Rhythm of Life church. 

This is a fun, fresh vehicle that serves an iconic score and a well known show with charm, wit, spectacle and generous dollops of emotion. It's a great, sophisticated, clever night out. 

Are You Lonesome Tonight, The Q and Opera Queensland, The B, 15 Apr (and subsequent performances in Griffith, Gouburn, Bathurst, Cessnock, Wagga Wagga, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Casino, Tamworth, Roma, Winton, Longreach, Balcardine, Blackall, Gympie, Gold Coast til May 31st)

 Opera Queensland's touring show is a melding of Opera and Country music, treating both with respect while delivering a potted history lesson and samplings of several of the hits. A talented trio of performers, both on voice and playing guitar, Cello and violin, accompanied by Trevor Jones (fresh from his accompanist/major-general duties on "Pirates of Penzance") present exeprts from "Corronation of Poppea", "Marriage of Figaro", "La Boheme", "Carmen", "La Traviata" and "The Rabbits", alternating with Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, Troy Casser-Daley and Slim Dusty, exploring the commanalities and differences of the two forms. 

In some ways this is an "opera for beginners" walk through, a way of presenting work to an audience that may not be familiar with the forms in a comfortable environment - but there's some strong staging in here, from Penny Challen's design and Wesley Bluff's subtle lighting scheme, to director Laura Hansford's variation of presentation from plain concert delivery to creative stage pictures in the "Figaro", "Boheme" and the closing delivery of the title song. All three performers are in fine voice for both - Gabriella Diaz on her cello and in her mixed-opera-country outfits, Jonathan Hickey on Violin and Marcus Corowa on guitar. It's a charming, fun evening, even if it never goes as deep into either genre as aficionados may want, it's a gentle skim across the highlights of the artforms, and a fine, charming evening. 

The Moors, Lexi Sekuless Productions, Mill Theatre at Dairy Road, 26 Mar-12 Apr

 Evoking the 19th century gothic novels of the Bronte sisters (and elements of the lives of them as well), with the dour and moody Yorkshire moors reflecting the inner passions of two sisters, their maid, the recently arrived governess (despite there not being any child to tutor), a mastiff and a moorhen, "The Moors" is a delightfully odd play full of grim corners, surprise twists, rage, literary conciets and lust and plays wonderfully in the intimate Mill Theatre, on Aloma Barnes' set which serves both for indoor scenes and outdoors with a painting scheme that lets the characters blend into nature while their outfits stand out boldly. 

Joel Horwood's production perfectly captures the mood, with each performance attuned to build the atmosphere and tension, as we start to learn who's the predator and who the prey. Andrea Close anchors the play as the foreboding, grim Agatha, grandly imposing in her wide-framed dress. Rachael Hudley as the wannabe-writer, Hudley, is suitably scatterbrained, self-absorbed and easily over-ridden by Agatha. Sarah Nathan-Truesdale as the newly arrived Governess is a bold-but-bewhildered entryway into the narrative, easily steered by the various influences upon her. Steph Roberts as Margery, the maid, does powerful looming and incipient portents of doom to perfection, building a sense of delight in her slow-bulilding vengeance. Chris Zuber and Petronella van Tienen as the Mastiff and the Moorhen provide a somewhat poetic accompaniment to the human plot,  with a sweet romance that turns sour as their natures betray them.

Damien Ashcroft's sound and Stefan Wronski's lighting add to the mood, the tension and the delight of the piece. All in all it's a strangely delightful evening, a play that simultaneously takes the feelings seriously and makes the results of those feelings hilarious in a way that lands between spoof-and-seriousness that means you both enjoy the delights of the Bronte's gothic moods and appreciate the light mocking that it gets. 

The House of Bernarda Alba, Chaika Theatre, ACT Hub, 19-29 Mar

Photo from Jane Duong Photography

Frederico Garcia Lorca's 1936 Spanish tragedy of five sisters trapped together under a domineering mother where their own desires tear them apart is a masterpiece of tension and dramatic release - set during a long hot summer, the emotions are palpable and the tensions can be cut like a knife. As oldest sister (and inheritor of the family fortune) Angustius prepares for her wedding day, the other sisters develop their own plans, building to a crashing climax. Karen Vickery's production embodies this tension, makes it palpable in the glances, in the tones of voice and in the movements of the actresses. 

Leading the cast is the dominating Zsuzsi Soboslay, imperious and upright as Bernarda - a stiff reed in the changing winds. Sophie Bernassi as Angustius sells the frustration, the release and the crashing loss as she tries to mould herself to her mother's expectations and comes against her sisters' own needs. Karina Hudson as Adela, rhapsodic in her lusts, is so wonderfully selfish and possessed by her ambitions that you can see the disaster ahead without being able to stop it. Yanina Clifton as Martirio has a great, scheming undercurrent of rage and demand for her own satisfaction, hoarding her hidden knowledge of what's going on to release it at a time when it'll cause the most damage. Amy Kowalckzuk is beautifully able to sublimate her own desires with emphatic embroidery, sudden glances or an inappropriate snort as Magdalena. Christina Falsone as the housekeeper Poncia watches and attempts to advise, knowing she can't stop the disaster that is coming down the line towards all of them. And Alice Ferguson's Maria Josefa falls into revelries of her own desire for freedom, now long gone with her youth. 

Vickery's production uses the in-the-round stage as an arena for us to examine these women's struggles, on Marc Hetu's simple red-brick stage. Fiona Leach's costumes capture the mood and the heat as the women move from confining mourning wear to lounging slips and sleepwear. It's a true steam-train of a prodction, relentlessly moving to its inevitable conclusion, a sultry, tense evening of tragedy and power. This is a classic given form and power in a strong, intimate production driven by its actresses. It should be seen and savoured. 

The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty, Hayes Theatre Co in association with the Art House Wyong, Hayes Theatre, 14 Feb-16 Mar (and subsequent tours to Wollongong and Canberra)

 

photography John McCrae

For a show that's 145 years old, "Pirates of Penzance" certainly has held pretty solidly in the repertoire. Of course since Gilbert and Sullivan's work went out of copyright it's had a few strategic revisions (the 1980 Public Theatre adaptation starring Linda Rondstadt and Kevin Kline was the model for a lot of changes, some of which got ported across into the popular Essgee version with John English and Simon Gallagher, though the Australian Opera's last go-around also imported a lot of design elements from "Pirates of the Caribbean"). For this version, the second Gilbert and Sullivan done by the Hayes (following the HMS Pinafore which toured to Queanbeyan in 2020), it's cut down to a cast of five, letting everybody double all over the place as well as playing instruments throughout to bump up the sound. To allow for this, director Richard Caroll has indulged in the post-copyright tradition of fiddling with the lyrics and the script, doing some slight streamlining of some elements of the plot while also throwing in some bonus extraneous gags. 

For the most part the storytelling is left pretty much intact, as are most of the songs (with one interpolation from "Patience"). A simple small stage area with some wandering allowed into some of the audience gives our cast plenty of room to manouvre, with Jay Laga'aia a boisterous Pirate King, a suitably humble Chief of Police and a titteringly charming daughter of Major General Stanley; Brittanie Shipway enjoying both the innocent virgin soprano Mabel and the somewhat more bitter (particularly in a Brecht-Weill-inspired "When Frederic Was a Little Lad") contralto Ruth, in fine voice in both of them. Maxwell Simon is our slightly-dimwitted hero Frederic, who beams innocent charm throughout, and Billie Palin fills in as everything else like a troubadour. And Musical Director Trevor Jones also covers as Major General Stanley taking his patter song at a rate of knots and filing in mutliple other roles with gentle skill . The cast members are rarely off-stage for long before charging back on in a different persona (or occasionally switching mid-scene without exiting) and it's a very lively production.

There are a couple of points where the rewrites do bow a little more to modern sensabilities than they really need to (the ending, in particular, is a little shaky, dragging out the ending to give justice to one of G&S's much abused contralto roles), and it's all very rompy - I do feel fortunate that Queanbeyan Players is bringing in a full-orchestra version of the show in a few months so I can get a proper Pirates alongside this somewhat sillier version - but Pirates in any version is always going to be a light piece of nonsense, and this keeps the spirits up nicely. 

Song of First Desire, Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir Street Theatre, 13 Feb-23 Mar

Photo: Brett Boardman
 

Andrew Bovell's latest play was written on commission for the Spanish theatre collective Numero Uno, after two of his previous works had been hits in Madrid - "When the Rain Stops Falling" and "Things I know to be true". Two years after its premiere there, he gets his Australian debut at Belvoir, in a beautifully simple production. 

Some of Bovell's usual techniques are here again - the strategic bending of time and character (as all four actors play double roles across two different time schemes) and the unburdening of personal traumas - in this case, connected to the wider national trauma of Spain's emergence from forty years of fascist rule, and the damages it left behind on two families across years. The quartet of actors is gathered from two men from the original Madrid production and two New Zealand actresses who have both worked in Australia before - the set a mound of earth with a little bit of a garden on the edges, suggestive of buried secrets and the wastage they leave behind. There's strength in all four performers - Sarah Pierce as the damaged elderly Carmelia and the more immediately active Margerita - Kerry Fox as both the bitter sister and the wife of a senior facist leader - Borje Maeste as a migrant carer and as a young man about to be sent overseas - and Jorge Muriel as two men ultimately driven by lusts they barely understand. 

Morgan Maroney's lighting design is precision-close, creating corridors and shadows that suggest the locked-down world that these characters exist in, bringing to mind the ghosts of the past that underlie the play.  Mel Page's muddy, adapatable design is probably pure hell for the crew (the footprints having to be raked back out again after every performance) but it's a powerfully real location. It's a raw, emotional piece, delving deep into unpleasant truths in a way that feels uncomfortably familiar as we see history seeming to arc back towards this kind of darkness again. It's a play that's far more topical than anybody in the play wants it to be, and it's absolutely worth experiencing. 

4000 Miles, Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney Theater Company, 17 Feb-23 Mar

 

(photography Daniel Boud)

Amy Herzog's 2011 play tells the story of a grandson and his grandmother -of him coming to her apartment in desperation after a personal disaster and the weeks that follow which map out the nature of the relationship between them. It's a prickly relationship with the somewhat-deaf and prickly Vera and her reticent grandson Leo resolving some but not all of their issues over the course of a hundred minutes in stage time - for the boy, a first encounter with mortality, the dissolution of a relationship and his choice of a path ahead, for Vera, a reflection on her own past relationships and what mattered in her life. Along the way we meet two young women Leo's connected with - his long term girlfriend Bec and a one night stand, Amanda - both of which bring fresh perspectives on the pair. 

A lot of the narrative drives from Leo - we're given an arc of his escape from responsibility into an emerging sense of him accepting new ones - Vera comes across as a little underwritten (which is ironic given 90% of Herzog's writers note is about how the character is based on her own grandma) - we get elements of her past and present but I don't sense that Herzog has fully thought through how a woman in her senior years finds purpose outside of family. There are some intriguing thoughts on the complacency of the comfortably well-off leftists who imagine themselves better people because they've been standing up against bad behaviour in their own country, never reflecting on how leftist policies have damaged people in other countries - but again, this examination never gets particularly deep. It's largely an attempt at comfortable warm vibes rather than a lot of thought on the issues it produces, and Kenneth Morelada's production largely produces those vibes well, with Jeremy Allen's comfortable West Village apartment giving us a stylish, intellectual retreat. 

Nancye Hayes as Vera anchors the evening well - giving Vera a lot of sharp, cantankerous edges combined with vulnerability. Shiv Palekar as Leo gives the combination of youthful enthusiasm and sudden damage from recent traumatic events palpable power - we know immediately something's going on behind his actions and the unravelling as it proceeds is powerful. Ariadne Sgouros relies a little bit too much on a self-protective smile to barely conceal the concerns Bec has underneath - she should have been assisted to find other ways of expressing the uneasy relationship she has with Leo than just one facial expression. Shirong Wu has one scene but makes it count, giving her character variety and life and presenting a strong contrasting viewpoint into the otherwise cosy environment. 

Kelsey Lee's lighting design shifts moods well, giving a sense of different times in the same room - and Jessica Dunn's composition and sound design adds to the mood as we transition between times.

This isn't the strongest season opener of STC's recent seasons - it's a little too eager to be gently ingratiating for that - but it's a good opportunity to see a theatrical legend like Hayes and to observe a human connection across the footlights. 

Baby Jane, Canberra Rep, Canberra Rep Theatre, 20 Feb-8 Mar

Photographer: Antonia Kitzel.

Henry Farrel's 1960 novel "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" became a sensation when filmed in 1962 - the combination of aging divas Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in a story about two mutually dependent sisters, aging and squabbling while one slips into dementia caused a box office smash and defined the rest of their careers in a series of somewhat lurid shockers. But Ed Wightman's adaptation of the novel takes it back to the original - much of the high-camp is removed and we're returned to a brutal drama about frustrated dreams, childhood exploitation and desperation. This isn't just a tour of memorable moments of the movie - there's no rat and there's no "but you are in that chair, Blanche" - instead we get a stronger look at what made Jane the cracked person we see and the consequences of decades of neglect.

Locking down this more realistic tone is Louise Bennett in the title role - the child within Jane is never far from the surface, including the immaturity and capriciousness of a child, as well as the strong sense of carrying around foundational pain. The role gives her plenty of room to move - there's a moment when she sings when it becomes apparent that if Jane could only learn how to function as an adult she could have a rich and powerful career as a singer, but her stunted expectations of herself as a child performer keep her a disturbing freak - and she seizes every opportunity to explore the range from broken child to bitter monster. Matching her is Victoria Tyrell Dixon as wheelchair-bound sister Blanche - you get the sense of the vain and pampered actress and she's not just a simpering victim to Jane's rages-  she rages back with equal strength. Elsewhere, Andrea Garcia makes her moral, certain maid into something compelling - we empathise with her efforts to help Blanche. Tom Cullen as Edwin Flegg is a character with his own complications-  his attempts to play along with Jane's delusions incresasingly strained as she she presents more and more bizzarely. Michael Sparks as The Man has a role where the pencil-thin-moustache and brylcreamed hair sell 90% of the role - his sleazy approach of providing then ripping away support to Jane's delusions shows how far she's damaged by her past.

Andrew Kay's set is a grand Hollywood mansion with rising mould on the wall - it looks truly lived in and sells the dilapidated grandeur of the characters well. Anna Senior's costume designs match a 60s modernism with the slightly more grotesque look of Jane's throwback performing outfit, without having the throwback outfit look too over the top. Nathan Sciberras' lighting manages the shift from strict reality to the more abstract fantasy situations, and Neville Pye's sound design uses disconcerting echoes and rumbles to heighten the tension.

This is a tense drama of bitterness and rising tension, until the brutal resolution, and is absolutely worth catching. 

Hub Fest 2025, ACT Hub, 16-22 February

 ACT Hub's latest exercise is a new writing presentation doing short plays in repertoire (though in the event one play is genuinely short at 25 minutes and one at 70 minutes is pretty much a full length festival work) - it's as much an exercise for the writers to get their work performed in front of an audience to see what works and what doesn't as it is something for audiences. Both works picked are very much raw material rather than something that feels fully finalised, both are directed by their authors and both feature a mostly young cast with one older performer in a key role for them to play against. 

In the case of "The Beastiary", we get the story of a group of artists in a not-too-distant future fighting back against a government that has blanded out and persecuted political artists (something that feels a little ripped from recent headlines with the Venice Biannale and National Gallery incidents in the news this week). They've managed to kidnap the responsible minister, who's defiant against them, and they confront her using the terms, approaches and language of their given artform. It's an angry young work by Hannah Tonks, and while it moves briskly in her production, and the cast of performers give it a strong and clear production (Kat Dunkerley with the larger load of exposition as Fox, Ariana Barzinpour as Badger, Quinn Goodwin as Donkey and Jennifer Noveski providing nervous, urgent backup as the other artists and Carole Wallace selling both arrogance and fear as the minister), there is some sense of special pleading here - this is artists complaining about being artists in a way that doesn't always find a good way of bringing in the rest of the outside world. The animal masks are well executed and it definitely knows how do to a beginning, middle and end but I would have liked to see a sense that a wider world existed outside the four walls of the bunker the characters exist in. 

For "The Forsaken", we centre on an isolated retiree, Leonard, lost in regret and frustration, who's acquired some sophisticated spyware to listen to the activities of his neighbors - two young parents in one flat and two young male friends in the other and using those to channel his reckoning with his own past. Pat J Gallagher is strong in the role of Leonard, handling some fairly long monologues with clarity and directness, and in support there's good skills shown by Callum Doherty in a dual role as the more easygoing of the two friends and as Leonard's high-energy visitor who brings him various things to interract with, from a parrot to a truly alarming amount of psychedelics, Kara Taylor as the easygoing friend's girlfriend who gets concerned by what's going on with her boyfriend's flatmate, Ryan Hedges as the nervy flatmate working on desperate schemes, Marco Simunec as the young husband resenting his responsibilities and Ashleigh Butler as the wife who feels forever placating him. But Oliver Kuskie's script is very much a mood piece and feels underplotted - there's incident, sure, but it never quite pulls together and comes up with a satisfactory ending - although he does direct strongly to keep sightlines clear in the complex three-location set. 

In short, this is an interesting experiment, though in some ways I would have liked both writers to swap directing duties - I suspect there would have been benefit to both from having an outside eye explore the work and for both to apply their directing strengths to another person's play - and both feel a little under-workshopped. I hope next time ACT Hub tries something like this they either find a structure that allows for more development time or a structure that allows for more outside eyeballs before it hits a paying audience. 

Bubble Boy, Queanbeyan Players, Belconnen Community Theatre, 14-23 Feb

(photo of Rylan Howard by Damien Magee)

Cinquo Paul and Ken Daurio's screenplay for the 2001 movie "Bubble Boy" led to a film that didn't exactly set the world alight, but did have an early lead role for Jake Gyllenhaal. It's a simple comedic premise of an isolated innocent forced to travel through the world when the girl-next-door he loves goes to Niagra Falls to marry someone else, and by most standards, it would have died there. Except Paul and Daurio wound up writing the "Despicable Me" franchise of movies, allowing their pet project of a musical with songs by Paul to get recorded and have further professional development opportunities. Along the way Paul also got to run the TV show "Schmigadoon" and write all the songs for that spoof of popular musicals - alas the "Bubble Boy" score isn't quite as strong - while those spoofs are specific and delightful, these are more generic and time-serving.

And they have produced a bright bubbly musical, albeit one with two issues - one structural, one character-based. For a story that is really a road story with the titular bubble boy meeting all kinds of eccentric characters on the road, it takes until the end of act one for him to actually get on the road, meaning there's an awful lot of plot squeezed into the second half (on the plus side, it's a show that doesn't suffer from the usual act two problems where there's not enough plot to get to the end). The second is that the female lead really feels very very undefined - she clearly likes our leading man but there's never really a rational explanation for why she agrees to get married to someone else beyond providing motivation for him to finally leave his house and go on the road after her - she is the definition of the "sexy lamp" problem, and while Kay Liddiard is indeed sexy and illuminating in the role, she can't overcome the non-existent motivations in the script. 

Still director Tijana Kovac, musical director Tara Davidson and Choreographer Sally Taylor have produced a bright, fluffy, cartoonish production that skates over most of these issues in the moment with a free-flowing production. Remus Douglas' Costumes, sets and props give a cartoon aesthetic with three periaktoids rotating to give different backgrounds depending on if we're inside, outside or somewhere slightly more specific. And the six-member band plays tightly and skilfully, particularly Lauren Duffy on multiple reeds. 

The cast are a charming lot too - from Rylan Howard's innocent but not entirely naive Jimmy, to Kay Liddiard's tough-on-the-outside-but-tender inside Chloe, Aleisha Croxford's obsessive Mrs Livingston, Andrew Taylor's goofily brutish Mark and Sam Thomson's just-goofy Shawn. The ensemble are a charming bunch of weirdos on the road and sing and perform the choreography with a sense of fun and joy. 

This is a perfectly amiable show - if it doesn't quite live up to the last 3 QP shows which played Belconnen Community Theatre (Keating, Downtown and Next To Normal) it's still a nice night out with a young cast giving joy to the audience 

Macbeth, The Q and Lakespeare, The B (and Aunty Louise Brown Park in better weather), 12-16 Feb (and various other locations til March 2)

 After 4 comedies and one history, Lakespeare takes one of the tragedies outdoors (or, in the case of bad weather, indoors under blanket lighting). It's Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, a fast-moving trip through prophecies, regicide, and revenge,  and director Jordan Best delivers a brisk, immediate production focussed on using the cast as an ensemble (all except Isaac Reilly as the titular Macbeth appears in other roles). It's a different production to her last go at the play 9 years ago, but gains in immediacy and in-your-faceness what it may lose in sharp lighting effects and other subtle niceties There's rich power in the production from the initial entrances of the three witches, all dressed as a cross between Goths and Miss Havisham in veils, moving like the otherworldly monsters they are in Gaia La Penna's costumes,  through the personal and political machinations and brutal ramifications of the lust to gain and keep political power, to the final desperate battles against fate. 

Leading the company is Isaac Reilly in the title role - a fascinating study of a strong man undone by his desires, as he loses first his comfortable marital intimacy then everyone around him, you can see the self-delusion that prophecy will protect him right up until it becomes clear it's been misleading him - his increasing isolation and paranoia creating the fate he's been trying to avoid. Lainie Hart has the pure directness of Lady Macbeth, driving her husband to murder then seeing the wedge it forms between them and the guilt it creates within her - there was a moment when she reached out towards me in the audience saying "Give me your hand" and it was difficult not to snap the fourth wall open. 

Elswhere in the cast, Caitlin Baker is boyish enthusiasm as Malcolm, Lachlan Ruffy gives soulful reflection as Banquo before everything comes undone for him (and is a suitably disturbing ghost), Max Gambale has regal poise as Duncan, Paul Sweeney's Macduff is rage and sorrow and grim determination incarnate, Annabelle Hansen's Lady Macduff is wounded pride not quite believing how quickly fate is going to destroy her, and the ensemble in general speaks clearly and true embodying the various characters in the text. 

I must admit sitting on a thin picnic matt on hardwood floors was probably not the best personal choice for my body, though the team also offers picnic chairs if you don't feel like being that close to the ground, and it's probably the superior choice for those with aging bones. But for anybody looking for up-close, personal, impactful shakespeare, this is absolutely recommended. 

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins, MILKE, The Q, 7 Feb (and touring everywhere from Hobart to Wangaratta over the next few months)

 I reviewed two of Garry's shows in 2023 and they were two of the highlights of that year- Greece Lightning and Performs Everything. Much like those two, this is a fast, funny set of sketches tied together by a literary theme - this time based on the orange-and-white covered books published by Penguin Books, with each sketch punctuated by the titles (sometimes based on the story, sometimes just goofing around on the title). Starr's a committed performer, willing to do anything no matter how silly or physically challenging to get a laugh - and after previous performances in a tight pair of tights or a barely concealing g-string, he performs most of the show in nothing more than a top hat, a jacket, a pair of spats and flippers and a ruff - cock, balls and arse completely on display. It's 18+ for a reason. 

Surprisingly, despite the nudity, it's perhaps a slightly less exposing show than the previous two - the vulnerability and  naivete of the Garry Starr character aren't quite as apparent this time - but the clowning is at its peak - he plays with the audience beautifully in a way that is truly delightful. The punctuation of the sketches as he pushes the books off a table, cat-like, never fails to be funny, and is a nice visual motif to let us know how far the show's progressed. There's some clever use of sound and lighting too - it's a more sophisticated physical production (even as it does employ some of the cheapest knob-and-butt jokes known to man). In his post show speech, after the extremely 18+ antics that have taken place for the finale, he mentiones he also has a kids show in his repertoire, "Monkeys Everywhere" - I have no doubt it'll be just as playful, silly and delightful to those of a suitable age and I look forward to our next encounter.

Mojo, Red Herring Theatre Co and ACT Hub, ACT Hub, 22 Jan-1 Feb

Jez Butterworth's 1995 play "Mojo" premiered in an era full of what was described later as "in-yer-face-theatre" - shocking, provocative and confrontational - with sex, violence and drug use to the fore. Led by writers like Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill and the early works of Martin McDonagh - a virtual new Jacobean era where blood and shock flowed freely. Butterworth has since moved on to more mainstream writing - his recent "Jerusalem', "The Ferryman" and "The Hills of California" have all played both the West End and Broadway - but this is an early work, set during the british 1950s clubland where the Kray twins ruled and the music industry was full of standover men like the notorious Don Arden. Six men all powered by amphetamines are working to keep teen idol Silver Johnny on hand to promote and exploit, but outside forces are working against them along with their own internal tensions. 

Lachlan Houen directs a tight production - taking us into the grotty backrooms where the deals get made and the dirtywork takes place. We start with the double-act of Sweets and Potts, two low-on-the-pecking order types listening in to the deals being done in the other room - Jack Ferrier as the slightly more pompous of the pair and Joel Hrbek as the endearingly servile one, desperate to please. Taj De Montis as the enabler Skinny shows an independant, desparate streak as he negotiates his way around this world, while Lachlan Herring as the entitled son of the club owner, Baby, is unpredictable dyanmite, expected to go off in your face any second. Taylor Barret as the senior Mickey has a strong sense of authority that the rest of the cast push back against repeatedly and gives them room to manouvre, and Joshua James as Silver Johnny makes an impact with very few lines - you get by his bearing and the way he talks that this is a man who draws attention when he hits the stage and, even backstage in repose, you can see the charisma that the other characters describe. 

Theatre in January in buildings that are not necessarily blessed with the best air conditioning can be a challenge to take, but this is certainly worth the challenge - rough, tense and compelling.