murraybramwell.com

August 01, 1987

Intriguing

Filed under: Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Christopher Hampton
State Theatre Company
Playhouse

By now everyone and their chien has heard about Les Liaisons Dangereuses. It has been cleaning up awards and bouquets ever since it first appeared in London in 1985 and umpteen productions have been performed world wide. Now, with the State Theatre Company’s production we at last have a chance to see what all the fuss has been about.

Playwright Christopher Hampton has taken bold liberties with Choderlos de Ladas’s …

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July 01, 1987

Moving but difficult targets

Filed under: Adelaide Companies,Archive,Theatre

Metamorphosis and Bawky Play, Red Shed Company
ABC, Patch Theatre Company
Soft Targets, Troupe

The Red Shed Company continues to provide distinctive and committed theatre as indicated by their most recent double bill – Bawky Play by David Carlin and an adaptation of an adaptation of Berkoff’s Kafka’s Metamorphosis.

The story of Gregor Samsa, bureaucratic functionary, who wakes up to find he has become a giant insect is more than seventy years old. But …

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Semi-preciousness

Filed under: Archive,Australian Texts,Theatre

Semi­preciousness
Emerald City
by David Williamson
Sydney Theatre Company
Playhouse

Emerald City, David Williamson’s latest play about selling out in Sydney, sold out in Sydney, and has been doing business hand over fist here as well.

It is not hard to see why. Williamson is one of our most assured writers of dialogue and has a shrewd eye, if not for the manners and prejudices of our times, at least for those of regular theatre audiences. Emerald City, …

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June 01, 1987

Patrick White and the Whited Sepulchres

Filed under: Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Shepherd on the Rocks
By Patrick White
Playhouse, Festival Centre

In wanting to honour Patrick White on the occasion of his 75th birthday, the State Theatre Company did him little service by staging the world premiere of his recent play, Shepherd on the Rocks.

The story is based on the bizarre case from the Thirties of the Rector of Stifikey (pron. ‘Stookey ‘), the Rev Harold Davidson, an Anglican sky pilot with earthy ideas about his ministry. A former …

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Ham Funeral

Filed under: Archive,Australian Texts,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Shepherd on the Rocks
by Patrick White
State Theatre Company
Playhouse

Patrick White’s plays have a long association with Adelaide from the controversial first season of The Season at Sarsparilla to the more recent Lighthouse productions which revealed Netherwood and hailed Signal Driver. All that history notwithstanding, the State Theatre Company’s decision to stage Shepherd on the Rocks was an unfortunate one. The production does little credit to either White or the company, and, all things considered, they would …

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Looking Back at Come Out

Filed under: Archive,Australian Texts,Festival,Theatre

Come Out 1987 was a testing time for youth theatre. After the sporadic bookings in 1985, directors Malcolm Moore and Kerry Comerford were faced with the task of not only compiling an appealing programme, but also filling theatre seats. They did well on both counts. Also, with ASSITEJ, the international jamboree of youth theatre heavies, being held in Adelaide at the same time, Come Out was on International display.

Director Michael Fitzgerald made it plain that ASSITEJ might turn into …

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May 01, 1987

The Responsibilities We Have

Filed under: Adelaide Companies,Archive,Interviews,Theatre

David Holman talks to Murray Bramwell.

In Adelaide in time for Come Out, David Holman might have been forgiven for thinking that his works were the main fare for the Festival. For a start, Magpie were doing two plays which Holman originated in Australia. No Worries, one of the great sleepers from the 1984 Adelaide Festival and The Small Poppies, one of the most keenly anticipated plays from the 1986 Festival. In addition, Frankie, the young people’s opera …

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I’m Not a Racist, but …

Filed under: Adelaide Companies,Archive,Australian Texts,Theatre

I’m Not a Racist, but …
by Richard Lawrance
Multicultural Youth Theatre, SA
Directed by Tessa Bremner
Cast: Vicki London, David Saddler, Aimee Thomas,
Nicolas Primaro, Raphael Nguyen, Peter Nguyen, Ha Tran.

On the face of it the flyers for the Multicultural Youth Theatre’s production were not promising. (Narelle is fifteen, alone and pregnant. Cong and Trinh are trying to hack it in this strange new country. Dog Track’s in debt and on the run and Petar’s caught between the …

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Song For the Navigator

Filed under: Archive,International,Theatre

Song For the Navigator
by Michael Cowell
Honolulu Theatre for Youth
Directed by John Kauffman
Set Design: Joseph Dodd
Costume Design: Laura Crow
Lighting: Lloyd S. Riford III

Amongst a mixed bag of Australian productions at the ASSITEJ Congress, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s play is a likeable piece but not one to put fear in the hearts of local theatre practitioners. Song For the Navigator by Michael Cowell was commissioned by the HTY, as they describe it, “to celebrate …

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My Place

Filed under: Adelaide Companies,Archive,Australian Texts,Theatre

My Place
by Christine Anketell
Patch Theatre. South Australia
Directed by: Christine Anketell
Design: Kathryn Sproul
Music: Stuart Day
Production Manager: Richard Meyman
Cast: Joanna Cooper, Gwenda Helsham, Karen Inwood

There’s no place like home, as Dorothy once said to her red shoes. And as it is the International Year of Shelter for The Homeless, the Patch Theatre Company have used it as the occasion for their Come Out 87 contribution, My Place.

Perhaps one reason why the International …

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