August 16, 2006
Murray Bramwell

Life X 3
by Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton

State Theatre Company of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
August 15, 2006. Tickets $ 15 – 50. Bookings : BASS 131 246
Until September 2.

When dinner guests arrive 24 hours sooner than expected, it is described by the hostess as a catastrophe. Of course, that is an excessive use of the word, or is
it ? In her comedy of micro-manners, Life …

2006

Waiting for Godot
By Samuel Beckett

State Theatre Company
Space, Adelaide Festival Centre
22 July, 2006.

Murray Bramwell

For a play about not getting anywhere, Waiting for Godot has gone a very long way. Written in Paris in 1949, last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of its first performance to somewhat puzzled audiences in London – two years after it had already perplexed the French. But if its metaphor of apparently futile waiting is ambiguous and riddling, the context …

2006

Murray Bramwell talks with director, Michael Hill, in week three of rehearsals, about State Theatre’s up-coming production of Waiting For Godot

Waiting For Godot is probably the most famous play of the 20th century . Written over six weeks in 1949, it made a legend of its author, Samuel Beckett, when first performed in Paris in 1953 and its reputation spread when it opened in London and New York two years later. Described by Martin Esslin as a leading …

2005

Noises Off
By Michael Frayn

Dunstan Playhouse
Until 19 November, 2005

Murray Bramwell

Where would theatre be without the three door farce? In the century beginning with Feydeau and continuing to the Seventies and Eighties romps by Ray Cooney and Brian Rix, the antics of philandering husbands have been cut off at the ankles by the comedy of karma, circumstance and intersecting third parties. The titles tell it all – Run For Your Wife, Not Now Darling, Out of …

2005
Theatre

Murray Bramwell

Noises Off
By Michael Frayn
State Theatre Company of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Theatre.
November 1, 2005. Tickets $13.50- $49. Bookings BASS 131 246
Until November 19.

Noises off are off-stage sound effects – like a pistol shot in Chekhov, bells tolling, or someone selling flowers for the dead. However, in Michael Frayn’s classic 1982 farce they refer to the sounds of the actors themselves writhing in pain, calling out prompt lines, falling down …

Adam Cook , State Theatre Company’s Artistic Director for 2005,
removes the veil.

Murray Bramwell

It is midday on a Friday and the crowd is gathered in the Dunstan Playhouse
for the launch of the State Theatre Company’s 2005 season. There’s the usual mix of subscribers, sponsors, arts heavies and media, as well as actors, techs, artisans, luvvies and hopefuls, all with plenty say about what should happen next for State Theatre, Adelaide and, of course, themselves. And this year, …

2005
Murray Bramwell

The Goat, or Who is Sylvia ?
by Edward Albee

State Theatre Company of South Australia.
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre.
9 August, 2005 Tickets $ 16.70 – $ 49.
Bookings BASS 131 246.
Until 20 August.

Edward Albee writes that “every civilisation sets quite arbitrary limits to its tolerances”. And in the Tony award-winning play, The Goat, he tests those limits and tolerances in both his characters and his audience.

Martin is turning fifty. An architect …

2005

Frozen
by Bryony Lavery
State Theatre Company of South Australia
Space, Festival Centre
6 July. Until 23 July, 2005

Murray Bramwell

Whenever we wonder about the nature of human nature we invariably turn to criminal behaviour, especially that of predatory serial killers, for speculation and explanation. Are such crimes, especially against children, proof of the existence of evil, or are they manifestations of derangement and illness ? And how do our judicial processes – and our personal moral reckonings …

7 July, 2005
Murray Bramwell

Frozen
by Bryony Lavery

State Theatre Company of South Australia.
The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre.
6 July. Tickets $ 16.70 – $ 49.
Bookings BASS 131 246.
Until 23 July, 2005

Are terrible crimes, such as those of serial killers, a proof of evil or an extreme aberration ? And how, judicially and personally, do we deal with such events ? How do we reconcile outrage with a need to understand and, even, to forgive …

2005

The Government Inspector
by Nikolai Gogol

State Theatre Company
of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse
1 March, 2005.

Murray Bramwell

For State Theatre’s contribution to Come Out and as a spritzy opening to the 2005 season, newly arrived Artistic Director Adam Cook has assembled a talented cast to stage an energetic revival of a European classic. The Government Inspector, Gogol’s tangled tale of mistaken identity and civic corruption offers plenty of chances for funny business and Cook makes the most …