2 March, 2005
Murray Bramwell

The Government Inspector
by Nikolai Gogol
Translated by May-Brit Akerhold, Neil Armfield,
Leah Mackiewicz and Geoffrey Rush

State Theatre Company of South Australia.
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre.
1 March. 2005. Tickets $ 16.70 – $ 49.
Bookings BASS 131 246.
Until 19 March.

Between the colourfully decorated stage curtain and a row of babushka dolls doubling as footlights, a motley group of players, dressed in styles ranging from comic peasant to Soviet nerd, lugubriously …

2004

Euripides’ Trojan Women
Adapted by Rosalba Clement and Dawn Langman

State Theatre Company
Dunstan Playhouse
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

It is not surprising that the Greek drama speaks so strongly to us now, because it also spoke strongly to its own audience. And none more so than the works of Euripides. His plays confronted the Athenian audience with an unwelcome mirror of its prejudices, its cruelty and its follies. Even such legendary victories as the sacking of Troy Euripides …

17 November, 2004
Murray Bramwell

Euripides’ Trojan Women
Adapted by Rosalba Clemente and Dawn Langman

State Theatre Company of South Australia.
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre.
16 November
Tickets $ 17 – $ 45.
Bookings BASS 131 246.
Until 27 November, 2004

Even in Euripides’ grim repertoire there are few more harrowing plays than The Trojan Women. His subject, once again, is the cruelty and pity of war. The occasion is the gloating victory of the Greeks over the Trojans …

Boston Marriage
by David Mamet

State Theatre Company of South Australia
The Space

Murray Bramwell

David Mamet is well-known for the testosterone dialogue of plays like American Buffalo and Glengarry Glen Ross and the intriguingly minimalist expression of his film scripts, so it is interesting to see him venture into the very different world of Boston Marriage, a play he wrote for his wife the actor Rebecca Pidgeon.

A Boston marriage is a late nineteenth term for a partnership of …

20 October, 2004
Murray Bramwell

Boston Marriage
by David Mamet

State Theatre Company of South Australia.
The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre.
19 October.
Tickets $ 17 – $ 45.
Bookings BASS 131 246.
Until 6 November, 2004

In the late nineteenth century when two women lived together, whether for companionship, or somewhat more than that, it was known as a Boston marriage – reflecting both the feminist sophistication of the arrangement and its prevalence in that American city. It is …

2004

Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)
by Ann-Marie MacDonald

State Theatre Company
The Space, October, 2004.

Murray Bramwell

Many have noted how often the tragedy in Shakespeare is triggered by the merest foolish thing. If only Desdemona had not dropped that handkerchief, or the Friar’s letter had got safely to Romeo then disaster would have been averted and all would have ended happily. That is the theory that preoccupies Constance Ledbelly, the central character in Canadian writer, Ann-Marie MacDonald’s comedy. …

21 September, 2004
Murray Bramwell

Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)
by Ann-Marie MacDonald.
State Theatre Company of South Australia.
The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre.
21September. 2004 Tickets $ 17 – $ 45.
Bookings BASS 131 246.
Until 9 October.

Why does all the tribulation in Shakespeare’s tragedies hinge on flimsy plot devices like stolen handkerchiefs and misdelivered letters ? What if these plays were really meant to be comedies ? These are the questions asked by Constance Ledbelly, the central …

2004

Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller

State Theatre Company
of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse, August 2004.

Murray Bramwell

Arthur Miller once said his plays were about how the birds come home to roost, one by one, back to the branch. He meant that there is a tragic theme in his work, and his characters, more than most, reap what they sow. But his pessimism is not to be mistaken for futility. In the struggle against their fate and …

31 July, 2004
Murray Bramwell

Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
State Theatre Company of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse
Adelaide Festival Centre
30 July, 2004.
Until 14 August. Bookings BASS 131 246
Tickets $ 17- $45.

Arthur Miller subtitled it – “Certain Private Conversations in two Acts and a Requiem,” but Death of a Salesman has been part of a very public conversation for more than fifty years. The figure of Willy Loman, Miller has suggested, is a tragic …

2004

A Number
by Caryl Churchill

State Theatre Company
Space, May 2004.

Murray Bramwell

What if your child was lost to you for all of time, and then you had the chance to have it back – would you take it ? The answer is, yes, of course. What if the only means was to clone that child ? The answer is, yes again – very probably. What then, if your child turned out bad and you wanted to start …