The Torrents
by Oriel Gray
State Theatre
The Playhouse
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
The Torrents stands in our theatre history as a road not taken. Or a twin separated at birth and raised in obscurity. As the co-winner of the 1955 Playwrights’ Advisory Board competition, Oriel Gray might have expected greater recognition for her work as playwright with the New Theatre in Sydney. In fact The Torrents was only staged twice -by New Theatre in Adelaide in 1956 and in …
Continue Reading Back to topThe Shifting Heart
by Richard Beynon
State Theatre
Playhouse
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
In 1957 The Shifting Heart created considerable impact for its young playwright Richard Beynon. In fact, at the time, prospective producers were wary of the currency of its themes. Triggered by a newspaper report about the suicide of a Polish immigrant -the Mr Leczycki named in the play’s dedication- The Shifting Heart examines, in the microcosm of Collingwood’s Bianchi family, the social and cultural tensions created by …
Continue Reading Back to topMoby Dick
Adaptation by Nigel Triffitt
State Theatre
Space
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
This production first surfaced at the Melbourne Festival in 1990 and now State has refitted it for its current season. Nigel Triffitt has always been full of bright ideas and this adaptation of Moby Dick is among his best. Melville’s sprawling novel, part metaphysics, part ripping yarn, has ample theatrical potential and time has only added to its curiosity and appeal.
The account of Captain Ahab’s pursuit …
Continue Reading Back to topMedea
by Euripides
State Theatre
Amphitheatre
Elder Park
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
Of all the extraordinary works of theatre from Fifth Century Athens there is none as striking as Euripides’ Medea. Along with The Bacchae it unleashes energies and poses social questions that only a robust, sophisticated and philosophic community could sustain. Medea is a play of contradictions. Lucidly told, it is nevertheless cryptic, a text which speaks to our own time yet carries archaic meanings and beliefs. It offers …
Continue Reading Back to topMedea
by Euripides
State Theatre
Medea…… Doris Younane
Jason…..Luciano Martucci
Nurse……Nina Paleologos
Creon…..Michael Griffin
Aegeus….Nicola Tudini
Messenger/Tutor…Nicola Primaro
Medea’s children…John Defrancesco, Yiani Harpas, Paul Tepsic,
Rohan Shirodkar
Chorus leader….Yiannis Fragos
Chorus………Catriona Barr, Annmarie Beni, Lynne Smythe
Prepared piano/percussion….Gabriella Smart
Director/Designer…..Constantine Koukias
Designer……Ann Wulf
Lighting Designer….Krystof Kozlowski
Projection Artist….Hugh McSpedden
Sound Designer…..Donald Hopkins
Assistant Directors….Gina Tsikouras, Benedict Andrews
Dramaturg…..Nick Hughes
The Amphitheatre, Elder Park
Adelaide . Opening night 11 February, 1995
There is no other playwright from Fifth Century Athens as …
Continue Reading Back to topSanctuary
by David Williamson
Playbox Theatre
Playhouse
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
Sanctuary, David Williamson’s newest work, is a two-hander directed by Melbourne Playbox director Aubrey Mellor. It is a distinctly more serious piece than recent Williamson exercises such as Money and Friends and Brilliant Lies. They were serious too, of course, as the playwright never loses sight of issues and situations which give a new or different glimpse of zeitgeist. But conspicuously propelling his dissection of nouveau riches or questions …
Continue Reading Back to topWarsaw Tango
by Alberto Felix Alberto
Teatro Del Sur
by arrangement with State Theatre
Amanda….Maria Alejandra Figueroa
The Diva…Marta Riveros
The Magnific…Eduardo Cappussi
The Pole ….Luis Tenewicki
Direction, Design and Lighting…Alberto Felix Alberto
The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre
Wednesday 2 November
Warsaw Tango is very much the creation of Alberto Felix Alberto. He has written, designed and directed this dream-like performance for quartet and the production has toured widely since its premiere seven years ago. This is the first tour …
Continue Reading Back to topWarsaw Tango
Written, Designed and Directed by Alberto Felix Alberto.
Teatro Del Sur, in association with State Theatre.
Technical Director: Ignacio Riveros.
With: Maria Alejandra Figueroa, Marta Riveros,
Eduardo Cappussi, Luis Tenewicki.
The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre.
Murray Bramwell
Argentinian company, Teatro Del Sur, touring for the first time to Australia, have opened their much-travelled piece, Warsaw Tango, in Adelaide. Pre-season detail about the work has been scarce. Even the program notes are opaque. Warsaw Tango is “meant to be …
Continue Reading Back to topThe Swan
by Elizabeth Egloff
State Theatre
Space
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
The Swan is exactly the kind of bright, young theatre Chris Westwood promised. We didn’t get it with Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Crow was too much a work in progress. But The Swan flies straight at you. First performed at the Yale School of Drama in 1988, Elizabeth Egloff’s play- presented in Melissa Bruce’s excellent version- is the sort of fresh air that we need. It …
Continue Reading Back to topChris Westwood, newly appointed Executive Producer of South Australia’s State Theatre talks with Murray Bramwell
When, at the end of September, Chris Westwood announced her program for 1994 much else was also heralded for the State Theatre Company. Now to be known simply as State Theatre, the company was, with the departure of current Artistic Director Simon Phillips, seeing the beginning of a new format. Gone is the familiar figure of the AD -names like Colin George, Jim Sharman, Keith …
Continue Reading Back to top