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August 01, 1996

Infarction

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

The 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 …

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September 01, 1995

Very Like a Whale

Filed under: Archive,Interstate,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Moby 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 …

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March 01, 1995

Murder by Design

Filed under: Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Medea
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 …

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February 16, 1995

Adelaide – Medea

Filed under: Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Medea
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 …

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February 01, 1995

Reckonings

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

Sanctuary
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 …

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October 20, 1994

Warsaw Tango

Filed under: Archive,International,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Warsaw 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 …

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October 12, 1994

Adelaide Theatre – Warsaw Tango

Filed under: Archive,International,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Warsaw 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 …

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July 01, 1994

Viewless Wings

Filed under: Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

The 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 …

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December 01, 1993

A Head Full of New Ideas

Filed under: Archive,Interviews,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Chris 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 …

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Udder Milk Leak

Filed under: Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

Under Milk Wood
by Dylan Thomas
State Theatre Company
Playhouse

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas’s wordtrembling, glottal throttling, Welsh blathering, earbending play for radio, is State’s choice for season’s end and Simon Phillips’ goodbye-to-all-that.

First performed a year after Thomas died of the sauce in 1953 the play tells of a night and a day in the life of a small Welsh coastal town. Dylan Thomas called it Llaregyb, a ferocious joke since a backward glance …

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