The Great Man
by David Williamson

State Theatre Company
Dunstan Playhouse
May, 2002

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

David Williamson has an excellent instinct for currency. Not the folding kind, although his present London show won’t be doing his wallet any harm. I mean the currency of ideas and manners, the zeitgeist writ large, small or merely fashionable. He has done the professions, he has splendidly done footy, he has looked at the etiquette of wealth, or at least of not …

27 Nov 2001
Murray Bramwell

A Lie of the Mind
by Sam Shepard. Brink Productions.
The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre.
Ends 1 December.

What is a lie of the mind ? In Sam Shepard’s play of that name, his troubled central character Jake says – “These things – in my head – lie to me. Everything lies. Tells me a story.“ These lies are fears, jealousies, suspicions and fixations. They have murky origins in a half-remembered past and have driven …

Life After George
by Hannie Rayson

Melbourne Theatre Company
Playhouse

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Since its first performances in January last year Hannie Rayson’s MTC commission, Life After George, has had an impressive trajectory. There were extended seasons in Melbourne and numerous awards and nominations including the Miles Franklin, a stint at the Brisbane Festival and now, since July, a sixteen town whistlestop tour from North Queensland to Launcestoun.

It is not hard to see the play’s appeal – Rayson, …

Holy Day
by Andrew Bovell

State Theatre Company
Playhouse
August, 2001

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

The pursuit of new Australian works for the stage is an incessant one. Artistic Directors, particularly of state theatre companies, pore over new scripts in the hope of turning them into productions which will capture audiences with their relevance and truthfulness. Over the past twenty years the demand for such plays has been so keen that any writer achieving a modicum of success has been …

24 August, 2001
Murray Bramwell

Jennifer in Security
by Noelle Janaczewska

Vitalstatistix
Waterside, Port Adelaide
ends September 1.
Odeon Theatre, Norwood
4 – 8 September.

Jennifer is in a jam after being down-sized from retail. Then, when her Excel breaks down, she is helped out by the blokes at Oakhurst Security and she talks herself into a job. Now, in her white shirt, black tie, dark windbreaker and with everything but a Colt revolver hanging from her belt, she works …

22 August, 2001
Murray Bramwell

Holy Day
by Andrew Bovell

State Theatre Company of South Australia
Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre,
ends 8 September.
Melbourne season at the CUB Malthouse
from 13 September to 6 October, 2001.

Andrew Bovell’s Holy Day had been in draft form for something like ten years, set aside for such various other ventures as his script for Strictly Ballroom and the current New York stage version – as well as the soon-to-be-released Geoffrey Rush film – …

Third World Blues
by David Williamson

State Theatre Company
The Playhouse
February, 2001.

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

For an artist to return to a finished work and then revise it, is rarely a simple matter. Plenty of painters, as X-ray evidence indicates, have added and concealed brushwork. A recent retrospective of Jeffrey Smart’s canvases gave the artist an opportunity to alter and “improve” one he hadn’t seen for a while – much to the horror of the private owner who …

Bare
by Toa Fraser

Madeleine Sami and Ian Hughes

Space
November, 2000

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Bare is an odd title for a stage work as richly arrayed as this. It is certainly unadorned – a two hander for actors who perform with minimal lighting and two chairs. But its language, narrative complexity and emotional energy mark this suite of twenty four monologues as impressive. I find myself going back to productions such as the South African play Woza Albert …

PoM pOm
by Pamela Allen

Patch Theatre
Odeon Theatre

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

It is often said that young people deserve the best theatre. And yet, just as often, they end up with the very opposite. Not only have we seen a reduction in the amount of work on offer in all age ranges in the past five years, but, seemingly, there has been a failure of nerve by performing companies desperate to compete with Sony Playstations and the global …