In Housework, a droll new play from State Theatre Company, we are invited behind closed Parliamentary doors to glimpse the best that is aspired to – and, funnily enough, quite a bit that falls well short.
Written by Murray Bramwell
In a recent interview Emily Steel describes her wittily-named parliamentary drama, Housework – “I guess what this play is about is who is getting into these positions of power ? What does it cost them ? How much should …
Continue Reading Back to topAs I look over my year’s attendances, I saw less of the festivals – the Cabaret Festival, Fringe Festival and OzAsia in particular. State Theatre Company South Australia had a less impressive year than in 2023 but we owe much to Mitchell Butel for bringing such energy, generosity and variety in his six years as State Theatre’s AD. We wish him well in his new lead role at Sydney Theatre Company.
The second-tier independents remained quiet. Brink produced works under …
Continue Reading Back to topThe title is a paradox –Scored in Silence. There is no music, in fact, at crucial moments no sound at all. But its message is loud and clear. OzAsia opens with a visually intriguing theatrical experience that reminds us to hearken to the lessons of history.
Written by Murray Bramwell
This solo performance by Japanese performer/choreographer, Chisato Minamimura (who is herself deaf) is a description of the dropping of the A-Bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, as experienced by …
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Herbie Hancock
Festival Theatre.
October 20.
It was (almost) fifty years ago today that Herbie Hancock got the band to play : Head Hunters. The million-seller jazz fusion break-out of 1974. It was a much acclaimed album along with the first releases from Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra and indicative of Hancock’s versatility and keen sense of the way the wind was blowing.
A classical prodigy, at the age of eleven he played a Mozart piano concerto with the …
Continue Reading Back to topWhile mental illness is often a “sometimes” thing, it is managed with debilitating treatments which are total and often life-diminishing. This memorable production from Theatre Republic powerfully depicts both the human cost and the fleeting triumphs.
Written by Murray Bramwell
In an epigraph to her outstanding stage debut, The Almighty Sometimes , Australian playwright, Kendall Feaver cites a medical textbook on The Bipolar Child which quotes advice from a nine year old, outlining what should be done when a child …
Continue Reading Back to topThe Rolling Stones Revue gathers some of Australia’s best and fairest singers and instrumentalists for the celebration of a classic album and a non-stop, knees-up eisteddfod of Greatest Hits.
Written by Murray Bramwell
Last year’s Adelaide Guitar Festival featured an excellent tribute to the incomparable Jeff Beck. This time around it is the pre-eminent rock and roll guitar band, The Rolling Stones. Sixty years on, and they are still out there on the (gold paved) road, filling stadiums like there …
Continue Reading Back to topThis solo work, written and brilliantly performed by Chris Pitman, explores how, in our midst, the lives of many are beached and marooned.
Written by Murray Bramwell
“I have tried to write a version of this story for many years but was never quite able to finish. A solitary figure, unable to connect, abandoned at the edge of the world.”
In Shore Break Chris Pitman has undoubtedly succeeded with this succinct monologue which crests and breaks like the intimidating waves …
Continue Reading Back to topHarking back to the Jazz Age of the late 1920s, Chicago is full of fizz and low comedy, great song and dance performances, and has a shrewd edge intended to make us think, even as we enjoy the razzle dazzle.
Written by Murray Bramwell
“This is a story of greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery. All those things we hold near and dear…” Before the curtain even goes up we know there are no red shoes, and this is …
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