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February 28, 2016

King James Versions

Filed under: 2016,Archive,Festival,International,Theatre

Adelaide Festival

The James Plays
by Rona Munro
National Theatre of Scotland,
National Theatre of Great Britain,
Edinburgh International Festival.
February 27. Duration 7 hours 40 minutes including intervals.

“We cannot know the character and thoughts of these dead kings and queens and long-gone Scots,” Rona Munro remarks of the succession of royals and underlings who populate her dazzling epic trilogy, The James Plays, “(But) we can speculate a whole series of possibilities from the few hard facts we …

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February 18, 2016

Penny Arcade – Older, Wiser, Longer – and as thoughtful as ever

Filed under: 2016,Archive,Fringe,International,Theatre

Penny Arcade
(Ukiyo, The Royal Croquet Club, 9.30 until March 14. Four and a Half Stars)

Penny Arcade, aka Susana Ventura, has an impeccable New York CV. She performed in Warhol/Morrisey films, she hung out as a teenager at Max’s Kansas City. She was there at Stonewall and in the terrible AIDS epidemic in the 80s and 90s. Last time she visited Adelaide as part of the 1994 Adelaide Festival, she performed wearing only an American flag. She also brought …

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Four of the Best of the Adelaide Fringe …So Far

Filed under: 2016,Archive,Cabaret,Fringe

The Adelaide Fringe gets ever bigger and more successful. This year an estimated sixty-six thousand citizens turned out for last week’s opening parade marking the beginning of the month long Fringe season. On the same day a record 10,000 tickets were sold. With more than 1100 events and 5000 artists, it is the second largest (and second oldest) Fringe after the legendary Edinburgh fixture.

The venues spread around the Adelaide CBD have all been packed. At Rundle Park, Rymill Park …

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February 17, 2016

Excellent new theatre works worth seeking out in carnival of culture

Filed under: 2016,Adelaide Companies,Archive,Fringe,Theatre

Adelaide Fringe

Echoes
by Henry Naylor
The Arch, Holden Street Theatre Company
In association with Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh
February 10. Until March 13.

The Last Time I Saw Richard
by Cat Commander
five.point.one
The Bakehouse.
February 16. Until Feb 23.

Red Ink
by Duncan Graham
Tuxedo Cat, Perske Pavillion
February 16. Until Feb 23.

It is not yet “mad March” in Adelaide and already the Fringe, the gargantuan, carnivalesque doppelganger to the Festival has roared into action. For artists and …

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February 08, 2016

Sublime the Revelator

Filed under: 2016,Archive,Music

An Evening with Gillian Welch
Her Majesty’s
February 3.

Some things really are worth the wait. And Adelaide has waited a very long time for a first visit from the incomparable Gillian Welch and her brilliant musical partner David Rawlings. It has been eleven years since they last toured Australia and then it was Eastern States only. This time they drove to South Australia from Perth – 28 hours by car, they proudly report, but- with some regret – not …

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January 11, 2016

Haunting melodies

Filed under: 2016,Archive,Cabaret,Interstate,Theatre

Ghost : The Musical
Book and lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin
Music and lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard
Based on the Paramount Pictures film written by Bruce Joel Rubin
Ambassador Theatre Group Asia Pacific, GWB Entertainment and Adelaide Festival Centre in association with Colin Ingram, Hello Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.

Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre.
January 9. Tickets: $ 64.90 – $ 129.90
Bookings : BASS 131246 or bass.net.au
Until January 31.
Duration: 2 hours 45 minutes including …

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December 19, 2015

Introduction to the Currency edition of Maggie Stone by Caleb Lewis

Filed under: 2016,Archive,Australian Texts,Commentary,Theatre

The Rising Debt of Gratitude: Actions and Transactions in Maggie Stone

It was Polonius, in Hamlet who said : “Neither a borrower or a lender be/ For loan oft loses both itself and friend.” He is right, of course, but like much of the old man’s advice to the young prince, it is a platitude; something easier said than done. It is not how we live in the world, because the world won’t let us.

In his insightful, engaging, sometimes …

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The Best of 2015

Filed under: 2015,2016,Archive

“When you hear music,“ jazz saxophonist Eric Dolphy once remarked, “After it’s over, it’s gone, in the air, you can never capture it again.”

In varying degrees that is true of all live performances. They have their moment, their season and then are gone. Sometimes they remain vivid, but eventually, even excellent productions and outstanding performances drift into imperfect recollection and generalised hearsay.

I hope this website, for all its sometimes unwelcome opinions, is a useful record of some of …

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December 01, 2015

Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Impact of the 2014 and 2015 Commonwealth Budget decisions on the Arts.

Filed under: 2015,Archive,Commentary

Dear Senators

I have been a theatre reviewer for national publications, including The National Times, The Australian Financial Review and currently The Australian, since 1985.

My comments refer particularly to theatre funding in Australia but inferences can be made across all of the performing arts.

I am profoundly concerned by the recent changes to arts funding announced in the 2015 Budget by Senator Brandis : both in the reduction of allocation to the Australia Council and the siphoning of as …

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November 10, 2015

Giggles and japes in a Dream of a show

Filed under: 2015,Archive,Australian Texts,State Theatre Company,Theatre

The Popular Mechanicals
by Keith Robinson, William Shakespeare and Tony Taylor.
From the original direction by Geoffrey Rush.
State Theatre Company of South Australia
Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre.
November 10. Tickets: $ 27 – $ 69.
Bookings : BASS 131246 or www.bass.net.au
Until November 28.
Duration: 90 minutes.

Puck called them “hempen homespuns”, Shakespeare called them Rude Mechanicals : these are the six artisans who perform a daffy royal command performance for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta in …

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