murraybramwell.com

April 02, 2013

Fringe serves up a mixed bag of delights

Filed under: 2013,Archive,Fringe

March 19

Adelaide Fringe 2013
February 15 – March 17

Second only to its Edinburgh counterpart, the annual Adelaide Fringe, now running over four weeks, has an uncurated program of over 900 events – gathering exponents of cabaret, circus, dance, music, and theatre, as well as hosting more than 360 comedy acts, many limbering up for the next leg to Melbourne.

Household names and talented newcomers alike, Fringe artists generate an energy, skill and enthusiasm which captivates audiences and galvanises …

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April 01, 2013

Memory and Oxo Cubes

Filed under: 2013,Archive,Books

The Little Enemy
by Nicholas Reid
Steele Roberts Aotearoa
ISBN 978-1-877577-51-2
RRP. $29.95. 94 pp.

A Man Runs into a Woman
by Sarah Jane Barnett
Hue & Cry Press
ISBN 978-0-473-21399-2
71 pp.

The Same as Yes
by Joan Fleming
Victoria University Press
ISBN 978-0-86473-698-7
RRP: $ 28.00. 79 pp.

Murray Bramwell

These three collections are all debut publications and each reminds us of the diversity in current writing. They vary greatly in perspective, tone, technique, assumed knowledge and raise …

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March 16, 2013

Holocaust horrors amplified

Filed under: 2013,Archive,Festival,International,Theatre

March 13 , 2013
Adelaide Festival
Theatre

Kamp
Created by Herman Helle, Pauline Kalker and
Arlene Hoornweg .
Hotel Modern
The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre.
March 12. Tickets $ 30 – $ 59
Bookings : BASS 131 246 or adelaidefestival.com.au
Until March 17.

It is part of the tragedy of modern times that we can know about catastrophic events but still not fathom them. We are told the statistics from the two World Wars, for instance, soldier and civilian fatalities …

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March 10, 2013

Parks and Re-creation

Filed under: 2013,Archive,Festival,Music

Van Dyke Parks
with Daniel Johns, Kimbra
and the Adelaide Art Orchestra
Thebarton Theatre
March 8.

Murray Bramwell

Artistic director, David Sefton had always planned to include Van Dyke Parks in his first Adelaide Festival and among the hit-and-miss, mix-and-almost match fare of this week’s Brassland events, this Thebarton show has been a highlight. Much has to do with the genial, outgoing presence of Parks himself. But equally, the enthusiastic participation by Daniel Johns and electro-pop favourite, Kimbra turned an …

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March 05, 2013

Star’s stand-in acquits himself well in murderer’s tale

Filed under: 2013,Archive,Festival,State Theatre Company,Theatre

March 4 , 2013
Adelaide Festival
Theatre

The Kreutzer Sonata
Based on the Novella by Leo Tolstoy
Adaptation by Sue Smith
State Theatre Company.
The State Theatre Company Scenic Workshop,
Adelaide Festival Centre.
March 2. Tickets $ 25 – $ 65
Bookings : BASS 131 246 or adelaidefestival.com.au
Until March 17.

The first night of a new play is always a high pressure event. The first night of a featured work in an arts festival, even more so. When it …

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When London was hit by bombs

Filed under: 2013,Adelaide Companies,Archive,Festival,Theatre

March 3 , 2013
Adelaide Festival
Theatre

Thursday
by Bryony Lavery
Brink Productions
and the English Touring Theatre
Norwood Town Hall, The Parade, Norwood
February 28. Tickets $ 30 – $ 59
Bookings : BASS 131 246 or adelaidefestival.com.au
Until March 16.

“This is a play, not a documentary,” Bryony Lavery writes in the program notes for Thursday, “ It is a theatrical response and offering to an enormous human event.” The event was on Thursday,  July 7, 2005 …

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Delightful farce delivers a dose of Britain in ‘63

Filed under: 2013,Archive,Festival,International,Theatre

March 3 , 2013
Adelaide Festival
Theatre

One Man, Two Guvnors
by Richard Bean
Based on The Servant of Two Masters
by Carlo Goldoni
with songs by Grant Olding
National Theatre of Great Britain
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
March 1. Tickets $ 30 – $ 109
Bookings : BASS 131 246 or adelaidefestival.com.au
Until March 9.

Sydney Theatre Company season
March 30 –May 11.
Melbourne Theatre Company season
May 17- June 22.

From the moment The Craze, a young skiffle …

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February 27, 2013

New Sounds in the Park

Filed under: 2013,Archive,Theatre,Womadelaide

WOMADelaide 2013
Preview

Murray Bramwell

The line-up for this year’s WOMAD in Botanic Park has been announced and the anticipation begins. It is a big list – with three days and four nights to cover – and there is the usual mix of familiar names and those never-heard-of-till-now- performers who will doubtless join the 20 year list of artists who, once seen and heard, are never forgotten.  Names like Youssou N’Dour, Sheila Chandra, Toumani Diabate, Afro Celt Sound System, L. …

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January 21, 2013

The Best of 2012

Filed under: 2012,2013,Archive

Live performance is, by nature, ephemeral and, too quickly, excellent productions and outstanding performances drift into imperfect recollection and hearsay.

I want to thank all the companies and creatives who have invited me to performances in 2012 and to acknowledge your commitment and achievement.

It is always hard to create good work and these are especially difficult times in which to operate.

So much entertainment is now corporatized and commodified and the capacity and inclination of many audiences to engage …

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November 07, 2012

Stimulating without the wink-wink factor

Filed under: 2012,Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

November 7, 2012
Adelaide
Theatre

In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)
by Sarah Ruhl
State Theatre Company
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre

November 7. Tickets $ 25 – $ 59
Bookings : BASS 131 246
Until November 24.

In the opening scene of In the Next Room, Sarah Ruhl’s Pulitzer-nominated play from 2009, the intrepid medical scientist, Dr Givings,  makes his confident diagnosis : “Mr Daldry, your wife is suffering from hysteria. It is a very clear …

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