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December 01, 1997

State’s 1998 Season

Filed under: Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

State’s 1998 Season

Murray Bramwell

Perhaps it was the threatening storm clouds, perhaps it was the funeral-chic black worn by many of those in attendance. Maybe it was because it has been such a long time coming. Whatever the reason, the announcement of the 1998 State Theatre season, now formally in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, seemed a skittery and desultory affair.

Arrayed on the lawns adjacent to the Back Stage Bar and Grill, a mixed crowd of …

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String of Pearls

Filed under: Archive,Music

1997

Deborah Conway

Governor Hindmarsh

November, 1997.

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

The Spring 1997 performances by Deborah Conway might well be called the Great With Child Tour. Certainly, the singer- on the road with a band featuring her creative and procreative partner, Willie Zygier- is in very full bloom.

Resplendent in a spangled red dress, Conway puckers her poppy lips and rattles earrings the size of chandeliers. But there is nothing garish here. Deborah Conway is not only one of …

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State Theatre 1998 Season

Filed under: Archive,State Theatre Company,Theatre

1997

Murray Bramwell

Perhaps it was the threatening storm clouds, perhaps it was the  funeral-chic black worn by many of those in attendance. Maybe it was because it has been such a long time coming. Whatever the reason, the announcement of the 1998 State Theatre season, now formally in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, seemed a skittery and desultory affair.

Arrayed on the lawns adjacent to the Back Stage Bar and Grill, a mixed crowd of theatre workers, …

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Fiscal Violence

Filed under: Archive,International,Theatre

1997

Shopping and Fucking

Mark Ravenhill

Out of Joint Company

Playhouse

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

That old F word just goes on causing problems. Take the case of Mark Ravenhill’s very recent play Shopping and Fucking. A publicist’s nightmare, it has caused a flurry of asterisks and strategic figleaves. In Adelaide it received a self-imposed R rating. In New Zealand there were rumours it wouldn’t play at all.

On tour around the country the play has remained enmeshed in …

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November 07, 1997

Music

Filed under: Archive,Music

1997

Long John Baldry

Governor Hindmarsh Hotel

Adelaide

Murray Bramwell

Recently, in an interview, Long John Baldry whimsically recalled that old conundrum from the Bonzo Dog DoDah band – Can Blue Men Sing the Whites ? Hoary questions about the authenticity of the British blues seem almost laughable now. In the early sixties the blues had virtually been reborn in England- and then exported, value added, back to the US.

The Rolling Stones reaped the main rewards of course, as …

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November 01, 1997

Forced Landings

Filed under: Archive,Interstate,Theatre

The Tempest
William Shakespeare

Bell Shakespeare Company
Her Majesty’s

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Just when I was beginning to think that the single-concept approach to Shakespeare had become a needlessly limited orthodoxy, along comes a production that is so giddy with signs and portents that it runs aground. The trouble with Jim Sharman’s reading of The Tempest is that it has at least four or five different brainstorms all tossed into the same teacup. When, in the program notes, dramaturg …

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Mo’ Better Blues

Filed under: Archive,Music

1997

Keb’ Mo’

Tivoli Hotel

Johnnie Johnson

Governor Hindmarsh

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

A late despatch from last month. Keb’ Mo’ – that’s Delta blues for Kevin Moore- is beaming at the stand up crowd at the Tiv. “Yo’ got yourselves a championship football team.” His drawling pentameter turns the phrase into twenty five syllables. And the Crows fans love every one of them. It has been a top weekend. Yesterday a win at the MCG and now some Sunday …

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October 11, 1997

The Blues Fall Like Rain

Filed under: Archive,Music

Keb’ Mo’ (Blues soloist)
Tivoli Hotel, Adelaide.
29 Sept. 1997.

The Blues Fall Like Rain

Keb’ Mo’ – that’s Delta blues for Kevin Moore- is beaming at the stand up crowd at Adelaide’s Tivoli Hotel. “Yo’ got yourselves a championship football team.” His drawling pentameter turns the phrase into twenty five syllables. And the Crows fans love every one of them. It has been a top weekend. Yesterday’s win at the MCG and now some Sunday night good-time blues from …

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October 04, 1997

Barossa Seulle

Filed under: Adelaide Companies,Archive,Theatre

Theatre/Dance
Adelaide

Barossa Seulle

Meryl Tankard’s Australian Dance Theatre prepares a new work for the Barossa Music Festival.

It is mid-morning on a Wednesday and Meryl Tankard steps out of rehearsal to talk about Seulle, a new work being developed especially for the Barossa Music Festival. Dressed in black leotard, she towels her thick, dark hair and makes a beeline to the spring water dispenser for a cupful.

These Barossa gigs are particular labours of love for Tankard and her …

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October 01, 1997

Dead Reckonings

Filed under: Archive,Australian Texts,Interstate,Theatre

After the Ball
David Williamson

Queensland Theatre Company
Her Majesty’s

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

After the fiscal wars of Money and Friends and the gender wars of Brilliant Lies, after the media wars of Sanctuary and the culture wars of Dead White Males, after Heretic and Third World Blues. After all this comes After the Ball – and what might be called the family wars.

But David Williamson’s newest play is not about huge sundering feuds. Not your …

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