Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Governor Hindmarsh
Murray Bramwell
The last time I saw Bonnie “Prince” Billy was at the Tivoli at the beginning of 1998. He was trading under the name of Will Oldham then and, like Will Robinson, another of his aliases, he was a little lost in space. It was a brilliant set, but also exasperating and a little worrying. Oldham huddled at the side of the stage avoiding the spotlight, mumbling to himself, and the band (which included …
Continue Reading Back to top2004
The Comedy of Errors
by William Shakespeare
The Bell Shakespeare Company
Dunstan Playhouse, September, 2004.
Murray Bramwell
It is seven years since Bell Shakespeare last played in Adelaide and they return with a production full of fun and flair. Thought to be Shakespeare’s first play, The Comedy of Errors borrows freely from The Menaechmi by the Roman playwright Plautus, except that, not content with the confusion of one set of twins, Shakespeare goes double or nothing by adding twin …
Continue Reading Back to topMuse
Thebarton Theatre
Murray Bramwell
It is only eight months since we saw UK band Muse at Big Day Out, but now they are back with more fans and a lot more fanfare. Their stocks have risen with the release of their latest album, Absolution, a recent tour with The Cure, and their steady determination to prevail. There have been comparisons – with Radiohead, for instance, and the latter end of Britpop – but increasingly, Muse is taking inspiration from …
Continue Reading Back to top2004
Laughing Wild
by Christopher Durang
The Getaway Bus
by Ingle Knight
Festival of One
Bakehouse Theatre
September, 2004.
Murray Bramwell
After a late scratching from Series Three of Bakehouse Theatre’s Festival of One, comes the welcome addition of Laughing Wild, a thirty minute monologue from American writer Christopher Durang. Taking its title from Samuel Beckett – “Laughing wild amidst severest woe” – it features an unnamed young woman who is repeatedly colliding with the world.
First, it is …
Continue Reading Back to top21 September, 2004
Murray Bramwell
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)
by Ann-Marie MacDonald.
State Theatre Company of South Australia.
The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre.
21September. 2004 Tickets $ 17 – $ 45.
Bookings BASS 131 246.
Until 9 October.
Why does all the tribulation in Shakespeare’s tragedies hinge on flimsy plot devices like stolen handkerchiefs and misdelivered letters ? What if these plays were really meant to be comedies ? These are the questions asked by Constance Ledbelly, the central …
Continue Reading Back to top2004
Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
State Theatre Company
of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse, August 2004.
Murray Bramwell
Arthur Miller once said his plays were about how the birds come home to roost, one by one, back to the branch. He meant that there is a tragic theme in his work, and his characters, more than most, reap what they sow. But his pessimism is not to be mistaken for futility. In the struggle against their fate and …
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Vanishing Point
Compagnie Philippe Genty
Her Majesty’s
September, 2004.
Murray Bramwell
It is startling to think that Philippe Genty has been performing in Australia for more than thirty years. His company featured at the Festival in 1978 and again in Adelaide in 1996, when, in collaboration with Australian artists, they generated a new work, Stowaways. Genty has had a long association with this country and, for many in the audience, his blend of illusion and movement has been their …
Continue Reading Back to top31 July, 2004
Murray Bramwell
Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
State Theatre Company of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse
Adelaide Festival Centre
30 July, 2004.
Until 14 August. Bookings BASS 131 246
Tickets $ 17- $45.
Arthur Miller subtitled it – “Certain Private Conversations in two Acts and a Requiem,” but Death of a Salesman has been part of a very public conversation for more than fifty years. The figure of Willy Loman, Miller has suggested, is a tragic …
Continue Reading Back to topThe Duck Shooter
by Marty Denniss
Brink Productions
and the State Theatre Company
of South Australia
The Space
July, 2004
Murray Bramwell
Brink Productions did a good thing encouraging Marty Denniss to revise for the stage his script of the Australian feature film Erskineville Kings. Cinema’s gain has also been the theatre’s and the result is The Duck Shooter. In this, often harsh play, Denniss follows the fortunes, or otherwise, of a group of young men.
Brothers Barky and Wace …
Continue Reading Back to top2004
Fluff
Created by Christine Johnston
Strut and Fret Productions
Artspace, Festival Centre
The Flying Babies
by Jakub Krofta
Drak Theatre
Dunstan Playhouse
Windmill Productions marked a second birthday last month and they continue to live up to their claim as a leading national theatre company for young people. They have not been without their blips – last year’s Robinson Crusoe was undistinguished and The Snow Queen faltered under the sheer weight of its grandiose intentions. But this year’s Moonflee…
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