Month: August 2012

  Sydney Theatre Company Presents FACE TO FACE. A Film by Ingmar Bergman, adapted for the stage by Andrew Upton and Simon Stone at the Sydney Theatre. Program notes: From The Artistic Directors The idea for FACE TO FACE was brought to us last year by Simon Stone. He is a massive fan of Ingmar Bergman and this is probably the only Bergman film that he hasn’t seen. In fact, none of us have seen it to this day. This is a deliberate decision because of course Ingmar Bergman was bound to have done a terrific job and it would…

  Bodysnatchers in association with Tamarama Rock Surfers Theatre Company presents BLOOD PRESSURE by Mark Rogers at the Old Fitz. BLOOD PRESSURE is a new play by Mark Rogers. It is a very ambitious work, and almost works. Mr Rogers and his director, Sanja Simic have collaborated on an intense work. The subject matter concerning two siblings, brothers, one who can play the piano, the other suffering through a terminal illness. The love of language usage is joyfully obvious, if occasionally a little overwrought, and the play sometimes stands still for too long, a little indulgent, and the ending not…

  Cathay Playhouse present THUNDERSTORM by Cao Yu at the Tom Mann Theatre, Surry Hills. Cathay Playhouse is a Chinese theatre company that have just completed nine years of presentation in the city of Sydney. I attended, two years ago a performance of DI LING and EMPRESS DOWAGER CI XI by HE Ji-Ping, and was charmed and impressed. Firstly by the play, performed in Chinese with sub-titles, and, secondarily with the passion of the collective of, mostly, young artists, committed to the production, on stage, backstage and front-of-house. This year the company presented THUNDERSTORM by Cao Yu. I knew of it,…

photo by Rush The Bell Shakespeare Company present THE DUCHESS OF MALFI in The Playhouse, at the Sydney Opera House. The Bell Shakespeare Company presents THE DUCHESS OF MALFI, the cast and collaborators handout and list in the actual program, announces. It is odd that those “announcements”, even the cover page of the actual program, does not register the actual writers’ names: Hugh Colman and Ailsa Piper. No mention of the writer of the original play is claimed or made in the advertising, either (although, the theatre program is an exemplar of historical research of background to the John Webster…

New Theatre present QUIET COMPANIONS and the BRYCE is RIGHT at the New Theatre, Newtown. QUIET COMPANIONS is a partly improvised playlet set in, supposedly, the Victorian Era.  This is “a show that begins with a delightfully wicked twosome playing private games (that) slowly descends into an exploration of the dark, psychological country that lies beneath.”  According to Marko Mustac the creator, director and one of the performers of this exercise in the theatre, the other being Lyn Pierce, he hopes that “unlike most improvised shows this is a serious piece: it is not meant to be funny … It…

  Garnet Productions in Association with Tamarama Rock Surfers presents Allsopp and Henderson’s PORK STILETTO at the Old Fitz. PORK STILETTO is the latest concoction written and performed by Warwick Allsopp and Tamlyn Henderson. Previous work includes, A PORTHOLE into the MINDS of the VANQUISHED and THE JINGLISTS. Two ambitious and young psychologists begin researching sexual fetishes. That they become involved in ‘field work’ that leads them into ‘immersive’ experiences spells out ventures that become adventures they never anticipated. That the research turns into something else other than an objective thesis, becomes the source of much black comedy with very…