Year: 2008

Theatre of Image Artistic Director Kim Carpenter, is responsible for both the Direction and the Design of this adaptation of the Oscar Wilde Fairy story. The Design is meticulously thought through and beautifully executed. There are images here that should stay delightfully in the memory for some time to come: The Little Swallows wooing of the Reed is but one of many. The Puppet Makers (Tina Matthews and Garth Frost), Mask Maker (Paul Fraser), Costume Maker (Lucia Franze) along with the clever Set construction and painting (Pier Productions) are masterful in their ability to lead the imagination to a place…

On the coldest night in Sydney this winter, so far, with rain sprinkling around me, after almost two weeks of every night out at some theatre event, I had an uninspiring dinner grabbed between work and the theatre and then walked to the SBW Stables Theatre, bought my ticket and then climbed the stairs into that relatively uncomfortable space. I had recently written a series of reviews which were never entirely happy about what I had experienced. Mostly, lately, had begun to be irritated about Directors (both young and mature) conceptualising a production of a play and relatively obliterating the…

    Looks like people are most eagerly anticipating SCORCHED, upstairs at the Belvoir St Theatre. So here are some details… Written by Wajdi Mouawad, translated by Linda Gaboriau Director: Neil Armfield Cast: Paula Arundell, Carl Dewhurst, Adam Hatz, Gillian Jones, Brian Lipson, Ashley Lyons, Lucia Mastrantone, Zindzi Okenyo, Hazem Shammas, George Spartels and Yael Stone Season runs 19 July – 7 September. Bookings online or call 02 9699 3444. This month, have your say about which play you think Bell Shakespeare should produce next. Vote now! –> Pearl (Moderator)

From the Director’s Notes: “I put on classics as a means of expressing the timelessness of particular aspects of the human condition.” Further: “My job, as I see it, both in adaptation and direction is to strip away anything that gets in the way of this realization – anything that no longer speaks to us today – then build up a structure that facilitates the audience’s enjoyment and understanding of a piece that may in its original form have seemed antiquated” – Simon Stone The Set design (Adam Gardnir) consists of what I took to be 9 chicken coops/cages. In…

1927 is a group of four artists from the UK who have concocted a pleasant little Cabaret event. It was a prize winner at the Edinburgh Fringe 2007. A simple projection screen. Projected are some very beautiful, nostalgic animations and live action film (Paul Barritt) which two of the performers Esme Appleton and Suzanne Andrade perform in front of and interact with, whilst the fourth of their troupe, Lillian Henley, accompanies on piano. The tunes are original but are faintly delightfully familiar. They present maybe ten or so tiny sketches each with a title such as THE LODGER, THE GRANDMOTHER.…

There will be quite a disquisition to follow, so stirred am I. But for those with a short concentration span or otherwise let me be brief. (“Brevity is the soul of wit”.) This production of HAMLET is a failure. A failure on almost on all counts. *(Well, not quite all.) To quote a program note HAMLET “is arguably the greatest tragedy in the English language”, ”a masterpiece”. It maybe the pinnacle of English playwriting. It may be the greatest “poem” written in English. It presents for all the artists who collaborate on it, perhaps, the artistic equivalent of the feat…