Month: June 2009

  A BLACKBIRD PRODUCTION: STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling at the Seymour Centre. “In the haven of Truvy’s beauty salon, six very different women come together to share their secrets and bare their souls, throwing in a little neighbourly gossip for good measure. From weddings to divorces, babies to funerals, new beginnings to happy endings, they weather every event in their lives with grace, determination, and perfectly coiffed hair. When tragedy strikes, it is in the familiar comfort of Truvy’s salon where they seek the solace and support that carries them through.” So goes the synopsis in the program notes.…

AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA present TOUR THREE: GREAT ROMANTICS. In a concert at Angel place I heard a stripped back representation of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, a string sextet: Richard Tognetti, Helena Rathbone, Christopher Moore, Stephen King, Timo-Veikko Valve and Julian Thompson give a performance of Ian Munro’s commissioned piece BLACK IS THE NIGHT as part of the 20th Anniversary celebration of Richard Tognetti’s leadership of the ACO; Brahms’ String Sextet in G, Op.36 [Agathe] and Schoenberg’s TRANSFIGURED NIGHT. Brahms has not very much interested me. I nearly always imagine myself sitting in a scene either at a colonial concert at…

Photo – Savage River – Travis Cardona Griffin Theatre Company presents a World Premiere of SAVAGE RIVER by Steve Rodgers. A co-production with Melbourne Theatre Company and Tasmanian Theatre Company at the SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney. Savage River is set in a remote area on the west coast of Tasmania; “Hour–north from Zeehan. A ways south of Arthur River. Savage is two hours east….. (and west?) The Republic of South Africa.” Kingsley (Ian Bliss) , a deeply, psychologically, injured man, has fled with his half caste son, Tiger (Travis Cardona) to the wilderness, in an attempt to protect the boy…

Photo – Whore – Rhiannon Owen Arts Radar in association with B Sharp presents the world premiere of WHORE by Rick Viede, at Belvoir Downstairs. WHORE is a play, in a set of numbered episodes, about two young people that decide that the world of the sex worker is a way to make money and be “interesting”. It covers a familiar trajectory of naive entry to the world and a series of initially benign adventures that gradually disintegrate to ugly confrontations. It charts a journey of friendship, comradeship between Sara (Rhiannon Owen) and Tim (Paul-William Mawhinney) as they get to…

Photo – The Duel – Luke Mullins SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY AND THINICE PRESENT; THE DUEL, from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky adapted by Tom Wright as part of Next Stage at Wharf 2. The most interesting and absorbing aspect of this experience was the story telling of Dostoevsky as adapted by Tom Wright. Mid way through the performance I found myself leaning forward and being absorbed by the journey of the text. Otherwise the work was generally disappointing. Matthew Lutton made a strong impression on me with his work on the Tom Holloway play: DON’T SAY THE WORDS, last…

  Picture: Jon Hopkins   PURE SCENIUS part of the Luminous Festival, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. Just for the continuity of my diary…. I attended two of the three concerts as part of Brian Eno’s final event for the recent Luminous Festival. The ‘theatre’ of improvising musicians (presumably within some parameters) was an attractive promise. Certainly the musicians that Mr Eno had gathered were worth attending too. The Necks: pianist Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer Tony Buck were the outstanding “genius” of the night. Individually and collectively. The other artists included Jon Hopkins, Karl Hyde, Leo Abrahams…