Year: 2009

  Company B Belvoir presents GETHSEMANE by David Hare. As usual with the recent Belvoir productions of late, the production values of the work, is exemplary. The Set design by Brian Thompson, a single setting for various locations, of semi-gloss, grey concrete walls and floor is very elegant and contemporary in its feel. (There was an echo of the SCORCHED and BAGHDAD WEDDING Set Design, what this one lacked, was sand!!!) The props, table, bench etc very beautifully executed and used. Costume design by Jennifer Irwin is especially pleasing and accurate – character is delineated quickly and supportively. Lighting by…

  THE HAYLOFT PROJECT and B SHARP present THE ONLY CHILD at Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre. THE ONLY CHILD by Simon Stone and Thomas Henning is a new play inspired by Henrik Ibsen’s LITTLE EYOLF. The text was devised with The Hayloft Project cast: Gareth Davies, Shelly Lauman, Anne-Louise Sarks & Tom Wren. I read in the pre-publicity press (The Sydney Morning Herald?) that Simon Stone one day, a recently married man, having some obstacles with his partner, was, while bathing in his tub at home was reading Ibsen’s LITTLE EYOLF. At some point, whilst still soaking, it appears that…

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams directed by Liv Ullmann and starring Cate Blanchett as Blanche DuBois has been the most highly anticipated theatre event of the year here in Sydney. After the Sydney season it travels internationally onto an American tour to Washington and Brooklyn (New York). On entering the theatre Liv Ullmann and her Set Designer (Ralph Myers) have made interesting choices for their production of the play. The set is thrust as far forward as is practicable to the front of the stage (it may have been for an acoustical solution to this notoriously difficult space,…

From the moderator: “There has been a recent explosion in the blogosphere in response to Company B’s 2010 season launch and the lack of women represented as writers and directors… Joanna Erskine – Dear Company B… Sydney Arts Journo – Where are the women? 7-on Playwrights – What is going on here? Laura Scrivano – Female Writers and Directors As a response, here is an excerpt from Kevin’s review of UNDER ICE which was posted a week before the event…”Just a note. This is the second work by Kellie Mackereth I have seen this year. Both have been highly satisfying.…

  Opera Australia presents Cosi fan tutte (the School for Lovers). Opera in Two Acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. English translation by Jeremy Sams. Cosi fan tutti (The School for Lovers) by Mozart and da Ponte, (English translation by Jeremy Sams) is Directed by Jim Sharman. From the erudite notes in the Opera Australia program by Antony Ernst (2009) “The operas written by Mozart to the libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte are usually regarded as the pinnacle of operatic achievement… Certainly The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni Figaro, and Cosi fan tutti are extraordinary… In…

    floogle in association with The Tamarama Rock Surfers presents ONE LONG NIGHT IN THE LAND OF NOD at the Old Fitzroy. This is the second play by Duncan Graham that we have seen in Sydney this year. The first was OLLIE AND THE MINOTAUR (2008) at the Downstairs Belvoir. This is a short, one hour, one act play concerned with sibling rivalry (See THE LONESOME WEST) between brothers Aaron (Patrick Graham) and Kane (Chris Pitman), set on some crumbling family ‘farm’. The two brothers are at opposite poles of sophistication and needs. Kane is a university trained business…