Month: April 2011

  SIREN THEATRE CO presents AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare in Bay20 Carriageworks, Sydney. AS YOU LIKE IT begins at court where Dukes have usurped Dukes, brothers have fought brother, and daughters are separated from families and become ‘sisters’ to unite and run off into exile. All end in the Forest of Arden. This mythical version of Arden – “a sylvan sanatorium for the political exiled, the lovelorn, and assorted undesirables…it’s topography being a fantastical mixture of flora and fauna, including snakes, lions, and palm trees.” It is where magic and the balm of nature gives room for…

Belvoir presents CUT by Duncan Graham in the Belvoir St. Downstairs Theatre. This is the third piece of writing by Duncan Graham that I have seen, in Sydney: OLLIE and the MINOTAUR (Downstairs Belvoir St, 2009) and ONE LONG NIGHT IN THE LAND OF NOD (Old Fitzroy,2009), being the other two. This production, CUT, is certainly the most satisfactory experience of this writer’s work that I have had. The artistic collaboration of all of the artists involved, have worked to create a fully rounded gem of performance art- a dramatic monologue. The space in which the actor, Anita Hegh, moves,…

“THE SPARE ROOM is an exciting new development on the independent theatre scene in Sydney. THE SPARE ROOM facilitates co-production between New Theatre and independent companies, providing a platform for the creation of challenging and stimulating contemporary performance by both emerging and established artists.” ARTHUR (a theatre company), is the inaugural partner of this enterprise. ARTHUR, has a company brief, which you can find on Facebook. Too full of too much whimsical persiflage to seriously quote here. DIRTYLAND by Elise Hearst, is a new Australian play and is the first offer of this most welcome development from the New Theatre:…

TAMARAMA ROCK SURFERS THEATRE COMPANY present FOOLS ISLAND by Darren Gilshenan & Chris Harris at the Bondi Pavilion Theatre, Bondi Beach. The principal creative force for FOOLS ISLAND, Darren Gilshenan: “So here is what I think …Theatre is its own delicious creature, full of symbol, metaphoric imagination and collaboration, it is bland when it is literal. It offers us a unique experience to explore an intimate relationship with a live audience. My aim was to challenge myself as a performer and utilise a wide skill set of performance qualities by creating a piece of theatre full of opposites; Physical performance…

Sydney Theatre Company presents ZEBRA by Ross Mueller at the Wharf 1, Hickson Road. The design for ZEBRA, a new play by Ross Mueller, has been created by David McKay whose background experience has been mainly in film production design. On stage is a meticulous re-creation of an American bar, THE BIG HOUSE, in some part of New York city. It is mostly convincing and the most amazing element is the window that looks out onto the outside entrance stairway to the bar, which has the most convincing winter outdoor, daylight lighting effect (Lighting Designer, Damien Cooper), aided with continuous,…