Month: April 2012

Monkey Baa presents THE BUGALUGS BUM THIEF, based on the book by Tim Winton, at the New Lend Lease Darling Theatre Quarter, Darling Harbour. THE BUGALUGS BUM THIEF has been adapted by Sandra Eldridge, Tim McGarry and Eva Di Cesare from “the hilarious book” by Tim Winton. It is a revival of a production mounted by Monkey Baa in 2002. It is directed by John Saunders with great gusto and liberal hand; designed by Mark Thompson with a delightfully simple painted scenic set that, however, with the movable pieces looks a trifle cumbersome – big boxes on wheels (it is…

EnTrance, created and performed by Yumi Umiumare, presented by Performance Space at Carriageworks. Yumi Umiumare is a Japanese-Australian performing artist and is “the only Japanese Butoh Dancer in Australia and (is) the creator of provocative Butoh Cabaret and visceral dance works.” EnTrance consists of five scenes: Maze Cityscape; Cracked Mirror; Punk Medusa; Tears and Shiro Hebi (White Snake). …each section is interconnected through a chained world’ in which a new world opens up, one to the other. The logic of this chain world is surreal, abstract and internal, and sometimes very personal. The chain is about how things are unexpectedly…

  Sydney Theatre Company and UBS Investment Bank present LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES by Christopher Hampton from the novel by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos at the Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company. LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES was adapted by Christopher Hampton from the 1780, epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos, for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1985. A play about love and revenge. A play about betrayal and cruelty. In Sydney, the Nimrod Theatre Company produced this play at the Seymour Centre in 1987 with Hugo Weaving as Le Vicomte De Valmont and Angela Punch-McGregor as La Marquise de Merteuil. 25…

  Cathode Ray Tube present THE GREAT LIE OF THE WESTERN WORLD by Alistair Powning with Michael Booth at the Tap Gallery, Darlinghurst. THE GREAT LIE OF THE WESTERN WORLD is presented in an acting style that I would describe as an attempt at realistic-naturalism. A kind of expression of minimal states of body and voice. The emotional intensities are scaled down but true. In this intimate space at the Tap Gallery it works well. It might be best used for camera. The four actors of this company are, still, persuasive in their efforts. I was interested in their technique.…

THE GEORGE MELIES PROJECT, presents 8 films by George Melies with a music score by Phillip Johnston at the Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. This year Martin Scorsese presented a homage to one of the great pioneers of the cinema art form, the Frenchman, George Melies, in his film HUGO – a 3D construction of some startling visual beauty, if narratively it was ponderous and boring. However, this was not my first introduction to Mr Melies’ work. Some of you may remember that in 1956 Michael (Mike) Todd produced Jules Verne’s novel AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. In a prologue to…

  BREAKER MORANT by Kenneth G. Ross, presented by The Troupe Theatre at the Reginald Theatre at the Seymour Centre, sponsored by the Australian Defence Credit Union (ADCU). BREAKER MORANT by Kenneth G. Ross, A Play in Two Acts was first presented by the Melbourne Theatre Company in 1978. Bruce Beresford adapted the play for a film which was released in 1980 to much acclaim, starring Edward Woodward as “the Breaker” with Bryan Brown, Lewis Fitzgerald, Jack Thompson and many other important actors of the time. The film won 10 AFI Awards and the screenplay, using this text by Mr…