Month: September 2013

Photo by Ellis Parrinder Belvoir presents MISS JULIE by Simon Stone after August Strindberg in the Upstairs Theatre at Belvoir, Surry Hills. This is the third production of MISS JULIE that I have seen in Sydney this year. The first, an adaptation of the 1888, August Strindberg play, by Cristabel Sved and Kate Box at the Darlinghurst Theatre in October last year. The other, in March this year, using the ‘classic’ 1964, Michael Meyer translation of the play. Interestingly, I am aware (and read, two of them) of three other recent, high profile versions of this text, internationally. MIES JULIE, adapted…

Rock Surfers Theatre Company presents EMPIRE: TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS. A Spectacle by Toby Schmitz at the Bondi Pavilion Theatre, Bondi Beach. At the curtain call at the end of the performance, of EMPIRE: TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS – A Spectacle by Toby Schmitz, spread across the entire width of that notoriously difficult Bondi Pavilion stage (a Cinerama width of a stage), and spilling off into the auditorium, even – over 20 actors took many bows – it was an opening night. The sheer scale of that vision of human effort and commitment, elicited from me, a deep,…

Australian Theatre for Young People (atyp) present: SPUR OF THE MOMENT by Anya Reiss at the atyp Studio 1, The Wharf, Hickson Rd. SPUR OF THE MOMENT was written by a young British playwright, Anya Reiss at the age of 17. Now 20 years old, Ms Reiss was a guest of the company at the Opening Night performance (she must have found our winter evening, oddly, recognisable as a British summer night, which she had just left behind). Ms Reiss found her voice through the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers’ Programme – the same programme that developed the work of…

Sydney Theatre Company and Barking Gecko Theatre Company present STORM BOY by Colin Thiele. Adapted for the stage by Tom Holloway in Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company, Hickson Rd. STORM BOY is a joint production of the Sydney Theatre Company and the Perth company, Barking Gecko Theatre. Directed by John Sheedy from a commissioned adaptation by Tom Holloway, of the 1964 children’s novel by Colin Thiele. A film was made in 1976 by the South Australian Film Commission (SAFC) and Channel 7. It won the Best Film Award from the Australian Film Institute (AFI) in 1977, and starred Greg Rowe,…