Month: November 2014

Sydney Theatre Company (STC) and Colonial Trust First State Global Asset Management presents, CHILDREN OF THE SUN, by Maxim Gorky, in a new version by Andrew Upton, in the Drama Theatre, at the Sydney Opera House. 17 September – 18 October. Look. Dear Diary, I did not have a good time with this production of CHILDREN OF THE SUN, at the Drama Theatre. It seemed to me to be more a play adapted from a Feydeau classic, than a play by Gorky. I can’t decipher who is responsible, The Adaptor: Andrew Upton, or the Director, Kip Williams. The best things…

Performance Space present, THE FOX AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS, co-written by Alana Valentine and Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, in Bay 20, at Carriageworks, Redfern. 13-22 November. THE FOX AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS is a new Australian work, co-written by Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor and Alana Valentine. Charles “Chicka” Dixon was a leading Indigenous activist. Born in 1928, his role as activist began to find focus during the preparation of the 1967 Australia Referendum, that amended the constitution to include Aboriginal people in the census and allow the Commonwealth to create laws for them; and, among much else, in 1970, he organised the Aboriginal Legal…

Bontom Proudctions presents, THE WORST KEPT SECRETS, by Thomas De Angelis, at the Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre, Chippendale. THE WORST KEPT SECRETS, is a new Australian play, by a newish writer, Thomas De Angelis. His other play, JACK KILLED JACK was written in 2012, as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival. I am going to write fulsomely about this small production, because I believe there is some playwriting promise, here. It is too rare not to agonise over. A husband and wife political team, he, now, an ex-State Premier, George Steeper (Rhett Walton), and his behind-the-scenes mover-and-shaker, Annie, (Sonia Todd),…

Photo by Bob Seary New Theatre presents SWEENEY TODD, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Libretto by Hugh Wheeler, at the New Theatre, King St, Newtown, 18 November to 20 December. This New Theatre production of SWEENEY TODD is worth catching. This is the fifth live production of SWEENEY TODD, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Musical Thriller, that I have seen. It is the fourth production of it that I have seen in Sydney. I first saw it In New York with the original cast, in 1979, with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury,…

  PACT centre for emerging artists present TROJANS By Team Mess at the Pact Theatre, Eskernville. 14-15, 20-22 Nov. TROJANS by Team MESS, courtesy of the Curators Groundwork (Amelia Wallin & Maria White) for the Tiny Stadiums Festival, 2014. Hi! Team MESS is the collaborative output of a group of young-ish artists. As a collective we play with conventions, rituals and spectacles of popular culture and everyday life to stage theatre events that close the distance between the work and the viewer and open up a shared space of experience, exchange and narrative possibility. … Each project (over the past…

Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) present MARWOOD’S SERENADE, as part of the National Concert Season, 2014, at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney. Other Sydney dates: Angel Place – 22 Nov at 7pm; 25 Nov at 8pm. Sydney Opera House: 30 Nov – 2pm. The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) under the Direction of the Internationally renowned Violinist, Anthony Marwood, give a concert of musical treats. Says Mr Marwood: We’ve chosen a huge treat of a programme. Stravinsky’s brittle and brilliant writing contrasts with Dvorak’s lush and joyful outpouring ; and there is George Enescu, whose musical voice is slowly but…