Year: 2014

  Photography by Katy Green Loughrey Produced by 3 Quacks in association with Sydney Independent Theatre Company, TIDY TOWN OF THE YEAR, by Andy Leonard, Sarah Hodgetts and Victoria Greiner at the Old Fitzroy Theatre, Woolloomooloo. Three ‘kids’ (forgive me, if inappropriate) in the ‘kitchen’ of playmaking, at the Old Fitzroy Theatre: Andy Leonard, Sarah Hodgetts and Victoria Greiner, have produced, written, and are performing, in TIDY TOWN OF THE YEAR. They have taken on the fearsome genre of “black comedy”, even more daringly, “black farce.” Town rivalry, petty jealousies, cruel behaviour, mistaken identities, revenge tactics, murder, blood, a bulky…

  Photo by Jamie Williams BLACK DIGGERS by Tom Wright presented by Sydney Festival in association with The Balnaves Foundation. A Queensland Theatre Company and Sydney Festival Production, in the Drama Theatre, at the Sydney Opera House. I saw BLACK DIGGERS almost two months ago as part of the Sydney Festival. I was so distressed with what I experienced in the Drama Theatre, and yet have such great commitment to the ideals of the project, that how to write about it in a constructive manner became a burdensome issue for me. Now, having seen THE LONG WAY HOME at the…

  Photo by Lisa Tomasetti Sydney Theatre Company and The Australian Defence Force present THE LONG WAY HOME by Daniel Keene at the Sydney Theatre. “July 2011. I am sitting in a small room in a special wing of a private hospital in Melbourne. It’s a psychiatric ward. The nurses tell me when to shower and when to eat and they watch me as I take my medication. In the corridor a bedraggled woman, a fellow patient, tells me casually that she likes to cut herself–I’ve no idea how to respond. I’m told I’ll be here for a week. My overwhelming…

  Photo by Brett Boardman Griffin theatre Company presents the World Premiere of JUMP FOR JORDAN by Donna Abela at the SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross. JUMP FOR JORDAN by Donna Abela is having its World Premiere season for the Griffin Theatre Company. The core of any successful artistic endeavour is, usually, sprung from the life of the artist – all the artists, ultimately, but always with that of the writer, to start with, in the performing arts. Add Imagination and Research and a play on the page evolves. Add the collaboration of Actors, Designers and a Director, and finally…

New Theatre presents PRIVATES ON PARADE by Peter Nichols with music by Denis King as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras at the New Theatre, Newtown. The New Theatre have presented, Peter Nichols’ PRIVATES ON PARADE before, some 25 years ago. John Short was the musical director of that earlier production and is again. During the preparation Mr Short brought to the attention of his Director, Alice Livingstone, differences between the text he had worked on then and the present one that they had begun to “solve”. In her program notes, Ms Livingstone tells us, that she…

Luckiest Productions and Neil Gooding Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co present SWEET CHARITY. Book by Neil Simon. Music by Cy Coleman. Lyrics by Dorothy Fields. In the Hayes Theatre, Darlinghurst. What is it about the anticipation of a musical, especially one that I know and like, that causes ‘my inner child’ to appear? Whatever it is, here ‘he’ is possessing my fingers, so indulge me: The Hayes Theatre Co has taken possession of the old Darlinghurst Theatre at the end of Greenknowe Avenue and designated it as a permanent home for music theatre and cabaret in Sydney. A…