Month: August 2016

Photo by John Marmaras Red Line Productions present, LOOK BACK IN ANGER by John Osborne, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Cathedral St, Wooloomoolooo, 16 August – 10 September. Belvoir St Theatre season from 13 September – 17 September. Sixty years ago, in May 1956, LOOK BACK IN ANGER  by John Osborne, was presented by The English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. It has been touted by many that it was the play that ‘revolutionised’ the English theatre scene of its time and was the major watershed for what followed. Contextually, along with the usual classic revivals, the contemporary…

Photo by Alex Wisser Powerhouse Youth Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company present TRIBUNAL. Concept by Karen Therese, at the SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross, 12 – 20 August. A tribunal is a court of justice. This TRIBUNAL, in the SBW Theatre, does not reach for that definition, rather it facilitates a gathering of tribunes: indigenous peoples and refugees with their empathetic supporters. Tribunes being defined as a person who upholds or defends popular rights, or dare one say in Australia in August 2016, persons who uphold and defend human rights. TRIBUNAL is a modest but powerful piece of verbatim theatre.…

Disney Theatrical Productions, under the direction of Thomas Schumacher presents, ALADDIN. Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin, Book by Chad Beguelin. Capitol Theatre, Sydney 11 August – 13 November 2016. The Disney Theatrical Productions arm of the Disney Company have brought to Sydney a spectacle of old fashioned musical theatre in a contemporary (new fashioned) post-modern, popular culture version of a tale of Middle Eastern origin, ALADDIN. Disney had made an animated version of the tale in 1992, and it became a most successful member of the famous Disney Renaissance films which includes…

Ambassador Theatre Group Asia Pacific and Red Live present, THE BEAST, by Eddie Perfect, in the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House, 29 July – 21 August. THE BEAST, written by Eddie Perfect, began as a project at the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2013 and has now been taken up by the Ambassador Theatre Group on a commercial run – a rarity in Australia, indeed – which is, at the moment, playing in the Drama Theatre, in the Sydney Opera House. This is a new production and new casting from the original. The publicity blurb on the web-site tells…

  Ensemble Theatre presents BETRAYAL, by Harold Pinter, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli, 16 July – 20 August. BETRAYAL, by Harold Pinter was written in 1978, and belongs to his great middle period, and along with other works like NO MAN’S LAND (1975) and OLD TIMES , is often characterised as one of his ‘memory plays’. Pinter was given the Nobel prize for Literature in 2005. This play uses reverse chronology, and so the first scene of the play is the chronological end of the story, the last scene of the play is the first chronological event. It begins in a…

Dear Reader, You may have detected a slight fall off of my Diary reports on theatre experiences of late. My explanation is that I have been engaged in rehearsals for the Sport For Jove production of Anton Chekhov’s THREE SISTERS. It is now playing in the Reginald Theatre at the Seymour Centre. It is a piece of serendipitous timing as this ‘reflection’ happens to be my 1000th entry to my Theatre Diary blog! As someone in Muriel’s Wedding says: “What a coincidence!” Sport For Jove asked whether I would like to direct a production for them, way back in 2013.…