Month: November 2016

Photo by Brett Boardman Belvoir presents, THE FAITH HEALER, by Brian Friel, in the Belvoir Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir St, Surry Hills, 26 October – 27 November. The lights faded to black. The play, THE FAITH HEALER, was finished. The stage lighting came back up and it was a kind of surprise, shock, wonder, when on the furniture-empty raised platform, surrounded by a panorama of painted tumultuous clouds, only three actors stood there to take the curtain call. Colin Friels, Alison Whyte and Pip Miller. They looked so few on that, what appeared to be now, very spare space. For in…

  Sydney Theatre Company and Colonial First State Global Asset Management present SPEED – THE – PLOW, by David Mamet, in The Roslyn Packer Theatre, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, 8 November – 17 December. SPEED – THE – PLOW, by David Mamet was written in 1988 and starred Madonna in its first outing. Act One: It concerns two lowly-runged ‘goers’ in the Hollywood hierarchy trying to get further up the ladder with the power to ‘green light’ the production of films. Charlie Fox (Lachy Hulme) brings to his ambitious friend/ally, the corporation favoured Bobby Gould (Damon Herriman), a deal for…

A DOOR AjAR 11 November – 19 November 2016 Blue Mountains from Theatre Trailers on Vimeo. Fairmont Resort and Weatherboard Theatre present, A DOOR AjAR, by Dale Turner, in the Auditorium of The Fairmont Resort, Leura. 11 Nov – 19 Nov. In 2013, I saw a production of a new Australian play, THE WESTLANDS, by Dale Turner, at The Parramatta Riverside Theatres and was wonderfully ‘bowled over’ (read my blog). It was a play about the Western areas of Sydney and its peoples. Written in a form reminiscent of Dylan Thomas’ UNDER MILKWOOD: a verse play. It was presented by…

Photograph by Robert Catto Dino Dimitriades and Red Line Productions present, THE SHADOW BOX, by Michael Cristofer, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Cathedral St, Wooloomooloo, 15 Nov – 10 Dec. THE SHADOW BOX, by Michael Cristofer, is concerned with three persons in the terminal stage of a cancer illness, and the strains (collateral damage) it has on the families coping with that reality. This production has a beautiful visual aesthetic created by Designer, Isabel Hudson, who simplifies the more naturalistic demands of the original concept, and is assisted by a haze lighting Design by Martin Kinnane that manages a consistent elegance…

Photography by Helen White Darlinghurst Theatre Company present, A LIFE IN THE THEATRE, by David Mamet, at the Eternity Theatre, Burton St, Darlinghurst, 4 Nov-4 Dec. A LIFE IN THE THEATRE, by David Mamet, is an early play, 1977 and, considerably, out of the usual area and style of his more well known genre – of the ‘Mamet-speak’ with macho, foulmouthed men squabbling over the way to make money, epitomised in his famous Pulitzer Prize winning, GLENGARRY GLENN ROSS, of 1984, his Chicago real estate play. A LIFE IN THE THEATRE was written as a paean to his short-lived days…

  Boyslikeme present NEXT FALL, by Geoffrey Nauffts, in the Reginald Theatre, at the Seymour Centre, Chippendale, 26th October to 19th November. NEXT FALL, by Geoffrey Nauffts, is a play with gay themes concerning an Odd Couple: a closeted Christian man, Luke (Alex Ewan) living in partnership with an atheist, Adam (Darrin Redgate) and all the conundrums socially, politically, emotionally that that ‘arrangement’ might throw up. Especially, when Luke in a coma in hospital after an accident, results in his ‘blood’ family and his ‘tribal’ family to meeting up for the first time. I saw NEXT FALL in production on…