Year: 2017

Photo by Ross Waldron Catnip Productions and Seymour Centre present the Australian Premiere of THE NETHER, by Jennifer Haley, in the Reginald Theatre, the Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 13th September – 7th October. THE NETHER is an American play by young playwright, Jennifer Haley. It premiered in 2013. THE NETHER is set in the not too distant future: ‘Soon’, says the author. The nether is a development of the Internet – a virtual reality realm. The Nether realm is 1. Another world for mythical creatures 2. Demon World. 3. A dimension of Evil or Imagination The play begins in an interrogation room…

DINNER, is a British play, written in 2002, by Moira Buffini. In the original and published text, which is different to what we see in this production, produced by the Sydney Theatre Company (STC), Paige (Caroline Brazier), a famous gourmet hostess, invites a group of middle class intellectuals (not aristocrats, as suggested in the program) to a, supposedly, celebratory dinner, for the successful publication of her husband’s, Lars (Sean O’Shea), philosophic how-to-live a happy life tome BEYOND BELIEF. Wynne (Rebecca Massey), a not famous painter, arrives without her husband Bob, a politician, who has just run off with one of…

Griffin Theatre Company presents, DIVING FOR PEARLS, by Katherine Thomson, in the SBW Stables Theatre Kings, Cross. 8 September – 28 October. DIVING FOR PEARLS, is an Australian play by Katherine Thomson, first performed in 1991 – a play, then, some 26 years old. However, this production, Directed by, Darren Yap, gives this play an energy and clarity that makes it resonate and feel as if it were written today, in 2017. This is a state-of-the-nation play delivered with confidence by all concerned. A good play – vivid, individual characters in wonderfully observed scenes, with dialogue that crackles and caresses…

Photo by Rupert Reid Photography Millstone Productions presents MOTH, by Declan Greene, in the ATYP Theatre, Wharf 4, Hickson Rd., Walsh Bay. 6 September – 16 September. MOTH is a one act play by Australian writer, Declan Greene. It is a very early example of his work and the ‘promise’ that this text predicts has been continually advanced upon with project following project: e.g. LITTLE MERCY; EIGHT GIGABYTES OF HARDCORE PORNOGRAPHY and more recently, THE HOMOSEXUALS OR ‘FAGGOTS’. Two young teenagers, Claryssa (Ruby O’Kelly) – a self-declared emo, Wiccan art-freak, and Sebastian (Jeremi Campese) – an underdeveloped, sickly 15 year old…

Photo by Michael Bourchier Monkey Baa Theatre Company presents, WHERE THE STREETS HAD A NAME, by Eva Di Cesare, adapted from the novel of the same name by Randa Abdel-Fattah at the Lendlease Darling Quarter Theatre, Darling Harbour Precinct. 5 – 7 September. WHERE THE STREETS HAD A NAME, is a play adapted from the novel by Randa Abdel-Fattah. It reveals the experience of how ordinary Palestinians negotiate violence and injustice while going about their mundane, everyday lives, as two children go on a quest to fulfil the dying wish of one of their beloved. Says Ms Abdel-Fattah: Monkey Baa’s…

Photo by Brett Boardman Belvoir presents, HIR, by Taylor Mac, in the Upstairs Theatre, Surry Hills. August 16 – September 10. HIR is a play by the American artist, cult figure -“A critical darling of the New York scene” –  Taylor Mac (also, referred too as, ‘judy’ – as in Judy Garland – as a gender pronoun). In the Writer’s Note in the program: I’m a lover and maker of the alternative, underground, and radical movements, and basically every work I’ve made is somehow rooted in a subculture. HIR, however, is a new kind of play for me, as it’s dealing…