Month: January 2019

Photo by Victor Frankowski Sydney Chamber Opera in association with The Song Company Australia, present LA PASSION DE SIMONE, an Oratorio. Music by Kaija Saariaho, Libretto and Lyrics, by Amin Maaloof, in Bay 17, Carriageworks, Redfern, as part of the Sydney Festival. 9th -11th January. LA PASSION DE SIMONE, is an Oratorio by Finnish Composer, Kaija Saariaho, to a Libretto, with Lyrics, in French, by Amin Maaloof. It featured an orchestra, choir and electronics. It premiered in 2006. A Chamber version was presented in 2013, with no electronics and the choir substituted with four vocalists. This is the version that…

Sydney Festival presents, HOME, Created by Geoff Sobelle, at The Roslyn Packer Theatre, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay. 9th- 18th January. HOME is a work that was created by Geoff Sobelle through workshops and residencies in four American institutions: MANA Contemporary (Jersey City, NJ), BRIC Art House (Brooklyn, NY), Pennsylvania State University (State College, PA), and ArtsEmerson (Boston, Philadelphia). HOME premiered at the 2017 Fringe Festival (Philadelphia) and has been travelling the International Festival Circuit since, including the Edinburgh Festival, the Brisbane Festival and a stint in New Zealand. Now in Sydney. A group of seven actors led by Geoff Sobelle…

Griffin Theatre Company in association with Sydney Festival and Riverside Theatres present, SINCE ALI DIED, Written and Performed by Omar Musa, in the SBW Stables Theatre, Nimrod St, Darlinghurst. 8-19 January. Rapper, Poet and Award Winning Author is Omar Musa. In this memoir monologue performance he is a brown man in a black country talking to, mostly, white people, about how he has felt – feels – stigmatised as being ‘unAustralian’ for most of his life. SINCE ALI DIED is a Memoir Monologue, originating from a young man who has a Muslim Malaysian father (Borneo) and a white Australian mother…

A good year in the theatre – 2018. Not too traumatic. Many rewards. 1. New Australian Writing I liked a lot: MOTHER, by Daniel Keene, at the Belvoir Upstairs. Play has been around – first time in Sydney – one woman piece.BURIED, by Xavier Coy, at the Old 505. Two new one act plays of promise by a new writer. Also, well performed.SINCE ALI DIED, by Omar Musa, as part of the Bach Festival at the Griffin. Memoir Monologue written and performed by Award-winning Slam-Poet, Omar Musa. It is having a return season at Griffin in January. Highly recommend.HOME INVASION,…

This is not a blog concerning a Performance. This concerns the plans for two theatres in the Independent circuit in Sydney. On Sunday 25th November and 2nd December I attended the launch of two 2019 Seasons. It was quite a pleasure to see, at both, a majority of young artists and their supporters, present. I just thought to remark on the foresight and enterprise of LIMELIGHT ON OXFORD and THE KINGS CROSS THEATRE (bAKEHOUSE). Both organisations have planned 2019 with a generous sense of the development of the young artists in this city by giving the opportunity to create and…