Performing Arts Reviews:
2008–2022

Presented by Performance Space THE RIVER EATS – Justin Shoulder and Collaborators, at Carriageworks, Redfern. THE RIVER EATS is a performance art piece created by Justin Shoulder and Collaborators. This work is a further development on a project explored and presented at Melbourne’s 2012 Next Wave Festival. Here, at Carriageworks it is part of their month-long Show Off Season. Mr Shoulder according to the program notes is: a multi-disciplinary artist. His interest lies in the creation and dissemination of urban mythologies. These stories are realized physically in the construction of full-body highly sculptural ‘Fantastic Creature’ avatars he inhabits in live…

Photograph by Bob Seary New Theatre presents TOP GIRLS by Caryl Churchill at the New Theatre, Newtown. I have always regarded the writer as the God in the theatre from which all other creative efforts are inspired. The better the writer the more support all the other artists have to proceed to build a quality experience for an audience. When the writer is respected and examined to provide the superstructure for the production, trusting the writer’s clues and resisting their own ‘re-writing’ need to personally ‘fingerprint’ the original work, a good time is more likely to be arrived at than…

Sydney Theatre Company and Colonial First State Global Asset Management present THE MAIDS by Jean Genet, in a New English Language Translation by Benedict Andrews and Andrew Upton at the Sydney Theatre. I attended a performance of THE MAIDS ( LES BONNES -1946) by Jean Genet, last Saturday, matinee (6th July), late into the season, and watched three of the best performances by actors I have ever seen. A sublime ensemble. A big, big call, Kevin. Consider, what you are saying. I have. I am. Thus …… At the first curtain call, I actually lifted my hands in the air…

The Old 505 Theatre presents THE TWELFTH DAWN, devised and performed by Gareth Boylan, Kerri Glasscock and Michael Pigott. THE TWELFTH DAWN is a new work devised by Gareth Boylan, Kerrie Glasscock and Michael Pigott. This work began, for these artists, with a discussion around David Malouf’s novel, RANSOM, which was inspired by the last chapter of Homer’s THE ILLIAD. It tells of the journey of the grief stricken Trojan king, Priam, recovering the body of his son, Hector, from the possession of the Greek victor, Achilles. It tells of the rage, pride and grief experienced by all in this great story, with humanity and a profound insight. One of the…

Cupboard Love and Sydney Independent Theatre Company present SAY HELLO FIRST developed by Danielle Maas and Joe Kernahan at the Old Fitzroy Theatre. SAY HELLO FIRST is a devised ‘verbatim’ work (it felt as if it were heavily re-constructed from verbatim, perhaps?) by the two performers, Danielle Maas and Joe Kernahan, directed by Jason Langley. The two artists, “together, armed with a recording device and the urge to know why,(…) set out to interview twenty guys from Dani’s life, and on the way discover: The Rules.” The rules to courting, modern courting, one presumes. The premise of the work has…

Bangarra Dance Theatre Australia present BLAK in the Drama Theatre, in the Sydney Opera House. This year I have seen and been rewarded with some great dance experiences. The Paris Opera GISELLE; BIRDS WITH SKYMIRRORS from the New Zealand company, Mau; ‘G’ from the Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) and the Nederlands Dans Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. These were highlights of some of my theatre going this year, which has had much to enjoy. I have always thought well of the Bangarra Dance Theatre and have been particularly admiring of the contemporary bias in the stories that the company have begun to…