Performing Arts Reviews:
2008–2022

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.…

Jo Norris, Renee Newman and Griffin Independent present THOSE WHO FALL IN LOVE LIKE ANCHORS DROPPED UPON THE OCEAN FLOOR, by Finegan Kruckemeyer, at the SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross, 20 July – 6 August. THOSE WHO FALL IN LOVE LIKE ANCHORS DROPPED UPON THE OCEAN FLOOR is just one of 78 commissioned plays by Finegan Kruckemeyer. We saw a production of THE VIOLENT OUTBURST THAT DREW ME TO YOU at the SBW Stables Theatre a few years ago. THOSE WHO FALL IN LOVE … is a production from a Perth Company and was first seen there in 2014. This is…

Photo by Julia Robertson Thread Entertainment in association with Red Line Productions, present LOW LEVEL PANIC, by Clare McIntyre, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Dowling St. Woolloomooloo. 12 July – 12 August. LOW LEVEL PANIC, was written by Clare McIntyre, and presented at the Royal Court Theatre, in London in 1988. It is an examination of the low level panic that some women may feel by just ‘being’ in the world with the omnipresence of pornography and its possible construction for human behaviour. It traces the re-action of one of the characters to a sexual assault. The play was famous, especially,…