Category: Anna Gardiner

Photo by Prudence Upton Ensemble Theatre presents, TAKING STEPS, by Alan Ayckbourn, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. 23 November – 13 January. The Alan Ayckbourn play TAKING STEPS, written in 1979, the twenty-fourth opus from his ‘genius’ (now having completed some 79 plays, the last one – so far – called ROUNDELAY, in 2014), is part of a faithful commitment of The Ensemble Theatre to his work and underlines the entertainment value that he inevitably delivers for audiences. There is usually some ‘challenge’ that the writer has given himself, for the audience’s delectation, in all of his plays, and in…

Photo by Ross Waldron Don’t Look Away and bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company present, NIGHT SLOWS DOWN, A new play by Phillip James Rouse, at the King’s Cross Theatre (KXT), in the King’s Cross Hotel. November 17 – December 9. NIGHT SLOWS DOWN, is a new Australian play, by Phillip James Rouse. It is an ambitious play, with a flashback set of scenes interpolated into the forward action of the narrative, that attempts to illustrate the modern political world where the Nationalistic/Fascist tendencies of a government can lead to overwrought and misconceived expressions of power, as in the case in this play,…

The Ensemble Theatre presents LIP SERVICE, by John Misto, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. 17 August – 30 September. Photo by Prudence Upton LIP SERVICE, is a new Australian play, that premiered in a separate production in London, earlier this year, with the title: MADAME RUBINSTEIN with the indomitable Miriam Margolyes, as Rubinstein and Frances Barber, as Elizabeth Arden. In Kirribilli, at the Ensemble we have Amanda Muggelton playing Madame Rubinstein, and it is a performance that I loved a lot. A performance of comic skill and emotional truth, when required, bringing to bear a technical bravura from an actor…

  Red Line Productions present THIS MUCH IS TRUE, by Louis Nowra, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Cathedral St, Woolloomooloo, 12 July – 12 August. THIS MUCH IS TRUE is the first major commission from Red Line Productions. The Old Fitz Theatre is a 60 seat theatre in the basement of the Old Fitz Hotel, in Woolloomooloo, and one of the regular denizens, one of the locals of the neighbourhood, that uses the pub as a regular drinking location and ‘community centre’ is Australian writer Louis Nowra. Since 2014, Andrew Henry, one of the Directors of Red Line Productions, has…

Photo by Andre Vasquez Cross Pollinate and Red Line productions present THE VILLAGE BIKE, by Penelope Skinner, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Cathedral St Woolloomooloo. 7th June – 8th July. THE VILLAGE BIKE is a British play by Penelope Skinner, first seen at the Royal Court Theatre, in 2011. Rachel Chant in her Director’s notes tells us In preparing this play we went down many tunnels of research: the Madonna/Whore complex, objectification, gender roles, pornography, power and sexual liberation. … In this so-called ‘post-feminist’ world, THE VILLAGE BIKE asks us to consider, “what does liberation look like?” Becky (Gabrielle Scawthorn), a…

Photo by Robert Catto Darlinghurst Theatre Company, present HYSTERIA, by Terry Johnson, in the Eternity Playhouse, Burton St, Darlinghurst. 31 March – 30 April. The official title of this play, written in 1993, by Terry Johnson is: “HYSTERIA, or Fragments of an Analysis of an Obsessional Neurosis”. The play treats the last days of Sigmund Freud, in his London refuge from Nazi Germany, dying of cancer of the jaw, hallucinating on morphine injections, given by his friend Abraham Yahuda, dealing with a visit of Jessica, his anima, (i.e. the psychological equivalent of his denied female self), who reveals herself as the…