Category: Dale Ferguson

Lewis (Sean Keenan) is a character creation of Louis Nowra that appears in three of his plays, SUMMER OF THE ALIENS (1992), COSI (1992) and THIS MUCH IS TRUE (2017). In COSI, Lewis takes on a job directing some patients of a local mental hospital in a ‘therapy’ production of Mozart’s COSI FAN TUTTI. This is not Lewis’ choice but one foisted on him by the thespian leader of the hospital patients, Roy (Robert Menzies), and his enthusiasm will not be brooked. The play charts the development of the rehearsals and first performance, hilarious in its ups-and-downs, as it negotiates the…

  Sydney Theatre Company presents A Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre Production of AWAY, by Michael Gow, in the Drama Theatre, at the Sydney Opera House, 23 February – 25 March. Michael Gow’s AWAY is a ‘classic’ Australian play much loved by Australian audiences. I have seen some countless numbers of productions and, I believe, this is the fifth professional production that I have seen. I saw the first production for the Griffin Theatre Company at the SBW Stables Theatre in 1986, Directed by Peter Kingston. One for the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne in 1986, Directed by Neil Armfield.…

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…

Photo by Brett Boardman Belvoir presents, THE BLIND GIANT IS DANCING, by Stephen Sewell, in the Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir St Surry Hills, 17 February – 20 March. The primitive but stirring sound of a muted metal instrument (it, probably, a manufactured electric source) heralding the entrance of the participants to commence action on the Belvoir stage promised an heroic approach to this epic 1983, political/religious family saga, THE BLIND GIANT IS DANCING, by Stephen Sewell. I was flattered to be presented with the dense muscularity of the ideas in the language of the play – it has been so long since…

  Photo by by Brett Boardman Belvoir presents, RADIANCE, by Louis Nowra, in the Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir Street Theatre, Surry Hills, 7 January – 8 February. From the writers notes the $13 Program and Currency Press text publication of RADIANCE, by Louis Nowra: RADIANCE is an exuberant black sabbath for three great Indigenous dames. Cressy, Nona and Mae are half sisters with little in common except the ghosts of their childhood. They gather, in the tropical Queensland landscape, for Mum’s funeral. These three sisters are forces of nature, and they haven’t been in the same room for many, many years. It…

Photo by Brett Boardman Belvoir presents BROTHERS WRECK by Jada Alberts at the Upstairs Belvoir Theatre, Belvoir St, Surry Hills. 28th May – 22nd June. BROTHERS WRECK by Jada Alberts is a new Australian play. A new work from a new writer. This is Ms Alberts’ first play. It is an accomplished work, even despite, its well honed formulaic, some might say, old fashioned, structure and style. More kudos to it, I reckon. The concentrated attention and appreciation that the audience I sat with, demonstrated the power of a comprehensible, well told story, that has a perceptible beginning, middle and…