Category: James Bell

JOHN, is a play by American writer, Annie Baker. It is the third play by Ms Baker that the Outhouse Theatre Co have produced for Sydney audiences. THE ALIENS and THE FLICK. All three Directed by Craig Baldwin. All three of them have been extremely rewarding nights in the theatre. Ms Baker becomes more interesting and more daring with each play. JOHN takes you somewhere beautiful and is gentle in taking you there. JOHN, is, in literal length, a three-hour fifteen-minute experience (with two short intervals). Set in the living space and breakfast room of a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) accommodation…

Photo by Prudence Upton Sydney Theatre Company and Allens present, BLACK IS THE NEW WHITE, by Nakkiah Lui. At Wharf 1, Hickson Rd., Walsh Bay. 10 May – 17 June. Nakkiah Lui has written two previous texts THIS HEAVEN and KILL THE MESSENGER, for the Belvoir St Theatre – both ending tragically, doused in bubbling political ‘anger’ – dealing with cultural trauma and death. For this Sydney Theatre Company (STC) commission Ms Lui tells us in her program conversation: This time, I wanted to write something that didn’t come from a place of sorrow or from oppression where the actors would have…

O Photo by Rupert Reid Outhouse Theatre Co, in association with Redline, presents, THE ALIENS, by Annie Baker, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Woolloomooloo, 25 August – 19 September, 2015. Annie Baker’s 2010 play, THE ALIENS, is set in a fictional place called Shirley, in the state of Vermont. Two older men (early 30’s) in the backyard of a coffee shop befriend a young worker of the shop, and share their ambitions and observations of life. It is part of a collection of plays, four in total, set in Shirley, Vermont, the others being: CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION (2009) – produced by…

The National Theatre of Great Britain and Global Creatures present WAR HORSE, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford, at the Lyric Theatre, Star Casino, Sydney. I saw WAR HORSE in London in January, 2010 (please read the earlier blog as well – for a fuller appreciation, of this great work). WAR HORSE from the National Theatre of Great Britain is a shining example of what is possible when a theatre organisation has clear and broad concepts of what a theatre company can do for its community. WAR HORSE was building on the success of, among others,…