Category: Kate Gaul

H.M.S. PINAFORE is a comic operetta written in 1878, by a famous double act: W.S. Gilbert, responsible for the Book (Lyrics), with Sir Arthur Sullivan who wrote the music. Mistaken identity, class warfare, sisters, (cousins, aunts) and sailors and the trickiest of tongue twisters abound in this nautical caper. H.M.S. PINAFORE is a sharp satire of the English social hierarchical system of the Victorian Age. (…) It answers the burning question(s) of who among equals is the most equal and whether love can level all ranks. At the Hayes Theatre, Director Kate Gaul, brings this Victorian work onto its 2019…

Ah, THE MOORS. The Moors. THE MOORS. THE MOORS! I saw this production of THE MOORS, a play written by young New Yorkian, Jen Silverman, several weeks ago. It is a production from Siren Theatre Company, Directed by Kate Gaul. THE MOORS, what to write? Ponder, ponder, ponder. What was my response? I have found myself in turmoil. Not in any negative manner but in a turmoil of a whirl buffeted by this contemporary take on THE MOORS. I have a history with the Moors – though I have never been there myself. I came to this production understanding that…

Photo by Clare Hawley Sydney Conservatorium of Music Opera School present LES MAMELLES DE TIRESIAS (THE BREASTS OF TIRESIAS) by Francis Poulenc, in the Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Saturday, 19th May: Tuesday, 22nd May; Thursday, 24th May; Saturday, 26th May. I first saw and heard LES MAMELLES DE TIRESIAS, by Francis Poulenc, as part of a triple bill at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, under the title of PARADE in 1981. The triple bill was made up of the ballet PARADE, music by Eric Satie, the Poulenc one act opera, LES MAMELLES DE TIRESIAS and L’ENFANT ET LES…

Photo by Lucy Parakhina Siren Theatre Co in association with Griffin Independent presents, THE HAM FUNERAL, by Patrick White, at the SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross. 17 May – 10 June. THE HAM FUNERAL is a first play by Patrick White, written in 1947 in post war, blitzed-out London. Set in 1919 it was inspired by the painting by William Dobell known as ‘The Dead Landlord’ and on a story of Dobell’s experience in one of those great crumbling houses in Pimlico. This play begins with a Young Man in a preamble chat with us the audience: “… Probably quite…

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY, is a new play from Lachlan Philpott. It had its premiere season in Belfast in 2013 and played last year in Melbourne. Written in a kind of open verse style with a duo of actors narrating as a Greek Chorus (Thomas Campbell, Niki Owen) and interacting as minor characters, four other actors embody the major characters to tell the story of Harry Crawford in the working class suburbs of Sydney in the early years of the last century. In virtual poverty, Annie Birkett (Jane Phegan) cares for a house for her son, Harry (Jonas Thomson), and…

Sydney Conservatorium of Music presents the Verbrugghen Ensemble, in Verrbrugghen Hall, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Tuesday 4th October. OF MAGIC AND MADNESS is the final concert of the inaugural season of the Verbrugghen Ensemble. The Ensemble is in residence at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. It is made up of internationally acclaimed soloists and orchestral musicians, most of whom are faculty members of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. It is Directed by Conductor, John Lynch. This concert consisted of the presentation of work from the last half of the last century and a World Premiere by Australian composer,…