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The Underpants

Carl Sternheim was a German Playwright and Short Story writer. This play, DIE HOSE, was written by this Sternheim in 1910, during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm was an infamously unstable (neurotic? paranoid?) leader of a world power who became what some people regarded as “Prussianized’. He became immersed in the romance of the ‘look’ of the military uniform which leant him to the conception and instrumentation of a highly militarised country with a civil government of rules and regulation that made way for an ultra socially conservative way-of-living for his populace. It was he who built a…

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This Much Is True

  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…

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Look Back In Anger

Photo by John Marmaras Red Line Productions present, LOOK BACK IN ANGER by John Osborne, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Cathedral St, Wooloomoolooo, 16 August – 10 September. Belvoir St Theatre season from 13 September – 17 September. Sixty years ago, in May 1956, LOOK BACK IN ANGER  by John Osborne, was presented by The English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. It has been touted by many that it was the play that ‘revolutionised’ the English theatre scene of its time and was the major watershed for what followed. Contextually, along with the usual classic revivals, the contemporary…

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80 Minutes No Interval

Photo by Rupert Reid Thread Entertainment in association with Red Line Productions  present 80 MINUTES NO INTERVAL, by Travis Cotton, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Cathedral St. Wooloomooloo, 11 March – 9 April. One of my mantras has been when working in the theatre: “The writer is God.” I have always held the writer in the highest esteem, especially the playwright, and in my working as an Actor, Director or Teacher of Acting, I have always applied a kind of ‘forensic fanaticism’ to the writer’s words and clues, including the syntax and even the lay out on the printed page,…

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Loot

Sydney Theatre Company and Qantas present LOOT by Joe Orton at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. LOOT by Joe Orton was written and premiered in 1966. It, followed the success of ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE on the West End stage, the year before. Orton with LOOT “ extended the boundaries of farce by taking it out of the bedroom and into the funeral parlour: this is Feydeau with fangs or Ben Travers rewritten by a socialist anarchist. The action hinges on stolen bank loot being stashed in a coffin while the displaced corpse (of one of the robbers mothers) is…

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Capture the Flag

  A Critical Stages & Tamarama Rock Surfers Theatre Company production CAPTURE THE FLAG by Toby Schmitz at Riversides Theatre, Parramatta. This is one of several plays by Toby Schmitz. Yes, the actor. A man of many gifted talents. CAPTURE THE FLAG is a re-mounting of the production seen at the Old Fitzroy Theatre a couple of years ago. The handsome design elements: Set design by Genevieve Dugard and Leland Kean; Costume design by Lisa Walpole; Lighting design by Luiz Pampolha (restricted by the need of a lengthy tour, I’m sure); and the Sound design by Jeremy Silver, are all…

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