Category: Seymour Centre

Sydney Festival 2010 present HAPPY AS LARRY, Shaun Parker & Company at the Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre, Sydney. Like, but, unlike Michael Keegan-Dolan of Fabulous Beast who brought us GISELLE, Shaun Parker is credited as Director (as is Mr Keegan-Dolan) and then, Choreographer (not claimed by Keegan-Dolan). However it seemed to me that both these artists begin their work in a similar way. Select collaborators and from their uniqueness, their (gifts) develop a work from their range of possibilities and skills, predicated by the Director’s idea or “dream”. In the case of Mr Keegan-Dolan, this Festival, Giselle; in the case…

  Sydney Festival presents a co-production between Chichester Festival Theatre and Headlong SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR by Luigi Pirandello in a new version by Rupert Goold & Ben Power in the York Theatre, Seymour Centre. Written in 1921 and first performed in Rome in the Teatro Valle. “SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR” is a classic of modernism, a fundamentally subversive moment in the history of modern theatre. Its self conscious setting – an open stage prepared for rehearsal (of another Pirandello play THE RULES OF THE GAME) – its fragmented narrative, confusing time levels and…

  Ensemble Theatre present David Williamson’s LET THE SUNSHINE at the Seymour Centre. Oh, what is all this guff about David Williamson and all the other contemporary playmakers etc? Horses for courses. Please!!! THE WAR OF THE ROSES written by Tom Wright and Benedict Andrews, THE WOMEN OF TROY also written by Tom Wright but with Barrie Kosky (and I presume the up-coming POPPEA by Barrie Kosky from the Monteverdi Opera, Poppea) are worthwhile contributions to the Australian theatre culture. And, I have to say, my very pleasant night at the Seymour Centre on Thursday night gave another worthwhile night…

  A BLACKBIRD PRODUCTION: STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling at the Seymour Centre. “In the haven of Truvy’s beauty salon, six very different women come together to share their secrets and bare their souls, throwing in a little neighbourly gossip for good measure. From weddings to divorces, babies to funerals, new beginnings to happy endings, they weather every event in their lives with grace, determination, and perfectly coiffed hair. When tragedy strikes, it is in the familiar comfort of Truvy’s salon where they seek the solace and support that carries them through.” So goes the synopsis in the program notes.…

  To quote from the publicity postcard: “Bell Shakespeare’s JUST MACBETH! By Andy Griffiths is a really silly version of Shakespeare’s great big gory tragedy starring Andy, Lisa, Danny, and (yuck!) Jen from the JUST TRICKING!, JUST STUPID!, JUST SHOCKING! books. It’s got six funny but tragic actors, a garden gnome, and a severed head that talks Shakespearean. Plus, there are witches, WIZZ FIZZ, ghosts, girl germs, and weird Elizabethan things like soliloquies and sharp swords and other things beginning with S. An hilarious and irreverent take on one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, JUST MACBETH! will have you and…

There will be a preamble. Forgive me. In the tradition of Alison Croggon, the Melbourne Art Blogger (see her notes on The Serpent’s Teeth) I thought I should declare my self interests when talking about ALTAR BOYZ. In my last blog concerning STONING MARY I complained of the series of doom and gloom works I had experienced this year and protested that I longed for another contrasting vision. On approaching ALTAR BOYZ I wondered whether I would regret what I had wished for. It is well established, and I am often quoted as saying, that “I HATE MUSICALS”. “I THINK…