Category: Yalin Ozucelik

Photo by Brett Boardman Belvoir presents THE GREAT FIRE, by Kit Brookman, in the Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre, Surry Hills, 6 April – 8 May. I saw this production weeks ago, towards the end of its run. My impression of the play was that of an ambitious but lumbering four-act play in the mode of Chekhov. It reminded me, mostly, in Australian terms, of Alex Buzo’s BIG RIVER (1985) – another big family saga, set in a big rambling house on the Murrumbidgee/Murray River basin, based on the history of the writer’s own family but set toward the end of…

The Sydney Theatre Company (STC) recently presented a play by Andrew Upton called THE PRESENT, which was an adaptation of an unwieldy text by Anton Chekhov known, mostly, under the title of PLATONOV (1881). It was never published, even read, until well after the death of its author (It was published posthumously in 1923). So, what PLATONOV, can be about, as we have, historically seen, can be very different, depending on the inclination of the Writer/Director. Anton Chekhov’s first published and produced play was IVANOV, in November, 1887. In 1884 Chekhov had graduated from Moscow University as a Doctor, the same…

Photo by Heidrun Lohr Riverside Theatres presents A Riverside Production, SHELLSHOCK by Justin Fleming, at the Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, 30 July – 8 August. Shellshock is a new Australian work, by Justin Fleming, having its World Premiere at Parramatta. The play was commissioned by Riverside in 2013 to be part of the ANZAC Centenary in 2015. In the Writer’s notes in the program, Mr Fleming, tells us that it was the Director, Wayne Harrison, who gave him a snippet of fact to ignite the process (of writing): a soldier took home a baby tortoise from Gallipoli in 1915 and that tortoise…

Photo by Brett Boardman Sydney Theatre Company (STC) presents, CYRANO DE BERGERAC, by Edmond Rostand. Adapted by Andrew Upton. Translated by Marion Potts. At the Sydney Theatre, Hickson Rd. Walsh Bay, 11 Nov – 20 Dec, 2014. This is a catch-up blog. This production of Edmond Rostand’s famous, CYRANO DE BERGERAC, has been adapted, a second time by Andrew Upton, who also happens to be the Director of this production, (the first adaptation being from a translation from the French, by Marion Potts), assisted according to the program notes, by Kip Williams. Both, recently, collaborated on CHILDREN OF THE SUN,…

Sydney Theatre Company presents a Sydney Theatre Company and State Theatre Company of South Australia production of VERE [FAITH] by John Doyle in the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. VERE [FAITH] is John Doyle’s second play, THE PIG IRON PEOPLE, which the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) presented in 2008, being the first. Says Andrew Upton, the Artistic Director of the STC: John Doyle … has shaped a play that finds the intersection between theatre, science and morality. The here and now of the stage, the four-dimensional fields and particles of physics, the slippages and illusions of dementia. It…

Photo by Peter Greig Just Visiting and Griffin Independent present the World Premiere of THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE by Vivienne Walshe at the SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross. THIS IS WHERE YOU LIVE is the Winner of the 2012 Griffin Award by Vivienne Walshe, directed by Francesca Smith, leader of the independent theatre company, Just Visiting. This is the inaugural production for this company and the World Premiere of the play. This company has been working on this project since 2006 when it was part of the Australian National Playwright’s Conference. It arrived “as a conventional narrative-based 4 character…