Bell Shakespeare, Canberra Theatre Centre, June 15. As Bell nears the end of its long run of Henry V, here’s what I wrote after its premiere in Canberra… IN an air raid shelter during the Blitz in London, some young people delve into bookshelves and pull out Shakespeare. Their stage is a room with a…
‘A string of pearls’
Patyegarang, Bangarra Dance Theatre. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, June 12. THE story of young indigenous woman Patyegarang and Lieutenant William Dawes of the First Fleet is rare and precious. In the tumultuous first years of white settlement, as the British colonisers imposed themselves and their culture on what is now the glittering city of Sydney…
Coming up, Stephen Page and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
I AM back from London and resuming normal transmission from next week, starting with reviews of Bangarra’s Patyegarang and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Milonga – both, rather vexingly, on at the Sydney Opera House at the very same time. Reports will appear first in The Australian and then at greater length here. You may notice I’ve…
Truth, beauty and a picture of you
Neil Gooding Productions with Hayes Theatre Co Hayes Theatre Co, Sydney, May 14 STEWIE was a mid-level musician in a low-level band, according to Anton. Anton was also in the band, which means he’s paying Stewie a compliment of sorts: the guy was an okay musician. Stewie is dead now, Anton is going to seed,…
Ballet Boyz: The Talent
Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, May 13 THE founders of BalletBoyz, Royal Ballet alumni Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, have one of the best contact books in the business. A program that offered new choreography by Russell Maliphant and Liam Scarlett stamped itself as a must-see: the work of a contemporary master alongside the UK’s…
Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography
By Declan Greene. Griffin Theatre and Perth Theatre Company, Stables Theatre, Sydney, May 7. THE title of Declan Greene’s new play is misleading in one respect because it is not at all about pornography. But in its expression – so caressing in cadence and so ugly in import – the name brilliantly captures the bleak…
Williamson, Fleming
Cruise Control, by David Williamson, Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli, April 30 His Mother’s Voice, by Justin Fleming, bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company, ATYP Selects, May 2 DAVID Williamson has been writing plays for more than 45 years and hasn’t lost his touch with the well-crafted one-liner that effortlessly extracts a happy burst of laughter from a full house….
One evening, four works
The Australian Ballet, Sydney Opera House, April 29. LET’S start with the very best bit first. The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra had a particularly good night on Tuesday under Australian Ballet music director Nicolette Fraillon’s leadership. The quadruple bill Chroma covers a lot of ground: Mozart for Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tanze,…
Coppelia
Queensland Ballet, Brisbane, April 24 GREG Horsman’s appealing new production of the 19th century comedy Coppelia gives it a human scale and an Australian setting. It is the late 1800s and we are in the South Australian town of Hahndorf, settled in 1839 by German migrants and thus celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. I…
Lucinda Dunn, Cojocaru and Kobborg
The Australian Ballet, Sydney Opera House, April 22 and 23 AS the curtain came down on Lucinda Dunn’s farewell performance for The Australian Ballet she wept, the streamers flew, the audience roared and an era ended. Dunn has been with the AB for 23 years, longer than any other ballerina, and was a principal artist…
deborah jones: FollowSpot 