Last year I decided to institute my personal Artist of the Year award. There’s no money attached, of course, and I think we’d have to say it confers only a modest amount of fame. I was rather thrilled , however, to see that my inaugural winner, the multi-faceted mezzo Jacqui Dark, was subsequently featured in…
Tag: Sport for Jove
Theatre artists of the year (and my inaugural Artist of the Year)
One person’s best is another person’s “I can’t believe we saw the same show”. Which if course we never do or can. We each bring to the theatre our history, our personality, our experiences, our experience, our tastes and our bête noirs. So why these lists at year’s end? Well, they serve as reminders of…
Naming names: looking back on 2014
I’VE avoided making neat lists of 10 of this and 10 of that in my survey of 2014, which is good when it comes to the individuals who made the deepest impression on me. I decided not to divide the names by art form or vocation. There are dancers, opera singers, actors, actresses, directors and…
Zest and immediacy
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…
Angels in America, The Maids, Phedre, Othello
Angels in America, Belvoir, June 5 and 6; The Maids, Sydney Theatre Company, June 8; Phedre, Bell Shakespeare, June 12; Othello, Sport for Jove, June 14. THEATRE, from companies big and small, has been particularly rich in the first half of the year in Sydney. There were exceptional new works, old ones given a jolt…
The best of 2012 and my picks for 2013
The long list for my top 10 shows of 2012 numbered more than 20 – a pretty good indication of a strong year in the arts. So why restrict myself to 10? No point really, so here are the shows that worked for me last year: At the Sydney Festival: Babel (Words), a wild dance-theatre…
Shakespeare Shipwrecked Season 2013
Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest Seen December 30 at Bella Vista Farm, Sydney. SPORT for Jove’s Damien Ryan was joking when he said after the end of Twelfth Night last night that King Lear would start at midnight. Obviously it was a jest: King Lear wouldn’t fit into the shipwreck theme that…
deborah jones: FollowSpot 