Piper's Playhouse review | Crown Melbourne

Going up the escalators to the entrance of Piper’s Playhouse is the beginning of an exhilarating and entertaining night in a Parisian cabaret club. It feels like stepping into a velvet-lined time capsule where glamour, mischief, and a hint of rebellion swirl together in the dim light, kicking-off with small morsels to awaken the senses and stir anticipation ahead of the evening’s grand reveal.

Revellers roam the makeshift halls, pausing for fleeting peep shows in hidden booths, whimsical bubble acts, and the promise of momentary absolution through confession. Champagne is already flowing via surprising means and a roving magician enchants with feats of close-up illusion.

Homophonic! review | Midsumma Festival | Theatre Works

It's been 16 years since Homophonic! had its first performance. 16 years of championing and supporting LGBTIQ+ classical art music. So it feels almost criminal to have only just attended my first ever Homophonic! concert. Staged as part of the Midsumma Festival, with a string quintet and percussion, and voices of The Consort of Melbourne, Homophonic! is a vivid and deeply felt celebration of queer experiences, tracing stories of resistance, memory and community while looking toward what lies ahead.

Artistic Director and musician Miranda Hill also takes the role of MC, providing rich context for each of the pieces we are about to hear. Hill exudes a warmth and openness to her introductions, allowing the audience to grasp not only the compositions themselves but the meaning and purpose behind them. This elevates the six performances beyond music, turning them into an experience that resonates emotionally and intellectually, and leaving a real sense of connection with the stories being told.

Final Queen review | Midsumma Festival | Gasworks Arts Park

Final Queen is a drag circus horror comedy one-woman spectacle, which already sounds like a fever dream, but in the hands of creator/performer Harrison Sweeney and co-creator Rachel Kerry, the chaos is controlled, playful, and often very funny. The story follows drag sensation Grace Lightning as she receives the life-changing call that Kylie - yes, THE Kylie - wants her to audition for her world tour. This requires an urgent road trip from Sydney to Darwin, because of course that is where global superstardom begins.

But a road trip isn't a road trip unless you take your besties with you, so naturally Grace’s (expendable) sidekicks, Jax and Kelly, both brought to life by Sweeney through swift wig changes and defined character work. Jax reads as the seasoned drag queen who has seen everything twice, while Kelly is flirtatious, phone-obsessed, and delightfully chaotic. The driving montage neatly sketches each personality with minimal staging, proving how much Sweeney can do with very little, something he accomplishes repeatedly with this production.

Black, Fat and Fa**y review | Midsumma Festival | Chapel Off Chapel

Milo Hartill is black, fat and faggy. Although these not the exact words she would use. But that’s the privilege of existing across three oppressed minority groups. In the cabaret Black, Fat and Fa**y, Hartill takes us through various elements of these communities and what her experiences have been. With a voice like hers though, there are entertaining musical numbers to go with her observations, anecdotes and jokes.

Hartill is dressed in silver boots, white skirt, and a white cropped t-shirt with "Alpha Male" printed along the front in sparkling letters. She wears a denim jacket with "Big Ol' Dyke" on the back. And that’s the constant contest and juxtapositions and blurred lines that she lives on. She performs with a confidence that is loud, proud and unapologetic, commanding the room before she has sung a note.

Afterglow review | Midsumma Festival | Chapel Off Chapel

I remember being in New York in 2018 and taking my seat to see S. Asher Gelman's Afterglow. I remember being intrigued by a story I'd not seen on stage before. And as the play progressed, I remembered being fascinated by the movement, choreography and the honesty that it explored. Fast forward to 2026 where Afterglow gets its Australian premiere at Midsumma Festival, and that intrigue and fascination remains.

Afterglow follows Josh and Alex, a married gay couple whose open relationship is built on love, routine, and the quiet negotiations that come with time. When a one-night stand with a younger man opens the door to new desires and unspoken insecurities, the couple find themselves confronting questions they thought were settled, and what began as an experiment in openness and trust, slowly forces them all to navigate jealousy, vulnerability, and the fear of being replaced.

S A I N T S and the Moral Panic of Witch Trials with Emily Tomlins | La Mama Theatre

Set in an imagined 1653 England on the brink of upheaval, S A I N T S traces friendship, belief, and survival in a world gripped by witch trials, unrest, and political extremism. The story follows Anna Trapnel and her friends as they flee persecution after being accused of witchcraft by the regime they once helped install, navigating a landscape of spies, moral panic, and competing versions of truth. We spoke with co-director and performer Emily Tomlins, about history’s recurring patterns, the push and pull of belief and power, and what it means to perform this at La Mama’s historic Courthouse stage, in a production by Elbow Room’s Marcel Dorney and Tomlins, with Dorney as co-director and writer.

Robert the Octopus review | Midsumma Festival | Brunswick Mechanics Institute

In Robert the Octopus, Sadie has a crush on a co-worker but thanks to the modern world, their interactions are solely online and via Zoom meetings. In an attempt to gain her co-worker’s attention, Sadie buys a pet octopus named Robert. Eventually, it's enough to lure Georgia over to visit and from there, things begin to get ridiculously complicated as Sadie seeks advice from Robert on what to do next.

Queer emerging writer Alex Duncan has previously shown promise for highlighting the absurdities within the mundane with his work Rakali, but this outing could benefit from further development. What in theory could have been a fascinating narrative, in practice is a script that is light on substance and plot progression. The exchanges between characters are rudimentary and missing a spark, and while there are hints at humour, it rarely builds tension or generates laughs. At one point, it looks like the play is going to go somewhere regarding power and control and who has it, but that concept wraps up shortly after it is introduced.