Opera for the Dead | 祭歌 review | Arts House

Eight hours before stepping into Opera for the Dead | 祭歌, I had been at a funeral. It was a death that arrives without warning, even after a life well-lived. By the time I entered the space at Art House, the weight of the day had settled in. Rather than wondering how I might react, I found myself acutely aware of the strange symmetry, moving from a real farewell into an immersive exploration on life and death.

Created by Mindy Meng Wang and Monica Lim, the work fuses music, visuals and technology into a contemporary Chinese cyber-opera that is both ancient and strikingly modern. Before the show begins, the audience is gathered into a “waiting room”. Chanting hums through the space, cyclical and meditative, while an electronic sign suspended above us flashes the word REMEMBER, its glow washing over us like a quiet instruction. The atmosphere is deliberate, balanced between worlds.

Ghostware review | The Motley Bauhaus

The reach of AI into everyday life is becoming both alarmingly blatant and quietly ingenious. We’ve grown used to fabricated videos, fake news and dodgy deepfaked interviews cluttering our feeds. In Cat Finch and Rose Bishop’s Ghostware, that same technology is recast as something at once unsettling and strangely tender, giving the audience room to consider death, grief and the stubborn persistence of love through AI.

Jordan Barr steps into the role of Gertrude, with sharp comedic timing and genuine emotional depth, letting us feel every wobble in her world as she continues to live in the shadow of her sister’s death. Then the impossible happens, she gets a phone call from her sister, or at least an AI imitation of her. These so-called GriefBots let the bereaved cling to their loved ones, whether out of guilt, longing or plain old affection. But when the AI version of Beatrice starts spruiking discounted Ray-Bans and cut-price therapy sessions, Gertrude sets out to have the GriefBot shut down, only to discover that getting rid of it is far tougher than she ever expected.

Victory Lap review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

Victory Lap is a semi-autobiographical one-person show by Mashaka Gunnulson that gently and sensitively explores mental health and suicide with a nostalgic look at friendships gone by, and what saying goodbye feels like.

This is a meditative tale where not much happens on stage but plenty takes place in our minds through Gunnulson's descriptive language and the vivid imagery it conjures. One particular scene where a character is visiting a morgue paints a highly detailed picture of what is being seen, heard and smelt. Their direction of Adam Marks as Billy is minimal yet considered as it allows the performance to be in tune with the tone of the story.

The Crying Room: Exhumed review

A crying room is a small, soundproof room in theatres and churches where a person can visit if they are feeling emotional but want to continue to be part of the experience via one-way glass and live audio feed without disturbing the rest of the audience. In The Crying Room: Exhumed, performer Marcus McKenzie brings this place to the forefront where he tempts us to spend time in our own private chambers, and to call on and welcome the tears. The show is an extension to the 2020 online zoom production of The Crying Room, conceived during lockdown and had McKenzie dealing with the death of his brother.

As we are ushered into the space, our attention falls on McKenzie writhing and contorting himself up a flight of stairs. Along the hall are closed doors leading to rooms that have been renamed the dying room, the wrying room and the purifying room, which has a red light and bubbling sound emanating from inside. Shortly after McKenzie has disappeared from sight, a blindfolded figure with a black robe and holding incense enters from a room and leads us the rest of the way. From here, McKenzie and his team of creatives put on a show with powerful imagery and highly effective design as he examines his own trauma and grief to losing his sibling.

FUNeral review

One inescapable fact in life is that death will always come for us in the end. No matter what we do, life can end at any moment. While that realisation can be quite bleak, Clare Taylor and Ruby Rawlings are here to make it less dire, with their comedy show FUNeral.

During the promotion of their show, the two performers capture the attention of Death itself and so Death decides to crash the party. With the odds against them, Taylor and Rawlings are determined to put Death in its place and break its 100% winning streak of successful life ends, as if this was a comedic version of Final Destination.

How Do I Let You Die? review

In February 2020, while dealing with bushfires and the looming pandemic, Michele Lee called her parents every day for 30 minutes. How Do I Let You Die? is a culmination of those conversations resulting in a gentle interrogation of life and death through the perspective of her Hmong parents and Lee's relationship with them.

As we take our seat, actor Alice Qin sits at a desk covered with post-it notes and politely acknowledges us. She introduces herself as writer Michele Lee, and begins to share with us the conversations with her parents, what brought her to that point and where these conversations led her.

EXHUMED: The ‘Best’ of Bradley Storer review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

When Bradley Storer suddenly appears in the basement space of The Butterfly Club, it's as if he's always been there. The melancholy and sadness that fills the room from the way he moves his body and looks off into the distance while performing his opening number is palpable. And so it should, as this is Storer performing EXHUMED: The 'best' of Bradley Storer.

Storer has such an unassuming presence that he can simply stand in the middle of the stage and command our attention for the hour. His introductions for each song - and at times, suite of songs - are laced with toned down camp humour but also take us to places of honesty and deep contemplation without feeling like you're at a fork in the road. We are able to sit with and enjoy both of these emotions.

This Is Personal review

To many, the name Mary Coustas is an instant reminder of the Australian icon that is Effie Stephanidis, the character Coustas portrayed on the television comedy Acropolis Now that ran between 1989 and 1992. With her new solo show This Is Personal, Coustas lets free the woman under the big wig and make-up, and opens up about the fears she has on not being alive to be there for her daughter when she will need her most.

In 70 engrossing minutes, Coustas takes us through her Greek upbringing and relationship with her parents, and up to the present day of dealing with her IVF difficulties and eventually becoming a mother. She seamlessly moves between time periods with small revelations and surprises along the way that draws us deeper into the performance. Her commanding presence and controlled storytelling - including well timed callbacks such as her mother's obsession with American soapies, and endearing impersonations of family members - allow Coustas to display her knack for comedy and her dramatic flair.

Ratbag review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

Ben Stevenson's mother used to call him a ratbag. When she suddenly died, Stevenson had to find some sense of meaning to her death. In Ratbag, the comedian looks at the slightly unconventional upbringing that he had and memories of the years he had with his mother.

Stevenson does wonderful work in painting a picture of growing up in Coffs Harbour, where gender reveal skid parties were a usual occurrence. He also shares details of his mother's peculiar habits, including her common boycotting of brands, companies and even countries, such as her supermarket protest of all things made in France, and her penchant for growing a very specific green plant.

Baba review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

Between February 2020 to August 2022, Joshua Ladgrove was the full-time carer for his 97 year-old Ukrainian grandmother. While death can be a difficult topic to genuinely discuss, particularly in a comedy, Ladgrove has constructed a very clever show in Baba, that pays respect to his baba and the life that she led with a mix of gentle laughs and some fearless comedic choices.

Baba was the best person Ladgrove knew and through his words he easily conveys the warm and loving relationship these two had. Whether he is speaking to us or chatting with his baba, you can see the strong affection in his blue eyes and how even though time heals all, she is still immensely missed.

Bunny review (Melbourne International Comedy Fetival)

New Zealand performer Barnie Duncan returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a show that is quite unlike what he has done in the past. His trademark absurdity is still evident in Bunny, but Duncan's dissection of whether dancing at a nightclub at 3am was a way of dealing with his grief or avoiding it after his mother passed away last year, adds a level of intimacy and vulnerability that is often difficult to convey on stage.

While a few jokes don't land that well, or have been tacked on for a cheap laugh (Will Smith's Oscars behaviour is already such a tired punchline), Duncan shows strong control of the audience and meeting the expectations we have upon entering this surreal show about clubbing and death. The unique way in which Duncan sees and understands the world is clearly presented, and with an open heart he shares the complexities of dealing with grief and mourning the death of a loved one, particularly during a pandemic.

The Living Room - Melbourne International Comedy Festival preview

The Accountants of Death will see you now. Back for another Melbourne season after a hugely successful 2019 Melbourne Fringe Festival where they took out the award for Best Comedy, Amrita Dhaliwal and Gemma Soldati's The Living Room is an absurd yet unflinching look at life and death. The two play employees of Death who record the toll of those who have died. One has been diligently doing this for a very long time but must now show the ropes to a new starter, who is on their first day on the job while making sure those deaths get recorded.

It was the performers' individual lived experiences with death and grief that ultimately inspired them to make a work on the sensitive subject on death, often proving quite challenging for them to develop. "I lost my boyfriend in 2012 and Amrita lost her mother in 2017 so these events brought us together to reflect on the experience of loss, the rituals around grief and our questions about death," Soldati tells me. "In the early stages of this, on any given night, either or both of us would cry during the show. The emotions were raw and exposing our grief was intense. When we started, it hadn't even been a year since Amrita's mother had passed and midway through working on the show my father was diagnosed with stage four cancer."

When The Light Leaves - Midsumma Festival preview

Death is inescapable. We are all going to die. Unfortunately, few of us are given a say on how or when we will die. With the recent introduction of the Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Act in Victoria, where Victorians who are at the end of life (and who meet strict eligibility criteria) can now request access to voluntary assisted dying, Rory Godbold's When The Light Leaves is a timely and compelling examination of VAD legislation and what it actually means to the people who need it and returning to the stage for a second season during Midsumma Festival.


When The Light Leaves had its premiere season at La Mama in July 2019, which was coincidentally the same week that VAD was passed into legislation in Victoria. The timing of the production opened up plenty of debate on the topic between audiences and the creative team. "Being able to put this on while the state of play for the terminally ill shifted was an incredible thing," Godbold recalls. "It happened in the middle of the season, which led to different readings from the audience in the first and second week as the reality of choice in death changed around them. We had a forum after the play on the day the legislation came into effect and there was a whole raft of responses that were not the previous focus of responses. Just as people react differently to grief, the show has elicited a wide range of responses regarding choice on the end of life as people respond to the play on a personal level."

The Window Outside review

"It makes life so much easier when everybody knows its time", says one character in Belinda Lopez's The Window Outside. Presented as part of the Victorian Seniors Festival, the play explores the relationship between a family when tragedy strikes and tough decisions need to be made. Everyone is reaching boiling point after Frank has had a stroke, Evelyn is showing signs of dementia and their two adult daughters are unable to continue caring for their parents.

Carrie Moczynski reprises her role as Evelyn after playing her seven years ago in a season at La Mama. Her portrayal is once again laced with a loving vulnerability and determination and even though she doesn't explicitly state it, there are traces of acknowledgement that her mind is slowly deteriorating. Ian Rooney's performance relies on his body language and facial expressions to tell his story. He does a great job of highlighting the spark of life he once had and how it has now left him. As his oldest daughter Sharon states in one scene, he is but a shell of what he was, which the flashbacks also do well in supporting.

My Wife Peggy review

Everybody loves a good party, especially George. He's got a wife, two kids and a boiled chocolate cake. Life is perfect. Until the moment tragedy strikes. In Gavin Roach's My Wife Peggy, we follow George as he deals with the immediate aftermath of the worst moment in his life and begins to question what the future holds for him and his family.

Dallas Palmer delivers a restrained performance as George as he refers to his happy past, bleak present and unknown future. Throughout the show you see glimmers of the shock and rage that is building inside him but it's a shame Palmer isn't given the chance to explore some of this raw emotion when you consider the issues being dealt with.

A Midnight Visit review

It’s may be almost 170 years since Gothic literature writer Edgar Allan Poe died under mysterious circumstances but in Broad Encounters immersive theatre production A Midnight Visit, he is brought back to life and entice his audience to face their fears in an evening of macabre entertainment. Audiences are left to wander through the maze of 36 rooms as they come across various figures from Poe’s life, characters from his stories and even the writer himself. What happens next depends on the path you choose to take.

We are initially greeted by an undertaker who prepares us for entry into an unpredictable and macabre dream world. With surgical masks over our faces to prevent us contracting any diseases (and to add to the unsettling anonymity of the evening) we begin our journey into the dark recesses of the mind. As many scenes play out simultaneously in this labyrinth, it is impossible to see everything unfold. This makes it difficult to piece together a structured narrative but choosing to see the evening as a series of vignettes taken from Poe's life and his writing, heightens the unease permeating throughout the production and allows you to focus solely on what is happening.

When The Light Leaves review

Imagine you’re a 34-year-old man with a job that while you might not love, it allows you to live the happy life you lead. What you do love however is your boyfriend and the house that you share. You have dreams of travelling the world together. Now imagine getting diagnosed with terminal cancer. What happens next? In Rory Godbold’s first play When The Light Leaves, this becomes a reality for one person who needs to make one of the most tragic – and controversial – choices of his life.

When The Light Leaves non-linear narrative consists of numerous shifts in time and perspective that allows for the story to be told with significant care and development. Fortunately, the cast that has been assembled is more than able to meet the challenges of this production, especially Tomas Parrish who plays Dan, the aforementioned 34-year-old. He displays great ability to equally highlight Dan’s resolve and fear and in switching from being broken and pained to carefree and hopeful. Leigh Scully elicits a touching sincerity as Liam, Dan’s boyfriend, as he finds himself in denial of the future that is facing the couple. Together with Parrish, the relationship they present on stage feels like it has a genuine history and with a deep felt connection between them.

Q review

The greatest mystery in life is death. Not only what happens after we die but also the not knowing when death might come. I could choke on the food I am eating as I write this review. Death comes for everyone but it is always unexpected. In Aleksandr Corke's Q, we meet a young man called K who has died and must now wait and see what comes next.

The first act opens with two workers (played with subtle comedy flair by Reilly Holt and Ashleigh Gray) preparing for something - or someone - as they attempt to open a locked folder. Eventually K (Wil King) arrives. He has died and the locked file is the file of his life. An inspector (Alanah Allen) is called in to determine why the file will not open and discovers that K has been taken too early from Earth and he must decide if he'll go through the arduous task of returning back to his life or simply sign a waiver and allow himself to die, which will unlock his folder.

Top 10 Show of 2018

Every year I say to myself no more saying yes to going to all the shows in Melbourne and while I exaggerate, I do end up going to a lot. This year, I managed to get to 221 pieces of theatre and live performances (and being one shy of 222 is really going to bug me). Naturally I kept a list of all the shows I saw and below I present my top ten of 2018. If I reviewed the show then a link to the review is also provided.

This is also a great reminder that sometimes the most memorable and exciting experiences are not always the big budget, flashy ones but the ones that are only on for four nights at a small theatre venue. So remember to support your independent theatre makers and venues - some shows can cost you as little as $15 and can be one of the most original and though provoking theatre you might see.

Here we go:

Gravity & Other Myths. Photo Credit: Steve Ullathorne

1. A Simple Space - review

This was actually the first show I saw in 2018 and it still feels like I only saw it yesterday. With this show, Gravity & Other Myths perform a circus show with only a handful of props on a black mat roughly four metres wide and six metres deep. With our attention ultimately glued towards the seven acrobats, they work with the only thing that's left: their bodies. They demonstrate surprising feats on what the human body is capable of, through a variety of acts.
What is great to see in GOM that isn't often seen in other circus or performance shows is their personalities coming through and the camaraderie they share. While we are seeing a show, there is a sincerity and openness present where it's very clear that these people love what they do and are having a great time doing it. Can't wait until their return to Melbourne.

Die! Die! Die! Old People Die! review

Violet and Norman are a 120 year old couple. While their lives might not be as fast paced as they once were, the love and affection they share for each other is still going strong. Presented by UK theatre company, Ridiculusmus, Die! Die! Die! Old People Die! is an exploration of dying and grieving performed by Jon Haynes and David Woods.

The couple appear at the far back corner of the room. A round table and two chairs are placed on top of a circular rug in the front of the space. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling. It takes roughly ten minutes for Violet and Norman to walk over and sit down on the chairs. The physicality Haynes and Woods portray with these characters is skilful and dedicated, but patience quickly wears thin with this show.