Peter and the Starcatcher review

Adapted to the stage in 2011 by Rick Elice, after the 2004 novel, Peter and the Starcatcher serves as an origin story for Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Hook and Mrs Darling from Peter Pan. Two ships are bound for the kingdom of Rundoon tasked with delivering precious cargo. An assortment of characters find themselves onboard and through a series of circumstances and choices, end up stranded on a strange and seemingly uninhabited land. And so begins the whimsical tale of The Boy who doesn't want to grow up.

There is a wonderful ensemble in this production including Paul Capsis and Alison Whyte, who are always a delight to watch. Otis Dhanji as The Boy portrays a sensitivity and yearning for the apparently unachievable that is evident the instant he appears. Olivia Deeble shows great skill in displaying the deep fire and conviction that lies inside the stubborn yet fearless Molly. The scenes between Dhanji and Deeble present a touching and blossoming relationship, and their closing moments, while slightly rushed, are treated with considerable emotion and affection.

Ugly Duckling - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

Meet Duckie, she wants to be famous and be adored by everyone, but what can she do when is an ugly duckling? In a new cabaret show written by Spanky! and Karla Hillam, Ugly Duckling is 60 minutes of great songs, laughter and some highly entertaining duck-tales about what happens when an ugly duck realises that she is not destined to become a beautiful swan, leading her on an adventure of self-discovery and learning to be happy with who she is.

Also starring in the role of Duckie, Hillam delivers a committed and highly engaging performance. She is clearly having fun with the character as she fills us in on her life and the realisation that things don’t always go the way you want them to be. With an impressive singing voice, the songs and music captivate everyone in the room and add further detail to the stories Duckie is sharing with us. Joining Hillam on stage is musical director and accompanist Andrew Kroenert who plays piano, guitar, makes a cameo as Duckie’s love interest and sings, with his and Hillam's duet being one of the musical highlights of Ugly Duckling.

The story is rich in detail and moves at quite a fast pace which keeps things interesting, however Hillam’s accent seems ill-suited for the show as it makes the audience work that extra bit to follow every word and keep up with the story.

The costuming is well designed with individual touches to the outfits that Hillam wears so that even though she doesn’t really look like a duck, there are many references to being a duck. She dazzles and sparkles with glitter and feathers adorning her body and her make-up - particularly those incredibly long eye lashes - is suitably matched to her duck persona. The webbed-feet heels are also a brilliant touch to the character.

The Happy Prince | Midsumma Festival interview

Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince is a short story for children around friendship, love and compassion between a statue of The Happy Prince and a swallow flying to Egypt. However, the story is also a critique of a society insensible to the world around it. As part of Midsumma Festival, the proclaimed purveyors of high camp, Little Ones Theatre will be producing this tale but with their own queer interpretation. 

"It’s funny, because I only read this story as an adult, so I guess I’ve always seen it as a queer allegory. I never had the innocent response to it that those who read it as children had. It has always had a 'queer take' in my mind. That is why I was drawn to it," explains director Stephen Nicolazzo. "I always saw it as an opportunity to further explore my obsession with sexuality and gender, but in this case, what was unique was that it was a love story. I am a romantic as heart and I think what I have always been draw to about The Happy Prince is its unashamed romanticism. It is tragic and it is indicative of the experiences of queer people throughout history and it manages to do this in the space of ten pages."

Pinocchio Restrung - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

We all know the “traditional” tale of Pinocchio: the wooden puppet who just wanted to be a real boy. Created as a grim Italian children’s novel by Collodi, and sanitised for the Disney movie, emerging theatre company A_tistic have cleverly re-imagined this story as part of the 2016 Melbourne Fringe Festival in quite a different way and with some brilliant results.

A_tistic aim to tell stories that highlight the experiences and create an understanding of autism spectrum disorders, so writer and director Tom Middleditch has adapted Pinocchio’s tale as an allegory for a boy with autism who is attempting to become a "real boy". Middleditch, himself on the autism spectrum, has created a thoughtful story that not only looks at the anxieties and difficulties people with autism can experience but also those of their parents attempting to understand and accept their child as they are. 

Pinocchio Restrung - Melbourne Fringe Festival preview

We all know the story of Pinocchio, about a puppet who wanted to be a real boy. For this year's Melbourne Fringe Festival, emerging theatre company, A_tistic Theatre present Pinocchio Restrung, a re-imagined tale with Pinocchio's story used as an allegory of the life of an Autistic boy. Formed through Monash Uni Student Theatre (MUST) in 2014, the company aims to integrate the experience and understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) into contemporary "spectrum theatre".

"Spectrum theatre, came from a number of different influences, building one on top of the other," explains writer/director of the show, Tom Middleditch. "I was getting to the end of my Arts Degree, and wanted to put the knowledge I had gained through my study of philosophy and theatre to good and effective use. I was looking for a project to put on at MUST, and Artistic Director Yvonne Virsik suggested I look at devising something around Autism, of which I had expressed interest in the past, due to my own diagnosis on the spectrum." 

Transplant review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Club Voltaire

Every now and again, there is a show that is so unexpected and unusual that it remains vividly with you for quite some time after seeing it. Presented by Such As They Are and as part of the 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival, Transplant is one such show. Performed at its uniquely designed installation space in a corner of Club Voltaire, it is a self-proclaimed medical fairytale that seamlessly infuses puppetry and performance.

As we wait outside the curtains of the performance, a nurse (Tim Ratcliffe) appears and before we know it, we are being prepped to assist in a surgery. Nothing is forgotten in the process, as we are told to swab behind our ears, have our nostrils examined and if anyone has been travelling overseas in the last month, well…

Do You Fear The Dark? review

We're all afraid of something, no use in denying that. Sometimes it can be irrational and other times it can be rational and justified. In Do You Fear The Dark? we are presented with two short stories by theatre company Dramatic Pause that looks at both of these fears. Written by Hayley Lawson-Smith, both stories focus on a mother's relationship with her children in two very different ways.

In the first and stronger story of the pair, Perhaps, a mother (Victoria Haslam) worries about what's become of her two runaway daughters. Her minds races through various scenarios, some of which are humorous, like joining the circus, while others are direr, like being taken by a man under the ruse that he had lost his dog. Her thoughts are acted out on stage Ariel Simone and Shae O’Reilly as her daughters and Zak Zavod as quite literally everyone else.