Diapsalmata: P o r t r a i t o f a s e l f review | Forest Collective | St Stephen's Anglican Church

Founded in 2009, Forest Collective prides itself in presenting contemporary classical music to new audiences through innovative and distinctive performances. I am constantly amazed at how uniquely its productions are conceived and delivered. Its recent concert, Diapsalmata: P o r t r a i t o f a s e l f, is another flawless example of this, with two works highlighting mental health, identity, discovery and growth through the experience of a transgender person.

Kym Dillon has composed the music for both pieces, Sonata for Flute and Piano and Diapsalmata. In the former, Dillon accompanies flutist Brighid Mantelli in a composition of three movements. Linking emotions with nature and the environment, Dillon draws inspiration from three flowers found in the Surfcoast region of Victoria, to not only name the movements - (carpobrotus rossii ("Australian pig face"), eucopogon parviflorus ("coastal beard-heath") and leptospermum laevigatum ("coastal tea-tree") - but using the characteristics of the flowers to guide the music.

Tap Head - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Barnie Juancan is running late for his open mic comedy night again. He is nervous but once he's done his mic check he's ready to go. Meanwhile, a tap head called Tap Head is also working on its stand-up comedy and sharing its philosophies on life. With his Melbourne International Comedy Festival show Tap Head, comedian and mime artist, Barnie Duncan, presents two stories of two different beings who probably have more in common than they think. 

Watching these two beings come to life by Duncan is an extremely rewarding experience and has the audience become heavily invested in their lives. They may appear to be very separate stories - only linked by their stand-up aspirations - but Duncan slowly, and then unexpectedly links, the two together and suddenly everything that has been said seems to click into place. It's always a delight when a performer has such a deep understanding of storytelling that they can surprise the audience with what transpires who are then able to look back at all that has happened and see how the pieces fit together.

World Problems review | fortyfivedownstairs

Emma Mary Hall remembers a lot. She remembers 9/11 and the first funeral on Mars. She also remembers when George Clooney died and the birthday cakes she's eaten. In World Problems, Hall shares her memories - some factual, some probable, some pure fiction - with us while also expressing what it is like to live in this world and how all our actions are interconnected with something much bigger than us. 

By exposing her vulnerability to the audience through her memories, Hall creates an intimacy that grows with every passing minute. The accomplished way she makes us believe in everything she is saying is testament to the stage presence that Hall possesses. She presents to us as a figure of authority but also as a person having a casual chat with a friend. Her jumping of memories between time and space elicits a very emotional and personal response to a global issue.

Q review | La Mama Theatre

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.

Wrecking Ball review

The third and final show for Action Hero’s tour of Melbourne ends with their most affecting one, Wrecking Ball, which plays with the concept of the imagined and the real and what happens when these two things come together. Can they co-exist or will it be an explosion of catastrophic proportions? Created, written and performed by James Stenhouse and Gemma Paintin, it is a cleverly constructed show that gradually but suddenly pulls the rug out from under your feet.

Stenhouse is a photographer attempting to photograph a celebrity played by Paintin. The photographer is busy making himself a cocktail at his makeshift bar. Above him hangs a small neon lit sign with the words “cocktails and dreams”. He welcomes us and offers us a drink and to take our seat. The celebrity remains seated, surrounded by lighting and photographic equipment, patiently yet frustratingly waiting to begin the shoot.

Anicca review | Arts House

In Buddhism, anicca (impermanence) is seen as the first of three marks of existence and the idea that existence is by nature, evanescent and inconstant. With his new show, Anicca, composer and performer Matthias Schack-Arnott manages to bring these beliefs into the thoughts of his audience as we reflect and ponder on the transient nature of not only moments in our lives, but of life itself.

While his previous show, Fluvial had its own impressive concept and visual design, Schack-Arnott has truly outdone himself with the design of the instrument for this performance. An array of bamboo sticks, pebbles, shells, felt and other tactile items are glued on to a flat round surface and with the use of a motor from an electric pottery wheel, Schack-Arnott gets the instrument spinning, where it begins to resemble a large roulette wheel. This variable-speed rotating instrument created with engineer Richard Allen, has no name and this adds to the mystery and wonder of the show.

4 + 4 = 4 - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

Presented by The Flying Xamels as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, 4 + 4 = 4 is a surrealist circus experience looking at four different lives, how the co-exist together and individually and who they are finding their way around. Four circus artists with four ropes perform as individuals and as an ensemble as a poignant metaphor on trying to fit in with life and following the right path. 

There is much to take in and analyse in 4 + 4 = 4, as the way these themes are explored can take on different and personal meanings for everyone in the audience. Fortunately the cast are all too aware of this and ensure that the tricks we see on stage are performed in a meditative and dream-like state. When you consider the technical aspects to some of the tricks, to be able to appear that calm actually requires great skill and confidence, which these artists possess to a high degree. 

Crestfall and Purgatorio double bill review | L1 Studios

It's not as an easy thing to go and explore the darker side of your humanity. For most, it’s the potential repercussions of those actions that prevent us from going any further than a fleeting thought. Citizen Theatre, in association with 5pound theatre and Attic Erratic Theatre, present Inferno: A Double Bill, two distinctly different yet thematically similar plays that question what it is that makes us human and how far would we go to get what we want.

The first play by Irish playwright Mark O'Rowe, Crestfall, follows three women living in a tough and brutal town who are dealing with the abuse and hardness that characterises their location. While the performances themselves by Freya Pagt, Marissa O'Reilly and Marissa Bennett are highly committed and convincing, it was very difficult to engage with and remain engaged with the show the whole time.

Although the material is harrowing, and therefore becomes difficult at times to listen to the womens’ stories, the main issue for me was that the actors do such a good job with the accents, that at times, you miss out on what is being said while trying to understand the thick brogue. It doesn't happen often but it happens enough that I found it prevents you from being completely absorbed by what is happening.