Things I Know To Be True review

Living in the suburbs of Adelaide, the Price family appear to be leading a pretty charmed life. Home owners, good careers, marriage and children and going on holidays. But beneath all this deemed success lies frustrations and fears that gradually reach the surface and threaten the foundation of everything this family holds tight in Andrew Bovell's Things I Know To Be True.

Written in 2016, Bovell's script remains a powerful punch to the gut in its exploration of how love can heal and hurt us, and the generational changes of what the Australian dream is. Bovell takes the time to establish the relationships between the parents and their four children, which each child given hefty scenes of confession, either through monologues or conversations with their parents. Kitan Petkovski allows these varying degrees of strained relationships to develop through his astute direction and guiding authentic and sincere performances that tackle some challenging topics.

The Sun and the Hermit review | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Motley Bauhaus

From the moment Belinda Anderson-Hunt enters the room, you can tell that The Sun and the Hermit is going to a very unique show. Anderson-Hunt's experience and learnings from French clown school Gaulier are entirely on display here as she creates multiple imaginary worlds that feel authentic and much-loved.

The stage has a number of pieces of furniture and props all draped with white sheets. It's a house full of memories but very much neglected. There is dust everywhere. This sense of melancholy lingers in the space with the idea that as adults we forget how to play. The sheets are gradually removed and the restraint that Anderson-Hunt exhibits with each of her characters is inspired and extremely effective in building up the anticipation as to what will come next.

SWAMP review

Created by Andy Freer and Nick Wilson, and presented by Snuff Puppets, SWAMP sends its audience into a fascinating journey into the impact humans have had on Earth's geology and ecosystems through the adventures of a number of Australian animals.

Large scale intricately designed animal puppets - including koalas, mosquitos, cane toads and lyrebirds - are bought to life by puppeteers in "short stories" of their interactions with each other and their changing environment. Varying in their humour and dramatics, each story effectively highlights their plight, and how humans have explicitly and implicitly made their homes a risk to their safety and lives.

Kill Climate Deniers review

Back in 2016, I was given a copy of David Finnigan's play Kill Climate Deniers. In it, a group of armed eco-terrorists storm Parliament House and threaten to execute everyone inside including the Environment Minister unless the Prime Minister puts a stop to climate change. All this happens while Fleetwood Mac is set to perform in said building. Provocatively written with hilarious dialogue and challenging themes, it wasn't long until the play captured the attention of Australian far-right social and political commentator Andrew Bolt. 

Bolt criticised the ACT Government for granting $19,000 towards the play due to its terrorist plot and "killing" of people. Former Australian politician Brendan Smyth argued that if you were to insert killing any other group into the title, it would be deemed offensive and jokes about killing any people should not be accepted. Media scrutiny intensified with the play making international news before it had even been staged. Fortunately, Finnigan persevered, later winning the Griffin Theatre Award in Sydney with a full-scale production presented in 2018.

Ancient Shrines and Half Truths review | Melbourne Fringe Festival

Presented by Binge Culture, Ancient Shrines and Half Truths is an outdoor audio experience that has participants listening to a narrator as they uncover the unheard and the forgotten history that surrounds them, in this instance, Werribee. Armed with an iPhone, headphones and an app, the tour is divided into four parts, with each part becoming more and more immersive and interactive until you reach its joyous conclusion.

From discovering the secret voices in post boxes, the animals that live by my feet and haggling for a coffee with a tree, every pit stop throughout draws me into a silly world that is treated with a sincerity and respect. By doing so, I start to see things that I would not have noticed before. At one point I am told that in order to blend in with the locals I should walk with a hand on my hip and the other swinging while I walk. No sooner do I adapt to this specific way of moving, that I witness a man coming towards me, walking just like me. We share a nod and smile and I wonder as he continues on his way if he was a local or a plant, but I guess I'll never know.

Cafe Play! - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

The first thing I notice when I meet Catherine in a cafe in Coburg are six miniature bow ties laid out on the table in front of me. Before I have any time to register what is happening she jumps out of her chair, warmly welcomes me as if we are old friends and orders me a chai latte. And so begins this interactive and immersive Melbourne Fringe Festival show for an audience of one, Cafe Play!.

Created by Pearce Hessling and Catherine Holder, Cafe Play! is a thirty-minute 'catch-up' between two friends. I first encountered Holder's work at the 2017 Melbourne Fringe Festival, with her one-on-one interactive show Sonder. Her care and attention to my needs then were impressive and in Cafe Play! that same level of attention is present, albeit in a very different environment. She does a great job of making me feel like an equal in this conversation while guiding and driving the narrative.

Strangers in Between review | Midsumma Festival | fortyfivedownstairs

There's nothing more important than family, let that be the family you are given or the family you make. In Tommy Murphy's Strangers In Between, a young man dealing with his sexuality escapes from his small city of Gouldburn to Sydney's Kings Cross in order to find himself, but in the process ends up finding a family to support and guide him. While this production was first staged in Sydney in 2005, and there are elements of it that are still relevant to today's society, its place in 2018 is difficult to pinpoint.

Murphy's script shoots out genuinely funny gags and witty one-liners like rapid-fire, but in return we rarely spend any time getting to know the supporting characters that are far more of interest than the protagonist. This might be Shane's story, a young, white male coming to terms with his homosexuality, but in 2018 his story is nothing we haven't heard before and so audience engagement wanes. Shane's naivety also begins to wear thin very quickly, particularly with the inconsistencies of his character where he is able to find a job and get his own one-bedroom apartment but then has no idea what his medicare number is or how to even get one.

The Baby Farmer - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

What happens when those who are put into positions of care - like nurses and nannies - end up being the people who should fear the most? Presented by the The Laudanum Project, The Baby Farmer is storytelling at its most unsettling and grotesque with its exploration of infanticide - and a firm highlight at this year's Melbourne Fringe Festival. 

Set in London's East End in the 1870's, The Baby Farmer revolves around a mother and daughter, Winnifred Alcorn and Agatha May, who get caught up in the gruesome murders of a number of babies. What makes this story even more disturbing is that it is loosely based on fact, where in the late-Victorian era, women (baby farmers) would take custody of a baby or child in exchange for payment. One infamous baby farmer was Amelia Dyer who is regarded as one of the world's most prolific serial killers, said to be potentially responsible for up to 400 murders.

If that wasn't enough to creep you out, our storyteller, Alphonse Cheese-Probert, finishes the job. Dressed in tattered black clothes with a ghoulish appearance and eyes that take much courage to look into, he begins to relay the tale of Winnifred Alcorn. Nick Ravenswood's performance is flawless, with a magnificent transformation in speech, body language and movement. Each syllable of every word is carefully pronounced so as to create maximum tension and his silent pauses throughout give the audience just enough time for his vivid descriptions to sink in. His ability to capture an audience and retain their attention through nothing but his words is a sign of masterful storytelling.

The Baby Farmer - Melbourne Fringe Festival preview

Ghoulish, grotesque, unsettling and suspenseful. These are some of the words used in my review of The Laudanum Project's 2014 Melbourne Fringe Festival show, The Grand Guignol Automaton. Thankfully, these masters of horror storytelling are back this year with The Baby Farmer. Admittedly when I first read the title of the show I thought it was going to be a cute comedy piece but when I saw who was behind it, I went to a very dark place very quickly.

"I have to say that it’s extremely heartening to hear that just seeing our name can do that to you. Happiness gained through other peoples' discomfort is what we do best I suppose," Nick Ravenswood, the show's writer tells me. "The Baby Farmer is best described as a dark Victorian fable that is set against the backdrop of London’s East End during the 1870’s. The story centres around six year old Agatha May and her mentally disturbed mother Winnifred Alcorn."

"Since fleeing to London to escape the horrors of her past, Winnifred has found work as a baby farmer and is currently caring for five newborn infants. The miserable drudgery of Agatha and Winnifred’s existence is turned upside down as an ever-growing nightmare of nocturnal premonitions and visitations befall them. As Agatha and Winnifred’s desperate world slowly begins to unravel a shadowy stranger appears on the streets of Whitechapel and initiates a terrifying game of cat and mouse that will leave both mother and daughter changed forever."

Toyer review

North of Eight is Melbourne's new theatre company on the block and they return this month with their second show of their inaugural season, Gardner McKay's Toyer. The Australian premiere of this psychological thriller takes place over roughly 24 hours with a stranger entering a woman's life at a time when the city is being terrorised by a man who rapes his victims before lobotomising them.

Maude (Faran Martin) is a clinical psychiatrist who lives alone in her LA home in the hills and has recently drawn the attention of an unknown voyeur who watches her in the evenings. Peter (Kashmir Sinnamon) is a stranger who has just repaired Maude's car and needs to use her phone to call his friend. With the "toyer" on the loose, so-called because he toys with his victims before he attacks, it might not be the safest option to let Peter inside, but he's charming and friendly and makes Maude laugh, so should the risk outweigh the temptation?

Titanic the Musical review | Chapel Off Chapel

It has been over 100 years since the Titanic sunk, killing more than half its passengers and crews on board. While this famous tragedy is a well-documented and discussed event, Stage Art's production of the Australian premiere of  Titanic: The Musical breathes new life into the story, creating a gloriously entertaining show that should not be missed.

The cast of 20 is flawless and all the actors take on their numerous roles with much gusto, achieving character changes effortlessly and at times, instantly. The production is meticulously directed by James Cutler, and from the opening scene, the hustle and bustle and the excitement felt from everyone on board is perfectly encapsulated as the latter is replicated in the audience.

Desire Under The Elms review

Written in 1924 by Eugene O'Neill, Desire Under the Elms, is a story that explores profound human connections and the depths that people will go to have what they desire. Inspired by the myth of Phaedra, Hippolytus and Theseus, O'Neill's story is set in New England where patriarch Ephraim (Darren Mort) returns to his home in New England with new wife, Abbie (Diana Brumen). This does not bode well with his three sons (Garikai Jani, Timothy Smith and Sam Lavery) as the tension builds to a devastating end.

Lavery perfectly encapsulates youngest son's Eben's resentment towards his father and the rage that burns inside him, yet at the same time brings to the surface the tenderness and love that he can also feel. His scenes with Brumen are gripping and you're never quite sure which way their story is going to go, even if it is based on a Greek tragedy. Brumen's manipulative and scheming Abbie is convincing, but it is during her horrific and tragic final scenes that she is able to channel everything Abbie has been experiencing until that moment.

4:48 Psychosis review

Playwright Sarah Kane suffered from severe depression and it was at 4:48am when she would often wake up. Kane's final play 4:48 Psychosis, is an experimental show that has no characters, nor a number of actors required, no clear narrative and upon viewing it, feels more like a piece of poetry rather than theatre text.

Director and actor, Kendall-Jane Rundle is in the challenging role of the 'protagonist' in this production. Unfortunately, a stronger emotional connection to the material and work was needed to build on the subtleties required for a person experiencing the emotions described. Jeff Wortman does well in predominantly a role that attempts to keep Rundle's character safe and not listen to the fear and anxiety enveloping her. Alisha Eddy and Jessica Stevens complete the cast, and together are a  Greek chorus of two, often commenting on what is happening on stage or adding to the emotional tension.  

Blurring reality with Kill Climate Deniers

I first came across David Finnigan's work at the 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival show, Kids Killing Kids. In this, Finnigan and three other playmakers responded to the worldwide response they received to their adaptation of the Japanese novel/manga/film Battle Royale. It was an incredibly thought provoking piece on the responsibilities theatre makers have to their cast, their audience and the wider community. Kill Climate Deniers, is Finnigans' most recent work, which despite not even been staged yet, has already received much media scrutiny.

Kill Climate Deniers revolves around one evening where 96 armed eco-terrorists who - while Fleetwood Mac are performing a concert at Parliament House - take over the building and threaten to execute everyone inside, including the Environment Minister unless the Prime Minister puts a stop to climate change.

Straight White Men review

Upon entering Fairfax Studio at the Arts Centre Melbourne, you can’t help but notice Candy Bowers as the Stagehand-in-Charge sitting up in her booth, playing some hip hop music, including Khia’s racy “My Neck, My Back”. As the music plays, she regularly glances over the audience while flicking through a newspaper, the back page emblazoned with “Black Lives Matter”. Considering we are about to see Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men, a play about a family of the four eponymous men getting together for Christmas celebrations, the ruthless satire is punching us in the face, especially as she makes her way down to the stage and introduces us to the make-believe world.

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.

Goblins review

Melbourne-based theatre company, Panopticon Collective are dedicated to creating new Australian work that focus on national identity and social responsibility. Performed at La Mama as part of their Explorations season, their newest production, Goblins attempts to do just that, with mixed results.

The "goblins" in this work are six women from six historical eras ranging from 2000BC to 2015 who are telling six individual yet thematically similar stories. Each of these women face some sort of persecution for daring to have control of their mind and body and speaking up for what they believe in. Written by Jeni Bezuidenhout and Cassandra-Elli Yiannacou, each story is predominantly a ten minute monologue as we attempt to get inside these women's heads and see what drives them to be a courageous force as they confront their fears.

True Love's Sight review

The great thing about La Mama's Explorations season, is that it gives artists the opportunity to present works in various stages of development. It might be the first time it is staged to an audience or a scripted reading. In the case of True Love's Sight, we see a number of segments from their upcoming immersive theatrical experience.

Taking place inside the walls of Athens, the work, created by Michaela Bedel and Nikki Brumen, is inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. We meet a number of characters from the play, including Theseus, Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius. William Ewing, Doug Lyons and  Tamzen Hayes do well with their characters and are confident enough in making their interactions with the audience seem genuine and spontaneous.

The One review

For its festival debut, new kid on the block, Poppy Seed Festival, asked artists, individuals and theatre companies to submit proposals for a theatrical production. From all its entries, Poppy Seed Festival green lit four shows to be performed. The final show to open is Vicky Jones’ award-winning The One. Presented by Fire Curtain Co., it is a 65-minute analysis of one couple’s relationship and its use of love, power, and abuse over the course of one night.

From the beginning we can sense that this is not a couple that is completely happy in this relationship as Jo (Kasia Kaczmarek) casually munches away on twisties while Harry (Ben Prendergast) watches porn on the TV as the two have sex. The arrival of Harry's friend Kerry (Emily Tomlins), who believes her partner has just sexually assaulted her, gets the cogs turning for what will eventually be a fateful night for all three.

The Trung Sisters | Big West Festival preview

The Trung Sisters were two Vietnamese warrior princesses who trained an army of 80,000 people and led their country to freedom in the 5th Century. During the Big West Festival, 25 students from Footscray North Primary School will re-tell their story. Staged in Footscray's newly refurbished rotunda at McNab Reserve the evening performance will include martial arts, traditional dancing, opera and large-scale puppetry. 

"The students have built giant puppets, will enact powerful battle scenes and perform a script guided by their writing based on this epic story," explains devisor and director, Jo Trevathan. "The grade 5/6’s have interpreted a real and important cultural story that deals with big themes of love war, sacrifice, bravery and humanity, things we presume children will not understand but I have found they have strong opinions about. In the West where we have over 80 cultures and 140 languages sharing cultural stories such as The Trung Sisters, increases understanding by discovering what we have in common and where we are unique. In the current climate of cultural diversity and political division it is important to understand and appreciate this true story."