Never Have I Ever review | Melbourne Theatre Company

Faced with shutting down their restaurant and an inevitable bankruptcy claim looming, Jacq and Kas invite their friends / investors Tobin and Adaego, for dinner to break the news to them, and potentially seek a second lifeline. But in Never Have I Ever, things don't go according to plan and soon enough the four are drunk and high, and conversations and challenges around sexism, racism, misogyny and classism begin to rear their ugly heads.

Chika Ikogwe is utterly brilliant as Adaego, who as well as being an upper class black journalist is also a self proclaimed activist for women in business. Ikogwe is paired up perfectly with Simon Gleeson as her exceptionally wealthy and pompous husband Tobin who despite being thinly written, is given adequate layers by Gleeson's performance that keep him interesting. The highlights of the show are when these two are going at each other, with both finding the comedy and the truth of their characters in an extremely convincing way.

37 review | Melbourne Theatre Company

When the Aboriginal Marngrook cousins join the (all-white) local football team, it means a new hope of finally nabbing the premiership cup that has eluded the club for years. But as they inch closer and closer to victory, tensions begin to simmer. Written by Nathan Maynard, 37 explores the world of Aussie Rules and "Aussie rules" of identity, community, and racism within a local footy club of Cutting Cove Currawongs.

Maynard's story might take place at a local level but by setting it amid Adam Goodes' challenging years as a player for the Sydney Swans, he presents a global perspective to this small-town event. The Number 37 guernsey wearer faced a bombardment of constant booing from AFL audiences, being called an ape by a 13-year-old Collingwood fan and accused of inciting violence for performing an Indigenous war dance at a match where he mimed throwing a boomerang (and not a spear as was reported), towards the Carlton cheer squad.

Fabio Motta is off the leash with his Melbourne Comedy Festival show "Spot".

You can't help but see Spot, a fictional puppy from the 80s, as this cute animal always finding himself in all sorts of adventures due to his curiosity and eagerness. But then you probably haven't seen Fabio Motta's Spot. Returning for a second season as part of this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, this adorable pup becomes the antagonist in Motta's story that explores just how much of a multicultural haven Australia is. Inspired by true events, Spot is a contemporary immigrant tale of Mario, a young migrant to the country working towards his dream of becoming a “very good English actor!”

A performer for a number of years, the inspiration for Spot came at a surprising moment for Motta. "I was doing a vocal warm-up and out of the blue, found myself unconsciously saying “Why did you take me away?” which ended up with me having a big cry as I recollected, as a small child, never having had a say when my family migrated to Australia from Italy," he recalls.

Sweet & Sour Dilemmas - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

Chef Chung is the head chef of the Happy Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Gisborne where he spends his days preparing his famous sweet and sour pork dumplings, or what he refers to as White people Chinese food. Set entirely in the chef's kitchen, Sweet & Sour Dilemmas has Chef Chung questioning his decision to migrate to Australia with the approaching birth of his first child.

Partially based on his father's experience of moving to Australia, Brendan Wan finds great sensitivity in his retelling of a migrant story that we don't often hear about; Chef Chung lived a life of luxury and wealth but gave it all up when he came to Australia for love. The soon-to-be-father welcomes a new chef to his restaurant and amidst their training he begins to share his thoughts on uprooting his life and if it has actually been worth it.

Wan makes some considered observations on belonging and identity as Chef Kung grapples with the choice of moving back to Indonesia where there would be a sense of community and acceptance but life would be hard, and staying in Australia where everything is relatively easy despite constantly being seen as an "other". His cooking throughout the show plays as a reminder of his pride in his roots and culture but at the same time, it seems like the only acceptable employment for him is to work in a Chinese restaurant, where he puts on an accent to his customers and must beguile them with ancient stories about how his recipe for sweet and sour pork dumplings came to be.

Where You From, From? - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Canadian comedian, Aliya Kanani, has come to Melbourne for her first solo comedy show, Where You From, From? As a person of colour, it's a question she has been asked many times but it's also a question that people are often not satisfied with the response until they get one that confirms the "otherness" of the person. In her show, Kanani explores how these moments have played out in her life, but it's also about how she sees it play out in others' that results in this show being more positive and empowering than you would initially expect.

There is so much energy to Kanani and she is genuinely thrilled to be performing in Melbourne. However, she never lets this excitement envelop her and remains focused on giving the audience a good time. She's extremely comfortable with the material - after all, she has lived it - but she tells it in a way that's like the first time a friend is telling you a story about something that happened to them. There's great interaction with the audience and Kanani is constantly checking in with us to make sure we are still on board.

salt. - Next Wave Festival review

Selina Thompson is a 28-year-old black woman who lives in Birmingham. But being a woman of colour with ancestry from Jamaica and Montserrat, when asked where she’s from, the UK is often not considered an acceptable answer. To explore her diasporic identity, Thompson bought a ticket on a cargo ship and retraced one of the routes of the Transatlantic Slave Triangle, going from the UK to Ghana to Jamaica, and then back.

In salt., Thompson poetically recalls this experience with the audience while reminding us of the irreparable damage colonialism has had on her ancestors and how this grief will be felt for generations to come. Thompson also ties in her own personal encounters with racism in all its forms, and we hang off her every word as she goes trough these incidents, reinforcing the fact that despite the passing of time, attitudes have changed very little.

Deceptive Threads review

What do a nineteenth century Lebanese immigrant and an Australian singer / spy have in common? They are both the grandfathers of David Joseph and in Deceptive Threads, Joseph digs into the mystery of these men and how despite their pasts, they have both ended up playing a prominent role in his present and continue to do so with his future.

Joseph and Karen Berger have devised this show, and between them they perform, direct, and create the set, sound and projection designs (along with Zoe Scolgio for the latter). In doing so, they allow for the design elements to work together and form a deeply layered intimacy that draws the audience into these two tales and for Joseph to seamlessly flow between the two.

Identity Steft - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

I am, you are, we are Austr - hang on a second. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be an Aboriginal person living in Australia, Steph Tisdell has got you covered. Her comedy show, Identity Steft, takes a look at racism, white guilt and identity in Australia through the eyes of the Funniest Aboriginal Woman in Australia.

Tisdell is quite affable on stage, which is a good thing considering she spends the opening of her show getting acquainted with her audience. It's just as important for her to find out who her audience is as it is for the audience to find out who she is. She covers a lot of ground in her show but unfortunately Identity Steft suffers from a lack of focus and structure that ultimately makes it feel disjointed. Tisdell touches on the aforementioned issues but she never she never seems to drive her point home or make any bold statements about the realities of being an Aboriginal person living in Australia.

BlaaQ Catt review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | La Mama Theatre

Returning for an encore season during the Melbourne Fringe Festival, BlaaQ Catt is a show that you simply cannot afford to miss. Produced, written and performed by Maurial Spearim, it is a powerful performance and story about how far modern Australia has got to go to make right the wrongs it has committed against the original inhabitants of this land.

Spearim plays Ruby, a First Nations woman, who takes us through the history of her people, predominantly around the white invasion of their land up until the present day. Referring to events such as the Waterloo Creek Massacre between mounted police and indigenous Australians in January 1838 as well as other significant Indigenous historic moments including their recognition in having the right to vote and the Mabo case, Spearim paints a picture that many refuse to acknowledge or accept.

Dreamers review

Originally commissioned for French theatre company Tabula Rasa, the English-language premiere of Dreamers presented by fortyfivedownstairs could easily be a narrative born straight out of current Australian politics and newspapers. The story follows a young Muslim refugee, Majid, who seeks work and acceptance from a community that eyes him with suspicion, disdain and aggression.

Majid (the impressive Yomal Rajasinghe) is waiting for the bus where he meets the lonely and much older Anne (Helen Morse). Through a second chance encounter their friendship deepens into a romantic relationship, much to the outrage of the town’s residents.