Groundhog Day review

It's been 30 years since the movie Groundhog Day was released, where a cynical weatherman wakes up to find that he's stuck in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over and over again. The audience gets to watch his journey of personal growth before finally breaking this repetitive soul destroying cycle.

Fast forward to 2016, and the film becomes a London musical stage production with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book by Danny Rubin to rave reviews and audience responses. Fast-forward to 2024, and it is finally Melbourne's opportunity to see this award wining play, and the wait has definitely been worth it.

Overflow review | Midsumma Festival | Arts Centre Melbourne

Rosie has locked herself in a nightclub bathroom after catching the eyes of some transphobic attackers. In Travis Alabanza's Overflow, Rosie uses this time to assert her place in this world while looking at past encounters and friendships and the impact they continue to have on her.

Janet Anderson carries the production with grace and prowess in her portrayal of Rosie. From the opening minutes of this 70 minute monologue, she provides a deeply understanding and confident representation of who this person is - having most likely gone through these experiences herself - with everything she says coming from a place of anger, fear, warmth and hope.

Malevo review

A South American dance troupe that reached the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent can now add Australia to the list of countries they have performed in. Created by director, choreographer and dancer Matías Jaime, the 11 men of Malevo show exceptional skills in moving their bodies, specifically through malambo, an Argentinian style of dance that includes zapeteo, a signature footwork combining elements of tap dancing and flamenco.

The group stomp and tap their feet in heeled boots in perfect unison with their energy starting at 100. While this is impressive on its own, throughout the concert, the dancers strap themselves with drums, whips and boleadoras which add a further level of difficulty, skill and thrill. Not only do their legs, hands and bodies move at such fast-pace speeds you can barely glimpse them, but they do it in rhythm and in sync with each other that comes across as effortless. It would not be easy to undertake this choreography where they are often physically close together with whips being cracked and boleadoras getting spun in the air.

The Inheritance review | Midsumma Festival | fortyfivedownstairs

We don't often get epic seven-hour plays being performed, especially when the idea of sitting in a theatre for that long and watching a story unfold not only seems foreign but also incredibly difficult. I too am guilty of this as I often catch myself questioning whether I really want to see a play over two hours. But exceptions there are, and in this case it is Matthew López's The Inheritance. First staged in 2018, the narrative focuses on a group of gay men spread across three generations as they try to find their place in the world while understanding the world that has opened up for them due to the fights and struggles of those from their past. Under the direction of Kitan Petkovksi, this Melbourne production of The Inheritance vividly brings these characters and stories to life in a deeply emotional and affecting evening that needs to be experienced by all.

Forest Collective on getting tangled up with new immersive opera Labyrinth (Midsumma Festival)

It's impressive how Forest Collective constantly deliver chamber music performances that are so vastly different from each other. This trend continues with their upcoming immersive production Labyrinth. This opera will fittingly take place in the corridors beneath Abbotsford Convent as we follow the story of Theseus, Ariadne and her half-brother, the Minotaur. Opera singer Daniel Szesiong Todd will not only be taking on the role of Theseus he is also Labyrinth's librettist, with the tenor's interest in this mythological story stemming from the contemporary issues that can still be applied to it.

"The popular myth of the bloodthirsty half-bull, half-man called the Minotaur comes from ancient Greece, where the hero, Theseus, kills the beast with the help of a plucky young princess, Ariadne, who guides him through the labyrinth with her thread. But should we ever take a monster at face value?" Todd asks. "The myth’s strange backstory reveals that the Minotaur is actually Ariadne’s half-brother. Ariadne’s father, King Minos, had refused to sacrifice a bull to the god Poseidon, who became angry and cursed his wife, Queen Pasiphaë, to fall in love with the bull. The Queen then commissioned Daedalus to build a hollow cow puppet that she could crawl inside, so she could have sex with the animal. Eventually, she gave birth to a bull-human-hybrid child, who she named Asterion. Filled with shame and humiliation, King Minos shunned Asterion, hiding him away in the labyrinth and feeding him only human sacrifices from conquered Athens. In this way, innocent Asterion was made into a monster – the Minotaur – literally the bull of Minos."