Top 10 Show of 2018

Every year I say to myself no more saying yes to going to all the shows in Melbourne and while I exaggerate, I do end up going to a lot. This year, I managed to get to 221 pieces of theatre and live performances (and being one shy of 222 is really going to bug me). Naturally I kept a list of all the shows I saw and below I present my top ten of 2018. If I reviewed the show then a link to the review is also provided.

This is also a great reminder that sometimes the most memorable and exciting experiences are not always the big budget, flashy ones but the ones that are only on for four nights at a small theatre venue. So remember to support your independent theatre makers and venues - some shows can cost you as little as $15 and can be one of the most original and though provoking theatre you might see.

Here we go:

Gravity & Other Myths. Photo Credit: Steve Ullathorne

1. A Simple Space - review

This was actually the first show I saw in 2018 and it still feels like I only saw it yesterday. With this show, Gravity & Other Myths perform a circus show with only a handful of props on a black mat roughly four metres wide and six metres deep. With our attention ultimately glued towards the seven acrobats, they work with the only thing that's left: their bodies. They demonstrate surprising feats on what the human body is capable of, through a variety of acts.
What is great to see in GOM that isn't often seen in other circus or performance shows is their personalities coming through and the camaraderie they share. While we are seeing a show, there is a sincerity and openness present where it's very clear that these people love what they do and are having a great time doing it. Can't wait until their return to Melbourne.

Die! Die! Die! Old People Die! review

Violet and Norman are a 120 year old couple. While their lives might not be as fast paced as they once were, the love and affection they share for each other is still going strong. Presented by UK theatre company, Ridiculusmus, Die! Die! Die! Old People Die! is an exploration of dying and grieving performed by Jon Haynes and David Woods.

The couple appear at the far back corner of the room. A round table and two chairs are placed on top of a circular rug in the front of the space. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling. It takes roughly ten minutes for Violet and Norman to walk over and sit down on the chairs. The physicality Haynes and Woods portray with these characters is skilful and dedicated, but patience quickly wears thin with this show.

vigil/wake review

One indisputable fact is that we are all going to die. No matter how virtuous we are, how healthy we may be or how intelligent we are, we will not escape death. Yet for something that is so definite, we are constantly surprised by or ill-prepared for death. Presented as part of Arts House's Mere Mortals season exploring death, Peta Murray's vigil/wake is a pair of works that has us questioning what we know about death and how we remember those who have died.

The first part, vigil is delivered as an illustrated lecture with Murray presenting facts and statistics on death in a relaxed and personable nature. The six audience members are seated around Murray and an empty made-up hospital bed. We are informed of various facts to do with death; the biggest killer of men in their 20s and 30s is suicide and the older we get, the higher the risk of heart attacks ending us becomes. As Murray explains the various ways in which 95% of Australians are not prepared for their final days, such as having unwritten wills or not having a playlist for their funeral, she also shares her stories of her mother dying ten years ago, thus allowing us to connect on a deeper level with what Murray is saying and to then relate it back to our own experiences and preparedness with death.

Forest Collective Gala Performance review

With a number of performances under its belt this year, including fluttering hearts // thinking machines and Nico: Songs They Never Played on the Radio, Forest Collective have continued with their reinterpretation and reimagining of chamber music and adapting it to suit the various themes and styles of their concerts. For their final show for 2018, Forest Collective's Gala performance consisted of nine pieces with a number of Australian and world premieres. 

Caroline Louise Miller's Reductionism Is A Dirty Word (2016) opens the night with Kim Tan (bass flute), Bec Scully (double bass) and Danae Killian (piano) taking the unique elements of their instrument and seeing how altering the way they play it changes the dynamics between musician and instrument and as a group.

The Hamlet Apocalypse review

The end of the world is nigh. In fact, it is just mere hours away. But for seven people there is something more pressing at hand. These seven actors have come together for one final time to stage Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Eventually what is fiction and what is reality is not as clear as it once was as the group attempts to accept what is happening outside while remaining committed to their last rehearsal and to their roles.

As Hamlet's story unfolds, links are made between the tale and the actors' personal lives that are impossible to ignore, and everything begins to slowly and painfully unravel. The ensemble - Chris Beckey, Katrina Cornwell, Nicole Harvey, Thomas Hutchins, Polly Sará, Peta Ward and Mitch Wood - deliver utterly engrossing performances as the actors in the play and as the characters within the play of the play. They find nuanced balanced of showing the truth of both their characters and highlighting the similarities and differences to who they are playing.

The Infirmary review

There comes a point in life where it all ends. Life ends. While there are many theories as to what happens to us when we die, nothing is certain about what happens when we have breathed our final breath. Presented as part of Arts House's Mere Mortals season on death and all its facets, The Infirmary is a live art immersive experience designed to leave you questioning your death and what inevitably awaits us.

This is the first part of Triage Live Art Collective's Death Trilogy and in The Infirmary, we are prepared for our death and live through our final hours. This intimate show for a small number of participants begins with individuals being triaged by a clinical nurse. Once formally admitted, we are guided through a hospital corridor and numerous hospital rooms. Despite the movement that is occurring with the various nurses getting their "patients" comfortable, there is a quietness and stillness to my surroundings that I find immediately soothing.

Mockingbird review

Giving birth and becoming a mother are supposed to be some of the most fulfilling and happiest moments of a woman's life. Except when it's not. Postnatal depression (PND) affect 1 in every 7 women who give birth and in Mockingbird, writer and performer Lisa Brickell places PND under the spotlight.

Through comedy, cabaret and mask play, Brickell weaves a tale that follows four generations of women from one family and how PND impacts each woman and the cruel and painful ways that it was treated and the stigma they had to endure. Our protagonist is Tina, a counsellor who is experiencing some anxieties about having children with her partner. Tina begins to share with us the stories of her great grandmother, grandmother and mother and how these events have come to play on her mind with regards to becoming a mother.