Stage Whispers July/August 2018 edition

10 In this issue

Our New Boy From Oz .............................................................................. 8 Rohan Browne steps into the role of Peter Allen Canadian Mormon Star Steals Aussie Heart ............................................. 12 The romance of Musical Theatre’s Ryan Bondy and Hilary Cole Our Master Storyteller ............................................................................. 15 Our interview with playwright Alana Valentine Strictly Fernando ..................................................................................... 18 Australian Fernando Mira’s international journey in Strictly Ballroom

14

Theatre Jewels Of Western Australia ........................................................ 22 W.A. Reviewer Kimberley Shaw shares her favourite theatres

18

Breathtaking Theatre ............................................................................... 26 Strut & Fret, our internationally successful independent theatre company

26

Performing Arts Course Guide ................................................................. 29 Courses across Australia for performance and backstage careers Rockdale Opera Turns 70 ........................................................................ 60 A suburban company and the Opera stars it has fostered

Regular Features Stage Briefs

30

45

75

6

Stage On Page

54

Stage On Disc

56

Broadway Buzz

58

London Calling

59

On Stage - What’s On

62

Auditions

71

Reviews

72

Schools On Stage

95

Choosing A Show

98

Musical Spice

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THE NEXT ISSUE OF STAGE WHISPERS IS FOCUSSING ON COSTUMES, SETS & PROPS.

81 4 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

PLACE YOUR AD BY AUGUST 3 CONTACT (03) 9758 4522 OR stagews@stagewhispers.com.au

Editorial Dear theatre-goers and theatre-doers, If you don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington, perhaps you might consider encouraging her to pursue a career behind the scenes, or creating them. That’s the strong alternate career message coming from several of the Performing Arts training institutions featured in our Performing Arts Course Guide. As usual, though, there’s still plenty of news about acting and musical theatre courses too.

Easily my favourite story in our course guide this year is the Cinderella (or should I say Jasmine) tale of Shubshri Kandiah, who has stepped straight out of her studies at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University into the dream role of a Disney princess in Aladdin.

Young and more mature actors (like myself), alike, will find Elizabeth Avery’s tips on learning your lines invaluable, perhaps while preparing monologue auditions from the two new books from Currency Press which we’ve showcased with excerpts, while following the hints in Briony Dunn’s excellent article.

Our hard-working W.A. correspondent Kimberley Shaw (pictured with her reviewing diary from earlier this year), has written the first of a planned series where our writers across Australia will introduce us to their favourite local theatres.

Elsewhere in this edition we meet our latest Boy from Oz, share a showbiz love story where Stage Whispers helped play Cupid, chat with verbatim playwright Alana Valentine, visit an Aussie performer in his West End dressing room between performances of Strictly Ballroom and explore the local and international success of Aussie independent theatre company Strut & Fret.

In my eleventh year as editor of this magazine, it’s great to share yet another edition of Stage Whispers of which I’m very proud.

Yours in Theatre,

Neil Litchfield Editor

CONNECT

Cover image: Rohan Browne, our new Boy from Oz, appearing in The Production Company’s 20th Anniversary production of The Boy From Oz at Arts Centre Melbourne from August 11 to 26.

See our feature story on page 8.

Photo: Colin Page. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 5

Online extras!

Sara Bareilles and Jason Mraz sing “It Only Takes A Taste” from Waitress. https://youtu.be/Z67vTcIiUrM Charity Angel Dawson, Desi Oakley and Lenne Klingaman in the National Tour of Waitress.

Photo: Joan Marcus. waitressthemusical.com.au

Online extras!

Step inside a world of pure imagination with Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. https://youtu.be/WXdbFFGSR-k Original 2017 Broadway cast of Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

Photo: Joan Marcus. charliethemusical.com.au

6 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Online extras!

The gin is cold and the piano’s hot as Sydney prepares for Chicago in 2019. https://youtu.be/VYq6pFURfN4

Stage Briefs

The Broadway cast of Chicago.

Photo: Jeremy Daniel. chicagomusical.com.au

Producer John Frost recently announced an additional trifecta of musical theatre productions to premiere in Sydney over the next two years. Kander and Ebb’s Chicago  will open at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in 2019; Saturday Night Fever will open at the Capitol Theatre in 2019; and the Australian premiere of the Broadway smash hit Waitress  will open at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in 2020.

Add to these Frost’s co-production of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , which opens at the Capitol in January, and it’s looking like a busy time for both Australia’s most prolific producer and Sydney audiences.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 7

Our New Boy From “I didn’t get fired. I got booked for the Grease Arena Spectacular, which I auditioned for. I started after lunch (the next day) because there was a guy who hurt himself, so I booked that job.”

A different injury soon brought It was 1998 and The Boy from Oz three months later I was on that stage Rohan back to Her Majesty’s - in the show.”

Theatre. He auditioned for a was in one of its first previews when vacancy as a swing member 18-year-old Rohan Browne was Rohan admits he was an “awful” of the chorus in The Boy working his first (and last) shift as an usher.

“I was so enthralled in the show. I from Oz. usher at Her Majesty’s Theatre in “I got the job and Sydney. am sure there were people wanting to travelled around Australia “There was a real buzz in the go to the toilet, and I just sat there audience that they were seeing watching.” for the next two years. It was my first theatre show something that was new and He did not get sacked for something that was Australian. The incompetence - rather he immediately as an 18-year-old dancer. I loved it and watched Todd from lights went up, the music started and I got employed as a dancer. Just a few the wings every night. was mesmerised for the next two and weeks after enrolling in the Brent Street dance school he quit class and “It was such an incredible cast half hours,” Rohan said.

“I thought it was the best thing I his part-time job to become a full-time (including Chrissy Amphlett and Angela Toohey). It broke the mould of had ever seen. I had never heard performer.

Australian accents on stage before. Yet Australian theatre at the time.

He’s only the third man to play the coveted role of Peter Allen in a professional production of The Boy from Oz. Rohan Browne is well qualified to step into the shoes of Todd McKenney and Hugh Jackman for The Production Company’s 20th anniversary season, as he has a special connection to the musical. David Spicer reports.

8 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Oz

Cover Story “The Boy from Oz keeps coming back into my life. I have managed to keep my hand in it every time that it has come here. I worked with Hugh in his last concert as a featured artist.”

When Rohan looked up at the stage at The Boy from Oz as an usher, and later from the wings, he never imagined that one day he would be a leading man.

“I trained as a dancer and had only just started singing and acting lessons. I never thought I would be the guy out the front singing. My only aim was to be on stage dancing.

“Once I got an opportunity to sing a solo song, then I liked doing that and thought this is wonderful.”

Rohan first started thinking that performing was wonderful when he was three years of age.

“My sister started doing ballet.

My mum would go and watch her.

I would get up and show off. Say you can that … I can do this. My sister’s ballet teacher said, ‘He’s got some natural talent. Does he want to start doing ballet?’ My mother said, ‘I don’t think so. He’s just showing off.’ And I said ‘yes.’

“Unbeknownst to me, mum actually said to the teacher we can’t afford it. My parents weren’t earning much at the time. They had two kids and were building a new house. My ballet teacher said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ and my parents never paid for a dance lesson when I was growing up.”

Rohan Browne.

Photo: Colin Page.

Online extras!

Rohan talks of the excitement of stepping into Peter Allen’s iconic white shoes. https://youtu.be/N6AsGBo-MPE

Rohan said he was stunned when he found out years later that his teacher, Yvonne Mahr, a former dancer with the Royal Ballet, would rather have had him learn to dance than receive income.

Yvonne, now retired, will be coming to see The Boy From Oz and no doubt will be just as proud as Marion Woolnough was of her own son, Peter Allen.

Free lessons were also provided by a tap dancing teacher, Isabel Ryan, when Rohan was a teenager.

“She wanted me to come to all these classes. It meant traveling back to Frankston (from school in the city). I would do my classes, hang out, then I went home.

“I see the people who looked after me as often as I can to let them know I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Many children start ballet lessons, but most give up before they become adults. Rohan was drawn to dancing and couldn’t stop. The lyrics in the song from A Chorus Line resonate deeply with him.

I’m watchin’ Sis go pitter-pat Said, “I can do that, I can do that.”

Knew ev’ry step right off the bat.

Said, “I can do that, I can do that.” …

I got to class and had it made, And so I stayed, the rest of my life.

All thanks to Sis (Now married and fat) I can do this.

That I can do!

I can do that.

Rohan was often one of the only boys dancing in a class. Brought up in a house with two sisters, he was used to being surrounded by women and enjoyed their company.

“I was going to the Victorian College of the Arts High School and my mates saw the girls I was hanging out with - oh that looks fun. Do you get to do that every day?”

It is probably safe to assume that the school girls at the VCA also enjoyed (Continued on page 10) www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 9

Allen’s) videos. He was such an incredible performer; he threw Cover Story everything at it and was never afraid to do and say whatever he wanted.

People fell in love with that.”

Since Rohan toured with the original season of The Boy from Oz for two years he’s rarely been out of work and never needed to study at college.

“I am uncertified,” he jokes.

His biggest break at establishing himself as one of Australia’s leading triple threats was when he stepped into the role of Don Lockwood - the star of Singin in the Rain - when once again injury left an opening for him.

The Boy from Oz is the musical he holds special.

Rohan Browne.

“It celebrates a great artist. Nick Photo: James Terry.

Enright’s writing is so eloquent, the It is a sentiment Rohan is hoping to orchestrations and songs are (Continued from page 9) imbue in The Production Company’s incredible.” hanging out with Rohan, who is 20th annual season.

The production, will which blessed with good genes.

“The Boy from Oz broke the mould hopefully be seen across Australia, Now aged 38, he is happily married with Australian musicals. It is about promises to be different. to fellow music theatre star Christie this man who was so rambunctious, “I think Australian theatre has Whelan-Browne. When I suggest to tenacious and incredibly witty. He grown a lot in 20 years. With growth Rohan that they are one of the most brought all that joy and essence of life comes risk, so I think it will be quite photogenic couples on the red-carpet about being Australian to his work. daring. circuit he brushes me off.

“Peter Allen became a huge success “It is going to be a huge celebration “We all have our flaws and all see in America. It is about the celebration of Peter Allen, and of being Australian, them. We are getting older. I am sure of life. My only reference to him was and of being yourself.” there will be other people to take that Todd McKenney. Then I watched (Peter mantle.”

Rohan and Christie met through The Production Company’s season of The Boy from Oz runs from mutual friends in the industry.

August 11 to 26. David Spicer is the agent for The Boy from Oz. “She has a great sense of humour; we sparred off each other with our wit Christie Whelan-Browne and Rohan Browne in and fell in love.”

The Production Company’s Singin’ In The Rain (2013).

2018 has been a tough year for the Photo: Jeff Busby. couple. Allegations raised by Christie Whelan-Browne on the ABC and Fairfax about the conduct of Rocky Horror star Craig McLachlan have resulted in her being personally sued for defamation.

“It’s been intense. We both realised how much we can rely on each other, how much love there is, how much support and understanding. It has brought us closer together; that is what tragedy, or those things, do.”

As the character of Judy Garland says in The Boy from Oz, enduring hard times can make an artist.

“When I go out there. I show them where I have been. What’s become of me, who I am. They get the whole story. Now clear the runway.”

10 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

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Forget Harry and Meghan, we think the cutest North American/ Commonwealth wedding this year was the one between Ryan Bondy and Hilary Cole. Stage Whispers is thrilled to reveal how our magazine helped fire Cupid’s arrow for the star of The Book of Mormon and the Kinky Boots/Muriel’s Wedding bridesmaid.

David Spicer reports.

“I wasn’t really seeing someone. I was kind of dating around,” recalls Ryan. “This friend said, ‘I think I have somebody for you,’ and I said, ‘Oh really what is her name?’ But he wouldn’t tell me.”

Ryan did some Facebook stalking and was hoping it was his friend’s Newlyweds Ryan Bondy and Hilary “The girl sitting next to me said, friend Hilary, who he noticed was “a Cole were giggling on the phone ‘the Elder Price fella is pretty hot, you stunning brunette with dark eyes”. recalling how they met. Hilary was in should have a look at that.’ So I did “I busted him and he said yes. We the ensemble of Kinky Boots in some Instagram stalking and I said, ‘he went back and forth trying to meet.”

Melbourne, sitting in a dressing room, is alright’. Then I called up a buddy of “I was doing two shows on a when a copy of Stage Whispers mine who was in Mormon and it was Saturday, I was sweaty and gross,” magazine was passed around. like, ‘Hey, set me up with him’. But he recalls Hilary. “My friend said, ‘Come On the cover was Ryan Bondy, the said Ryan was already seeing someone, and have drinks after the show - we well chiselled Canadian born Elder Price so all my hopes and dreams were will hang out. By the way I am taking you to meet Ryan.’ I thought, ‘Oh from The Book of Mormon, which was crushed,” she said. still in rehearsal.

Her friend said he would see what shit!’ My friend was dressed up as a he could do. storm trooper, as he had seen a Star 12 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Wars movie, so I got escorted into this bar to meet Ryan by a storm trooper.”

Before the two laid eyes on each other they exchanged text messages, where they discovered they both loved the same brand of whisky.

“We were with a group of friends when we first met. I thought, ‘She is pretty awesome’. We got right to talking and holding hands under the table,” Ryan said.

“I know people like to laugh at that. But we did hold hands quite intensely under the table.

We didn’t even kiss. It was very nice and very sweet.”

Ryan and Hilary have been inseparable ever since. She is greatly relieved that they met before she saw him on stage as Elder Price.

“I didn’t want to have the pretence of knowing his stage persona. It was such a fun surprise to see the musical.

“I was like a little girl with a crush. When he walked on stage with that big smile, I thought, ‘Whoops here we go’.”

During their courtship fellow cast members in Kinky Boots ‘trolled’ her with copies of Stage Whispers with Ryan on the cover. They kept planting it on stage to try to make her laugh.

Ryan, now aged 32, has had five years of work from The Book of Mormon. He was born and raised in Kitchener Ontario, a small town near Toronto.

“I started on tour in Chicago in September 2013, then became a standby Elder Price for two years before I took over eight times a week.

Then they asked me to open the show in Australia.”

So was Ryan on a mission to find love?

“Yes, when I booked the contract multiple people back home said, you are going to find someone and marry her. I said that is ridiculous. I am going to be there for a year. I am not going to meet someone. That sounds hectic.

“My mission plan was to have fun and enjoy a year in Australia. Three weeks in I met Hilary.”

“I ruined everything,” jokes Hilary.

Now Ryan has extended his contract to perform in the musical in Sydney.

Less than a year after they met, Ryan decided to propose and so he had to ask permission.

“Every single member of my family separately,” laughs Hilary. “My dad, mum, brother and sister.”

Ryan said it was the right thing to do, as he was from a different country and didn’t want to be this guy who steals their daughter.

“My dad burst into tears. My Mum said if you hurt her, I will kill you,” Hilary added.

Ryan proposed at a Go Kart track.

“We had talked about marriage and wanting to be together. I knew if I planned a special dinner on our night out, on the only day she was visiting me in Melbourne, she would know. I needed to surprise her,” Ryan explained.

“I trailed behind Hilary around the track with a GoPro on my helmet. The track owners allowed me to kneel in the middle of the track as Hilary came around the corner.”

“I had no idea what was going on. I was so focussed on getting a good lap time I did not see these people setting up cameras,” said Hilary. “I thought, why is he taking a photo in the middle of the track? I was about to have a good lap time. He turns off my engine. He pushes my go kart forward. I was filmed struggling to rip off my helmet.

“When I said yes, ten bogans at the track, who stayed behind to watch, started yelling ‘way to go, she said yes.’ It was so funny.”

Their first ‘low key’ wedding for Australian friends and family took place on the 23rd of April at The Blue (Continued on page 14)

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 13

“Hilary is insanely talented. I want to extend my chomps there to see what sort of momentum I have from Mormon.”

Both being in the musical theatre has pros and cons.

“We don’t have to explain the extremely physical and mental cost of musical theatre,” Hilary said.

“We have the knowledge to support each other,” Ryan added.

“When to say something and how to deal with performance anxiety.”

There is no competition between the two because they are never going for the same role, but rather they push each other in a constructive way.

“The only negative thing is the instability this lifestyle brings,” reflects Hilary. “You don’t get to say here is where we are building our home, as any second you could get a gig. We did this for 10 months in different states; we are really good about long distance relationships, but it sucks.”

Hilary is now weighing up whether to do another season of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical in 2019. She was the understudy to Maggie McKenna during the Sydney premiere and played a bridesmaid.

“I did the original workshop and a lot of test runs. I have got photos of me being silly in a costume,” explains Hilary. “I was very happy how different and unique my Muriel was to Maggie’s portrayal. I was in awe watching her every night and also got to sink my teeth into it.”

Ryan is enjoying seeing one full house after another at the Book of Mormon in Sydney.

“They knew from Broadway (Continued from page 13) “Hilary’s family flew all the way to performances, where they recorded a Canada to celebrate with my family, high volume of Australian passports, Room above the Bondi Beach Surf including 100 aunts and uncles, in that it would be popular here. It is Lifesaving Club.

Kitchener,” Ryan said. amazing that it sold out in Melbourne “Hilary did most of the organising. I “After our wedding in Australia we for a year.” was in charge of the playlist and flew to Melbourne to go to a Naturally Hilary is a great supporter arranging for a tent cover for Melbourne Demons footy game. After of the policy of bringing out overseas inclement weather,” Ryan said. the Canadian wedding I took Hilary stars to kick off Australian seasons.

They picked flowers on the day, in a and 30 of my friends to a Toronto Blue “I was always OK with it. You ceremony that they say had a “homely Jays baseball game.” wouldn’t quibble if the vibe” to it. Great weather resulted in They also sang a duet because Commonwealth Bank brought a person wonderful pictures on Bondi Beach.

Hilary wanted her new in-laws to know over who has worked for a few years in Two days later they flew to Canada, she could hold a tune. a business to launch a new brand. It where it was snowing, for a second Post wedding they are planning to meant that a kick ass show happened wedding. make their way to Broadway. here, a bunch of my friends got employed and I fell in love.”

14 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Our Master Storyteller From prisoners to footballers, from gay men in Broome to Muslims in hijabs, Alana Valentine shines a spotlight on communities shattered by flood, train wreck, abuse and injustice.

Martin Portus explores Valentine’s forensic approach to expressing their passions, habits and secrets on stage - in their own words.

Armed with meticulous research, persistence and a cool empathy, Alana Valentine has learnt how to move tactfully through diverse communities across Australia, question both leaders and fellow travellers, find their faultlines and craft the drama.

Often she uses the exact speech of her interviewees. Working class South Sydney Rabbitohs fans articulate the battle to keep their beloved rugby team. Tough women slowly reveal, for the first-time, childhoods of abuse at the old Parramatta Girls Home.

Valentine’s verbatim theatre, this art of making theatre drawn from life, is revealed in her new book and part-memoir Bowerbird (Currency Press). 2018 is a big year for her.

Her play Letters to Lindy, drawing on the 20,000 letters written

by Australians to Lindy Chamberlain and so carefully preserved and filed by Lindy, is touring the country. Sport for Jove in Sydney will soon premiere Ear to the Edge of Time, about radio astronomy and Valentine’s fascination with the collaborative process of scientific discovery, a team spirit it seems often forgotten when the prizes get handed out.

She’s also back with Bangarra’s Stephen Page for the third time, as dramaturg on Dark Emu; or what she

Parramatta Girls.

Photo: Heidrun Löhr.

calls being Stephen’s “digging tool”, unearthing records of white/black Australia to be transformed into his dance theatre.

And later this year Flight Memory opens at Canberra’s Street Theatre.

Continuing her enthusiasm for science, it’s about the Australian who in 1953 invented the cockpit flight recorder but had to go to London to find a backer.

It’s about three generations of battlers working in or around the old sugar refinery in Pyrmont - just like Alana’s granddad did - and watching its streets give way to gentrification.

“I’d give anything to speak to my grandmother and mother, who are both dead, about some of the things I’ve become passionately interested in like my family,” she says.

Valentine says it’s going to be a jazz song cycle - Canberrans apparently love cabaret.

But her biggest step this year was back at Belvoir theatre, which has staged her hits Run Rabbit Run and Parramatta Girls, both verbatim plays studied for years on the NSW HSC Syllabus. With The Sugar House (staged in May) though, instead of giving voice to community stories, Valentine looks to her own family, her own secrets.

“This is my most personal play. It’s about how memory is affected by place and how hard it is to live in a place like Sydney, which keeps changing; what do we keep and what do we discard.”

Valentine now lives with her longtime partner, music producer Vicki Gordon, in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern. Her life began there before moving south to Kogarah. She had a fraught relationship with her young mother, but adored her grandmother (Continued on page 16) www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 15

wants to wear the hijab despite the “Let’s turn it on her and see how protests of her careerist Muslim aunt. she copes with this grilling on her. who introduced the teenager to the Valentine enjoyed delicious hospitality People are almost inured to the classics of literature. But her mother, from Muslim families in Auburn - and verbatim process so I thought I’d despite the fights, did teach her to also played with an audience’s surprise them by making it also about sew, for which Alana, who is always preconceptions. the interviewer.” strikingly dressed, is forever grateful.

“My career to date has always been The interviewer in Ladies Day is “When people always ask about my about finding conflict in communities urged to reveal her own experience of clothes; it’s my way of keeping her that are often seen as monolithic childhood abuse, which Valentine hints with me every day. It’s good to go groups, but within them there is this was partly autobiographical. She says back to what she did, not to what she incredible diversity.” she was also keen in this play to said, which I always tell students is, as That tug of war between tradition connect with the “modernity of a writer, the great way to know a and change, so familiar in Valentine’s younger writers using autobiography” character, not by what they say.” plays and a tension common across all in their storytelling.

Valentine’s mother, grandmother diverse cultures, is most exemplified as Alana Valentine has confronted and a rascally charming uncle live on in between generations. many griefs but mostly as experienced the Sugar House characters played by “Shafana became a play about a by others: relatives she interviewed of Kris McQuade, Sacha Horler and Josh young person who wanted to tell an those killed in the Waterfall train McConville. older one who they loved that they derailing (for her play, Dead Man Growing up, Valentine also picked wanted to do something that wouldn’t Brake), survivors of the floods through up a formidable work Katharine (Watermark); Alana Valentine with Ursula Yovich. ethic, juggling up to three women reliving thwarted jobs to support her years (Parramatta Girls) through a selective high and others suffering school and then studying incomprehensible brutality Communications at UTS. at the Hay Institution for Hunger as a child, she Girls (Eyes to the Floor). says, was a great “One of the things motivator. And it still is. about a playwright is not From Newcastle to being overly varnished, Wollongong, from Hay to overly protective. You have Wagga Wagga, from Alice to be equal to the test of Springs to Broome, from experiencing this; you are London to New York, the first audience, the first Valentine has gone where empathiser with this Alana Valentine spoke to Martin Portus for a State the commissions or story.”

Library of NSW oral history project on leaders in scholarships are, and to Parramatta Girls began Sydney’s performing arts; the full interview will be communities with theatres when Valentine first met available soon on the Library’s website. ready to invest in their the indigenous women storytelling or healing. involved at a reunion in “If you don’t get this job, this be understood. It harked back to my 2003. As she has learnt, she waited scholarship, you wouldn’t eat: it’s a own experience of telling my beloved patiently until a key subject, Marlene, great way to focus the mind,” she grandmother that I was homosexual, turned to her and spoke. laughs. of having to endanger the most “I’ll tell you my story, Alana, but For her first play in 1985, Multiple important relationship of my life.” only if you don’t leave out the bad Choice, about teenage alcoholism, Another cliché was in her sights bits,” And as Alana replied, “Marlene, Valentine was lucky to have Alex Buzo with Ladies Day, which Griffin Theatre the bad bits are what I really want.” as a mentor. Even then she was drawn premiered two years ago. Based on The women had been so convinced to using direct address to the audience; interviews in Broome, Valentine by their childhood tormentors back in Buzo advised against it. After the wanted to show how gay men can Parramatta that no one would ever opening he said he’d been wrong, and now negotiate assimilation in regional believe them that, until Valentine she admired him even more.

Australia. But the stakes rise when one turned on her recorder, they’d never is raped at the Ladies Day Races and he put it to the test.

After Buzo’s death his daughter commissioned Valentine to write a play thirsts for a very non-PC revenge at the She gathered 35 different stories, to match his classic, the two hander injustice. Valentine tested the verbatim carefully choosing only those women, form by writing herself into the drama black and white, that had a supportive Norm and Ahmed, for a double bill 2009 revival. Valentine’s answer was as interviewer. And the rape victim network. Ultimately, after a public Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah, about a turns on her. reading, she sought permission to young Afghani Australian student who collapse those experiences into eight (Continued from page 15)

16 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

onstage characters. This device sharpened the drama and empathy but also - even though their words survived - disguised some of those women still shamed by their experience.

Their revelations, when charged with being uncontrollable, locked up for being neglected, “dug a little hole in my soul”, says the playwright. But Valentine was given a lesson in dealing with trauma: “it is always through humour; they are very, very funny women.”

You sense, though, that Valentine was even more affected later when she, characteristically, won a scholarship to sit alone at the National Library and study all those letters written to Lindy Chamberlain. They ran from 1980 to the final coronial verdict of not guilty in 2012.

“For 38 years she meticulously filed those letters as an act of memorial, of grief, more than any other mother in Australia. Her faith is what sustains her and, as she says, she leaves vengeance to God. What she wanted far more than sympathy was justice, to be innocent before being proven guilty.”

The Sugar House.

Photo: Brett Boardman.

And while Valentine burnt with fury at those few (5% or so) letters vile and evil, Lindy, she said, would dismiss them with cartoon humour.

Letters to Lindy ends profoundly with a closure, a calming forgiveness, not for Lindy, of course, but for us, the bigots that we were.

Leah Purcell in Parramatta Girls.

Photo: Heidrun Löhr.

“It’s not just about individually saying sorry. The play really is a conduit for us to sorry as a group, five hundred of us in the theatre, and collectively, can go, we got it wrong - and then like her let it go, and move on,” says Valentine.

“As a collective experience, the theatre is perfect for this.”

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 17

For the past four years Fernando Mira has travelled the globe, winning over audiences as a favourite Strictly Ballroom character - Rico, Fran’s stern Spanish father - who teaches the two lead dancers about true passion with his Paso Doble. The scene has audiences cheering and has garnered rave reviews for Fernando, as he captures the heart and soul of the play.

Fernando created his role as Rico with legendary director Baz Luhrmann, progressing through the show’s major productions in Australia, Canada, Leeds and now London. Stage Whispers’ Beth Keehn caught up with Fernando between the matinee and evening performances at The Piccadilly in the heart of London’s Theatreland.

Fernando Mira.

Photo: Johan Persson.

18 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Yesterday’s Hero Backstage at the Piccadilly Theatre on a balmy summer afternoon, Fernando and the cast are relaxing and preparing for the evening performance.

As if the non-stop dancing in the show is not enough for the cast’s fitness levels, Fernando’s dressing room is up about 10 flights of steps (or that’s how it felt to me!) at the top of a narrow staircase leading up to the Gods.

Fortunately, there was time to catch my breath while fellow performer (and understudy) Ivan De Freitas packed up his belongings and generously vacated their tiny, shared dressing room. A string of Aussie flags in the corridor outside add a splash of Antipodean colour and humour - also a hallmark of the Strictly stage musical.

Fernando is not wearing his ‘Rico’ wig, but because there’s not much time between shows, he usually has an early dinner in his dressing room in full stage make-up. With a background soundtrack of performers singing and a tap, tap, tap of dancers practising … he takes me right back to the beginning and his mysterious connection to this show.

Online extras!

Check out the trailer for London’s Strictly Ballroom. Simply scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/8dlIDW2cvZE

The London cast of Strictly Ballroom.

Photo: Johan Persson.

Dancing from a very young age with classes at the local Spanish Club in Fitzroy - the whirlwind wake of dance fever following the film’s release saw Fernando hired to perform Paul Mercurio’s famous ‘knee slide’ at a Strictly-themed New Year’s Eve gala.

“So that’s how I knew of Strictly Ballroom - it was just a movie that came and went. I did my little performance -

the knee slide, a couple of Flamenco foot stamps - and that was it.

“When I was younger, I met Rita Mercurio through a family friend and I went to their house to ride their horses.

I didn’t know Paul - like me, he would have only been a kid at the time, and I think he was just in the house somewhere! Years later the movie (Continued on page 20)

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 19

The London cast of Strictly Ballroom.

Photo: Johan Persson.

instructor and performer - which he does in Melbourne as ‘Mira Flame’.

“No - not at all - I work as an Strictly Ballroom came out and Paul is the star - and the Flamenco dancer who activities facilitator in aged care for played Rico - Antonio Vargas - is a people with dementia, acquired brain injuries, a whole range of conditions. friend of mine.”

People come in, we provide morning tea and some activities - including Time After Time singing and dancing - or we go for a Before Fernando’s Strictly adventures, he had already quit his ‘day drive - I’ve got my bus licence and take them out for the day. It’s a totally job’ several times to follow his passion different life - and I love it.” for dance, appearing in international productions with Opera Australia and Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps the English National Opera. In late But then someone mentioned the 2013, he received a persistent string of texts and phone calls about an name Baz Luhrmann.

Fernando concedes: “My ears did upcoming stage production - friends alerting him to find out more about a prick up - it was ticking away - ‘Baz Luhrmann’, that sounds like an part for a Spanish-speaking Flamenco dancer, and casting agents urging him important name. And then it came to to get in touch. me - Australia, Moulin Rouge - and I “I just wasn’t interested. I was happy thought, ‘Oh, this might be a little bit doing my performances here and there, better than your average show!’ I a bit of teaching, and working during wasn’t used to auditioning, but I went along - read my lines, did my dancing, the day. My partner and I have our boys, so I wanted to spend time with and then the panel wanted my them - besides I love my day job - so I prepared song - didn’t I have a song?

Ah… no! So, they asked me to sing didn’t really want to put them in that position again.”

Happy Birthday!”

I assumed that by ‘day job’ “Fortunately, I then received a message to say ‘Baz wants to meet you’ Fernando meant working as a dance - so I went to Her Majesty’s Theatre and (Continued from page 19)

20 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Baz was just sitting on the stage relaxing. He is very personable and he showed a lot of interest in what I had to offer - he felt that the part was the perfect fit with my dance history and heritage. I sang him a song in Spanish a cappella - and did my dance routine.

Then we went through some dialogue.

Baz looked at me and said: ‘The singing and dancing are a no brainer. But you’re not Rico yet.’”

Fernando had to dig into his Spanish background to find Rico’s sterner side.

But, because his father and grandfather were both gentle souls, he couldn’t use them. He drew on the range of older, more authoritarian men he’d met in the local Spanish community in Melbourne or on trips to Spain. He lowered the tone of his voice, and Rico strode out of the shadows.

Standing In The Rain As the creative common denominator in all four major productions, Fernando has witnessed its evolution as the creators and collaborators changed the production to suit different theatre settings. It hasn’t all been plain sailing: the first musical version (with brand new songs) weathered a gruelling premiere in

Sydney before more warmly received shows in Melbourne and Brisbane (with several nominations at the 2014 Helpmann Awards). In 2017 the show went to Toronto with Olivier-Awardwinning Drew McOnie at the director/ choreographer helm, moving on to test the waters in Leeds before steering the show to London.

“The full musical version of the show went to Toronto and the crowds over there went crazy - they were louder and more boisterous than any other crowd I’ve seen - they really enjoyed it.”

There was a gap of about a year between productions, and Fernando is able to highlight one of the drawbacks for performers being ‘between shows’: “There I was, back at my day job - again - enjoying life, eating all my favourite Spanish foods - jamón, chorizo, churros, tortillas - then I got the call to re-join the production - so I’ve had to cut down on all the foods I love!”

Like Fernando, the Leeds version of the show was somewhat slimmed down: “When we went to Leeds we got rid of a lot of the songs, put in some new ones - keeping the most popular tunes from the movie such as ‘Love is in the air’ and ‘Time after time’. We’ve tried to stick as close as possible to the original film.”

Another highlight for Fernando has been seeing Catherine Martin at work on her over-the-top, crazy, colourful costumes - “She is unbelievable - such an eye for class, for style and all parts of

a person’s dress, from the tip of the toe the role of Rico. It’s just fantastic. I also to the top of the head. It’s absolutely work with new actors and that changes amazing.” my performance. If I’m working with Zizi’s understudy that alters the whole Love Is In The Air chemistry: with one of them I’m a little “After Leeds, we thought the show bit more aggressive; with the other one might be going to the West End - that I still have Rico’s strength, but there’s a was the word we were hearing - you softness behind it.” know, the stage whispers - literally!”

Another way Fernando stays Fernando explained that the London energised is to “make close friends, production has a totally different feel to have fun and a laugh backstage the first production. And London’s West there’s a lot of banter going on all the End has its own tradition, demanding time.” Also, as dialect coach Gemma drawcard names as well. So, this May Maddock is not always around, production has Will Young as MC, Fernando admits that sometimes he will Wally Strand, leading us by the hand on multi-task if cast members turn to him the Strictly journey, and taking on most when having difficulty with an Aussie of the musical numbers. The two leads expression - of which there are many delightful and hilarious examples in the are played by well-known UK stars, Jonny Labey (as Scott) and Zizi Strallen show. (as Fran).

Tango Please “The British audiences really get into their theatre in a different way to the After the colour and vibration in the Aussies and Canadians. I’ve been loving show’s first act, Fernando’s arrival on it - it’s no longer what I would consider stage as Rico is a calm, cool presence. a true musical, more of a … is there He agrees that Rico helps to keep it real, taking the audience back to the folk such a word as ‘dance-ical’?”

With the pressure of performing roots of dance. eight shows a week, playing the same “Just as in the Strictly script, a lot of character for four years, I was curious to technique in dance is not always the find out how Fernando keeps his answer. It is something you’ll learn and performance fresh. He says he is work on, but there comes a time to put it aside and show your heart. It has to inspired by working with different performers. peer through like a bright light, and “I’ve got two understudies - Ivan De when we see that, usually an audience will feel it. It’s all about heart and soul.”

Freitas and Christopher D Hunt - both of them speak Spanish and they’ve got For me, it is Fernando’s dedication that certain Spanish air when they play and pride in his Spanish heritage combined with impeccable dancing precision that makes an emotional connection for the audience. So, I’m not surprised to learn that he has been receiving rave reviews for his performance.

Just before he helped me wind my way back down those flights of steps, Fernando was preparing for the 7.30pm performance. He was multi-tasking again - sewing tiny microphones to the bottom of his trouser legs - “to capture the sound of the taps in my boots!”

What did I say about ‘dedication’ and ‘precision’?

With bookings at The Piccadilly open Fernando Mira in his West End dressing room. until towards the end of the year, it would seem that Fernando is not Theatre fans in the UK can see Strictly Ballroom at the Piccadilly planning to give up his current day job any time soon. He is simply waiting to Theatre until October 2018: www.strictlyballroomthemusical.com Follow Fernando on social media or check www.fernandomira.com see where the Strictly journey will take him next. for more information about his work. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 21

Venue Spotlight

Theatre Jewels of Western Australia levels, with the audience comparatively close to the stage. The marble and gold foyers are elegant but not overstated.

Extensive renovations during the 1970s were sympathetic to the Edwardian grandeur and aesthetics, His Majesty’s Theatre premiere venue for national tours, while making the venue more His Majesty’s Theatre Perth, hosting a plethora of international comfortable for modern audiences. colloquially knowns as “The Maj”, is stars, and is the home for The West Updates have included moving the Australia’s only remaining Edwardian Australian Ballet and The West theatre’s iconic staircase to the end of Baroque Theatre, and one of only two Australian Opera. At the time of the stalls foyer and removing columns theatres retaining the name “His opening, the Maj had a capacity of over in the auditorium, which previously Majesty’s” in the world (the other being 2500 and was Australia’s largest obscured vision. The theatre has a in Aberdeen, Scotland). theatre. beautifully decorated dome ceiling, Opening on Christmas Eve 1904, it The auditorium seats 1263 people which originally retracted to open the was for many years Western Australia’s in a horseshoe configuration over three theatre to the stars on warm evenings.

Stage Whispers is excited to introduce a new series of features from our correspondents, nominating their favourite theatres in their home state and town. First is one of our hardest working reviewers *Kimberley Shaw from Perth.

22 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.

The venue includes the popular Barre Café, the cabaret venue Downstairs at the Maj, and the WA Performing Arts Museum.

Actors love the sense of history in the building. Pre-teen actor Denver Havercroft, who has performed in the venue with the WA Opera, states that the scale of the seating at His Majesty’s makes him “feel like a small part of something important”, while others speak of feeling an emotional connection to the building’s past.

Musicians love the spacious orchestra pit. Audiences love the feeling of

The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia.

Photo: Eva Fernandez.

grandeur and “occasion” and the proximity of all of the seats to the stage.

The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia Western Australia’s State Theatre Centre is Perth’s newest theatrical venue, opened in January 2001. The major space is The Heath Ledger Theatre, a beautiful timber clad auditorium seating 575 over two levels, named after the Perth born actor.

Stunning foyer spaces make this a comfortable venue to visit and a favourite for social media photographs.

The building’s second theatre space is Theatre Underground, a flexible, black box space seating 234, that is used for smaller and more experimental productions.

Other spaces in and around the venue are used occasionally as theatre spaces including the courtyard and rehearsal rooms.

The building is home to three resident companies, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Co3 Australia.

Performers love the state of the art facilities and the fact that the two major venues offer very different experiences. The dressing rooms and Green Room are comfortable and acoustics are good. Audiences love that there are no bad seats in either venue and that the foyers are comfortable and attractive. Like The Maj, it is a central venue, with great access to public transport and easy parking.

Mandurah Performing Arts Centre Mandurah is a coastal city just south of Perth and the Performing Arts Centre is located on Mandurah’s inlet.

Audiences at matinees or on Summer evenings frequently spot pods of dolphins frolicking in the bay, as the foyer looks out across the water.

Built by the State Government and the City of Mandurah, it opened in 1997. The venue is the key player in an (Continued on page 24)

His Majesty’s Theatre.

Photo: Robert Garvey.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 23

Venue Spotlight

The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia.

Photo: Eva Fernandez.

Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.

The main 800-seat theatre is used by a variety of community theatres, schools, dance concerts and in-house entertainment district that includes a productions, as well as being a venue cinema complex, restaurants and hotels for regional and national tours. was visited by nearly 215,000 people Mandurah’s Fishtrap Theatre is a last year. It proudly records an audience smaller space in the same building, satisfaction rank of 90%. featuring retractable seating for up to 144. It is used for functions, seminars (Continued from page 23)

His Majesty’s Theatre.

Photo: Christophe Canato.

and workshops as well as recitals, films and plays.

Actors and creatives praise the backstage facilities and the working conditions of the theatre, and orchestras love the excellent pit. Artists and audiences alike enjoy the location and easy access to good places to eat.

Popular with locals, who enjoy a great venue right on their doorstep, MPAC also attracts many visitors from Perth, as it is an easy drive, usually under an hour.

An iconic element of the theatre was a sculpture in front of the venue inside a water feature. It contained poignant upturned row boats with crosses in them, recalling a tragedy in 1959 when four nuns and a priest drowned in nearby waterway. The display is being re-located, so the nuns and priest won’t be forgotten.

Kimberley Shaw is a primary school teacher, director and proud stage mother. She is a life member and Vice President of the Independent Theatre Association of Western Australia.

24 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 25

Deluxe Deluxe.

Strut & Fret, Australia’s most successful independent theatre company, has dazzled audiences all round the world with its intimate cabaret. Coral Drouyn explores its rise to international success and new production, Deluxe Deluxe.

feelings about.

“I’m happy that people see that we are looking for the same level of excellence they consistently produce.

It’s awe-inspiring. But the downside is “Life’s but a walking shadow, a production has been lauded by public that their productions keep getting poor player, that struts and frets his and critics alike, while the company bigger, and with that they become hour upon the stage, and then is heard has a swag of awards and an more removed from the audience,” no more …” international reputation second only to Scott says. “It’s strange in a way This iconic quote from Macbeth the famed Cirque du Soleil. It’s a because Cirque started as street inspired Brisbane born Scott Maidment comparison that Scott has mixed performers, and you can’t get much when he was searching for a name for Fun House. his new company twenty years ago.

The creative director of Strut & Fret trained as an actor and spent eight years “doing Shakespeare” before discovering his talents as a creative innovator and entrepreneur.

“I thought it was a good name because you have to strut your stuff in front of the audience and, if you do it right, nobody sees the fretting, the headaches and heartaches, that go on behind the scenes when you’re trying to make a show work,” Scott tells me.

There must have been a lot of fretting in the early days to get the company to the unique position it’s in today, with more than 20 original productions under its belt. Each 26 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

closer to your audience than that.”

Part of Strut & Fret’s manifesto is to play big while staying small. In terms of production that means the very best use of the budget on costuming, lighting, choreography, music, and the finest performers from around the world - all contained in small and manageable venues at a fraction of a “Cirque” budget.

The formula is a blend of Circus, Cabaret and Song and Dance. The mission statement is to push the boundaries as far as they can go - most of the shows are risqué and even dangerous - while at the same time drawing the audience ever closer into the intimacy of the performance, the connection with the artist.

In the early days Strut & Fret were largely promoters of other people’s productions, mostly in Singapore.

“It was quite small scale back in 1997,” Scott says, “because I hadn’t got a handle on the vision. I wasn’t sure what we wanted to do. I just knew we wanted to make our own niche rather than trying to fit into someone else’s.”

The change came when Scott took The Happy Sideshow to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001. Scott saw the show in Mullumbimby at a circus

festival and was struck by how the production changed the perception of circus. With an MC replacing the traditional ringmaster, and the comedy coming from interaction between the entire cast, rather than traditionally resting in the hands of clowns, the acts somehow integrated thematically rather than being stand alone. Scott

because it gave us credibility.”

When a major newspaper like the UK Guardian calls you “a brilliantly inventive young company” you no longer have to explain yourself.

These days artists themselves contact Strut & Fret saying ‘we want to work with you’, meaning that Scott can create the shows built around the

knew that he had found what he was looking for.

“It wasn’t easy in the early years,” Scott says. “We knew the kind of acts we wanted for the shows, and there was a broad spectrum across the world of artists we wanted to attract, as well as letting the rest of the world see our amazing Australian talent. But the reality was that no-one knew us, so why should they commit to working with this little company with lofty ideas.”

All of that has changed now, with more than a dozen internationally acclaimed productions cementing their reputation.

“The press has always been kind to us,” Scott says, “and that’s a blessing

personalities of the performers, rather than creating the characters and expecting the performers to fit into them.

“It’s a bit like baking a cake,” Scott explains. “You need the best ingredients to make the cake work, otherwise you’ll end up with something that isn’t very palatable and is a bit flat, no matter how well you mix it.”

That quest for the very best ingredients has led Scott to put together an amazing core of creatives, all under forty.

“What we do is a young man’s game, because it’s very physical,” Scott (Continued on page 28)

Online extras!

Blanc de Blanc.

Photo: Pamela Raith.

Check out a clip from Blanc de Blanc.

Simply scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/7rfO81AdIIg www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 27

Limbo.

Photo: Prudence Upton.

Online extras!

Check out the trailer for Limbo. Simply scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/4jbqigANZb0

Deluxe Deluxe opens at HOTA on July 4 and runs to July 29 before touring.

one on one. In my youth I performed as a unicyclist. It’s an amazing thing to explains, “and it’s also about not being look down into the eyes of a child that afraid, not saying - ‘oh, that’s going is fascinated by what you’re doing.” too far’ - not censoring ourselves and Struth & Fret diversified into not settling. Even when something festivals and events, and that led to the works we are constantly looking for a Garden of Earthly Delights. Now way to push it further, to make people Adelaide’s premier summer arts catch their breath.” festival, it started in 2000 in just one It’s that drive and passion for Spiegeltent. pushing things beyond their natural “Once we broke free from the limits that has seen Strut & Fret go restrictions of one venue we found a from strength to strength. Maidment is new freedom,” Scott says. one of those individuals with energy The festival now runs across many and passion to burn, and that needs venues as well as outdoor spaces, constant feeding with new challenges. incorporating theatre, circus, dance, Scott had to find a way to make the puppetry, physical comedy, family next challenge HUGE and still intimate. entertainment, stand-up, music and so “I love the idea of facing the public much more! In 2016 over 800,000 (Continued from page 27)

28 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

stepped through the Garden’s gates.

Other festivals and special events followed.

“I don’t see the festivals and special events as separate to our core shows,” Scott explains, “It’s all part of what we do. We provide breath-taking entertainment.”

It’s hard to imagine that Scott’s new production Deluxe Deluxe, which has its world premiere on the Gold Coast on July 4th, could possibly better last year’s Blanc de Blanc, which has played return seasons within the same year in some cities.

“I don’t know that I’m aiming for better so much as different, fresh,” Scott says. “Blanc de Blanc was very French, very naughty, very cabaret. This new show is an homage to Vaudeville the old Tivoli style shows - yet done with a modern twist. The thing about those performers was that there was no fourth wall; the artists had a relationship with the audience. Better is a personal view, a judgement call.”

And not content with one new production in 2018, Scott has another show in pre-production for the Spring and the Brisbane Festival.

“It’s called Life - The Show,” Scott explains, and one can’t help thinking that the Macbeth quote at the top of this piece ends “… full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Nothing except State of the Art entertainment, that is. The possibilities are endless.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 29

Showcase

Shubshri Kandiah.

Photo: Nick Morrissey.

Queensland Conservatorium’s

Disney Princess Queensland Conservatorium musical theatre graduate Shubshri Kandiah had all of her wishes granted after winning the lead role of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s smash hit musical Aladdin.

Ainsley Melham and Shubshri Kandiah in Disney’s Aladdin.

Photo: James Green.

30 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Graduating from the Bachelor of Musical Theatre six months ago, 22year-old Shubshri Kandiah is now the star of the country’s biggest show in her professional musical theatre debut.

She got a chance to play Princess Jasmine for the final weeks of the show’s Brisbane run at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), before wowing audiences in her hometown, Perth.

“I found out through my agent, who flew to Brisbane and caught up with me over coffee. I was pouring honey into my chai when my agent broke the news and the honey just went all over the table!

“I was excited but a part of me didn’t really believe it. There are still times when I feel like it’s not real.”

Shubshri has always been a fan of Disney’s classic movie musicals and had a special connection to Aladdin.

“It was the first film with a princess on screen who looked like me. And now to bring that character to life on stage is an incredible experience,” she said.

“As a kid I saw Jasmine and wanted to be like her because she was a beautiful Disney princess but as an adult I really admire her strength, intelligence and that she is never afraid to voice her opinion.”

Shubshri began performing at a young age, learning classical Indian dance, ballet and violin. She moved across the country from Perth after being accepted into the Queensland Conservatorium’s Bachelor of Musical Theatre.

During her studies, Shubshri dazzled audiences in productions like Sweet Charity and West Side Story, and was a featured vocalist with the Queensland Pops Orchestra.

Shortly before graduating last year, she performed the role of Ayah in Opera Queensland’s The Pearlfishers and was chosen to sing a duet with Broadway legend Liz Callaway at QPAC. “My three years studying at the Queensland Conservatorium provided me with so many skills that I have taken with me,” she said.

“From voice warm-ups to script analysis, dance technique and a knowledge of vocal health that will

allow me to perform eight shows a week - I felt more than prepared for a career in the industry.”

Queensland Conservatorium Head of Performing Arts, Associate Professor Paul Sabey, said Shubshri was always destined for great things.

“Her talent was evident from day one, and she has the drive and dedication to make it in the industry,” he said.

“She is a performer who is able to reach every audience member through her performance, which is a rare quality.”

Queensland Conservatorium Director Professor Scott Harrison said that fostering close ties with organisations like the Queensland Performing Arts Centre had opened opportunities for students like Shubshri.

“We are fortunate to be based in

the heart of Brisbane’s cultural precinct, and our relationship with organisations like QPAC mean that our students enjoy incredible opportunities to learn from industry professionals and perform alongside the world’s best artists,” he said.

Fellow Queensland Conservatorium

and Mamma Mia! The Queensland Conservatorium has also expanded its performing arts program with a new Bachelor of Acting that prepares graduates for a career on the stage and screen under the direction of internationally renowned teachers and performers.

graduate Kimberley Hodgson is also in the cast of Aladdin and will understudy Shubshri in the lead role.

Since its establishment in 2011, the Bachelor of Musical Theatre degree has turned out some of the country’s finest triple threat talent, with graduates cast in high profile productions like My Fair Lady, The Book of Mormon, Beautiful

Associate Professor Paul Sabey said both courses offered a pathway to a career in the industry for aspiring performers.

“Our goal is to ensure that talented performers are equipped with the passion, drive and skills to perform across a range of disciplines, from theatre to film and TV.”

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 31

Showcase

Acting Performance Studio’s Briony Dunn says a monologue is an important calling card for any actor to showcase their abilities.

The head of course at APS believes a good selection is vital to preparing for an audition.

32 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

1. Have a large kit of monologues ready to go Sometimes you will be given a monologue to prepare for an audition.

Sometimes you will be asked to bring one in. Either way, at APS we teach our students they should have between 810 monologues prepared at any given time. This includes at least two classical

monologues that are dramatic/serious and two classical monologues that are comedic/light. Then you need the same for modern - at least 2 dramatic/ serious and at least 2 comedic/light, and 1-2 dramatic and comedic monologues suitable for screen.

Some theatrical monologues will be suitable for screen, but it’s a good rule of thumb to choose different pieces. If that sounds like too many, consider this: a) You are always a working actor if you are always finding and working on your monologue kit. b) What are you going to do that day you perform your awesome comedic classical monologue and the auditioner says, “Great! Do you have anything else?”

Why, yes you do! You just happen to have a second comedic classical monologue prepped and ready to go.

2. Choose the right piece Choose pieces you feel a connection with. If you understand what the character is going through you’re more likely to bring it to life in a meaningful and truthful way. Choose pieces within your age range. This is often up for

discussion. In short, unless the role you are auditioning for requires you to play a different age, choose monologues that are right for your current playable age. Now is not the time to show off your best old-lady walk.

3. Choose published pieces Unless you are a published writer, resist the urge to write your own monologue. We suggest you resist choosing from the plethora of monologues available online that have been created solely for audition purposes. The aim of your audition is to show you off. Choose writing that has gone through the rigorous process of drafting, performance and publication. You are being auditioned for your acting, and want to be supported by quality writing.

4. Spend time to find the right pieces Being an actor really means you are an historian and detective, so don’t be afraid of the many hours it will take in libraries and sitting on bookshop floors flicking through plays to find monologues.

5. Read the play Read the whole play from which your monologue has been taken so you fully understand the text. Even though your monologue needs to stand alone in your audition, you will never really be able to open up the full meaning of the text and be comfortable in your choices unless you have read and analysed the entire play from which the monologue was taken. Don’t skip this part. If you really can’t find the play we suggest you research as much as you

This page and opposite: 1st Year 2017 production, an adaptation of Greek tragedy Electra.

possibly can in the time you have. Be informed. It reflects well on you.

Being a working actor takes years of work and dedication. Unless you start that work today, how are you ever going to be ready with a range of appropriate monologues (in accent) when you audition for that next Netflix show 2 years from now? Even if you have a full time job separate to your work as a performer to pay the rent, you can still do 3-5 things each week that contribute to your work as an actor. Finding and preparing monologues should be near the top of that list.

Acting Performance Studio is a Melbourne acting school with three locations (Moorabbin, Brunswick and Ringwood) offering screen acting and music theatre classes for children, teens and adults of all skill levels, as well as holiday programs, regular casting director workshops, selftest facilities and showreel production. APS offers a professional full-time course with 1 and 2 year programs available.

The full-time course focusses equally on both stage and screen.

Applications for the 2019 intake are open now, and auditions begin in August.

For more information visit www.apstudio.com.au

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 33

Contemporary Australian Monologues Currency Press has received so many requests for suggested monologues that it has released two new books for Women and Men filled with scripts on an exotic variety of subjects.

Designed to last between one and a half to three minutes, all of them have been written since 2000. Stage Whispers proudly publishes two of them.

Mark

From Caress / Ache by Suzie Miller Mark is a surgeon who can no longer bear to touch the living after losing an infant during surgery. In this scene he is calling a sex line, desperate for human connection, but there is nothing sexual about his call. Though he may initially sound professional or impersonal, it should quickly become apparent that there is a deep grief not far beneath the surface.

Hello.

Um, I’m Doctor— Mark, just call me Mark.

I’ve never called anywhere like this before.

No, no please don’t, I don’t want— Look, I just wanted to talk to you.

Just ask you some— I mean if you don’t mind.

Can you do something for me?

Please.

[The person on the other end tries sexual talk.]

No no, no, nothing like that.

Did you know that when someone touches you, say… your forearm— [Not heard, but the other person says, ‘forearm?’]

Yes your forearm. If you run your fingertips down your forearm.

34 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Yes, yes that’s right, can you do that for me?

Did you know that while you are doing that, that there are hundreds of synapses firing in your brain, registering all the messages coming directly from receptor cells beneath your skin?

Can you do it again, just with the softest fingertips? Run them over your forearm and under your wrist.

No not to me, to yourself.

Can you feel the veins and arteries, can you feel them pulsing?

Can you touch your own arm just with your fingertips and tell me— Tell me what it feels like?

— Makes you shiver, yes? And? Does it feel warm?

— Can you, can you just hold onto your forearm for me please?

Yes like that, hold the flesh of it.

Wrap your hand and fingers around the skin, the muscle, the tissue, like you’re not going to let go.

Don’t cause any pain though.

Is it causing pain?

Good.

Can you tell me what it feels like?

Yes, that’s right, all those receptor cells, but I don’t mean that.

I mean, can you tell me how you actually feel?

You know, what feeling you get when you are held like that?

— And do you—? Sorry what was your name?

— Chantal.

When you have that feeling, the one you said feels alive, feels warm, is it— Is it beautiful?

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton

From Letters to Lindy by Alana Valentine The following is a verbatim piece, based on an interview playwright Alana Valentine conducted with Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton. Lindy, a Seventh-day Adventist, was falsely accused of murdering her child in 1980 and underwent a trial, not just by the Australian judiciary system but also the media and the Australian public. The public pronounced her guilty before she got to the witness box. She is accustomed to being called a liar.

The night before I went into the witness box. As soon as I went into this room, this room where we were

a room with the freezer turned on.

And the minute I walked in all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. When I turned the light on there was nothing there. Michael had gone out to the other room. And so I turned the light out again, and that’s when something heavy pushed on my chest to choke me. And I thought immediately, ‘This is what my dad has described when he’d worked with people who thought they had evil in their house’. All I could think of was that he or somebody had said, ‘If you repeat God’s name then it will go’. But to begin with I could not even formulate the word in my head. I had to really fight until I could say it in my mind and then out loud and then I could move again and then I could say it louder and louder and I grabbed my Bible which staying in Darwin, I thought, ‘There’s was beside me and held onto it. something in here’. We were in From then on I slept with my Bible Darwin, it was roasting, there was air under my pillow. Sometimes I’d go -conditioning in this room but it into that room and I’d start to feel it didn’t go very low. But in this room I and then I’d grab the Bible and it went into … it was like walking into would go. And as I said Jesus’ name

Showcase over and over again the temperature of the room started to rise, the weight came off me and I could breathe again.

If you can’t or won’t or you don’t want to believe me that’s your prerogative. But you don’t have to believe in physical evil the way I do to try to understand the evil that was being done in the world around me.

There is evil that is supernatural and there is evil that is injustice. Well, that injustice tried to choke me to death. It was newsprint. It was the words you whispered or gossiped or the jokes you made. All of that balled up and became injustice. This grotesque series of lies and spite and rumour and human evil tried to smother my sense of belief in good and had me by the throat. Don’t deny that it happened to me.

Whatever name you give it, if it ever has you by the throat, let’s talk again afterwards.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 35

What Every Actor Needs To Know

Dean Carey, from Actor’s Centre Australia, is a releasing a new book which maps a unique path for artists.

My new book, to be published by World Scientific Publishing, is all about the actor’s engine: What every actor needs to know.

I believe there are three critical components under the hood of each Art should always go the extra mile, actor and each one has its own far beyond ordinary. Likewise education responsibilities, tasks and skills. If any should be both inclusive and robust one of them goes missing in action or allowing everyone to uncover confuses its duties, the sound of information and insight leading to a crunching metal will be the result. Be fuller and richer connection to their warned. Welcome to “M.A.P.” sense of themselves and their unique Let’s start in reverse, as we’ll find expression. Time is a gift and investing that’s the order of priority. time in one’s own sense of purpose and P = Person promise is the greatest gift.

That’s you. That’s me. With all of This is Actors Centre Australia’s our preferences, prejudices, loves, fears, mission and this creative organisation foibles, eccentricities, pot holes, thrives on a vibrant, diverse, rigorous wounds, worries, unmet needs, and explosive environment. Art creates expectations, beauty, heart, desires and meaning and humans require dreams. Then we have our: expression. The intersection of the performing arts and people’s potential has always been my drive and inspiration. I began my professional career at 17 and at 27 I opened the doors of ACA as I wanted Sydney to have a new artistic hub.

More than 30 years later ACA is more creative than ever. Programs are expanding and we’re sharing our brand of education and inspiration. In our new purpose built 12 million dollar performance facility we are launching programs for youth, and we are going to transform the piazza (which surrounds our school) with brilliant light and entertainment. Art thrives on, as the expression of all we dream of and aspire to. I am very proud to call ACA home.

36 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

A = artist That’s the creative juice and drive inside each of us which is connected, courageous, vulnerable, exposed, searching, child-like, inquisitive, willing, wilful, wild, dangerous, impulsive, instinctive, free-thinking, valiant, committed, driven and at the service of all that’s asked of him or her. Finally: M = Manager This is our business manager and coach: grounded, logical, practical, protective, forward thinking, alert, responsive, adult, supportive, flexible, adept, thick-skinned, level-headed, rational, realistic.

All three should be alive, in action, in balance, and present when required.

On opening night when the party is in full swing who takes you home at 1am because you have a matinee the

next day? Your manager. You and your creative artist are having a ball and would stay until long after last drinks.

You couldn’t rely on either of those two voices to keep their feet on the ground.

Nor should you. But someone has to.

Therefore your manager helps you make your timely exit.

When there’s a breakdown backstage within the ensemble or between you and the production company and you’re walking into an office for a difficult conversation, the last person who should go in is YOU. Nor does your creative artist head in, ready to pick up the gauntlet and prepare to fight the good fight. Both of these parts of you are not equipped nor poised to take on the challenge. But your manager can. And should. And will. And does.

After a casting has gone wrong - a rejection, a failure, an insult or injury anything that would have you come down on yourself like a ton of bricks or wish to rail at the universe - your manager is there to pick up the pieces and drive you home. It doesn’t mean you don’t acknowledge and honour the feelings which deserve to be heard, but your manager will step in, when required and when it’s the right time, and get you back on course and back in the saddle. Your wounded creative artist can’t and shouldn’t be expected to. But your manager can, and will.

After the word ‘Cut’ is announced in a casting (which seemed to be going great) and your creative artist is open, vulnerable, sensitive and unprotected,

Dean Carey.

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you hear the director express, “No, I’m sorry but that’s not what I think the scene is about at all,” the only person suitably equipped to have that particular conversation is your manager.

He/she listens, discerns, enquires, gets to the heart of what the director wants, then ‘turns’ to your creative artist, and with both thumbs up in the air says, “Over to you. Go for it.” And then your creative artist switches on and embraces the redirection fully and completely.

Are artists suffering then from multiple personality disorders? No. We simply play multiple roles every day in various ways: son, lover, employee, party animal, confidant, protector, advisor, poet, mate. We simply access various parts of our energy field, knowledge and abilities as required.

You see one caller ID on your cell phone and you take the call immediately and willingly. Another caller ID and you might reject the call, pushing your phone out of reach. With each incoming call we have to decide whether we can access that particular part of ourselves which is required to engage with that person. It doesn’t mean we won’t get back to them, we most likely will, but only when it is appropriate and possible to access the particular energy field within which that relationship resides.

Conclusion: actors need all three components outlined above to be in balance, to be active or silent at the correct times, and for each to be responsible for themselves. The ‘P’ part of you - you the person - also needs comfort, companionship, nourishment, inspiration, connection, passion and bliss, in addition to the needs of your creative artist and manager.

My big message: you are NOT your career. You also have a life, friends, family, personal goals to grow and stay healthy, adventures to have, beauty to hold, love to make, love to share. Let your creative artist and manager take care of the career. It’s not that you don’t care or aren’t also connected, but each component needs to be respected, kept in balance, nurtured and fuelled.

Therein lies a sustainable, healthy, long and hopefully happy career.

This is my 41st year working professionally in the industry I love and I feel as passionate, as curious, and as committed as ever. Onwards! www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 37

Spectrum Dance’s 2018 Mid-Year Showcase rehearsals at St. Martins Theatre in South Yarra.

Stephen Wheat, the Director of Musical Theatre at Spectrum Dance in Melbourne, explains how he balances teaching, studying and working in the industry.

What advice can you give to students wanting to break into musical theatre?

Go to class! Be prepared to work hard to get what you want. Give equal time to your strengths and weaknesses. Go to the theatre as much as you can, buy the program and study it. Know who the directors, choreographers and musical directors are. Watch things you don’t think you will like. Listen to every kind of cast album you can get your hands on, not just Hamilton on repeat. Know who is current, not just in leading roles but also in the ensemble. Don’t take your first rejection as career failure. Listen to feedback and put it into practice.

Be kind to yourself and especially to those around you.

Tell us about your background in the industry?

I started out in amateur theatre in Brisbane. When I finished high school I did one year of classical voice at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music before being accepted in WAAPA’s Bachelor of Arts in Music Theatre. I moved to Melbourne and got my first gig in The Music Man with The Production Company, the first of 13 shows with them. I’ve been lucky to

38 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

tour with shows like Legally Blonde, Shout!, Dusty, Georgy Girl, The Boy From Oz, Pippin, The Hobbit and Jekyll and Hyde. In 2011 I was asked to direct a concert version of Hello, Dolly!

Since then I’ve directed many musicals and some plays, with my favourite being Nine at the Melbourne Recital Centre. We had some of Australia’s best leading ladies, a wonderful leading man in Michael Cormick, and a massive orchestra. It was a very memorable experience.

What led you to the role of director of musical theatre at Spectrum?

Legally Blonde was in Melbourne and we had just been given notice that the show was closing. The next day I received a phone call from Trish SquireRogers asking me if I would be interested. She had no idea that the show was closing. I had met Trish about a decade earlier through the late Ross Coleman and I had always been a massive admirer of her work and what the school stood for, so I jumped at the chance.

You’ve recently gone back to university as well. How do you manage teaching, performing, directing and studying?

I have to write a lot down! One of the many things I love about teaching at Spectrum is the encouragement they give me to continue my career outside of school. While I’ve been there I have gone on tour twice and directed four musicals, so it comes down to good communication and timetabling. If I’m going to be absent, the directors and I

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have a small social life and walk my dog!

How has your time performing influenced what you bring to the classroom?

I’ve been principal cast and I’ve been in the ensemble, I’ve understudied and I’ve swung, I’ve performed in small studios, a circus tent, stadiums and all of the major theatres around Australia. I’ve done corporate work, and I’ve done independent theatre. I’ve had amazing jobs and I’ve been in some lemons.

I’ve been lucky to be a part of three discuss our options for replacements. A workshops of new musicals that then went on to the mainstage as well as benefit of our industry connection is local and international productions of that we have many friends and over 20 musicals from Carousel to The colleagues who we trust and respect, Boy from Oz. These musicals have so the students always get fantastic allowed me to work with creative tuition. I’m doing post graduate geniuses such as Jerry Mitchell, Nancye studies in tertiary education at the University of Melbourne this year. The Hayes, Ross Coleman, Gary Young, course is designed for tertiary teachers Roger Hodgman and Kellie Dickerson.

What I love about the performing arts currently working, so I can instantly is how the older generation pass on apply what we learn in our lectures. their knowledge to the newbies. I Going back to study has added teach what I have learnt from these another ball to be juggled but generous colleagues and from my own thankfully I somehow still manage to personal experiences.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 39

40 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Showcase This image: A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Inset: Mother Courage And Her Children.

For the past 10 years, a team of celebrated theatre and performance practitioners have been teaching and mentoring students through a unique acting program in South Bank, Brisbane. Described by the local arts industry as Brisbane’s hidden treasure, the Bachelor of Acting and Performance program at TAFE Queensland is producing graduates who are working in a variety of roles across a diverse range of industries.

knowledge, awareness and own creative practice, including performance writing, dramaturgy and performance making.

Working across theatre, opera, dance, new media, contemporary performance practice, playwriting, filmmaking and music, the lecturers are nationally and Delivered in partnership crew with the Royal internationally recognised with the University of Australian Air Force. artists for their bodies of Canberra, the degree In Australia, aspiring work and contribution to the program provides students theatre students looking for broader arts sector. with the skills and experience training most often face two The staff and students to engage professionally in choices; to either enrol in a present major performance the performing arts as a course that focuses seasons in May and stage and film actor, specifically on ‘actor training’ November. Over two to performing artist and or engaging in a ‘drama/ three consecutive weeks, performance maker. theatre studies’ program plays, original performance Graduating students have with a much broader focus works, and acting showcases been successful in everything on theatre practice’. The are staged in the on-campus from commercial radio Bachelor of Acting and venue, the Norman Price production in London, lead Performance program offers Theatre (recently renamed in and supporting roles in both rigorous actor training honour of the late Australian Australian feature films, and engagement in practical playwright and former playwright residencies with and theoretical studies. The lecturer Norman Price). notable publishing houses, program seeks to develop Audiences are treated to a and have even become air the students’ wider cultural flurry of excitement, risk-

Apply now 1300 308 233 tafeqld.edu.au/acting taking, professionalism, craft and transformation.

This serious minded, quietly achieving and maturing 10 year old acting program, delivered at the South Bank campus in the cultural heart of Brisbane, may not be a hidden treasure for too much longer as it takes its rightful place amongst the most sought after and notable tertiary programs for acting in Australia.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 41

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Performing Arts High

You have probably seen Fame and watched Glee, but what is it really like attending a Performing Arts High School? Laura Banning and Lola Bond from the Australian Performing Arts Grammar School in inner city Sydney have the low down.

How do you balance school work and performing?

Laura: APGS always incorporates the performing arts into our academic learning. The structure of three days of academic work and two days of performing arts allows a balance, making sure everything is covered equally.

Lola: Yes it’s hard, because I have a lot of school work and a lot of outside performing arts activities. I think preparation is definitely key. I like to set 42 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

out a timetable of all my specific auditions, school work and rehearsals so I can plan out how much time I want to spend on each.

What do you think sets APGS apart from other schools?

Laura: Being around such likeminded people is something that is so special; to have a school where everyone understands your passions and goals. I was worried it would be clicky, competitive and judgemental, but at APGS everyone is supportive.

Even if you are not a dancer and you try dance, people are going to support you. Little things like jamming at lunch time with your friends or like showing each other new music that no one else would know.

Lola: It’s completely a family; you have friends in year 7 and year 12. You know everyone because it’s such a nurturing school.

What is the most memorable performance you’ve been a part of?

Laura: That would be the musical I was recently cast in Be More Chill, as that was a breaking point for my career as it was the Australian Premiere and it was an audition I was going for that I didn’t think I would get. I was uncomfortable with the role at the start, as it was out of my comfort zone, but in the end I learnt so much.

Lola: My first ever performance that wasn’t in school or youth theatre was the Short and Sweet festival. Our play The Eulogy concerned death, domestic abuse and violence. I was the youngest female performer in the festival of over 500 performers. I won the best actress runner up for best actor of the whole festival.

When did you first become interested in performing?

Laura: I had been taking singing, acting and dancing classes all throughout childhood, but things started to become more serious for me in year 7. I realised this is what I wanted to do so I enrolled at APGS. Lola: I have always been a very creative person. Even in cooking I remember when I was two mixing stuff up. I used to sing on tables and make up little performances for my parents.

What are your study and career goals?

Laura: Definitely performing arts based, particularly in musical theatre; that is the dream. I intend to audition for all the universities in Australia and abroad. If I don’t get in the first year, which often happens, I am thinking of doing a full-time course at a dance studio as well as working to save money, then hopefully after that I’ll get into a college to do bachelor of musical theatre, then after that I want to perform in musicals.

Lola: Well I most likely want to go to university. I have short listed all of

these universities like Julliard, NIDA, etc. But I also want to focus not just on acting, because since I came to APGS I have expanded to singing and dancing, which I would not have done at any other school.

What do you think has contributed most to your success in the Arts?

Laura: The main thing has been commitment, hard work and determination. Just having the right mind set. Every audition is an opportunity, whether it is successful or not. It is at least an opportunity to perform. If it’s a no it doesn’t mean you’re bad, it means you might be too tall, you might have the wrong hair colour, you might be too young, too old, so it always comes down to how you look at things.

Lola: Persistence and focus; a lot of people tell me my focus is unwavering.

I am always acting and that has definitely contributed. If you are putting your energy into something then you are going to see results. My support system - my family supports me, my school supports me and that really makes a difference.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 43

44 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

A Walk Around WAAPA

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Stage Whispers took a peek at what happened on a typical afternoon at WAAPA’s Mt Lawley Campus.

Clockwise from top right:

 Dance students rehearsing for their upcoming season.  Lighting students inspecting their equipment.  Anton Maz, Marketing dude, in front of WAAPA/Edith Cowan University’s Spiegeltent, The Edith.

 A Props and Scenery student touching up one of the set pieces in the workshop.  Props and Scenery students building the set for the 3rd Year Acting production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

 David Spicer with Australia’s favourite Soprano and WAAPA’s Head of Classical Voice, Emma Matthews.  A performing arts mural.  Aboriginal Performance students checking out Stage Whispers magazine.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 45

Following their recent roles in Suzie Miller’s The Causality Principle Between Love and Hate, Isabel Burton and Conor Teevan (third and final year performance students at University of Wollongong) shared their classroom and on-stage experiences, plus their dreams, like becoming the first female Bond.

What is your dream role?

Isabel: Ooooo, I love action films.

Sign me up to be in the next Marvel or Bond film please! But as for my beloved theatre, I’d love to tackle Cleopatra - all actors should try Shakespeare at least once in their career - or Alice Ayers in Patrick Marber’s Closer. I love her! Or anything Sarah Kane because I’m still an angsty teen at heart.

Conor: My dream role in a movie would be Miles Teller’s character in Whiplash. The music is amazing and the story is amazing! On the stage, my dream role would be Hamlet. But I think my dream is to originate a new role from a play that hasn’t been written yet!

Why did you choose to study at UOW? Isabel: I chose the Bachelor of Performance at the University of Wollongong because it’s an in-depth and actor specific course. It involves theatre studies, movement and a wide range of actor training. It’s a great balance between theory and practical performance skills.

Conor: I chose performance at UOW because I want a career where I can use my mind and body together to make people feel something the way only theatre can.

What have you learnt and how have you grown throughout your degree?

Isabel: I have discovered so much about theatre, acting, literature and film, but most importantly myself. It’s hard to believe how far I’ve come in three short years. I’ve been training in acting, singing, movement and voice yes, even singing is a valuable skill for actors - and despite the challenges, it’s exposed me to types of performance I 46 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

didn’t know I could do. It’s definitely opening me up to styles of theatre I had no idea even existed.

A defining moment in my degree has been collaborating with fellow actors and other artists. It’s incredible to work in a thriving environment with talented practitioners, writers, artists and professionals.

Conor: In my first year I learnt foundations. Second year, I learnt about myself as a person and third year I learnt about myself as a professional. One of

the most valuable lessons I’ve learnt is what it takes to create your own work.

Last year I was a director for a major project, which was incredible. I’ve taken away so much, specifically the drive and commitment needed to make my passion a reality as I continue to grow as a practising artist.

Where will we see you in 10 years’ time?

Isabel: I’ll have a Marvel superhero title and will have the pleasure of being the first female Bond! Hopefully, I’ll have travelled and worked in a few different countries. I think I’ll be glued to the stage but I love cinema too much to not give film a go. The best thing is that I know I’ll have created some great work after leaving UOW with a lot of people I’ve had the pleasure of studying with. I want to keep growing, challenging myself, pushing my comfort zone and creating art.

Conor: Maybe I’ll be in India working on a Bollywood film set, or on the main stage at the Sydney Theatre Company, or busy devising my own work. I’ll be making art no matter what and I’ll be ecstatic doing it!

The University of Wollongong’s 2018 student production team behind The Causality Principle Between Love And Hate.

Photo: Brigid Bohackyj.

Isabel Burton and Conor Teevan.

Photo: Brigid Bohackyj.

Isabel Burton.

Photo: Brigid Bohackyj.

To find out more about studying at UOW, visit http://lha.uow.edu.au/taem

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Conor Teevan.

Photo: Brigid Bohackyj.

What advice would you give to Year 12 students thinking of pursuing performance and acting?

Isabel: Be an artist and give it all you’ve got. Any opportunity or spare moment you have, always be creating something or devising work or collaborating with peers and other artists. Keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to perform and showcase your work at university or even organise your own events. It pays off and it’s fun!

I’d also recommend watching as much theatre as you can! From first

year, first semester you’re involved in productions and being in my final year I make sure I watch what other students are doing as well. Absorb all the talent and creativity around you.

Conor: The first step is to believe in yourself. It’s a challenging career path but if you support and believe in yourself, it makes the job a million times easier.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 47

48 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

VCA Designs On A Career

The Crucible, presented by VCA Acting Company 2018 and VCA Production students.

Photo: Drew Echberg.

Associate Professor Richard Roberts says it’s the perfect time study Design and Production at the University of Melbourne (VCA).

As of 2019, the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) will replace its current Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) with a new course - and new focus - the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design and Production).

“The new course structure is an attempt to acknowledge the changing landscape in production. The old boundaries between the technicians, designers, performers and directors are dissolving,” says Associate Professor Roberts.

In practical terms, this will involve consolidating three majors (Design Realisation, Performance Technology and Stage Management) into two majors (Design and Technical), with greater opportunity to specialise within these majors.

In the Technical major students can focus on Stage Management or technical skills and management in the areas of lighting, sound, costume and set/props.

In the Design major students specialise in design for these same areas of lighting, sound, costume and set/props. Student focusing on costume or set/properties in either major will also have the opportunities to collaborate with their peers in VCA Film and Television.

Students will also be able to cater

their course more closely to their areas of interest - whether that’s working in film, set design, lighting production, or the many other areas of specialisation. The Bachelor will offer hands-on experience, with involvement in VCA productions, industry internships, and tutelage by skilled professionals.

Roberts explains that this is driven by changing technology, work practices and the ever-shifting question of what constitutes a “performance” - as well as a greater emphasis on collaboration across all areas of stage and screen design and production.

“It’s certainly true to say that without a team, there is no production,” Roberts says.

The new VCA Production team comprises industry professionals whose work has been presented in theatres and on screens around the country and internationally. According to Head of VCA Production Leon Salom, the new staff members are “among the very best practitioners, with close and current connections to the performing arts and film and television industries.” The newest member of the team is Matthew Scott, whose lighting designs can be seen in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of An Ideal Husband and

Showcase later this year in Belvoir St Theatre’s Dance of Death.

Salom says the new direction came in response to feedback from industry, as well as current and former students.

“The VCA will be able to train future managers, technicians and designers who will have a deep understanding of the field they are entering along with a comprehensive skillset in current and emerging industry practices.

“Bringing together Lighting, Sound, Set and Costume Designers in the same Design Studio classes is a unique aspect of this course. It reflects the emerging practice of ‘scenography’ where all design elements are considered as equal contributors to a piece of theatre. They all play a central role in storytelling and therefore should be given equal importance and be developed alongside each other during the design process.

“We will also be delivering more advanced training in management techniques for the students in the Technical major. Our graduates who focus on Stage Management, technology and construction enjoy some of the highest rates of employment on graduation in the faculty. These more advanced management skills are expected to enable graduates to move into leadership positions more rapidly.

“It is also exciting to include a stronger pathway to the film and television industry particularly in the areas of costume, props and design.”

After completing the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design and Production), students are eligible to be involved in the VCA’s Graduate programs, where they can focus on set, costume and lighting design in the Master of Design for Performance; or on production design or art direction for film and television in the Master of Production Design for Screen.

Production at the VCA has high rates of graduate industry employment, helped through an industry internship program undertaken by all third year students. In addition to this the connections that students make with lecturers, guest speakers, industry mentors and peers can last a lifetime.

Find out more at VCA’s Open Day on Sunday August 19. http://vca.unimelb.edu.au www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 49

Showcase To study at Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art, go to www.cada.net.au

Line-Learning Tips For Actors

If you want to be an actor, you’ve got to learn lines. It’s a fundamental skill. Elizabeth Avery Scott, Managing Director of Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art, has some tips and tricks.

Getting your lines down early in the production process is essential.

However, some novice actors think of lines as the endgame. But really, the lines are just the beginning.

A director can only work with you to shape your character once your lines are flowing freely.

But the reality is some people find line-learning harder than others.

There’s no getting around it, you just must commit.

You just have to put the time in, knuckle-down and do it. For some actors, it’s hours and hours of work.

There are numerous ways to approach line learning. It’s about finding a methodology that suits you personally. Here are some tips from Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art.

work, for example, use visualisation to help get the lines down. Imagine the scene in a series of pictures. Draw them if it helps. Tie your line memorisation to images, rather than words.

Use your phone Not only can you record your lines on a phone and play them back, you can source an app that is specifically designed for line learning. Apps like Script Rehearser and Rehearsal Pro let you upload a script, record it, or play it back line by line.

The buddy system Once you’ve got the basics down, find someone who’ll run your lines with you. That may be a fellow actor, or just a willing friend. Give them a Chunking copy of the script, and have them Go through your script from the read opposite you, ready to correct top, and cover the words, say them, you when needed. Working with and check them - in phrases (chunks). another person can make line-learning Write them out: This is perhaps the Be careful not to memorise words in fun and less tedious. ‘old-fashioned way’ of line-learning rhythms, though - well-trodden but there’s something to be said for rhythms in your mind can mean you Get the words into your body the magic that happens once words end up delivering you lines in a singIf you’re struggling getting certain travel down your arm and out your song way. Moreover, at the linephrases into your head, assign pencil! The brain loves a process to learning stage, you don’t know how a physical movements to the tricky bits. help solidify learning. director is going to ask you to deliver Sound them out symbolically with Once you learn your lines, you each line. Don’t become wedded to a gestures or whole-body movements. must maintain them. way of speaking them too soon.

When you physically repeat them, You may find that during a season, your brain is finding a way to make if you’re not going over them Visualisation connections beyond the words on the regularly, some of the words slip away If your text uses a lot of imagery, page. Some say this method works - so it’s always good to revisit the as you might find in a Shakespearean wonders. script.

50 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 51

Showcase

Vivid Students

Online extras!

EDi students and teachers discuss their contribution to Vivid 2018. https://youtu.be/stvg73NXCwc

Courses at Design Centre Enmore have recently seen students involved in exciting projects such as designing, building and lighting an exhibit in the Royal Botanic Gardens as part of the world renowned Vivid Sydney, commercial collaborations with IKEA, participation in the much-celebrated Sydney Mardi Gras parade and designing and producing the Design Centre’s annual showcase at the Enmore Theatre.

Entertainment Design Illustration (EDi) at the Design Centre Enmore delivers two unique courses to help all creative types find their path. Students can begin with the multi-discipline starter courses (Certificate III in Design Fundamentals & Certificate IV in Design) where they gain experience in a wide range of design areas.

Learners then go on to focus on two key pathways, Live Production Design or Illustration.

Illustration The Illustration course is one of a kind. Students will explore both traditional and contemporary digital Illustration techniques and skills whilst exploring graphic novels, editorials, advertising, fashion, natural history, children’s books, story boarding, concept art, animation, graphic design and e books. This course is delivered by some of Australia’s most respected Illustrators and artists.

This specialist Diploma Graphic Live Production Design Design Illustration course provides a pathway into the Advanced Diploma of The Diploma of Live Production Design is unique to the award-winning Graphic Design Illustration also unique Design Centre Enmore. Students to the Design Centre Enmore. explore all areas of production design for stage, film, festivals, events and television including set and costume, props, model-making, prosthetics and SFX makeup, art direction for film and editing techniques, lighting and construction techniques and entertainment management.

The Diploma in Live Production Design course provides a pathway into the Advanced Diploma of Live Production and Management Services.

52 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Main image: Vivid Sydney 2018 installation by TAFE NSW EDi students.

Above: Hansel and Gretel puppets at the 2018 ‘Anomalous’ extravaganza at Enmore Theatre.

Below: Freaks costumes collection at the 2018 ‘Anomalous’ extravaganza at Enmore Theatre.

For further information contact the Design Centre on (02) 9394 5759 or (02) 9394 5700.

Alternatively, you can email julia.mcrae@tafensw.edu.au

Broadway On Screen

Lucy Durack.

In inimitable Queensland Pops Orchestra tradition, maestro Patrick Pickett has drawn the very best Broadway moments from screen musical classics for Broadway On Screen.

Lucy Durack will headline this concert, having fast become one of Australia’s leading ladies of stage and screen with a list of major roles to her credit, most recently Glinda the Good Witch in the original Australian cast of Wicked, but also in the feature film Now Add Honey, TV series Doctor Doctor, and as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde The Musical.

After the standing ovation they received for Broadway & Beyond in

2017, the young feature artists from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University return for an encore performance for Broadway On Screen, the final series concert for 2018.

The Queensland Conservatorium continues to produce musical theatre

Masks And Puppets Add Colour To Classic Performances

professionals of the highest calibre and from 2018, the QCGU offers a Bachelor of Acting course, with study across a range of genres, ensemble work, technique classes, acting for camera, industry-led workshops and public performances.

Under the expert direction of the Head of Performing Arts Associate Professor Paul Sabey and Vocal Coach Trevor Jones, the QPO/QCGU’s Jesus Christ Superstar finale marked a new high for all involved in 2017.

Experience the greatest musical theatre songs ever written as Patrick Pickett and the Queensland Pops Orchestra take you on a star-studded journey of screen greats, brought to life by passionate young performers.

Broadway On Screen plays at QPAC on August 11.

For tickets and more info, visit http://bit.ly/2MfQdlW

The Dormouse puppet fitted its role perfectly in the production of Alice in Wonderland at Ripponlea.

Making masks and puppets for performances staged in the open air is a special thrill for mask and puppet maker Tessa Wallis.

“The Australian Shakespeare Company ordered a Dormouse Puppet for its production of Alice in Wonderland in the gracious gardens at Ripponlea. It was the perfect setting for a captivating performance by this highly professional troupe. A big crowd attended every performance and the Dormouse puppet was actively manipulated by the March Hare for its time in the dock, said Tessa. The show was amusing and audience participation made it even more fun. I was delighted to be involved in this production through making the Dormouse puppet”, she added.

Eleven masks were ordered by GJ Productions for The Twelfth Night staged at the Fairfield Ampitheatre early this year. Using colour to establish family connections and relationships, the masks helped simplify the complex plot for the audience. Brilliant casting by GJ Production’s cofounders and Directors Grace and Jack brought the amusing story to life and each performer shone in their respective roles proving that Shakespearian plays are as vibrant in the 21st Century as they were 500 years ago.

Maria played brilliantly by Madeline Pratt, handmaid to Olivia, played by the superb Grace Maddern.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 53

Stage on Page

weekly into keeping the show running (it sent

By Peter Pinne him bankrupt); Andrew Lloyd Must Close Saturday - The Decline Wilde (2004), written Webber’s Jeeves and Fall of the British Musical Flop by by disc-jockey and (1975) had the Adrian Wright (Boydell Press A$51.91). pop-song writer Mike shortest run of any Back in the early nineties American Read, which had the of his works, author and critic Ken Mandelbaum imprimatur of Wilde’s playing just 38 wrote Not Since Carrie, a book which grandson, and had performances; looked at 40 years of Broadway the Sunday Telegraph whilst his ex-lyricist musical flops. Now the British musical claiming it was “a partner Tim Rice theatre has received the same attention musical of exquisite floundered with an from Adrian Wright, a noted historian, awfulness”. Set in adaptation of James whose previous tomes have included A 1895, when Wilde Jones’ Pearl Harbour Tanner’s Worth of Tune (2010) and left England for novel, From Here to West End Broadway (2012).

France, he departed Eternity (2013), Must Close Saturday looks at West to the strains of “La ironically at the same End musical flops with original scores Vie En Rose”, a song time Lloyd Webber between 1960 and 2016 and arbitrarily that was written in 1945. It lost eighty was also struggling with his Profumo thousand pounds. uses anything that ran less than 250 scandal musical Stephen Ward (2013). performances as the designation of Cryogenics was the subject of Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds’ what constitutes a flop. Wright lovingly Kingdom Coming (1973), another “car- 2,283 performance success in the and caustically documents the failure crash” of a musical whose plot fifties with Salad Days (1954) did not of 162 productions, stretching from “involved characters being stuffed into translate into success in the sixties The Lily White Boys to Mrs Henderson refrigerators” and ran for 14 when Hooray for Daisy (1960) and performances, whilst the vanity Presents.

Wildest Dreams (1961) only ran 51 and The subjects in themselves make an production Murderous Instincts (1973), 76 performances respectively. Likewise, interesting read - the electric chair, The “a hit in 2002 in Puerto Rico”, suffered Sandy Wilson’s follow up to his 2,084 a major blow when the director, Holocaust, Jack the Ripper, Edward performance long-runner The Boy and Mrs Simpson, the Virgin Mary, Mickey Rooney’s son, was barred by Friend (1953), set in the thirties where Barnardo’s orphanages, the match girls Equity, forcing him into continuing to the characters are ten years older, at the Bryant and May factory, Dr direct the show by phone from Paris.

Divorce Me Darling (1965), could only Crippen, Lewis Carroll and Marilyn The book also shows no famous manage a dismal 87 performances. composer or lyricist is immune from a Monroe to name a few.

According to Wright, David And what do we learn? Like flop. Lionel Bart had his with his Robin Heneker’s Jorrocks (1966), a flop at Broadway with Kelly (1965), London Hood saga Twang!! (1965), a financial 181 performances, had a much fiasco which saw him pouring four also had its own opening and closing stronger score than either of his longin one night production. It was Oscar thousand pounds of his own money runners, Half a Sixpence (1963) or Charlie Girl (1965).

Broadway greats were just as susceptible to the vagaries of London audiences. Charles Strouse and Lee Adams’ Queen Victoria epic, I and Albert (1972), hung around for 120 performances and was directed by film -maker John Schlesinger, who had never directed for the stage and had no previous experience with musicals.

Jean Seberg (1983) had a score by Visit our on-line book Marvin Hamlisch, was produced by the National Theatre and was called shop for back issues “amateurish” by the press, whilst Schwartz’ Children of Eden and stage craft books Stephen (1991), based on the Book of Genesis, expired after 103 performances. performers abound www.stagewhispers.com.au/books JuneAustralian Bronhill, Kevin Colson, Simon

Stage Whispers Books

54 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Gleeson, Philip Quast, Caroline O’Connor, Simon Burke and Helen Dallimore, with several musicals by Australian composers also discussed; Jason Sprague’s Edward and Mrs Simpson musical Always (1997), Ron Grainer’s bio of music-hall artiste Marie Lloyd, Sing a Rude Song (1970), with Barbara Windsor as Lloyd and Barry Gibb as one of her husbands, and my own Prisoner Cell Block H - The Musical (1995), based on the popular TV series which, on-stage, starred drag-queen Lily Savage.

In a book about flops it almost seems perverse to criticize someone for taking the popular path, but that’s what Wright does with author Wolf Mankowitz, whose career he believes, following the groundbreaking Expresso Bongo and Make Me An Offer, “diverted into sheer commercialism” with Pickwick.

Barely mentioning him in his previous book, A Tanner’s Worth of Tune, this time around Leslie Bricusse receives the full brunt of Wright’s scorn, especially for Kings and Clowns (1978), a musical about Henry VIII. He accuses him of going on a rhyming

the latter. No jukebox or rock musicals are considered, yet bewilderingly he includes, and tears apart, a songbook show about Lionel Bart’s life, Lionel (1977), which in concept follows a similar trajectory to Peter Allen’s The Boy From Oz. He also comments on three operetta revivals - The Dancing Years, Glamorous Night and The Maid of the Mountains - and it’s hard to see why they are included.

Like his other books, Wright is opinionated. He abhors Cockney kneesup songs unless they were written by Lionel Bart, who he believes is the only English composer who can write them with authenticity.

He tends to laud Broadway and its writers, yet skimming through the pages of Not Since Carrie it’s perfectly obvious they have had as many disasters as their English counterparts.

Of course a book like this is subjective.

Of the shows that didn’t make the 250 performance cut-off number, there are many I have personally enjoyed; Belle or the Ballad of Dr Crippen, Monty Norman’s music-hall musical, was fun with a nice blousy performance by Rose Hill, as was Cameron Mackintosh’s Moby Dick, whose central character (a precursor to Matilda’s Miss Trunchball) was a headmistress in drag (Tony Monopoly), which played like an end-of-year romp.

I also liked Michel Legrand’s Marguerite, set during the Second World War but loosely based on Dumas’ La Dame aux Camelias, with great performances by Ruthie Henshall and Julian Ovenden.

Wright’s prose is easy and it’s authoritative. It’s a useful book to dip into, a must on the bookshelf of any serious musical theatre geek, and a great reference work. It comes with B&W photographs, an appendix, an index of musical works and a general index.

bender: “shrewder, lewder, wooed her, viewed her, pursued her, chewed her, ruder, cruder, shooed her, booed her, and poo-pooed her, but is it any worse than Sondheim’s “We’ve no time to sit and dither, while her withers wither with her” in Into the Woods.

Pithy reviews are the nature of the beast and Wright has assembled some quotable examples. Of 2005’s Beyond the Iron Mask, a musical by John Robinson about the 17th Century’s Eustache Daugher, imprisoned in the Bastille and elsewhere for 34 years, the Daily Express opined, “To suggest it is plain terrible does not do justice to its sheer gothic, relentless awfulness” or Charles Spencer’s review of Beautiful and Damned, a show about F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, with songs by Roger Cook and Les Reed, “Reach for the sick bag or the bottle” and then Note: Wright owns Must Close went on likening Zelda to a “pushy Saturday Records and has reissued assistant behind the cosmetics counter several of the original cast recordings in Boots.” The Independent on Sunday mentioned in the book on CD. Stage was no different, “disappointingly Door Records have also issued three witless. Pretty damned awful.”

CDs, Lost West End 1 & 2, and Lost Wright claims the book is “intended West End Vintage, which include tracks as a celebration, not a wake,” but at from many of the flop musicals. times he comes dangerously close to

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 55

Stage On Disc

By Peter Pinne

Geraldine Turner (3CD Set/ Desiree GAV008) Desiree Records have now turned their attention to musical theatre star Geraldine Turner in their Great Australian Voices series, with a superb recording overview of her forty plus year career. This 3

Online extras!

Pick up this must-have 3-disc set by scanning the QR code or visiting http://bit.ly/2I8tJRo -disc set features rare early demos, The Stephen Sondheim Songbook, unreleased studio and live recordings, plus newly recorded tracks. It’s a veritable feast of goodies.

The first disc contains a demo recording of a 1980 cabaret show she did at Downstairs Nimrod (now Belvoir) with a typical song-stack of the era which begins with a vigorous reading of Maltby and Shire’s “I Don’t Remember Christmas”, Sheldon Harnick’s clever “The Shape of Things” and a dry comic take on Bernstein’s “100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man”.

The second disc is all Sondheim and includes Turner’s Stephen Sondheim Songbook, notable because she was the first person in the world to record a complete Sondheim album, plus an unreleased pop-single of “A Good Thing Going” (Merrily We Roll Along) and live recordings from Into the Woods and A Little Night Music.

Disc Three is basically a collection of live performances recorded by fans in the auditorium and features songs from several Australian musicals: “Die Like a Kelly” (Ned Kelly), “Bill” (The Sentimental Bloke), “So Much Love” from Tim Minchin’s Somewhere (recorded for the first time), and her own “Looking for the Light” (Women’s Best Friend).

Turner, who favours the dramatic oeuvre of Weill, Brel and Sondheim, proves she’s just as happy with Porter, Rodgers, and Berlin, whose “Hostess with the Mostes” (Call Me Madam) receives an enthusiastic workout. Best of all are the live performances of “All That Jazz” (Chicago), “Anything Goes” and “Blow Gabriel Blow” (Anything Goes), which are simply goose-bump thrilling.

The discs are a glorious time-capsule of Australian musical theatre of the last 40 years. It’s beautifully packaged with B&W and coloured photos, in-performance stills, and extensive liner notes. Highly recommended. 

Calendar Girls (Gary Barlow/Tim Firth) (2CD Set/Decca 6738165) The original London Cast recording of Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical version of Firth’s movie and play Calendar Girls has been issued on the eve of a UK tour.

Staged at London’s Phoenix Theatre last year under the title of The Girls, the musical has now been retitled for the tour.

It didn’t take me long to be won over by Barlow and Firth’s score, which has emotional substance in each song and allows the dry Yorkshire humour to shine through. A brilliant cast, headed by Michele Dotrice, Claire Moore and Joanna Riding, do justice to this score which has the stamp of Barlow’s chart-topping pop influence all over it. Bonus tracks include three songs sung by Barlow and the West End cast - the uplifting opening “Yorkshire”, the poignant “Scarborough” and “Dare”, which could almost be a chart-topping hit for Take That. 

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Grab Calendar Girls from Amazon by scanning the QR code or visiting https://amzn.to/2I76S91 The Band’s Visit (David Yazbek) (Ghostlight Records 4518-02) When The Band’s Visit opened on Broadway, the New York Times said it was a Broadway rarity “seldom found outside the canon of Stephen Sondheim” and on listening to David Yazbek’s score I’d have to agree. Not instantly accessible, it’s a score that bears repeated listening to discover its hidden charms. Based on the 2007 awardwinning Israeli film, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra is booked to travel from Egypt to Israel to appear at an Arab cultural centre. Due to a mix-up they become stranded in a one-horse town in the middle of the desert and have to spend the night. An oud, darbouka, riq and Arabian percussion, along with keyboards, violin and cello, are used to create a magical score on-stage, which mixes middle-eastern rhythms with Jewish, jazz and swing. The lyrics are poetic, “came floating on a jasmine wind”, comedic, “dead in a magical sea full of suck”, and tender, “nothing is as beautiful as something that you don’t expect.” The finale “Answer Me” is wistfully melancholic and builds to an anthemic level with full chorus. It’s a stunning closer. 

Online extras!

Rating

 Only for the enthusiast  Borderline  Worth buying  Must have  Kill for it 56 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Buy the Tony Award-dominating The Band’s Visit on iTunes now. Scan or visit https://apple.co/2I7X7r4

Escape To Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett) (Mail Boat Records MBD2170) This new jukebox musical mines the songbook of Jimmy Buffett, a pop composer whose songs have successfully mixed beach culture with booze, sex and

Online extras!

Get a copy of Escape To Margaritaville from iTunes. Scan the QR code or visit https://apple.co/2I9ZYzH rock ‘n’ roll. There’s lots of calypso and Latin beats, with the ubiquitous sound of steel-drums throughout. The titles tell all - “Why Don’t We Get Drunk (and Screw)”, “My Heads Hurts, My Feet Stink and I Don’t Love Jesus”, “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”. Paul Alexander Nolan and Alison Luff head a cast that are forever partying and forever raucous. It’s fun. 

The songs include Sondheim’s “With So Little to Be Sure Of” (Anyone Can Whistle), Coward’s “If Love Were All” (Bitter Sweet) and Paul Williams’ “When Love is Gone” from The Muppet Christmas Carol, which she sang on the original soundtrack. The multi-talented Braun created the arrangements, which are never less than beautiful, and her vocals simply shine with sincerity. The album deserves to be heard in a salon or concert hall. 

Online extras!

Download a copy of When Love Is Gone from iTunes. Scan the QR code or visit https://apple.co/2K8CNYw

Pat Suzuki - Complete Album Series/Singles and Rarities (2CD Set/Stage Door STAGE 9055/STAGE 2440) Pat Suzuki is best known for her role in the Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, in which she played the role of the brassy nightclub High Tor (Arthur Schwartz/Maxwell Anderson) (Stage singer Linda Low. At the time she released four RCA Door STAGE 2420) albums. Whilst all four have their charms, show collectors This musical version of Maxwell will be most interested in Broadway ’59, which includes Anderson’s verse-play High Tor, a songs from Flower Drum Song, Bells are Ringing, My Fair Broadway hit in 1936, had lyrics by Lady, plus forgotten Broadway shows like Redhead and First the distinguished playwright and Impressions. Her recording of “I Enjoy Being a Girl” (Flower music by Broadway veteran Arthur Drum Song) was a Top 40 hit in the UK and became the Schwartz. It starred Bing Crosby drag-queen anthem of the era. and Julie Andrews, making her Discovered singing in a club in Seattle by Bing Crosby, first TV appearance in America five she has a cute and perky style and can belt with the best of them. The tracks have a Sinatra/Peggy Lee vibe, with a latefifties jazz and big-band sound. Whilst she is at home Online extras! singing almost anything, she’s best with the Cole Porter High Tor is available to buy on Amazon standards “Looking At You” and “Don’t Look At Me That now. Scan the QR code or visit Way”. The Singles and Rarities release includes songs from https://amzn.to/2I9GuLu Whoop-Up, The Gay Life, Sail Away and from some unreleased album sessions “Never Will I Marry”. Long days before she took Broadway by storm as Eliza Doolittle before auto-tune was de-rigueur in recording studios, in My Fair Lady. Crosby played Van Van Dorn, a man in love Suzuki relied on talent and this collection proves she had it with a mountain, whilst Andrews was Lise, the ghost of a in spades.  Dutch girl who had been living on the mountain for 300 years. Both carried the bulk of the vocals in Schwartz’s score with Crosby crooning an up-tempo “Living One Day at a Time” and Andrews sweetly singing “Once Upon a Long Ago”. Bonus tracks include two versions of the romantic ballad “When You’re in Love”.  Meredith Braun - When Love Is Gone (Stage Door STAGE 9053) Meredith Braun’s new album is a narrative song cycle about ‘Everywoman’ living through a painful and difficult relationship and is told using songs by Sondheim, Coward, Lloyd Webber, Randy Newman and others, plus original material. It’s just voice, piano and cello, with Braun on piano and her 13-year old son Tiger Braun-White on Cello.

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Get Pat’s Complete Album Series on Amazon by scanning or visiting https://amzn.to/2Ia6neb www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 57

B

roadway uzz

By Peter Pinne

Bette Midler will once again play Dolly Levi Gallagher in Hello, Dolly! when she returns for six weeks before the revival closes. Midler will take over from Bernadette Peters and play the role from July 17 through until its closing on August 25. Also rejoining the cast for the final six weeks will be Gavin Creel, returning as Cornelius Hackl, and David Hyde Pierce, the original Horace Vandergelder, replacing Victor Garber. The production, starring Midler, directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, opened 20 April 2017 to universally ecstatic reviews and broke the record for the best first day of ticket sales in Broadway history, the box-office record at the Shubert Theatre twelve times, and shattered The Shubert Organization’s all-timerecord ten times. Midler won a Tony for her performance as did Creel. Peters, who began performances in January, concludes her run 15 July. Betty Buckley is to head a touring production of the revival, which is scheduled to start 2 October 2018 at the Connor Palace, Cleveland, Ohio.

Kerry Washington (Scandal) and Steven Pasquale (Junk) are to return to Broadway in Christopher Demos-Brown’s American Son, which begins performances at the Booth Theatre, 6 October 2018. The play received its world premiere at Barrington Stage Company in 2016, and recently was awarded the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, given for a production of a new play by an emerging playwright. American Son explores tensions of race and class in America as an estranged interracial couple spends the evening in a police station after their teenage son’s car has been found without him in it. Washington will play Kendra Ellis-Connor, the mother, with Pasquale as the father, Scott Connor, an FBI agent, with support by Eugene Lee (Gem of the Ocean) as Lieutenant John Stokes. Kenny Leon directs, with Derek McLane as scenic designer, Dede Tony Shalhoub and Katrina Lenk in The Band’s Visit.

Photo: Ahron R. Foster

Online extras!

Check out clips from this year’s Tony Award standout show The Band’s Visit. https://youtu.be/WxI3kOvW_Ng 58 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Ayite handling costumes and Peter Fitzgerald on sound.

Washington, who played the political problem solver Olivia Pope in seven-seasons of TVs Scandal, told the New York Times “I was transfixed by the material” in American Son. “It had such a deep and profound impact on me and I just couldn’t wait to get it on its feet.” Tamara Tunie (Law and Order) played Kendra Ellis-Connor in the Barrington premiere.

Immediately after The Band’s Visit won 10 Tony Awards, producer Orin Wood announced in the press room that Sasson Gabai was to replace Tony Shalhoub as Lieutenantcolonel Tawfiq Zacharya on Broadway. Gabai played the same role in Eran Kolirin’s 2007 film, the source the musical was based on. The musical is written by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses, with direction by David Cromer, and stars Shalhoub and Katrina Link, who also won a Tony for her performance as Dina. The Band’s Visit had its world premiere at the Atlantic Theater Company on 8 December 2016, opening to critical acclaim.

Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones and Bobby Cannavale are to return to Broadway in the world premiere of The Lifespan of a Fact, a new play by Jeremy Karekan, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell based on the book by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal. To be directed by Leigh Silverman, the production will play a limited 16-week season at Studio 54, previewing 20 September for an 18 October opening.

The play is described thus: Jim Fingal (Daniel Ratcliffe) has a small job: to fact check articles for one of the best magazines in the country. Fingal’s boss (Cherry Jones) has given him a big assignment: apply his skill to a groundbreaking piece by legendary author John D’Agata (Bobby Cannavale). Fingal now has a problem: D’Agata made up some of his article. Well, a lot of his article. OK, actually the majority of it. What starts professional quickly becomes profane as one question rises to the surface: Can Fingal ever just shut the fact up? The book was based on a real-life scenario where D’Agata took the story of a boy named Levi Presley, who in 2002 jumped to his death from the observation deck of the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas, and wrote an essay on it which was rejected by Harper’s Magazine because of “factual inaccuracies”.

Due to popular demand, the Boston engagement of Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! The Musical has added 16 performances to its run at the Emerson Colonial Theatre.

Originally scheduled to close 5 August, the run will now continue through 19 August 2018. Based on the 2001 Twentieth Century Film by Luhrmann, the musical is directed by Alex Timbers with a book by John Logan, and a jukebox score orchestrated by music supervisor Justin Levine and arranged by music producer Matt Stine. Moulin Rouge tells the story of a young poet and writer, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actor and courtesan Satine, using the musical setting of Montmartre in Paris, circa 1900. The cast includes Aaron Tveit as Christian, Karen Olivo as Satine, Danny Burstein as Harold Zidler, Sahr Ngaujah as Toulouse-Lautrec, Tam Mutu as the Duke of Monroth, Ricky Rojas as Santiago and Robyn Hurder as Nini. Nicole Kidman (Satine) and Ewan McGregor (Christian) starred in the 2001 movie.

London Calling

By Peter Pinne Cate Blanchett will make her National Theatre debut in a new play by Martin Crimp called When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, sub-titled Twelve Variations on Samuel Richardson’s Miranda, in January 2019. Directed by Katie Mitchell, the play explores the violent nature of desire and the complicated gender roles of men and women.

Richardson’s novel, published in 1790, tells the story of a 15-year-old servant girl called Pamela Andrews, whose master makes several inappropriate advances towards her following the death of her mother. Blanchett, a two-time Oscar winner for The Aviator (2005) and Blue Jasmine (2014), will star opposite Stephen Dillane, who is known for his role as Stannis Baratheon in the TV series Game of Thrones, and last appeared at the National in The Coast of Utopia (2002). It reunites Blanchett with Crimp, who had previously translated German playwright Botho Strauss’ 1970’s Big and Small for her in the Sydney Theatre Company production at the Barbican in 2012. Her other West End appearance was in the original London production of David Hare’s Plenty at the Albery Theatre in 1999. It has been rumoured she was to star in a stage production of the movie All About Eve in the West End, directed by Ivo van Hove, but so far that remains a rumour.

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Don Quixote is to transfer to London and play the Garrick Theatre from 27 October until 2 February 2019, with actors David Threlfall (Shameless) and Rufus Hound (The Wind in the Willows) reprising their roles from the original production. Adapted by James Fenton from Miguel de Cervantes’ 17th century novel, it follows the adventures of Spanish nobleman Alonso Quixano (Threlfall), who decides to bring justice to the world after reading many chivalric romances. He recruits a young farmer Sancho Panza (Hound) as his squire.

Directed by Angus Jackson, the music-filled piece has songs David Threlfall and Rufus Hound

by James In Royal Shakespeare Company’s Don Quixote.

Fenton and Photo: Helen Maybanks.

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Watch a scene from Don Quixote by scanning the QR code or visiting https://youtu.be/F8i55x7755g

Grant Olding. The classic Broadway musical Man of La Mancha (1965) used the same source material.

Channing Tatum will bring Magic Mike Live, a stage adaptation of his Magic Mike movie franchise, to The Theatre at the Hippodrome Casino where it will play from 10 November through 28 April 2019. The large-scale production, conceived and directed by Tatum, and previously seen in Las Vegas, incorporates an acrobatic male -strip show in Magic Mike’s Club Domina, which features a 360-degree stage allowing the audience to catch the action from every angle. It was described by USA Today as “the modern strip show we deserve”. Tatum made a surprise appearance on Britain’s Got Talent to launch the production, which will be co-directed by Tatum and Alison Faulk, with choreography by Faulk, Teresa Espinosa and Luke Broadlick.

The smash hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is to be adapted for the screen by the Warp Films, who previously made the corrosive movie about Britain’s skinhead sub-culture, This Is England (2006). The film version, using the stage score and book by Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae, commences filming in the spring of 2019. The musical, which has just extended its run to 6 April 2019, is based on Jonathan Butterell’s documentary film Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, and tells the story of Jamie Campbell, a 16-year-old boy who decides he wants to wear a dress to the school prom. The show opened in the West End in 2017, following an earlier run at Sheffield. Critics called it “profoundly moving and outright hilarious”.

The centenary of the Suffragette movement is being celebrated in the new musical Sylvia, which has a book by Kate Prince and Pryia Parmar, music by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde, and lyrics by Prince, Cohen and Walde. Combining hip-hop, funk and dance, it tells the story of Emmeline and Adela Pankhurst, who were at the centre of the movement to give women the vote. Beverley Knight, who has previously appeared in The Bodyguard and Cats, and earned an Olivier Award nomination for Memphis the Musical, will play Emmeline, with Carly Bawden (Romantics Anonymous) as Adela, John Dagleish (Sunny Afternoon) as campaigner Keir Hardie and Delroy Atkinson as Winston Churchill. Director-choreographer Prince said, “Politics and families are a tricky combination. And in the case of the Pankhursts, it severed ties between them. Ultimately we are telling the story of the price each of the Pankhurst family paid for their political purpose.” Sylvia plays at The Old Vic 3-22 September 2018.

Following a sell-out run at the Young Vic, Matthew Lopez’s two-part drama The Inheritance is to transfer to the West End, where it will run at the Noël Coward Theatre from 21 September through 19 May 2019. Inspired by EM Forster’s novel Howards End, the play has been likened to Tony Kushner’s Angels in America as it explores what life is like for the gay community in New York a generation after the AIDS crisis. Currently it runs seven hours but this will be edited for its West End run. The play, which features a cameo appearance by Vanessa Redgrave, also stars Kyle Soller, Andrew Burnap, John Benjamin Hickey and Paul Hilton. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 59

Rockdale Opera Company Turns 70

The red brick town hall, right underneath a flightpath of Sydney Airport, is home to the Rockdale Opera Company - proudly celebrating its 70th anniversary. Lynette Davis reflects on its history as a springboard for stars of the future and producer of quality affordable opera.

As with all companies, anecdotes abound at Rockdale Opera - like the time an unfortunate chorister brought the

60 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Ensemble cast of the 2017 fundraising gala.

columns of the temple crashing down before Samson got his chance, or the time the audience screamed and ducked as Sir Joseph Porter heaved a cannon ball into the auditorium (it turned out to be a rubber ball which bounced down the aisle). Then there is the legendary EastWest Runway, with its flight path passing directly over Rockdale Town Hall, drowning out many a dramatic aria over the years …

The company’s 200 productions over the last 70 years have provided opportunities for over 800 aspiring principals and approximately 1300 enthusiastic chorus members, not to mention countless musicians, directors, creative, backstage and technical personnel.

It’s a rather unique company. Firstly, it ‘does’ opera!

There aren’t too many community groups which do that, certainly not as full-length, costumed, fully staged productions. Secondly, the company was not begun by a group of local independent music lovers but by a suburban council, with which it is still affiliated. And lastly, it is the oldest still-operating opera company in Australia, predating the national opera company by almost a decade.

The company came into being in 1948, as an extension of the Rockdale Municipal Orchestra, and through the efforts of a small dedicated group of people led by Alderman Norman C. Guess, Cedric Ashton, conductor of the orchestra, tenor Allan Ferris and accompanist Megan Evans.

Things have changed a lot since the fledgling opera company began performing in Sydney’s southern suburbs.

Gone is the predominantly Anglo-Celtic population searching for local entertainment of the kind the new opera company offered. In its place is a highly culturally diverse group of people whose interests don’t necessarily include opera, operetta and Gilbert & Sullivan. The demographics and personnel may have changed, but the company’s philosophy remains the same - to present high quality productions of an art form usually reserved for city opera houses to local audiences, at affordable prices, and to

Iolanthe (2011).

Carmen (2010).

Suor Angelica (2017).

Robert Hatherley as The Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers (1962).

Carmen (1949).

The Merry Widow (1989).

Iolanthe (1959).

provide the rare opportunity for young, aspiring opera singers to gain invaluable experience in their chosen field, using Rockdale as a springboard into national and international careers.

The list of Rockdale performers who did exactly that is lengthy - Geoffrey Chard, Robert Gard, Alan Light, Rosalind Keene, Neil Easton, Doreen Morrow, Ronal Jackson, Ron Stevens, Deborah Riedel, Stuart Skelton, Paul Ferris, company Patrons José Carbó and Daniel Sumegi, and Jonathon Welch of Choir of Hard Knocks. International conductor Simone Young and SBS personality Silvio Rivier appeared as a dancing dew fairy and the witch in Hansel and Gretel, and even celebrity chef Bernard King turned up as the Viceroy of Peru in La Perichole.

The company’s first production in May 1948 was Faust, with many of the chorus ‘borrowed’ from Rockdale Musical Society. The audience numbered 2500 over 3 nights. By 1956, both Operetta and Gilbert & Sullivan had been introduced to the company’s repertoire and by 1974 three productions a year had become the norm. Rockdale Opera continues to stage three productions each year but is always looking for ways to embrace change and innovation.

To this end, it has added Opera Cabaret to its repertoire.

Rendezvous at Orlofsky’s Cabaret, with the audience seated

at tables, has proved so popular that is has become a regular feature with this year’s event being a ‘sell-out’.

Audiences enjoy the experience of hearing a pot-pourri of opera and operetta favourites in a more relaxed setting. A Gala Concert in 2017 featuring international stars José Carbó and Emma Matthews was also a huge success.

To celebrate the productions and the people associated with the company, a souvenir book - ‘Seventy Years at Rockdale Opera Company - A Snapshot 1948 to 2018’ - has been published. This is filled with photos, statistics, tributes, reminiscences and names from the past seven decades including long-time Musical Directors Cedric Ashton and John Leeman, prolific producer Brian Phillips and the formidable G&S pairing of Mary Blake and Rob Hatherley, who between them notched up 55 shows.

The company’s major production for this anniversary year will be Tales of Hoffmann in August, while for the Gala Concert in November the company is looking forward to welcoming back on stage many past performers as well as their current group of young, talented singers.

A fitting way to celebrate 70 years of glorious music.

And who knows, the next international opera star could be about to step onto the stage in suburban Rockdale. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 61

On Stage A.C.T. Switzerland by Joanna Murray Smith. Jul 3 - 14. The Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700.

Hotel Sorrento by Hannie Rayson. Christine Harris and HIT Productions. Jul 18 - 21. The Q Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. (02) 6285 6290.

Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut. Canberra Rep. Jul 19 - Aug 4. Theatre 3. (02) 6257 1950.

Dark Emu. Bangarra Dance Theatre. Jul 26 - 28. Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 2700.

The Tragedy of Hamlet: The Prince of Skidmark - A Badaptation of The Bard by The Listies. Aug 3 & 4. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700.

Two Zero by Quantum Leap.

Aug 9 - 11. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700.

Calamity Jane. Adapted by Ronald Hamner and Phil Park.

From the Stage Play by Charles K Freeman after the Warner Bros Film. Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. Music by Sammy Fain.

Aug 15 - 19. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700.

Barnum. Book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman. Canberra Philharmonic Society. Aug 23 Sep 8. Erindale Theatre, Wanniassa. philo.org.au/tickets ab [intra]. Sydney Dance Company. Aug 30 - Sep 1.

Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 2700.

Madame Butterfly by Puccini.

Opera Australia. Sep 6 - 8.

Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 2700.

New South Wales The Book of Mormon. Book, Music and Lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone.

Continuing. Lyric Theatre, Sydney.

BookOfMormonMusical.com.au 62 Stage Whispers

A.C.T. & New South Wales

Rowan Witt (Georg) and Caitlin Berry (Amalia) in romantic musical comedy She Loves Me, the inaugural Artist-Led Production at Sydney’s Hayes Theatre Co from August 24. She Loves Me features a book by Joe Masteroff, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.

Read more on our website at http://bit.ly/2MgEjYY Priscilla Queen of the Desert by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott.

Michael Cassel Group and Nullarbor Productions in association with MGM on Stage. Until Jul 19. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. priscillathemusical.com.au August Osage County by Tracy Letts. New Theatre. Until Jul 7. www.newtheatre.org.au Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison. Ensemble Theatre.

Until Jul 21. (02) 9929 0644.

Impending Everyone by Michael Andrew Collins. ATYP @ Griffin.

Until Jul 7. SBW Stables Theatre.

(02) 9361 3817.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Sport for Jove.

Until Jul 7. Seymour Centre. (02) 9351 7940.

Unqualified by Genevieve Hegney and Catherine Moore.

Ensemble Theatre. Until Jul 21.

(02) 9929 0644.

Dash by Robert Allan. The Depot Theatre, Marrickville. Until Jul 13. thedepottheatre.com Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti. Opera Australia. Until Jul 27. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9318 8200.

The Girl and The Woman.

National Theatre of Parramatta.

Until Jul 7. Riverside Theatre, Parramatta. (02) 8839 3399.

Roomba Nation by Hurrah Hurrah. Old 505 Theatre. Jul 3 21. www.old505theatre.com The Tragedy of Hamlet: The Prince of Skidmark - A Badaptation of The Bard by The Listies. Sydney Theatre Company. Jul 4 - 22. Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre. (02) 9250 1777.

The Rolling Stone by Chris Urch.

Outhouse Theatre Co. Jul 5 - 21.

Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre. (02) 9351 7940.

Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown. Canterbury Theatre Guild. Jul 6 - 15.

Bankstown Arts Centre. canterburytheatreguild.com Letters to Lindy by Alana Valentine. Merrigong Theatre Company. Jul 7. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Pinocchio. Adapted by William Ford from Carlo Collodi’s novel.

Young People’s Theatre Newcastle Inc., Hamilton. Jul 9 Aug 18. (02) 4961 4895 Saturday 9am to 1pm.

Hello Beautiful by Hannie Rayson. Griffin Theatre

Company. Jul 9 - 14. SBW Stables Theatre. (02) 9361 3817.

Pete the Sheep. Adapted by Monkey Baa from the picture book by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley. Upstage Youth Theatre. July 9 - 13. Blackett’s Barn, at Tocal Homestead, Paterson. 0402 331 197.

Peppa Pig’s Surprise. Fierylight and Andrew Kay Management.

July 9. Civic Theatre, Newcastle.

(02) 4929 1977.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show. Created by Jonathan Rockefeller, based on Eric Carle’s books. Hungry Caterpillar Productions. July 11. Cessnock Performing Arts Centre. (02) 4993 4266.

Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner. New Theatre. July 11 28. www.newtheatre.org.au Rock of Ages by Chris D’Arienzo. Sydney Youth Musical Theatre. Jul 13 - 20.

Hornsby RSL. symt.com.au Funny Girl In Concert by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. Sydney Symphony Orchestra. July 12 14. Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 7777.

The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie. Genesian

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Theatre Company Inc. Jul 14 Sep 1. www.genesiantheatre.com.au You Got Older by Clare Barron.

Mad March Hare. Jul 9 - Aug 5.

KXT - Kings Cross Theatre. www.kingsxtheatre.com The Wiz by William F. Brown and Charlie Smalls. Gosford Musical Society Juniors. July 11 14. Laycock Street Community Theatre, Wyoming. (02) 4323 3233.

Disney’s Aladdin Jr. Musical adapted from the film. Hunter Drama. July 11 - 12. Maitland Town Hall. trybooking.com/373214. July 20 - 21. Cessnock Performing Arts Centre. (02) 4993 4266.

Letters to Lindy. Merrigong Theatre Company. Jul 12 - 14.

Lennox Theatre, Riverside Parramatta. (02) 8839 3399.

Mister Maker Returns. Live Nation & NAB. July 12. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

The Accused by Jeffrey Archer.

Elanora Players Inc. Jul 13 - 21.

Elanora Community Centre, Elanora Heights. (02) 9979 9694.

Feel the Beat. Cumberland Gang Show (Scouts and Guides). Jul 13 - 21. Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. www.gangshow.asn.au

Heathers The Musical by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy. Armidale Drama and Musical Society. Jul 13 - 28. The Armidale Playhouse. www.adms.org.au Peepshow by Isabel Wright.

Newcastle Theatre Company, Lambton. Jul 13 - 28. 4952 4958 (3-6pm Mon - Fri).

Disney on Ice - 100 Years of Magic. Scenes from Walt Disney films, performed by skating artists. Feld Entertainment. July 13 - 15. Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Broadmeadow (NSW). (02) 4921 2121.

The Girl With The Golden Locks

by Brian D. Taylor. Maitland Repertory Theatre. July 13 - 28.

Maitland Repertory Theatre. (02) 4931 2800.

Burlesque The Circus. Birdcage Burlesque and Circus Avalon.

July 14. Lizotte’s, Lambton (Newcastle). (02) 4956 2066.

Mary Poppins. Based on the book by P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney Film. Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B Sherman. Book by Julian Fellows. New Songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. Albatross Musical Theatre Company. July 14 - 22.

Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, Nowra. 1300 788 503.

New South Wales Aida by Verdi. Opera Australia.

Jul 18 - Aug 31. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9318 8200.

Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott. Pymble Players. Jul 18 Aug 11. Pymble Players Theatre, Cnr Mona Vale Rd and Bromley Ave, Pymble. 02 9144 1523 (Mon-Fri 11am-7pm).

I Hope It’s Not Raining in London by Nicholas Thoroughgood (premiere).

Bearfoot Theatre. July 18 - 21.

Tantrum Studio, Merewether (Newcastle). trybooking.com/384068 Toad of Toad Hall by A. A. Milne. CHATS Productions, Inc. July 19 - 29. Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour. (02) 6648 4930.

Wilde Creatures. Based on fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. Tall Stories / Nica Burns. Jul 19 - 21.

Lennox Theatre, Riverside Parramatta. (02) 8839 3399.

Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

Cry-Bay. Music by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger. Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan.

LPD / Hayes Theatre Co. Jul 20 Aug 19. (02) 8065 7337.

Bring It On The Musical by LinManuel Miranda, Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. North Shore Theatre Company (Chatswood Musical Society). Jul 20 - 22.

Independent Theatre, North Sydney. chatswoodmusicalsociety.org The 78-Story Treehouse. A play

by Richard Tulloch, adapted from the book by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton. CDP Kids production. Jul 20 - 21.

Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, IMB Theatre. (02) 4224 5999.

The Sentimental Bloke (a play with music). Adapted from the poem “The Sentimental Bloke”

by CJ Dennis. Wyong Drama Group. Jul 20 - 28. The Art House Wyong. (02) 4335 1485.

Stage Whispers 63

On Stage

New South Wales

Company. Jul 23 - Aug 25.

Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 1777.

Which Way Home by Katie Beckett. Ilbijerri Theatre Co. Jul 24 - Aug 4. Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre. (02) 9351 7940.

Carrie: The Musical. Book by Laurence D. Cohen. Lyrics by Dean Pitchford. Music by Michael Gore. The Depot Theatre, Marrickville. Jul 25 Aug 4. thedepottheatre.com Yarramadoon: The Musical

by Hannah and Eliza Reilly. 25A Season. Jul 25 - Aug 11.

Downstairs Theatre, Belvoir Street Theatre. (02) 9699 3444.

The Events by David Greig.

Belvoir, Malthouse Theatre and State Theatre Company South Australia. Jul 25 - 28. Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, IMB Theatre. (02) 4224 5999.

Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine. Adapted for the stage by shake & stir theatre co. Jul 25 - 28. Glen Street Theatre, Belrose. (02) 9975 1455.

The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark - A Badaptation of the Bard by The Listies. Sydney Theatre Company. Jul 25 - 27, Riverside Theatre, Parramatta, (02) 8839 3399; Aug 10 & 11, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, IMB Theatre, (02) 4224 5999; Aug 15 - 18, Glen Street Theatre, Belrose. (02) 9975 1455.

Rigoletto by Verdi. Opera Australia. Jul 26 - Aug 24. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9318 8200.

Festive Spirit by Sally Davies.

Criterion Theatre Grafton Inc. Jul To watch the trailer for Scaramouche 26 - Aug 5.

Jones simply scan the QR code or visit www.criteriontheatre.org.au https://youtu.be/sNw6hwx9Aqs The Widow Unplugged by Reg Livermore. Ensemble Theatre. Jul Which Way Home by Katie Herman. Willoughby Theatre 26 - Sep 1. (02) 9929 0644.

Beckett. Ilbijerri Theatre Company. Jul 21 only at The Almighty Sometimes by Company. July 21. Civic 1.30pm and 6pm. The Kendall Feaver. Griffin Theatre Playhouse, Newcastle (02) 4929 Concourse Concert Hall, Company. Jul 27 - Sep 8. SBW 1977.

Chatswood. (02) 8075 8111.

Stables Theatre. (02) 9361 Mame in Concert. Book by The Long Forgotten Dream by H 3817.

Jerome Lawrence & Robert E Lawrence Sumner. World The Sound of Music. Music by Lee. Music & Lyrics by Jerry Premiere. Sydney Theatre

Colin Friels will star in Justin Butcher’s one-man play Scaramouche Jones at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Fairfax Studio from August 15 - 25.

Online extras!

Influence by David Williamson.

The Theatre on Chester, Epping.

Jul 20 - Aug 11. www theatreonchester.com.au A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaneuy. Belvoir. Jul 21 - Aug 19. Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir Street Theatre. (02) 9699 3444.

64 Stage Whispers

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse. Bankstown Theatre Company. July 27 - Aug 5.

Bryan Brown Theatre, Bankstown. 0481 869 858.

A Bad Year for Tomatoes by John Patrick. The Sutherland Theatre Company.

Jul 27 - Aug 5. Sutherland Memorial School of Arts. thesutherlandtheatrecompany.com.au Legally Blonde. Music & lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Neil Benjamin. Book by Heather Hach. Packemin Productions. Jul 27 - Aug 11. Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. (02) 8839 3399.

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Ken Ludwig. Woy Woy Little Theatre. Jul 27 - Aug 12. Peninsula Theatre, Woy Woy. (02) 4344 4737.

My Fair Lady. Music: Frederick Loewe. Book & Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Gosford Musical Society. Jul 27 - Aug 11. Laycock Street Community Theatre, Wyoming. (02) 4323 3233.

Neighbourhood Watch. Castle Hill Players. Jul 27 - Aug 18.

Pavilion Theatre, Doran Drive, Castle Hill. (02) 9634 2929.

Work in Development- Gurri Thurr-aye. Public reading of a new play by the Hunter’s Ray Kelly. Ngarrama. July 28. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Hotel Sorrento by Hannie Rayson. Christine Harris and HIT Productions. Jul 31 - Aug 4.

Lennox Theatre, Riverside Parramatta. (02) 8839 3399.

Hell’s Canyon by Emily Sheehan.

Old 505 Theatre. Aug 1 - 11. www.old505theatre.com Dark Matter by Anna Kerrigan (premiere). Aspire. Aug 1 - 4.

Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

The Dark Room by Angela Betzien. Stooged Theatre. Aug 1 - 4. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle.

(02) 4929 1977.

I’ll Be Back Before Midnight by Peter Colley. Guild Theatre, Rockdale. Aug 3 - Sep 1. (02) 9521 6358.

Mr Bailey’s Minder by Debra Oswald. Arts Theatre Cronulla.

Aug 3 - Sep 8. 6 Surf Rd, Cronulla. artstheatrecronulla.com.au Play in a Day. Newcastle Theatre Company. Aug 4. NTC Theatre, Lambton (Newcastle). (02) 4952 4958.

Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist by Byron Lane. Oriel Entertainment. Aug 6 - 26. KXT - Kings Cross Theatre. www.kingsxtheatre.com Nell Gwynn by Jessica Swayle.

New Theatre. Aug 7 - Sep 8. www.newtheatre.org.au Moby Dick. Adaptation by Orson Welles. Sport for Jove Theatre Co. Aug 9 - 25.

Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre. (02) 9351 7940.

Falling In Love Again. Starring Jennifer Ward-Lealand. Aug 9 12. Glen Street Theatre, Belrose.

(02) 9975 1455.

Isaac Butterfield: Bad for Your Health. Touring comedy show. Aug 9. Lizotte’s, Lambton (Newcastle). (02) 4956 2066. ab [intra]. Sydney Dance Company. Aug 10 - 11. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

The Turk in Italy by Rossini.

Opera Australia. Aug 10 - Sep 1. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9318 8200.

Sunset Boulevard. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Based on the Billy Wilder Film. Roo Theatre Company. Aug 10 - 18. Roo Theatre, Shellharbour. (02) 4297 2891.

My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe. The Arcadians Theatre Group. Aug 10 - 25. The Arcadians’ Miner’s Lamp Theatre, Corrimal. arcadians.org.au

New South Wales Next To Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Lane Cove Theatre Company. Aug 10 - 25. The Performance Space @ St Aidan’s, Longueville. lanecovetheatrecompany.com The Nose. Created by Elizabeth Brennan, James Jackson and Tom Molyneux. The Bloomshed.

Old 505 Theatre. Aug 14 - 18. www.old505theatre.com Madame Butterfly by Puccini.

Opera Australia. Aug 14. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. Ellis Productions / HIT Productions. Aug 14 - 15.

Riverside Parramatta. (02) 8839 3399.

Mum, Me & The IED by James Balain and Roger Vickery. The Depot Theatre, Marrickville. Aug 15 - Sep 1. thedepottheatre.com Humans by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa Ensemble. Circa. Aug 15 - 19, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, IMB Theatre, (02) 4224 5999; Sep 4 - 9, Glen Street Theatre, Belrose. (02) 9975 1455.

The Harp in the South: Part One and Part Two by Ruth Park. An adaptation for the stage by Kate Mulvany. Score by Iain Grandage. World Premiere.

Sydney Theatre Company. Aug 16 - Oct 6. Roslyn Packer Theatre. (02) 9250 1777.

All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare. Reamus Youth Theatre at Maitland Repertory Theatre. Aug 17 - Sep 1. (02) 4931 2800.

The Best of the Best. Songs from Tony-award winning musicals. Theatre on Brunker.

Aug 17 - Sep 8. St. Stephen’s Hall, Adamstown (Newcastle).

(02) 4956 1263.

The Tales of Hoffman by Jacques Offenbach. Rockdale Opera Company. Aug 18 - 26.

Rockdale Town Hall. www.rockdaleopera.com.au The Grand Illusion by Tony Weir, Emily Ayoub and Alicia González. Old 505 Theatre. Aug

Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

21 - Sep 8. www.old505theatre.com Madame Butterfly by Puccini.

Opera Australia. Aug 22 & 23.

Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, IMB Theatre. (02) 4224 5999.

We Will Rock You. Book by Ben Elton, songs by Queen.

Metropolitan Players. Aug 22 Sept 1. Civic Theatre, Newcastle.

(02) 4929 1977.

The Maids by Jean Genet. 25A Season / Glitterbomb. Aug 24 Sep 15. Downstairs Theatre, Belvoir Street Theatre. (02) 9699 3444.

She Loves Me. Book by Joe Masteroff, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.

Hayes Theatre Co. From Aug 24.

(02) 8065 7337.

Calamity Jane. From the stage play by Charles K. Freeman.

Adapted by Ronald Hanmer & Phil Park. One Eyed Man Productions / Belvoir. Aug 25 Sep 30. Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir Street Theatre. (02) 9699 3444.

Death Knell by James Cawood.

Hunters Hill Theatre. Aug 24 Sep 2. Hunters Hill Town Hall, Hunters Hill. (02) 9879 7765.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Newcastle Theatre Company. Aug 24 - Sep 8. (02) 4952 4958 (3-6pm Mon-Fri).

Ironbound by Martyna Majok.

An Assorted Few. Aug 27 - Sep 16. KXT - Kings Cross Theatre. www.kingsxtheatre.com The Misanthrope by Justin Fleming, after Moliere. Bell Shakespeare. Griffin Theatre Company. Aug 28 - Sep 28.

Playhouse, Sydney Opera House.

1300 305 730 Jersey Boys. Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Music and lyrics by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe. Dodger Theatricals, Rodney Rigby and TEG-Dainty.

From Aug 29. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. jerseyboys.com.au Letters to Lindy by Alana Valentine. Aug 29 - Sep 2, Glen Stage Whispers 65

On Stage Street Theatre, Belrose. (02) 9975 1455.

Queensland We Will Rock You by Ben Elton and Queen. Brisbane Arts. Until Aug 11. (07) 3369 2344.

Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.

Queensland Ballet. Regional Tour. Brolga Theatre, Maryborough, Jul 4; Munro Martin Parklands, Cairns, Jul 7.

Les Misérables by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer and Jean-Marc Natel. Savoyards. Iona Performing Arts Centre, Wynnum. Until Jul 7. (07) 3893 4321.

Fred by Wendy Waters and Ian Camilleri. Tweed Theatre Co. Until Jul 15. 1800 674 414.

A Little Princess by Andrew Lippa & Brian Crawley.

Beenleigh Theatre Group. Until Jul 14. (07) 3807 3922.

Kiss Me, Kate. Book: Samuel and Bella Spewack. Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter. Gold Coast

66 Stage Whispers

New South Wales & Queensland

Little Theatre. Until Jul 28. (07) 5532 3224.

The Real Housewives of Brisbane

by Molly Bell. Brisbane Arts Theatre. Until Aug 6. (07) 3369 2344.

Move Over Mrs Markham by John Chapman & Ray Cooney.

Cairns Little Theatre. Jul 6 - 14.

1300 855 835.

The Lion in Winter by James Goldman. Ipswich Little Theatre.

Jul 11 - 28. (07) 3812 2389.

Beyond The Barricade. Lunchbox Theatricals. Concert Hall, QPAC. Jul 10. 136 246.

Senior Moments by Angus FitzSimons & Kevin Brumpton (Sketch Revue). Return Fire Prods. Playhouse, QPAC. Jul 11 15. 136 246.

Good Muslim Boy by Osamah Sami & Janice Muller.

Queensland Theatre. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. Jul 12 - 28.

1800 355 528. ab [intra] by Rafael Bonachela.

Sydney Dance Co. Empire

Theatre, Toowoomba. Jul 12.

1300 655 299.

One-Act Play Festival. Noosa Arts Theatre. Jul 12 - 21. (07) 5449 9343.

Beautiful - The Carole King Musical by Carole King & Douglas McGrath. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. From Jul 13. 136 246.

Pack of Lies by Hugh Whitmore.

Javeenbah Theatre Co. Jul 13 28. (07) 5596 0300.

Little Women by Jason Howland, Mindi Dickstein and Allan Knee. Griffith Musical Theatre. Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse. Jul 13 - 20. (07) 3358 8600.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas by Larry L. King, Peter Masterson and Carol Hall.

Coolum Players. Jul 13 - 22. (07) 5446 2500.

The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie. Nash Theatre, New Farm. Jul 13 - Aug 4. (07) 3379 4775.

My Son Pinocchio by David I. Stern & Stephen Schwartz.

Toowoomba Choral Society.

Empire Theatre, Toowoomba.

Jul 14. 1300 655 299.

Russian Marvels. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Jul 14. 136 246.

Johnny Cash The Concert.

Empire Theatre, Toowoomba.

Jul 20. 1300 655 299.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show by Jonathan Rockefeller, based on Eric Carle’s books.

Empire Theatre, Toowoomba.

Jul 20 - 21. 1300 655 299.

Silver Anniversary Spectacular.

Phoenix Ensemble, Beenleigh.

Jul 20 - Aug 11. (07) 3103 1546.

The Bar at Buena Vista. ATA Allstar Artists. Playhouse, QPAC. Jul 20 - 21. 136 246.

Mad for Love - Sumi Jo & Jose Carbo. Andrew McKinnon.

Concert Hall, QPAC. Jul 21. 136 246.

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Lysa and the Freeborn Dames by Claire Christian. La Boite.

Roundhouse Theatre, Kelvin Grove. Jul 21 - Aug 11. (07) 3007 8600.

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, adapted by Joe Lendry.

Centenary Theatre Group, Chelmer Community Centre. Jul 21 - Aug 11. 0435 591 720.

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Ellis Productions / HIT Productions.

Gardens Theatre. Jul 24 - 25.

(07) 3138 7750.

Coppelia by Delibes. Australian Ballet. Empire Theatre, Toowoomba. Jul 25. 1300 655 299.

Barnum by Cy Coleman & Michael Stewart. Mousetrap Theatre, Redcliffe. Jul 27 - Aug 12. (07) 3888 3493.

Strictly Ballroom by Elliott Wheeler/Eddie Perfect/Baz Luhrmann/Sia Furlar. Spotlight Theatre Co, Gold Coast. Jul 27 Aug 18. (07) 5539 4255.

Jasper Jones by Kate Mulvany.

Queensland Theatre. Playhouse, QPAC. Jul 28 - Aug 18. 1800 355 528.

Company by Stephen Sondheim & George Furth. Griffith Musical Theatre. Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse. Jul 28 - Aug 4.

(07) 3358 8600.

Ruddigore by Gilbert & Sullivan.

Opera Q. Regional Tour: Gold Coast, Aug 3 - 4; Rockhampton, Aug 8; Mackay, Aug 11; Townsville, Aug 15; Cairns, Aug 18; Toowoomba, Aug 23.

Orchestral Soloists. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Aug 3.

136 246.

Soloists and Spontaneity.

Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Aug 4. 136 246.

Letters to Lindy by Alana Valentine. Merrigong Theatre Co. Empire Theatre, Toowoomba. Aug 7. 1300 655 299.

Karakorum: A Musical Journey.

Australian Brandenburg

Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Aug 7. 136 246.

Mother by Daniel Keene. If Theatre. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. Aug 7 - 18. 136 246.

(Not) The Last Night Of The Proms. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Aug 9. 136 246.

Broadway On Screen.

Queensland Pops. Concert Hall, QPAC. Aug 11. 136 246.

The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux, adaption by Rod Thompson & Maria Plumb.

Vilanova Players. F.T. Barrell Auditorium, Yeronga. Aug 11 26. (07) 3395 6168.

Cockfight by The Farm. Empire Theatre, Toowoomba. Aug 17.

1300 655 299.

My Pet Human by Leah Pellinkhof. Growl Theatre. Aug 17 - Sep 1. boxoffice@growltheatre.org.au Emma by Jane Austen, adapted

by Pamela Whalan. Brisbane Art Theatre. Aug 18 - Sep 22. (07) 3369 2344.

Breath of Spring by Peter Coke (play reading). Centenary Theatre Group. Chelmer Community Centre. Aug 19.

0435 591 720.

Happy Birthday Bernstein.

Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Aug 24. 136 246.

Table Manners by Alan Ayckbourn. St Luke’s Theatre Society, Tarragindi. Aug 24 Sep 1. (07) 3343 1457.

Bernstein At 100. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Aug 25. 136 246.

Josephine Wants To Dance by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley.

Monkey Baa Theatre. Empire Theatre, Toowoomba. Aug 27.

1300 655 299.

Playhouse Creatures by April De Angelis. Gardens Theatre. Aug 28 - 29. (07) 3138 7750.

Victoria The House of Bernarda Alba.

Adapted by Patricia Cornelius, after Federico García Lorca.

Melbourne Theatre Company.

Queensland & Victoria Until Jul 7. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. 1300 182 183.

Gloria by Branden JacobsJenkins. Melbourne Theatre Company. Until Jul 21.

Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. (03) 8688 0800.

Season’s Greetings by Alan Ayckbourn. Mordialloc Theatre Company. Until Jul 7. Shirley Burke Theatre, Parkdale. (03) 9587 5141.

Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas. Williamstown Little Theatre. Until Jul 14. 0447 340 665.

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. Frankston Theatre Group. Until Jul 8.

Langwarrin Performing Arts Centre, Langwarrin. 1300 665 377.

Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon. Geelong Repertory Theatre Company. Until Jul 14. (03) 5225 1200.

The Communication Cord by Brian Friel. Frankston Theatre Group. Until Jul 8. Langwarrin Performance Centre. frankstontheatregroup.org.au Revenge. Irene Nicola. The Butterfly Club. Jul 2 - 7. thebutterflyclub.com Miley, Moon Unit & Me. Teegan Wooters. The Butterfly Club. Jul 2 - 7. thebutterflyclub.com

Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

Comic Psychic: Are You There Michael Jackson. The Butterfly Club. Jul 2 - 7. thebutterflyclub.com Fiddler on the Roof. Book by Jospeh Stein. Music by Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.

Bendigo Theatre Company. Jul 5 - 8. Ulumbarra Theatre. bendigotheatrecompany.org Ilana Charnelle: Play Nice. The Butterfly Club. Jul 5 - 7. thebutterflyclub.com Blackie Blackie Brown by Nakkiah Lui. Malthouse Theatre / Sydney Theatre Company. Jul 5 - 29. Beckett Theatre, Malthouse. (03) 9685 5111.

Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi. Heartstring Theatre. Jul 5 - 15. Northcote Town Hall, Studio 2. (03) 9481 9500.

Private Lives by Noël Coward.

Heidelberg Theatre Co. Jul 6 21. (03) 9457 4117.

High School Musical. Book by David Simpatico. Fab Nobs Theatre. Jul 6 - 15. The Fab Factory, Bayswater. 0499 442 839.

Wonder in Aliceland. Inspired by the book by Lewis Carroll, adapted by Jo Denver, with music by Don Woodward.

Eltham Little Theatre. Jul 6 - 22.

0411 713 095.

Stage Whispers 67

On Stage

Victoria

22. Gemco Community Arts Centre, Emerald. www.gemcoplayers.org Sweet Charity. Book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.

Latrobe Theatre Company. Jul 22 - Aug 5. Latrobe Performing Arts Centre.

Dial M For Murder by Frederick Knott. The 1812 Theatre. Jul 26 - Aug 18. (03) 9758 3964.

The 3 Musketeers. Adapted and directed by Natasha Broadstock.

Curious Cat. Aug 1 - 11.

Bluestone Church Arts Space, Footscray. www.trybooking.com/VNTC Les Misérables. Music by Claude -Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Original Watch the trailer for The Fall simply by French text by Alain Boublil and scanning the QR code or visiting Jean-Marc Natel. Additional https://youtu.be/aLGDPDhBofE Material by James Fenton.

Adaptation by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. The Mount Players.

Annie by Thomas Meehan, TAHA. Written and Performed Polygraph by Robert Lepage & Charles Strouse and Martin

by Amer Hlehel, based on the Marie Brassard. Theatre Works. Aug 3 - 26. www.themountplayers.com Charnin. Leongatha Lyric story of the life of Palestinian Jul 19 - 29. Theatre Works, St Theatre. Jul 6 - 21. Mesley Hall, poet Taha Muhammad Ali. Arts Kilda. (03) 9534 3388.

Moonlight & Magnolias by Ron Leongatha. lyrictheatre.net.au Centre Melbourne by Hutchinson. Lilydale Athenaeum The Mikado by Gilbert and Theatre Company Inc. Aug 6 The Hatpin. Book & Lyrics James arrangement with Arts Projects Sullivan. G & S Society of Australia. July 10-14. Arts Sep 1. (03) 9735 1777.

Millar. Music by Peter Victoria. Jul 19 - 22, Darebin Centre Melbourne, State Rutherford. SPX Waterdale Arts and Aug 4, Entertainment The Shoe-Horn Sonata by John Theatre. 1300 182 183.

Players. Jul 6 - 14. Rivergum Centre & Mount Beauty.

Misto. Peridot Theatre. Aug 9 Theatre, Bundoora.

Coral Browne: This F***ing www.gilbertandsullivan.org.au 25. Unicorn Theatre, Mount www.waterdale.org.au Lady! Prospect Productions P/L. We Will Rock You by Ben Elton Waverley Secondary College.

(03) 9808 0770 (10am-2pm An Evening with Madame. The Jul 11 - 22. fortyfivedownstairs and Queen. CenterStage theatre. (03) 9662 9966.

Mon-Fri).

Butterfly Club. Jul 9 - 14.

Geelong. Jul 20 - Aug 1.

The Weekend by Michael Palin. Geelong Performing Arts Centre. Generation Jeans by Nicolai thebutterflyclub.com Encore Theatre Company Inc. Jul www.centerstage.com.au Khalezin. Belarus Free Theatre.

Woman - It’s A Mother of A 13 - 28. 1300 739 099.

Cabaret. Jodee Stubbs. The Beauty and the Beast. Music by Aug 9 - 11. Beckett Theatre, Butterfly Club. Jul 9 - 14.

Melancholia by Lars von Trier.

Alan Menken. Lyrics by Howard Malthouse. (03) 9685 5111. thebutterflyclub.com Malthouse Theatre. Jul 13 - Aug Ashman and Tim Rice. Book by Der Rosenkavalier (The Rose 12. Merlyn Theatre. (03) 9685 Linda Woolverton. Aspect Knight) by Richard Strauss.

Insanity. Isobel Yates. The Theatre Inc. Jul 20 - 28. Shirley Melbourne Opera. Aug 9 - 17.

5111.

Butterfly Club. Jul 9 - 14.

Athenaeum Theatre. Ticketek. thebutterflyclub.com William Tell by Rossini. Victorian Burke Theatre, Parkdale. www.aspecttheatre.org.au Burke’s Company by Bill Reed.

Anxiety Blows. Katy Christie. The Opera. Jul 14 - 19. Palais The Phantom of the Opera.

Theatre, St Kilda. 136 100.

The Basin Theatre Group. Aug Butterfly Club. Jul 9 - 14.

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber.

10 - Sep 1. 1300 784 668. thebutterflyclub.com An Ideal Husband by Oscar Book: Andrew Lloyd Webber A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Dancing on the Volcano. Robyn Wilde. Melbourne Theatre Company. Jul 16 - Aug 18. Arts and Richard Stilgoe. Lyrics: Hnath. Melbourne Theatre Archer. July 9-11. Arts Centre Charles Hart and Richard Company. Aug 11 - Sep 15.

Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. 1300 Centre Melbourne, Playhouse.

Stilgoe. PLOS Musical (03) 8688 0800.

Southbank Theatre, The 182 183.

Productions. Jul 20 - 28.

Sumner. (03) 8688 0800.

Julius Caesar by William The Antipodes by Annie Baker.

Frankston Arts Centre. (03) The Boy from Oz. Book by Nick Red Stitch. Jul 10 - Aug 12. Red Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. 9784 1060.

Jul 18 - 28. Arts Centre Enright. Songs by Peter Allen Stitch Actors Theatre, St Kilda Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. (03) Dandenong Ranges One Act and others. The Production East. (03) 9533 8083.

Play Festival. Gemco Players 8688 0800.

Company. Aug 11 - 26. State Community Theatre Inc. Jul 20 -

South African theatre production The Fall makes its Australian debut in the Fairfax Theatre from August 28 to September 2 as part of Art Centre Melbourne’s Big World, Up Close series. This documentary political theatre piece is led by a young ensemble from the Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town who connect to their audience through story-telling and song.

Photo: Oscar O’Ryan.

Read more online at http://bit.ly/2MlKo6n

Online extras!

68 Stage Whispers

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne.

1300 182 183.

Scaramouche Jones by Justin Butcher. Arts Centre Melbourne and Wander Productions. Aug 15 - 25. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. 1300 182 183 Other Desert Cities by John Robin Baitz. Brighton Theatre Company Inc. Aug 16 - Sep 1.

Bayside Cultural Centre, Brighton. 1300 752 126.

Dybbuks by Samara Hersch.

Chamber Made. Aug 16 - 26.

Theatre Works, St Kilda. (03) 9534 3388.

27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Something Unspoken by Tennessee Williams. Strathmore Theatrical Arts Society (STAG).

Aug 16 - 26. Strathmore Community Hall. (03) 9382 6284.

Echoes by Alistair Faulkner.

Beaumaris Theatre Inc. Aug 17 Sep 1. www.beaumaristheatre.com.au Lovesong by Abi Morgan.

Original composition by Gemma Turvey. Red Stitch. Aug 21 - Sep 23. Red Stitch Actors Theatre, St Kilda East. (03) 9533 8083.

An Unseasonable Fall of Snow

by Gary Henderson. Essendon Theatre Company. Aug 23 - Sep 1. Bradshaw Street Community Hall. 0422 029 483.

Cry Baby The Musical. Music by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger. Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan.

PEP Productions. Aug 23 - Sep 2. pepproductions.org.au Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl. Malvern Theatre Company Inc. Aug 24 - Sep 8. www.malverntheatre.com.au Blasted by Sarah Kane.

Malthouse Theatre. Aug 24 Sep 16. Merlyn Theatre. (03) 9685 5111.

Rock of Ages. Book by Chris D’Arienzo. Cardinia Performing Arts Co. Aug 25 - Sep 7.

Cardinia Cultural Centre, Pakenham. www.cardiniaperformingarts.com

Victoria, Tasmania & South Australia

Jurassica by Dan Giovannoni.

Red Stitch Theatre and Critical Stages. Aug 25. Clocktower Centre, Moonee Ponds. (03) 9243 9191.

The Fall. Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town.

Aug 28 - Sep 2. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Theatre.

1300 182 183.

Working with Children by Nicola Gunn. Melbourne Theatre Company. Aug 30 - Sep 29.

Southbank Theatre, The Lawler.

(03) 8688 0800.

Pack of Lies by Hugh Whitemore. Mordialloc Theatre Company. Aug 31 - Sep 5.

Shirley Burke Theatre, Parkdale.

(03) 9587 5141.

Vere by John Doyle (aka Rampaging Roy Slaven).

Warrandyte Theatre Company.

Aug 31 - Sep 8. warrandytehallarts.asn.au/theatre Tasmania Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler.

Bijou Creative. Until Jul 7. The Playhouse Theatre. (03) 6234 5998.

Twelve Times He Spoke by Finegan Kruckemeyer. Blue Cow Theatre, in association with Tasmania Performs and Guy Hooper. Until Jul 7. Backspace Theatre, Theatre Royal, Hobart.

(03) 6233 2299.

Avenue Q. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. Jul 13 - 28. The Playhouse Theatre. (03) 6234 5998.

ZEB - A Gender Odyssey.

Tasmania Performs. Jul 13 - 21.

Backspace Theatre, Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299.

The Beginning of Nature.

Australian Dance Theatre. Jul 27 & 28. Theatre Royal, Hobart (03) 6233 2299.

Model Citizens. Circus Oz. Aug 1, Princess Theatre, Launceston, (03) 6323 3666, Aug 3 - 5, Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299.

Swing Man. Damian Callinan.

Aug 2 - 4. Backspace Theatre,

Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299.

We Will Rock You by Ben Elton and Queen. John X. Aug 10 25. Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299.

Seven Little Australians. By David Reeve, based on the book

by Ethel Turner. Stage Right Youth Theatre. Aug 14 - 16.

Earl Arts Centre, Launceston.

(03) 6323 3666.

Cockfight. The Farm. Aug 30 Sep 1. Theatre Royal, Hobart.

(03) 6233 2299.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare.

Aug 31. Princess Theatre, Launceston. (03) 6323 3666.

South Australia Brothers Wreck by Jada Alberts.

State Theatre Company SA. Until Jul 14. Odeon Theatre.

131 246.

We Will Rock You. By Queen and Ben Elton. Matt Byrne Media. July 5 - 28. Arts Theatre until July 14. Shedley Theatre

Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

from July 19. Ticketek, Dramatix, (08) 8262 4906. www.mattbyrnemedia.com Proof by David Auburn. Adapt Enterprises. July 11 - 28.

Bakehouse Theatre. www.bakehousetheatre.com Patsy by John Rawson and Rob Smith. Tea Tree Players. July 12 14. Tea Tree Players Theatre. www.teatreeplayers.com Letters; A Rare Condition - 2 One Act Plays by Evelyn Merritt & Alan Haehnel. Wings2Fly Theatre. July 14. Seymour College CPA. www.trybooking.com/364267 Rites by Maureen Duffy. Barossa Players. July 19 - 21. Barossa Arts and Convention Centre.

(08) 8561 4299.

Creditors by August Strindberg, new version by Duncan Graham. State Theatre Company of SA. July 20 - Aug 5. The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre. 131 246.

Stage Whispers 69

On Stage Old Wicked Songs by John Marans. Independent Theatre.

July 27 - Aug 4. Goodwood Institute Theatre. www.independenttheatre.org.au Bring It On The Musical. Book: Jeff Whitty, Music: Tom Kitt & Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lyrics: Amanda Green & Lin-Manuel Miranda. Pelican Productions.

Aug 2 - 5. Norwood Concert Hall. www.trybooking.com/323170 The One Day of the Year by Alan Seymour. Therry Dramatic Society. Aug 15 - 25. Arts Theatre. (08) 8294 7907 or www.trybooking.com/323013 Perplex by Marius von Mayenburg. Joh Hartog Productions. Aug 15 - 25.

Bakehouse Theatre. www.bakehousetheatre.com Out of Sight, Out of Murder by Fred Carmichael. Tea Tree Players. Aug 22 - Sep 1. Tea Tree Players Theatre. www.teatreeplayers.com

70 Stage Whispers

South Australia & Western Australia

That Eye, The Sky. By Tim Winton, stage adaptation by Justin Monjo and Richard Roxburgh. State Theatre Company of SA. Aug 24 - Sep 16. Dunstan Playhouse. 131 246. www.stateheatrecompany.com.au Rules for Living by Sam Holcroft.

Adelaide Repertory Theatre. Aug 30 - Sep 8. Arts Theatre. www.adelaiderep.com Western Australia Hiro by Samantha Chester and Humphrey Bower. The Blue Room. Until Jul 7. True story of tsunami survivor. The Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge. www.blueroom.org.au The Events by David Greig. Black Swan State Theatre Company.

Until Jul 8. features Catherine McClements and community choirs. Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA. tickets.ptt.wa.gov.au or (08) 6212 9292.

A Fairytale of Sorts by Johnny Grim. Wanneroo Repertory.

Until Jul 7. World premiere - set in the middle ages. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo. 0499 954 016. www.limelighttheatre.com.au The Lion in Winter by James Goldman. Darlington Theatre Players. Until Jul 14. Period drama, set during the reign of Henry II. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount. (08) 6270 1465.

The Last Cab to Darwin by Reg Cribb. Old Mill Theatre. Until Jul 7. Australian play based on a true story. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth. 0475 895 701. www.oldmillheatre.com.au Banned by Barbara Hostelek.

Mudskipper Productions. Jul 3 14. New Australian work. Blue Room Theatre.

Treasure Island: A Musical Pantomime by Kathryn Petersen and Mark Osborn. Murdoch Theatre Company. Jul 5 - 7.

Nexus Theatre, Murdoch University. www.trybooking.com/393525 Urinetown by Mark Holman and Greg Kotis. Melville Theatre Company. Jul 6 - 21. Satirical musical. Melville Theatre. (08) 9330 4565. www.meltheco.org.au It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry. Stirling Players. Jul 6 - 21. Based on the movie. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo. 0425 445 986. www.stirlingplayers.com.au Godspell by John-Michael Tebelak. Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Harbour Theatre, Jul 20 - 29. Musical based on Gospel of Matthew.

Camelot Theatre, Mosman Park.

(08) 9255 3336. www.TAZtix.com.au Josephine Wants to Dance by Eva Di Cesare Sandi Eldridge and Tim McGarry. Monkey Baa Theatre Company. Jul 21.

Children’s Theatre. Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana. www.koorliny.com.au Side by Side by Sondheim - A Musical Entertainment by

Stephen Sondheim. Playlovers.

Jul 26 - Aug 4. Musical, Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo.

0415 777 173. www.playloversorg.au The Addams Family by Andrew Lippa, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Mercedes College. Jul 27 - 29. Musical based on the Charles Addams comic. The Regal Theatre, Subiaco. 132 849. www.ticketek.com.au The Foreigner by Larry Shue.

Serial Productions. Aug 3 - 15.

Improbable comedy. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth. www.trybooking.com/372095 Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare.

Aug 8 - 11. Caesar’s days are numbered. Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth. 132 849. www.ticketek.com.au The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens, based on the novel by Mark Haddon. Lunchbox Theatrical Productions. Aug 8 19. Hit from the West End and Broadway. His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. 132 849. www.ticketek.com.au M.A.S.H. by Tim Kelly. Murray Music and Drama. Aug 10 - 18.

Based on the movie. Pinjarra Civic Centre. 0458 046 414.

Big Fish by Andrew Lippa and John August. Midnite Youth Theatre Company. Aug 16-18.

Musical based on the novel and film. The Regal Theatre, Subiaco. www.ticketek.com.au or 132 849.

Skylab by Melodie ReynoldsDiarra. Black Swan State Theatre Company. Aug 16 - Sep 2.

Dreamtime meets Monkey Magic. Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth. tickets.ptt.wa.gov.au Legally Blonde by Nell Benjamin, Laurence O’Keefe and Heather Hach. APAN Entertainment. Aug 24 - Sep 2. Musical journey of Elle Woods. The Regal Theatre, Subiaco. www.ticketek.com.au or 132 849.

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage New Zealand The Atom Room by Philip Braithwaite. Circa. Until Jul 7.

Circa 2, Wellington. (04) 801 7992.

An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley. Dolphin Theatre. Until Jul 7. dolphintheatre.org.nz Macbeth by Dean Parker, based on the play by William Shakespeare. 2018 Fortune Company. Until Jul 14. Fortune Theatre, Dunedin. (03) 477 8323.

King Lear by William Shakespeare. Stagecraft Theatre (Wellington). Until Jul 7. iTicket.

Michael Hurst’s The Changeling

by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. Auckland Summer Shakespeare. Until July 7, University of Auckland Drama Studio Theatre; Jul 9 - 13, The PumpHouse Theatre, Takapuna; July 18 - 28, Vault, Q Theatre, Auckland; Aug 2 & 3, Uxbridge Arts & Culture. thechangeling.co.nz Seed by Elizabeth Easter. Arts on Tour New Zealand. July 4 Aug 1. Various venues. www.aotnz.co.nz/touring-next The Great White Man-Eating Shark and Other Stories by Margaret Mahy. Tim Bray Productions. Until Jul 21. The PumpHouse Theatre, Auckland.

(09) 489 8360.

Penny Blue by Vanessa Brookes.

Jul 6 - 22. Octagon Theatre, Whangarei. (09) 438 5481.

Dream Girls. Book and Lyrics by Tom Eyen. Music by Henry Krieger. Rotorua Musical Theatre. July 6 - 21. Casa Blanca. rotoruamusicaltheatre.co.nz Songs for Nobodies by Joanna Murray Smith. Ali-Cats Productions Ltd. Jul 7 - Aug 1.

Circa One. (04) 801 7992.

Good People by David LindsayAbaire. Howick Little Theatre.

Jul 7 - 28. iTicket - (09) 3611000.

The Littlest Ninja by Javier Jarquin. Jul 7 - 21. Court

Theatre, Christchurch. (03) 963 0870.

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie.

Centrepoint Theatre, Palmerston North. July 7 - 29. (06) 354 5740.

Duck, Death and the Tulip.

Adapted for the stage by Peter Wilson, from the book by Wold Erlbruch. Little Dog Barking Theatre. Jul 9 - 21. Circa 2. (04) 801 7992 Black Dog. Adapted for the stage by Peter Wilson, from the book by Pamela Allen. Little Dog Barking Theatre. Jul 9 - 21. Circa 2. (04) 801 7992 Broadway Hitmen. A concert of Cole Porter and Andrew Lloyd Webber hits. Showbiz Christchurch. Jul 13 - 15. Isaac Theatre Royal. 0800 842 538.

Mamma Mia! Music and Lyrics

by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Book by Catherine Johnson. Musical Theatre Oamaru. Jul 13 - 21.

Oamaru Opera House. www.mto.org.nz Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Centrestage Theatre Company, Omaru. Jul 14 - 21. www.centrestagetheatre.co.nz Footrot Flats The Musical. By Roger Hall. Music: Philip Norman. Lyrics: A K Gran.

Musical Theatre Gisborne. Jul 18 - 21. War Memorial Hall. www.musicaltheatregisborne.nz Les Misérables. Music by Claude -Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. Additional Material by James Fenton. New Plymouth Operatic Society. Jul 26 - Aug 18. TSB Showplace.

Ticketek.

No Holds Bard by Natalie Medlock, Dan Musgrove, Michael Hurst. July 29 - Aug 31.

Various venues. www.noholdsbard.co.nz Sunny Jim by Richard De Luca.

Aug 1 - 4. Howick Little Theatre, Auckland. iTicket - (09) 361 1000.

New Zealand Hir by Taylor Mac. Silo Theatre, Auckland. Aug 2 - 23. Herald Theatre. silotheatre.co.nz/hir Nunsense - The Mega Musical

by Dan Goggin. Harlequin Musical Theatre. Aug 4 - 18. harlequintheatre.co.nz Matariki - A Season of NZ One Act Plays. Elmwood Players. Aug 8 - 11. Elmwood Auditorium, Merivale. www.elmwood-players.org.nz The Dinner. Devised by Joan Bellviure. The Improvisors. Aug 9 - 25. Circa One. 04 801 7992.

Wicked. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Winnie Holzman. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire.

Abbey Musical Theatre. Aug 10 - 25. The Regent on Broadway. abbeymusicaltheatre.co.nz Baskerville by Ken Ludwig.

Dolphin Theatre. Aug 10 - 25. dolphintheatre.org.nz Catch Me If You Can. Book by Terrance McNally. Lyrics by Marc Shaiman. Music by Scott Whittman and Marc Shaiman.

Musikmakers, Hamilton. Aug 11 - 25. Riverlea Theatre, Hamilton.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

Company Theatre (Auckland).

Aug 11 - 25. The Rose Centre, Belmont. iTicket.

Filthy Business by Ryan Craig.

Auckland Theatre Company.

Aug 14 - 29. ASB Waterfront Theatre. 0800 ATC TIX (282 849).

Voices From The Front by Amanda Stone. South Canterbury Drama League. Aug 17 - 24. dramaleague.org.nz Heathers The Musical by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, based on the film written by Daniel Waters.

Tauranga Musical Theatre Inc. Aug 17 - Sep 1. Westside Theatre. taurangamusicaltheatre.co.nz Die Fledermaus by Johan Strauss. Wellington G & S Light Opera. Aug 18 - Sep 22.

Various locations. www.gns.org.nz Bloomsbury Women and the Wild Colonial Girl by Lorae Parry. Part of WFF! 2018. Aug 18 - Sep 15. Circa 2. (04) 801 7992.

Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey. Ellerslie Theatrical Society. Aug 23 - Sep 1. iTicket.

Xanadu. Book by Douglas Carter Beane. Music & lyrics by Jeff Lynne & John Farrrar. Coasters Musical Theatre. Aug 31 - Sep 15. coastersmusicaltheatre.com Modern Girls in Bed by Cherie Jacobson and Alex Lodge. Part of WTF! 2018. Sep 1 - 22. Circa One. (04) 801 7992.

Auditions

Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

Place your audition notice in the next edition of Stage Whispers magazine.

Email stagews@stagewhispers.com.au or call (03) 9758 4522

Online extras!

Check out all the auditions that didn’t make it to print. Scan the QR code or visit www.stagewhispers.com.au/auditions Stage Whispers 71

Right Now. Photo: Jodie Hutchinson.

Reviews: Premieres Right Now

By Catherine-Anne Toupin, translated by Chris Campbell.

Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. Red Stitch, East St Kilda. Apr 17 - May 20.

AS THIS rather discombobulating play begins you might think, ‘Yasmina Reza… meets Harold Pinter?’ It’s a puzzle play that keeps you engaged - because of your sympathy with its central character - right up to its final reveal.

Young stay-at-home mother Alice (Christina O’Neill) and husband Ben (Dushan Phillips), a doctor, are renovating their new apartment. But Ben is on the night shift, a baby is crying and the marriage looks shaky. Then neighbour Juliette (Olga Makeeva) invades in the sweetest, most presumptuous way, bringing in her gangly, over-sharing son, Francois (Mark Wilson) and super suave scientist husband Gilles (Joe Petruzzi).

Director Katy Maudlin has her cast play it dead straight all is perfectly normal. Naturally this makes for comedy.

Emily Barrie’s set and Richard Vabre’s lighting bolster the sense of ‘normal’: a perfectly ordinary apartment - a claustrophobic box, which Alice cannot - dare not? - leave.

Perhaps Ms Makeeva camps it up that little bit, but her comic timing and calculated reactions are so exact that she is (as usual) a delight. Our attention, however, is transfixed

by Ms O’Neil - a performance of quiet, understated vulnerability and pathos. Dushan Phillips ably negotiates several radical changes of direction and persona. Mark Wilson exploits his in-your-face gawkiness that can slide into menacing in a second. Joe Petruzzi glides through his role with a silky, Alpha-male confidence.

72 Stage Whispers

What’s fascinating is piecing together - or attempting to - the play’s emotional logic. Sexual yearning, guilt, loneliness, a desire to escape and yet a desire to surrender are all driving forces. It is an intriguing, puzzling but strangely pleasantly disturbing evening in the theatre.

Michael Brindley The Sugar House

By Alana Valentine. Belvoir, Upstairs Theatre. May 5 - Jun 3.

ALANA Valentine is best known as a verbatim playwright giving voice to diverse communities and the challenges and sometimes horrors they’ve endured.

The Sugar House similarly has a sharp sense of place; set in Sydney’s once working class suburb of Pyrmont, around the then iconic CSR factory, but now dominated by a casino and washed clean by new gentrification.

Yet Valentine has delivered a more personally charged play, spanning three generations, and drawing less on community research and more on her own family memories - creating battlers which Sarah Goodes’ excellent cast makes flesh and blood.

Kris McQuade dominates as June, the earthy matriarch of a grandmother, carelessly critical of her unhappy daughter, which is a curiously underwritten role but fired with resentment by Sacha Horler. Sheridan Harbridge avoids her Mum but under Granny’s tough love ages nicely as Narelle, from a curious eight year old in the 1960s to an educated activist turned lawyer.

June’s petty criminal relatives, including her flash son (Josh McConville) and his patient wife (Nikki Shiels), and the

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Sense and Sensibility.

Photo: Chris Herzfeld.

injustices served by corrupt local police, inspire in June and then Narelle in a long campaign against the death sentence. Lex Marinos plays a range of roles with a quiet truth.

Yet this political theme is largely tangential to the play’s main character as a family saga in a place pulled between working class values and smart cafes.

Michael Hankin’s unchanging warehouse apartment set of big windows and old pillars is perfect when the older Narelle sneaks past the real estate agent to sniff her past, but contributes less to the retrospective family storytelling which follows.

The play is overwritten, blunting the narrative drive around these three generations of women. But these are real people, tender and warm-witted, and they stay with you in the dark.

Martin Portus Sense and Sensibility

By Kate Hamill, based on the novel by Jane Austen. State Theatre Company of SA. Dunstan Playhouse. May 4 - 26.

I LOVE Austen’s novels and must admit to anxiety about seeing an adaptation. However, my fears were ill-founded as this production is fabulous. Kate Hamill’s adaptation is true to the spirit of Austen, and the production is fastpaced, extremely funny and clever.

Sense and Sensibility is a truly ensemble piece, with actors playing multiple roles with extremely quick changes of costume and a praise-worthy show of fabulous acting.

The use of a chorus of gossips was inspired, the ensemble

members wearing pink bonnets with feathers stirred up situations, commented and moved the story along, letting us know what had happened off stage and how it was being received by the wider world.

The set and scene changes must take a bow of their own, as tables and props whizzed on and off the stage with speed and accuracy. The set designed by Ailsa Patterson was perfect, hiding secrets within it and allowing for constant transformations. The costumes were lovely and so much fun.

The music - arranged by Stuart Day and often played, sung and whistled by the cast - added a commentary on the action and kept the pace and the humour going.

Congratulations to Geordie Brookman for his direction, which was both creative and controlled. This production while pushing the limits did not stretch them too far and also provided many beautiful and poignant scenes, where the audience was totally in sympathy with the characters.

Sally Putnam Good Cook. Friendly. Clean.

By Brooke Robinson. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre. May 4 - Jun 16.

BROOKE Robinson shows an horrific slide to homelessness for a Sydney working woman in her 50s.

Sandra’s voyage begins applying to shared households, visiting and seeking acceptance, desperate in interviews to match the whims of mostly crazed millennials.

Fayssal Bazzi and Kelly Paterniti play a range of revengeful brats, party-crazed dits, spoilt sloths or

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Stage Whispers 73

distracted young Mums who interrogate and tease Sandra as a possible new housemate, before always showing her the door.

They’re so relentlessly ghastly and self-pre-occupied that, with director Marion Potts, these scenes at least have considerable humour, even theatrical surrealism. Older audiences will be convinced that Sydney millennials are really this bad.

But it’s Sandra’s nightmare, and her growing pain soon strains all her pretences at layback cool. Tara Morice charts well this tense decay as Sandra becomes unhinged and the finale so bleak.

Oddly, Morice also embodies an irritating something, beyond Sandra’s age and her obvious recovery from cancer, which has the same impact on us as on these householders.

Robinson gives her little back story to help - beyond her topical situation - build an empathy for Sandra or whatever her real reactions are to these millennial cartoons.

Yet the play punches hard and designer Melanie Liertz inventively houses it in a cheap home renovation site cluttered with pipes - somewhere disgorging the waste.

Martin Portus Hungry Ghosts.

Photo: Jeff Busby.

Online extras!

If you didn’t see MTC’s Hungry Ghosts, did it happen? Scan or visit to find out https://youtu.be/jvP_wXgqKuo 74 Stage Whispers

Hungry Ghosts

By Jean Tong. Melbourne Theatre Company. Southbank Theatre, The Lawler. May 3 - 19.

THIS is highly articulate, intelligent, driven writing that takes on the quality of a prose poem - or music with theme and variations.

Three talented young performers - Emina Ashman, JingXuan Chan and Bernard Sam - and the fluid direction of Petra Kalive - bring three strands to imaginative life. The performers are naturalistic ‘characters’ and the hungry ghosts of the title - restlessly speculating and pursuing answers.

There is the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines MH370.

A mystery still unsolved. But what was it like to be on that plane? Were passengers and crew unconscious when three hundred tonnes of metal smacked into the ocean? This production gives us passengers and crash with visceral power. Or did that plane really crash it all?

Darius Kedros’ sound design is evocative and yet adds a level of eerie reality. Set designer Eugyeene Teh puts that plane on stage with his characteristic, suggestive economy, aided by Emma Valente’s lighting.

Threaded through is the comic but sad story of the gay expat (Jing-Xuan Chan) from Malaysia. Her heart will always be tied there, but when she goes ‘home’, she runs smack into put-downs and cultural bullying. And what is contemporary Malaysia, anyway? Here the tone changes to one of coruscating cynicism and finely honed rage - almost a polemic - at the blatant corruption and ‘disappearance’ of billions in the 1MDB scandal - involving the highest levels of government, their families and cronies.

Hungry Ghosts is a challenging, powerful piece - as much a ‘play of ideas’ as a drama, but not at all ‘dry’. The actors, the direction, design, lighting and sound all give life and energy to some very fine writing.

Michael Brindley Terrestrial

By Fleur Kilpatrick. State Theatre Company SA. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. 25 May 25 - Jun 2.

FLEUR Kilpatrick dedicates Terrestrial to teenagers who she sees as funny, warm, resilient and often misrepresented. She weaves through this story a unique friendship, time, landscape and the ever present sky as an escape from fear, trauma and loneliness. At times the story is dark. The main character is lonely, vulnerable, alien obsessed teenager Liddy. We are not sure if she knows, is, or has been put there and controlled by aliens or why.

Set in a small mining town and aimed at teenagers, this one-hour long play is complex and well-crafted enough to engage adults equally. In fact, the subtleties may be lost on many young people with less life experience of isolation and small town desolation. It is also a uniquely Australian play in its flavour, language, style and imagery.

Director Nescha Jelk gives the actors scope to be believable teenagers. Annabel Matheson as Liddy and Patrick Jhanur as Badar are well matched. Their developing friendship is believable and real and each seems

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Carmen, Live Or Dead.

Photo: David Hooley.

Online extras!

Get a taste of Carmen, Live Or Dead.

Simply scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/BB62YIqhYrk

comfortable with and connected to the other. Their story telling is as confident and complex. Both actors use silence and facial expressions convincingly and with perfect timing.

Heard at times is the omnipotent voice of Patrick Frost as Him. He intervenes, adding to the mystery and tension by giving Liddy advice and instructions.

Terrestrial challenges the audience to keep up as it twists and turns. It is also a great vehicle for us to revisit the role we have in working with teenagers to shape our shared future.

Jude Hines

to her loud, proud finale, she inhabits the role and makes her character likeable.

The music is composed by iOTA - the songs are not as good as his award-winning Smoke and Mirrors but are very effective. The performances and Shaun Rennie’s direction are great: the theatre is very intimate and the show doesn’t drag.

Carmen, Live Or Dead won’t necessarily knock your socks off but will leave you feeling very satisfied and perhaps even a little more open-minded.

Peter Gotting

Carmen, Live Or Dead

By Craig Harwood. Music by iOTA. Oriel Entertainment, Progeny Pictures and Orange Sky Creative. Directed by Shaun Rennie. Hayes Theatre, Sydney. Apr 29 - May 13.

THERE’S often a moment in an unknown show when you fear it’s not going to be good. Will I be stuck here for the next hour-and-a-half not enjoying myself?

That happens for me as Natalie Gamsu takes to the stage as Carmen, the fictional intersex love child of Leon Trotsky and Frida Kahlo. She is joined by a guitar player (Andrew Kroenert) and violinist (Stefanie Jones) and belts out some strange melodies. Wearing a moustache, headdress, knee-high boots and black corset, Carmen is anything but conventional. And then she tells us we’re going to witness her death.

Thankfully, the jokes and intriguing plot draw you in and Gamsu shines. From the initial sparkle in her wide eyes

Frank Forbes & The Yahoo Boy Written and Directed by Matt Hawkins. South Australian Playwrights Theatre. Bakehouse Theatre, Adelaide. May 23 Jun 2.

CAN a piece of theatre cross cultures and manage to entertain audiences all along the demographical spectrum?

Can it do so by combining elements of serious drama and character detail with almost-farcical comedy? This one certainly can.

Centering around the by-now familiar news story of a Westerner targeted by an online scammer in Africa and persuaded to part with a substantial amount of money, writer/director Matt Hawkins brings mature insight and a perceptive eye to his multi-dimensional story. He also regularly manages to make us laugh - sometimes uproariously!

Brendan Cooney makes Frank into a thoughtful, believable individual, while Kimberley Fox is appropriately

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Stage Whispers 75

Online extras!

See how the creative team put together The Longest Minute. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/RxxAaTrON_k

The Longest Minute.

forthright and strong-willed in the role of daughter Tracy.

The wildly likeable and charismatic conman Ishaku is brought to wonderful life in the performance of Stephen Tongun, well-supported by Sheila Ablakwa as Jamilah, the woman whose reserves of patience - and capacity to stand by her man - may be at an end.

Frank Forbes & the Yahoo Boy accomplishes a great deal underneath its seemingly modest outward appearance.

Drawing on true-life experience to tell its quirky, intriguing tale, this is a most satisfying new work that features no simplistic black-and-white villains or saints, just characters as flawed and complicated as the most interesting people in life usually are.

Anthony Vawser

rabid supporter, accepts. Frank wants his son Laurie (Jeremy Ambrum) to follow in his footsteps, but Laurie is happier fishing. Jess (Chenoa Deemal) is the better football player but she’s a girl and there’s no women’s football league. It’s a scenario ripe for exploration which takes advantage of every comic possibility in a sharp, concise and sometimes satiric script by Robert Kronk and Nadine McDonald-Dowd, who brilliantly capture the idiosyncrasy and fanaticism of NRL disciples within a family dynamic.

Deemal is outstanding as Jess, bringing warmth and a cheeky spunk to the role that dominates the play. Her exchanges with Ambrum had an honest brother/sister connection and an unspoken love. Sheppard as the laconic Frank was a tower of blokey strength throughout and his inarticulation in the story’s tragic curve was totally The Longest Minute believable. Likewise Brehmer, as the jovial football mum

By Robert Kronk & Nadine McDonald-Dowd. Queensland whose grief was obvious in her silences. Lafe Charlton and David Terry rounded out an excellent supporting cast Theatre, debase productions & JUTE Theatre Company.

Director: Bridget Boyle. Cremorne Theatre. QPAC. May 31 - playing a number of roles.

Jun 23.

Jason Glenright’s lighting and Kim Busty Beatz Bowers’ sound helped give the play authentic atmosphere. It’s not a THE Longest Minute is 85 minutes of joy! A sweet coming-of-age tale about a young girl from a mixed-race pre-requisite to know anything about Rugby League to fanatical NRL family, and her obsession to play football, The enjoy this show. The euphoria it generates is exhilarating!

Peter Pinne Longest Minute uses the background of the Cowboys’ 2015 success to tell her story of family, loss and connection.

Frank (Mark Sheppard), from a Murri background, is a Marjorie Prime Rugby League player in Townsville who becomes something By Jordan Harrison. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: of a local hero and makes a popular TV commercial.

Mitchell Butel. Jun 15 - Jul 21.

MAGGIE Dence plays two characters in this touching Football is in his blood, to the exclusion of his family, which his Anglo-Australian wife Margaret (Louise Brehmer), also a drama about memory and aging: Marjorie and Prime 76 Stage Whispers

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Marjorie. In the first she is 85 and fast failing, lost in her past playing the violin, missing her husband dead for 10 years. In the second she is revived, her face is freshly painted, her attention centred on giving comfort to her fraught daughter Tess.

Best not to ask too many questions about the setup.

Author Jordan Harrison is much more concerned with his characters and how they interrelate, with Tess (Lucy Bell) and her husband Jon (Richard Sydenham) and how they deal with the aging parent. ‘It’s always nice to be lied to,’ says Marjorie. She’s got a Prime, too, a lovely man who accurately represents her husband Walter in his mid-thirties (Jake Speer).

It’s Tess who takes our attention, and Bell, with flashing eyes and uncertain smile, gives a compelling account of her descent. Dence, in her first embodiment of Marjorie, sliding in and out of memory, is also first rate.

The sweeping setting by Simon Greer is a problem.

Austere and formal, it never represents Tess’s domesticity and the cast have to be uncomfortable scene shifters and prop deliverers throughout. Even Marjorie must do her share.

Congratulations to the Ensemble (and Mark Kilmurry) for bagging this recent off-Broadway piece. It’s a cracker.

Frank Hatherley

walking out on the family when he was 9-years old, and Hayes’ guilt at not being there when her mother died because she was appearing in Sweet Charity.

The co-ordination of video-clips and musical backing tracks was perfect, as were Trudy Dalgleish’s lighting, Michael Tyack’s musical arrangements, and Jason Langley’s direction. Nostalgia has never been more enjoyable.

Peter Pinne Personal

By Jodee Mundy. Jodee Mundy Collaborations. Arts House North Melbourne. Apr 24 - 29.

PERSONAL is an acute insight into some of the strains and joys of being a ‘CODA’ - a hearing child born to a deaf adult.

As a short but intense 60 minutes of theatre, it frames, elucidates and distills this experience of a hearing person growing up in a deaf family, for a mixed audience of deaf and hearing, bringing these two groups a little closer together.

Bosom Buddies.

Bosom Buddies Devised by Peter J Adams. Director: Jason Langley. Musical Director: Michael Tyack. Christine Dunstan Productions.

Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, Qld. 25 May, and touring.

TOOWOOMBA’S crown-jewel, the art-deco Empire Theatre, was host to two of Australia’s musical theatre crown jewels when Nancye Hayes and Todd McKenney, presented their walk down memory lane Bosom Buddies. To hold an audience on stage for one-hour is a feat and a half, to do it for over two-hours requires not only stamina but amazing talent, and Hayes and McKenney have bucketloads of both.

On a bare stage dressed with two arm chairs, two canvas director chairs, and an upstage screen, the stars reminisced about their backstage life, told amusing anecdotes, and sang and danced, interspersed with rare clips of their historical performances. It was a bit like a documentary on stage and it was marvellously entertaining.

Although there’s probably a thirty-year age difference between them, their rapport and affection for each other was palpable. Early film clips of Hayes as Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity, Sally Bowles in Cabaret and Roxie Hart in Chicago were a magical treat, as was McKenney’s turns as a mean judge on Dancing With the Stars and as Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz. He amusingly captured the disappointment of being passed over for the Allen role on Broadway by Hugh Jackman, with a parody laugh-generating version of “It Had to be Hugh (You)”, later donning make-up on-stage to become Cabaret’s Emcee for “Wilkommen” then dueting with an on-screen Peter Allen in a sincere version of “Tenterfield Saddler”.

The show was not short of emotion, with particularly poignant moments being McKenney’s reveal of his father Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Online extras!

Todd shares an anecdote with Nancye in Bosom Buddies. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/pZJ7sYtG-DA Stage Whispers 77

Mundy’s experience is very expressively communicated, often with cheeky witty nuances.

Personal is the sum of a number of aspects of Mundy’s experience, integrated with the help of Director Merophie Carr, Fiona Sandra Long (Script Consultant) and Jo Dunbar (Movement Consultant) into a lovely expressive unified, finely tuned and fascinating whole.

The design of movable open boxes by Jen Hector is great. Rhian Hinkley is a master of video. His work of recording and projecting anecdotes and conversations adds a stunning immediate dimension. Sound (Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey) in the form of a kind of static or ‘white noise’ is initially directed to areas of the audience and later integrated generally.

Ms. Mundy, who has an agreeable and disarming ‘stage presence’, talks to us, plays with us, moves boxes, interacts with projections and generally commands the space.

Suzanne Sandow The Mathematics Of Longing Written by Suzie Miller. Co-created by Todd MacDonald, Suzie Miller, Ngoc Phan, Kate Harman, Gavin Webber and Merlynn Tong. Presented by La Boite, The Farm and The Uncertainty Principle. La Boite Roundhouse Theatre. Jun 2 23.

THE MATHEMATICS of Longing is a profoundly beautiful, meaningful experience. It seamlessly combines art, science, mathematics, drama, physics, music and dance.

Major scientific theories provide the foundation for the narrative. Suzie Miller has cleverly connected emotional experiences and the characters’ journeys with the laws of physics. The characters’ love stories, wonderfully acted by Todd MacDonald, Suzie Miller, Ngoc Phan, Kate Harman and Gavin Webber, occur as timelines of the same people in different universes.

Kate Harman and Gavin Webber’s primary disciplines are in dance and physical work, while Todd MacDonald, Suzie Miller, Ngoc Phan and Merlynn Tong come from an acting background. They all rise to the challenge of one another’s skillsets. The dancers can really act and the actors know how to move with precision and grace.

Ross Manning’s set design is simple, geometric, modern art staircases leading to a heavenly central platform. Ben Hughes’ lighting is outstanding, particularly with the tricky spotlight sequences at the top of the show. The lighting that’s hung by the performers during the show is so magical it would be easy to just sit and watch that in action for a while.

This is a director-less show; instead all creatives have a say in the show’s direction. All of the creative ideas have come together perfectly. The entire cast and crew breathe life into the big, meaningful theories that are meant to help define life itself. I defy anyone to see this show and not be deeply moved by it.

Kiesten McCauley

78 Stage Whispers

Poison

By Lot Vekemans (translated by Rina Verago). Sue Benner Theatre, Metro Arts, Brisbane. May 9 - 19.

‘GRIEF’ is not a topic we eagerly seek out in live entertainment. And so, it must be a challenge, when presenting a one-act two-hander about deep-seated grief caused in this case by the loss of a child - to avoid dishing up a slice of soap. Fortunately, this production of the award -winning Dutch play Poison is in the hands of very talented performers - Elise Greig (also the producer) and Paul Bishop - who present a beautifully crafted fine filigree of frustrated feelings, loss and longing.

Poison has a very European flavour - think Nordic Noir and the films of Michael Haneke. This production captures the style necessary to fully embrace the strange iciness of the piece - aptly creating a superbly cool piece of indie theatre. The dialogue is repetitive but echoes the loops of ‘what if’ that must spin in the heads of people who have experienced such loss. The characters constantly grapple for the right words when, of course, there are none to adequately assuage the situation.

Director Catarina Hebbard ensures that enough humour is extracted from the script to release the tension that builds with the uncomfortable encounter of estranged characters.

But it is ultimately the excellence of the performers that drives the piece, leaving us with a haunted sympathy but warm hope for their future.

Beth Keehn Incorruptible

By Michael Hollinger. Galleon Theatre Group. Domain Theatre, Marion Cultural Centre. May 2 - 12.

INCORRUPTIBLE is Black Adder meets The Life of Brian and then some.

The play centres on a group of monks whose holy relic is failing to answer prayers. To boost their ‘good works’ they decide to rob graves and sell the bones as holy relics to other orders. Sounds macabre I know, but it isn’t.

Director Lesley Reed has certainly done her research. Her direction takes the comedy just far enough.

Andrew Clark’s Brother Martin is a masterpiece of timing. He is sly, wheedling and conniving.

Peter Davies’ Charles, unlike Brother Martin, is torn between wanting to do good works and the morality of robbing graves. Davies nails this role with a balance of humour and pathos.

Matthew Chapman’s Brother Olaf is the slow witted, but lovable, monk of the order.

Josh Van’t Padje’s Brother Felix is a lisping love-struck innocent torn between his religious duty and love. Van’t Padje makes this character his own, complete with an amazing centre-part hairstyle.

Maxine Grubel’s peasant woman is a salute to Brian’s mother from the Life of Brian.

Ashley Penny’s Marie is every inch her daughter. Her dance number with the minstrel a delight.

Andy Steuart’s minstrel is the ultimate manipulator. His failed attempts at entertaining the monks are a highlight.

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Online extras!

Bliss asks if we are in heaven, or is this hell on Earth? Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/f3w6i9CKiIs

Anna Samson and Toby Truslove in Bliss.

Photo: Pia Johnson.

Finally, Agatha, Charles’ fiery sister. Head of her own order, she takes no prisoners. Lindy Le Cornu proves there is no such thing as a small part.

Incorruptible is a great way to spend a cold night out in a warm welcoming theatre enjoying a highly entertaining play.

Barry Hill Bliss

By Peter Carey. Adapted for the Stage by Tom Wright.

Malthouse Theatre and Belvoir. Direction: Matthew Lutton.

Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse. May 4 - Jun 2.

BLISS is a fascinating ‘look back’ at the heady days of abundance and hedonism of 1980s Sydney through the sharp incisive writing of Peter Carey - filtered through the perceptions and dramaturgical skills of Tom Wright. It is presented by an eclectic ensemble of versatile actors on a surprising set by Marg Horwell, with exceptional lighting (Paul Jackson) and sound (Stefan Gregory) and highly polished by direction by Matthew Lutton.

Almost completely drawn from Carey’s writing, it flows eloquently and contains arresting imagery and marvelous smatterings of insight and indeed wisdom.

Much emphasis falls on what was the thriving world of advertising and the general decadence surrounding the industry, though it is fair to say this decadence was experienced in many walks of life in the 1980s before the share market collapse.

The casting is partially ethnicity, gender and age blind, which adds to the overall charm of the flowing but lengthy epic story.

As it begins, Toby Truslove breathes life into Carey’s words through his engaging stage presence and adroitly modulated voice.

Marco Chiappi excels, particularly as Alex, Harry’s partner in the advertising company, when accidentally institutionalized for insanity.

As Joy’s long-suffering but not to be suppressed wife, Amber McMahon wows with energy, commitment, vitality and vivaciousness.

Honey Barbara, a truly fascinating, strong and complex character, is richly fleshed out by Anna Samson.

Susan Prior plays a variety of roles with aplomb, flexibility, generosity and humour.

Suzanne Sandow Friday The 14th

By Jack Madden. Newcastle University Drama Society. The Factory Theatrette, Adamstown. May 19 - 27.

NEWCASTLE University Drama Society, which was established by the university’s theatre students, stages two original works a year. While they could often do with more editing, Friday The 14th is a well put-together send-up of slasher films which had audiences laughing throughout its lively 90-minute running time.

The story, directed by writer Jack Madden, had a woman (played by Imogen Bilinsky) being slain by a knife-

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Stage Whispers 79

Blackie Blackie Brown.

Photo: Daniel Boud.

wielding figure in black garb and with a bird-like mask when she was alone in a woodland cabin. The plot then moved forward 12 months, with the venue hosting a reunion party for a group of people in their early 20s who went through high school together. When a stranger, Curtis (Liam Callister), unexpectedly turned up with a slash on his chest, the returned assailant, serial killer BirdFace, soon made the dead bodies mount.

The story had a good mix of laughs and shocks. And the characters were very engaging, with the hostess, Petra (Brittany Cole), demanding that they hand over their mobile phones to keep the party moving. But Curtis hid his, which helped the survivors as the stabbings kept coming. The comedy also continued, with the actions and the characters’ clothes adding to the fun. There were a couple of original songs, and a scene from a Biblical slasher film that some guests watched. The other actors - Katrina Hailstone, Jessica Leese, Meighan Winchester, Cassidy Lamey, Nicholas Osborne, Amanda Williamson, Patrick Wells, Talita Royal, Jack Madden, Nicholas Bruce, and Luke Hughes - added to the fun, with audience members occasionally brought into the action. This viewer, for example, was taken onto the stage and asked to say who he thought the murderer was, with the assailant and an assistant hovering menacingly in the background.

Ken Longworth

80 Stage Whispers

Blackie Blackie Brown

By Nakkiah Lui. Sydney Theatre Company. Directed by Declan Greene. Wharf 2 Theatre. May 12 - Jun 30.

THE set for this premiere play is like a blank canvas: a white floor and wall. Drawn on is a rollicking comic-book animation, which drives this thrilling work that touches at the heart of black and white relations.

Nakkiah Lui is one of the country’s top young playwrights, having made a name for herself with Blak Cabaret and Black is the New White. Her new play is full of jokes and fast-paced action from the start.

After discovering a mass grave, archaeologist Dr Jacqueline Black is spoken to by her great-greatgrandmother, who wants revenge. Black is asked to kill all descendants of a group of white men, who wiped out her ancestors. Thus Blackie Blackie Brown is born.

Ingeniously, there are only two actors: the allconquering Megan Wilding as Blackie Blackie Brown and the wonderful Ash Flanders as most of her victims. Other roles are in the animation, which is the most delightful part of the show. It’s a stunning design from animators Oh Yeah Wow, and brilliantly directed by Greene.

Blackie Blackie Brown explores an important idea: how indigenous people reclaim their past and control their destinies (and how white people respond). But above all it’s entertainment. And it’s a hit.

Peter Gotting

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Reviews: Plays

Online extras!

Joshua Jenkins discusses what it takes to play the role of Christopher. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/wywE6gX2SEk

Joshua Jenkins in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.

Photo: Brinkhoff Mögenburg.

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time Play by Simon Stephens based on the novel by Mark Haddon. Director: Marianne Elliott. National Theatre of Great Britain. Concert Hall, QPAC. Jun 12 - 24 (and touring) CURIOUS Incident is a stunning production that blisters with invention and theatricality. Based on Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel about Christopher, a fifteen year-old boy suffering with Aspergers syndrome, Elliot’s minimalist vision of it is electric. At the top of the second act when Christopher is plucked from the path of a speeding train in London’s underground, it’s not only hair-raising but one of the most pulsating and exciting moments we’ve seen on stage. The fact that it’s all done with sound and lights is even more incredible.

Looking more mid-twenties than fifteen, Joshua Jenkins, who played the role on the UK tour, is gauche, irritating and totally believable as a boy who is confused by metaphors but finds algebra and numbers a walk in the park. Bringing order and warmth to his world was Julie Hale’s Siobhan, a kindly special-needs teacher who oozed with compassion. Stuart Laing’s father, Ed, showed a man out of his depth in a difficult home scenario, whilst Emma Beattie’s Judy brought sympathy and some understanding to a mother who regretted her past monumental mistakes.

Elliot’s direction was a dazzling tour-de-force, pulling emotion from the touching reunion of Christopher and his mom, and sentiment from his father’s bonding gift.

Peter Pinne

Alice’s Adventures Under Ground

By Christopher Hampton. Earl Arts Centre, Launceston and Theatre Royal Backspace, Hobart. Director: Andrew Casey.

Jun 3 - 9 THE set, the work of Jake Sanger, is enticing. The Victorian parlour, however, is not all that it seems, much like the conflicted man, Lewis Carroll. Projections and back lighting augment scenes in which Chris Hamley, as Carroll, narrates his tales. These are played out by an ensemble of three highly capable and versatile actors with great energy and humour. These playfully mad episodes are juxtaposed against darker scenes in which Carroll appears to confront other demons.

Madeleine Jeffrey-Moore, as Alice, is always convincing as the young girl who is both diverted and, it appears, manipulated by Carroll. Alice is confused and frequently victimised by her magical encounters. Consequently, Carroll, skilfully depicted by Hamley, is portrayed as complex and conflicted genius, sometimes deserving of sympathy but often despicable. The experience for the audience is akin to Alice’s own journey: unrelenting, discomfiting, diverting and emotionally taxing. Kate Choraziak, Aleksandra Crossan and Ivano Del Pio are such a mesmerising ensemble that the projections denoting the hyper-real environments become superfluous.

Andrew Casey is to be commended on realising his vision for this demanding piece.

Anne Blythe-Cooper

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Stage Whispers 81

Danny & The Deep Blue Sea.

Danny & The Deep Blue Sea

By John Patrick Shanley. Directed by Charlie Cousins & Laura Maitland. Produced by Charlie Cousins. Siteworks, 33 Saxon Street, Brunswick, Vic. Jun 4 - 23.

IN an empty Bronx bar, a woman sits alone in angry misery. A younger man slouches in with a jug of beer. His knuckles bloody, his face cut and bruised, his hoodie dirty, his boots held together with gaffer tape. Two damaged isolates. Through desperation, she forces communication.

It’s attack and retreat, offence and defence, the ebb and flow of emotion; confession and denial, offers made and withdrawn - and finally accepted. John Patrick Shanley subtitled his play ‘an Apache dance’.

Charlie Cousins is Danny. He exudes inchoate rage, violent menace and the most vulnerable yearning. He’s frightening - and yet Mr Cousins makes us care deeply about this man even as we fear for Roberta’s safety.

Laura Maitland is Roberta, forty-one, a single mother, weighed down by the conviction that she is a bad person, but so lonely she will take an extraordinary risk to connect with this patently dangerous man. Ms Maitland and Mr Cousins direct themselves in their circling and crashing and violent sexuality, but Ms Maitland is excellent: febrile, aggressive, crazy-brave and provocative and yet with tiny, enticing glimpses of sweetness and humour.

Making the most of limited resources, Pia Guilliatt’s design for the bar and, in Act II, Roberta’s bedroom work well enough. Ashleigh Barnett’s lighting exploits her

82 Stage Whispers

challenges cleverly, especially her ‘cold light of day’ in the play’s ultimate sequence.

What Danny & The Deep Blue Sea gives us through two sustained, concentrated performances is the charting of the wayward emotions of two scarred, frightened people simultaneously fighting each other off and groping their way toward each other.

Michael Brindley After Miss Julie

By Patrick Marber, based on Miss Julie by August Strindberg. Act 1 Theatre, Strathpine, Qld. Director: Lilian Harrington. Apr 20 - May 5 THE electoral euphoria of Britain’s historic Labour landslide in July 1945, following Germany’s Second World War surrender, is the background for Patrick Marber’s After Miss Julie, an English reworking of Strindberg’s 1889 classic.

The play relocates the Swedish setting of Strindberg’s original to a country house outside London, with the central character the daughter of a Labour peer who clearly loathes the lower-classes he represents. Miss Julie’s lover is her father’s chauffeur, a decent and reliable Yorkshireman, John, whilst the third edge of the romantic triangle is the pragmatic Christine, the family cook and John’s fiancé.

Victoria Cross’s Miss Julie was childlike, a tease, and someone desperate for acceptance. She did a good job of hiding the insecurities beneath her bravado, especially in the stronger second-act. Mark Anthony’s John was the best

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performance of the night, all arrogant swagger and delivering Marber’s witty ripostes with relish. When surreptitiously enjoying a nicked glass of burgundy, he said, “It’s like Winston Churchill - robust, full-bodied, and finished.” Carrie O’Rourke’s Christine, the smallest of the three roles, was a rock of calm in a one-night-stand scenario you felt she had experienced before.

While it doesn’t have the power of Marber’s 90s Closer, one of the most corrosive of all modern English plays, After Miss Julie still satisfies.

Peter Pinne

Grace Naoum does best with the gender-bending as the thrusting Ajax.

Maya Keys’ set of sand, fallen sandstone and light curtains works cleanly, while her costumes - the Greeks Mad-Maxed into leathers, and the Trojans in looser Middle Eastern fare - bring clarity to this ambitious storytelling. So does a good soundscape and pacy transitions.

It’s a long show but despite an uneven cast and lost theatrical punctuation, it lasts the distance. Suddenly it’s gone and with it, these dangerously empty heroes.

Martin Portus

Troilus And Cressida

By William Shakespeare. Secret House. The Depot Theatre, Marrickville. May 9 - 19.

DUBBED one of Shakespeare’s problem plays, people when they bother at all - debate that Troilus and Cressida is some genre mash of tragedy and comedy, satire or history.

Sean O’Riordan and his epic cast of 19 come close to a better, more radical truth. This is a nihilistic world with vain empty characters; whether Trojan or Greek, all whores to love or war.

O’Riordan has Homer’s warrior stars all strutting out in a celebrity fashion parade, which nicely sums it up.

The challenge is for actors to be good enough to engage us with vacuous heroes short on empathy.

Matthew Bartlett and Jane Angharad are attractive romantic leads but this grandly-worded Troilus is ultimately insincere, just as Cressida is inexplicably two-timing when sent back to the Greeks.

Uncle Pandarus (Charles Upton) acts like a pimp in uniting them and damns all at the end, but our only true moral compass is the Greek slave Thersites. While young Danes Young is charismatic, he shouts away vital rapport with the audience. Emily Stubbs Gregoriou is strong as the prophesizing Cassandra, but no one listens to her!

As for the warriors, Shan-Ree Tan is a good political Ulysses; Margarita Gershkovich partly suggests a narcissistic Achilles, while Emma Wright is his/her male lover Patroclus.

The Importance Of Being Earnest

By Oscar Wilde. WAAPA 3rd Year Acting Students. Directed

by Dan Bird. The Roundhouse Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. May 4 - 10.

WHILE Oscar Wilde’s comedy of manners is undeniably clever, it would not usually be considered that wild or illmannered. Signs warning of adult content were our first indication that this production was a little different.

Set in a pseudo modern (1980s) world - with strong Victorian/Edwardian influences, there were (mostly nonverbal) updates that made this show much more risqué than we’d expect.

Ashley King’s striking set used strong rose imagery, with a major transformation from town to country at interval.

Amalia Lambert made strong costume decisions that set the time period and had beautiful lines. David Silvester gave us a supportive lighting plot, with Kevin Tan’s sound design nodding to both 1980s and 1890s.

The “Earnests”, Jarryd Dobson (Jack) and Tom Jackson (Algernon), had wonderful camaraderie and rivalry.

Jessie Lancaster brought an edge and a touch of sexual aggression to the normally prim Gwendolen, while Kian Pitman blended ambition with sweetness as Cecily.

Shannon Ryan formed a striking figure as Lady Bracknell.

The love story between Lily Stewart’s awkward Miss Prism and Luke Smith’s odd Canon Chasuble was beautifully drawn.

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Stage Whispers 83

Butlers Lane and Merriman were given highly energetic and bold portrayals by William Bartolo and Adam Marks.

While I am not sure that the updating always worked, the opportunity to let the creative team fly, and the journey of exploring the text made the experiment worthwhile.

Oscar Wilde’s beautiful text had the audience rolling with laughter, as did the physical moments that were added.

Kimberley Shaw.

Arms And The Man

By G. Bernard Shaw. Canberra Repertory. Directed by Ed Wightman. Theatre 3, Acton, Canberra. May 17 - Jun 2.

ROUSING the social conscience by mocking social and political conventions, Arms and the Man, penned in 1894 and set during and after the 1885-86 Serbo-Bulgarian war, opens by introducing us to the character of an enemy officer, the Swiss Captain Bluntschili, fleeing massacre, and Raina - fiancée of Sergius, who led the rout of Bluntschilli’s The Last Of The Red Hot Lovers Serbian forces. From there, tensions between proper

By Neil Simon. Halpin Productions. Director: Clem Halpin. behaviour and honourable acts in this “antiromantic” tale, Ocean Shores Community Centre, NSW. May 11 - 20. which George Bernard Shaw wrote as a serious play, CLEM Halpin has opened his latest production in the multiply amusingly as Bluntschili becomes Sergius’s seaside town of Ocean Shores, a couple of kms north of unwitting rival for Raina’s affections.

Brunswick Heads, and for this venture he has chosen the Beautifully crafted in both plot and writing style, the Neil Simon comedy The Last of the Red Hot Lovers. play’s success in being both credible and funny depends This four hander has the luckless Barney Cashman upon enacting its profound insights with finesse. We were desperately trying to score with three women from a variety in for a treat. Except when intentionally overblown - when of backgrounds with hysterical results. it was overblown indeed - the play was well acted and As Cashman, Gray Wilson gave an outstanding paced, Brian Kavanagh’s comic timing being particularly performance, never leaving the stage. He skilfully acute. Its character revelations of overweening ambition; underplayed the role, developing his uncharismatic disgust with war; and pretence even between the betrothed character to become the title of the play. He was ably Raina and Sergius were handled adroitly, as was the supported by his three prospective love interests: Elaine, revelation of the former fugitive after the war as a master of played by Kasadevi Curtis - a foulmouthed bundle of logistics.

The talent behind the scenes deserves special mention: a neuroses; Bobbi Michelle, Veronica Lovejoy - an actress too kooky by half, and Jeanette, Lisa Walmsley - a gloomy, marvellous, intricate set; immaculate costume design, depressed housewife who happens to be married to brought to life with incredible embroidery; and, as usual, Barney’s best friend. Barney’s “love nest” just happened to perfect sound and lighting, all making it an experience to be his mother’s bed-sit and full of her choice of decor. remember long afterward.

Roger McKenzie John P. Harvey Appointment With Death

By Agatha Christie. Hobart Repertory Theatre Company.

Director: Scott Hunt. The Playhouse. May 18 - Jun 2.

THERE is something very satisfying and compelling about Appointment with Death, as with all Agatha Christie mysteries. The characters, or their type, are what we have come to expect and the fun is anticipating how the action will play out.

The set (Rogan Josh and Scott Hunt) is clever, considering the difficulty of depicting desert ruins.

All actors are well cast. Mark Morgan as Alderman “Iggs”, Roger Chevalier as the French Doctor and Kathy Spencer as Lady Westholme typify the genre. Ebba Austen capably carries the load of the love interest. Of note is Stephen Jones’ characterisation of the Dragoman. What could have been an offensive stereotype is turned on its head. Jones does not play the obsequious servant but instead takes the upper hand in poking fun at British sensibilities. Pip Tyrrell is a delight as Mrs Boynton.

Accustomed to playing doddering old ladies, the evil Mrs Boynton gives Tyrrell scope to explore a very different character.

Appointment with Death guarantees an enjoyable evening.

Anne Blythe-Cooper

84 Stage Whispers

Saint Joan

By George Bernard Shaw. Sydney Theatre Company. Roslyn Packer Theatre. Jun 5 - 30.

DIRECTOR Imara Savage (with young writer Emme Hoy) has boldly condensed George Bernard Shaw’s 1923 epic to half its length, and added a handful of evocative monologues giving greater voice to Joan herself.

With pale Sarah Snook centre-stage, surrounded by eight male and black-robed judges, priests or princes, this country girl is doomed from the start.

Joan, though, is not some newly relevant voice of feminist leadership, as some have suggested since Shaw and again in these MeToo times. But this gripping production makes vivid why a power elite, secular and religious, thinks it must crush any individual who speaks and acts - as though with a direct line to God. Cross dresser she may have been, but Joan today would more likely be dismissed as a popularist, a religious fanatic.

Yet the march to her inevitable doom makes this dialectical play, here, also very moving.

Snook is perfect as the naïve, even gauche teenager, unwavering in her convictions.

John Gaden, William Zappa, David Whitney and others give commanding voice to conflicting heresy arguments of Church, King and State, while Sean O’Shea delights as the English imperial bully fixed on burning the whore (Shaw was Irish!).

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Saint Joan.

Photo: Brett Boardman.

David Fleischer’s towering wall of pleated cloth entombs an almost naked stage, which the actors never leave but move across like black chess-pieces. Max Lyandvert’s bell and long notes adds yet more tension to this compelling production.

Martin Portus Brisbane

By Matthew Ryan. Villanova Players. Director: Bruce Parr.

F.T. Barrell Auditorium, Yeronga, Qld. May 12 - 27.

BRISBANE is a poetic coming-of-age play that deals in abstract reminders of the past in a non-linear narrative built around the dreams and experiences of 14-year old Danny Fisher, his adolescent stories, his schoolyard bullying, his hero-worship of his older RAAF flying brother Frank, and his sexual awakening with his best friend Patty.

Danny is a big role and whoever plays it has to have exceptional talent. Fortunately, Villanova have found him in newcomer Bryson Morris McGuire, who had empathy, wonderment and compassion, mixed with some brilliant comic timing that raised the performance level time and time again. Matching him at the same level was Dayna Ekundayo as his schoolmate and best friend, the physically incapacitated Patty. With her dirty mouth and no-nonsense attitude she lit up the stage. Their growing up is played out against a backdrop of Brisbane in 1942, when the town is overrun with American servicemen, General MacArthur has drawn the infamous “Brisbane Line,” and the Japanese have bombed Darwin.

Michael McNish did double duty as Danny’s big brother Frank and his American look-alike Andy, displaying genuine brotherly love in the former, and a happy-to-help flying instructor in the latter. Danny’s parents were nicely etched

by Tom Coyle and Michelle Malawkin, Oliva Pinwell captured the emotional ambivalence of Rose, the suitor to both Frank and Andy, whilst a series of cameos were nicely drawn by Cameron Gaffney, Jonny Bentley, Darcy Jones and Robyn Kearney.

Peter Pinne The Shifting Heart

By Richard Beynon. Centenary Theatre Group. Director: Janine Francis. Community Centre, Chelmer, Qld. May 18 Jun 2.

RICHARD Beynon’s The Shifting Heart was the first play to deal with Australia’s xenophobic attitude to immigrants.

Set in a terraced house in Melbourne’s inner-suburb of Collingwood, Beynon’s play looks at an Italian working-class family, the Bianchis, trying to break down barriers and prejudice at a time when all immigrants were lumped together and labelled “New Australians” and called “wops” and “dagoes.” By today’s standards, the play’s racism is very tame, the plot melodramatic, and the second-act wordy, but its timelessness is what gives it contemporary currency.

Rod Felsch’s Poppa Bianchi was the lynch-pin, maintaining a fractured English accent throughout and bringing nice touches of fatherly warmth and humour to a man with the odds stacked against him and the

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Stage Whispers 85

Shirley Valentine.

Photo: Anna Kucera.

Online extras!

Step into the rehearsal room of Shirley Valentine. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/qeqyrgbTQYU

determination to beat them. Paula White’s Momma was staunchly supportive, bringing affection and a heightened emotion to the tragedy that unfolded. Newcomer Adeodatus McCormick brought fiery passion to the impetuous Gino, whilst Simone-Maree Dickson’s Maria throbbed with heartache. Daniel Medda missed the earthiness of Clarry, but Joanne Robinson’s Leila had it in buckets. Stepping in at the last minute, Laurie Webb was double cast as the next-door drunken lout Donny, and the laconic Detective Lukie. It was a credit to his ability they were both distinctive characters.

It may be dated, but this Australian classic still burns with truth.

Peter Pinne Shirley Valentine

By Willy Russell. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. May 3 - Jun 9.

‘MARRIAGE is like the Middle East - there’s no solution!’

So says 42-year-old Shirley Bradshaw in her typical, straightforward Liverpool manner. Once she used to be Shirley Valentine. Now she talks to the walls in her Liverpool semi-detached home.

Written in 1986, Shirley Valentine is a forerunner in social history: a popular play dealing with everyday events that shines a bright beam on how we live. It’s smart, funny and humane. And this new production, by the Ensemble Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry, goes at it full blast.

It’s best if you have a fine actress in tune with the part and Kilmurry has saved it for several years until his Shirley 86 Stage Whispers

became available. On opening night before a packed audience Sharon Millerchip shows what she can do with brilliant material and an alert production. She is a knockout.

With an acceptable Scouse accent, she pertly filled in the background of her character - how dull and mundane her life had become, how her friend was unexpectedly offering her a fortnight’s holiday on a Greek island, and how she couldn’t even tell her husband about it. Was she going?

You betcha.

Millerchip covers the ground: loneliness, regret and emotional abuse mixed with biting humour. ‘Most of us die long before we’re dead,’ she says.

The play suits this venue; it seems to fit. The setting, designed by Simone Romaniuk, is great.

Frank Hatherley A Prudent Man

By Katy Warner. Adam Fawcett and A Lab Kelpie. Gardens Theatre. May 11 - 12.

WHAT would happen if a right-wing politician was faced with the consequences of his rhetoric? It’s the proposition that forms the basis of this hard-hitting but hilarious black comedy by Katy Warner. Bigotry, inhumanity, harassment and privilege are all up for examination throughout this one-man-show. The script keeps you guessing and intrigued all the way to the shocking dénouement.

Acting by Lyall Brooks was without flaw. The performance was very well paced and Lyall’s emotional

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range was impressive. He was a master of his vocal tones and volume, able to project a whisper to the back of the room one moment and blow your hair back with a shout the next. At no point would you question his validity. He was the embodiment of every weasel-word-wielding politician.

There’s not much that can be said of the minimalist set design. A comfortable chair, side table, water and one light was all the show required. The lighting state didn’t appear to change throughout. Our protagonist was at a TV interview so the lighting choice was appropriate. Direction

by Katy Warner must have revolved mostly around interpretation and emotions, as the character was sitting for the performance. No further movement was necessary to support the script.

The minimalist design and economy of movement allowed us to concentrate on the play’s message. It’s a message that feels much needed in today’s world. Thank goodness there are playwrights like Katy out there reminding us to question everything our leaders say and do.

Kiesten McCauley Baskerville - A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

By Ken Ludwig. Spotlight’s Basement Theatre, Benowa, Gold Coast. Co-Directors: Kaela Gray and Katie Grace. Apr 27 - May 13.

THIS production was a mixture of revue, pantomime and slapstick comedy.

Originally written for a cast of five: Holmes, Watson and 43 other characters to be played by 3 people, the codirectors have augmented the cast to 9 very active performers.

Minimal props and scenery were used together with a plethora of wigs, costumes, (somewhat dubious) accents and a certain amount of cross-dressing to transport the audience around the Devonshire Moors.

Adam Hellier played Sherlock Holmes and Cassia Rosenstraus-Krojs in a “trouser role”, portrayed of Dr Watson. George Pulley was impressive as Sir Henry Baskerville (and others), Alex Breen as Dr Mortimer (and others) and Cassie Baan as Mrs Barrymore (and others), while four performers / stage hands / general dogs bodies all gprovided able support.

Character and costumes changes were many, frantic and all went off without a hitch.

For both Co-Directors - Kaela Gray and Katie Grace - this mammoth task was their second production and as relative “newbies” the ladies achieved a commendable result.

Roger McKenzie

time. It moves quickly and efficiently without losing the impact of the repartee or the hypocrisies that Wilde cleverly exposed.

Owen Gimblett (set) and Peter Henson (costumes) have come up with charmingly stylish ideas and Michael Schell’s lighting sets the atmosphere poignantly.

Ritchie’s cast have been schooled in the deportment of the time, depicting the social ostentation of the period, and hence Wilde’s censure of it. Dialogue is delivered precisely with studied gestures and expressions that underline the nuance behind the words.

Cameron Hutt almost simpers as Algernon, his sharp wit covered by feigned lethargy. Ted Crosby is a very upright and suave Jack. Melanie Robinson carries the character of Lady Bracknell with a sense of grandeur and just a little pomposity.

Emma Wright and Rosanna Hurley work skilfully together as Gwendolen and Cecily. Wright is beautifully ‘chic’, yet finds the intelligence of the character. Hurley delights as Cecily, depicting the character’s youthful exuberance with perceptive charm.

Ritchie has made this production one a fitting tribute to this final year of the Genesian at Kent Street.

Carol Wimmer

Diary Of A Madman

By Nikolai Gogol. Adapted for stage by David Holman.

Developed by Geoffrey Rush and Neil Armfield. Directed by Caroline Stacey. Produced by The Street, Canberra. Jun 2 - 16.

A BEAUTIFUL young woman in a shimmering silver dress, strappy heels and Jackie Onassis sunglasses sashays across the stage in waltz time. Obsessed with this vision, Propishchin waltzes close behind her, his eyes half-closed in delirium, nostrils almost flaring as though to smell her, but then she’s out of his reach and gone. Right there, Propishchin’s heart and mind break. It’s a moment of agonising poignancy, and one that doesn’t exist in the original story as Gogol wrote it. The scene captures the tone of The Street’s production of Diary of a Madman.

This production is based on the adaptation by English playwright David Holman, which was expanded by Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush for their celebrated 1989 production for the Belvoir. PJ Williams as the madman Aksentii Propishchin isn’t as comic as I’m imagining Rush would have been, and his absurdities raise more wry chuckles than belly laughs. What Williams does have in spades is sheer humanity. As in The Faithful Servant of a few years ago, he plays this flawed and nasty character with such empathy that it’s impossible not to feel for him. His madness is exquisite torture.

The Importance Of Being Earnest Lily Constantine is excellent as three supporting

By Oscar Wilde. Genesian Theatre, Kent Street, Sydney. May characters: Finnish charwoman Tuovi, the Director’s 26 - Jun 30 daughter Sophia and inmate Tatiana. The set comprises an IT can be a little harrowing to take on the task of industrial staircase with low lights of unnatural colours and directing such an oft’ produced play, but first-time director there is constant movement and energy, meaning the pace Trudy Ritchie has obviously approached the challenge with doesn’t flag. Altogether, the production is haunting and dedicated zeal. Her production captures the elegance and heartbreaking. wit of Wilde’s writing and the ‘modish’ manners of the Cathy Bannister Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 87

The Walworth Farce

By Enda Walsh. Workhorse Theatre Company / Bakehouse Theatre. Directed by Kim Hardwick. The Kings Cross Theatre. May 18 - Jun 9.

UP MANY stairs at the Kings Cross Hotel, in a small space made more cramped by a huge amount of thirdhand furniture, there’s a ritual going on. At 11 every morning in his triple-locked Walworth Road, London highrise, Dinny (Laurence Coy) - monstrously bewigged in his 50s - hits the button on his cassette player and plays ‘That’s An Irish Lullaby’. It’s the cue for his grown-up sons Sean (Troy Harrison) and Blake (Robin Goldsworthy) to repeat a ghastly play explaining why they had to leave Ireland years ago.

Since they’ve been performing it 365 days per year for many years, it’s slick and lightning fast. Dinny rules this Irish roost with an iron fist and he plays himself. The two brothers play everyone else, with Blake notable as all the women in a jumble of battered wigs and dresses.

So fast are the performances, it’s impossible for me to accurately tell you what’s going on. Something ghastly happened in Ireland, that’s for sure, and the family have been forced to repeat the warped story ad infinitum.

All performances are spot-on and, once some order is restored to your mind, Enda Walsh’s amazing script begins to work its magic. The desperate final section is rich in meaning. Director Kim Hardwick keeps a tight rein on proceedings that could so easily run out of control. And Isabel Hudson’s setting and costumes are nothing short of wonderful - a veritable Op Shop in itself.

Frank Hatherley

Russel Byrne had the difficult task of stepping in with 3 weeks left of rehearsals.

Hannah Doyle, Hannah Dight and Kristyn Barnes as the ‘girlfriends’ are all convincing in their roles.

Danni Fulcher and Mike Phillips as Michael Feather’s mother and father provide many of the show’s laughs.

Susie Daniel’s Marion Feather (Russell’s wife) leaves you wondering whether she wants to stay with her husband or dip her toe into other waters.

Rhi Shapcott and Kieren Drost are the love-struck Priscilla Plankton and Humbert Carpington, who would love to be married, but just have no idea how.

Continental Quilt is an entertaining night out that will have you thinking twice before attempting a clandestine affair.

Barry Hill

The Return

By Reg Cribb. KADS. Directed by Brittany Isaia. KADS Theatre, Kalamunda, WA. Apr 27 - May 12.

THE RETURN, filmed as The Last Train to Freo, follows the journey of the last train of the night travelling from Midland to Fremantle.

KADS’ set, furnished and finished with help from Transperth, recreated a Perth train - an effective, immersive design by Owen Davis. Lighting was realistic under care of Mark Ramsey and Joy Miles. The sound design (Mark Ramsey and Brittany Isaia) was extremely and necessarily complex, and well timed by operator Eden Sambridge.

Cameron Leese gave a powerful performance as ex-con Steve - with a strong emotional journey. Steven Ozanne played offsider Trev with characterisation that worked well, Continental Quilt quirky and offbeat. Jade Gurney played law student Lisa

By Joan Greening. Tea Tree Players. Tea Tree Players Theatre, with nuance and subtlety. Alexandra Geneve made a Surrey Downs (SA). May 24 - Jun 2. welcome return to the stage as ‘salt of the earth’ Maureen.

CONTINENTAL Quilt is like a game of Happy Families, Matthias Pesch rounded out the cast with a late appearance except these families are not so happy! that is pivotal.

A classic door farce requires split second timing and lots The Return is something of a latter day West Australian of pace. This production had both in bucket loads. classic. KADS’ production was a solid retelling that First time director Lachlan Blackwell chose an ambitious entertained. farce and to a very large extent he was successful.

Kimberley Shaw Ben Forster’s Michael Feather channelled Basil Fawlty in many ways. After a hesitant start he quickly warmed up and Twelfth Night had the audience laughing.

By William Shakespeare. Queensland Theatre. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). Apr 28 - May 19.

TWELFTH Night’s classic romantic comedy of confused chaos and social disorder has been much copied on stage and screen. This production takes Shakespeare’s musical playground to another level with new songs by hit-maker Tim Finn that give the action welcome pace. They also help us connect to the characters and bring to life the play’s themes of change, emotional loss, longing, love and desire.

The songs free up the performers to let their hair down with great vocal performances from the lead and supporting cast, backed by a live band.

The carousel stage design by Tracy Grant Lord is perfect.

Get noticed on the Stage Whispers Her canopy of lights and rotating rotunda reinforce the pull website with a premium listing of the stars and the role of fate in the action.

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88 Stage Whispers

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Twelfth Night.

Photo: Rob Maccoll.

Online extras!

Audiences loved Twelfth Night as much as our reviewer. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/i5No5tK6njo While director Sam Strong could have been braver with his script scalpel, he deftly uses the music to give Twelfth Night the facelift it needs to bring it up to 21st century speed.

The reinvigorated gender-bending hijinks allow Christen O’Leary to have high-camp Rocky Horror-esque fun as Malvolia. Sandro Colarelli is a standout as the devilish Fool, Feste - belting out musical numbers with cabaret abandon.

Jessica Tovey milks empathy from sad Viola and humour from sparky Cesario. Jason Klarwein’s Duke Orsino is also warm and likeable. Rising above the challenge, Liz Buchanan brings a wit to her Olivia that is strong and savvy.

However, Kurt Phelan’s powerful stage presence seems wasted on the cameo Antonio.

This production creates a collision of music and theatre that had front-row QT subscribers standing to ovation.

Beth Keehn

with two Melbourne barmaids awaiting in December, 1953, the arrival of Queensland canecutters who spend their five-month off-seasons in romantic relationships. But, as one of the original female participants has married a local man, the other, Olive (played by Danielle Asquith), has recruited a fellow worker, Pearl (Emma Wood), who is increasingly uncertain about getting involved. And one of the canecutters, Roo (Michael Byrne), suffered a serious injury during the year which has affected his outlook, while his mate, Barney (James Chapman), is nervous about meeting a new summer partner.

The actors made these very much people that audience members could connect with, and the other characters likewise were very much everyday figures, with Olive’s sharp -tongued mother, Emma (Janet Gillam), in whose house the action takes place, amusingly trying to put them all under her control, Bubba (Samantha Lambert), a 22-year-old next door woman, gushingly telling how much fun the men have been since she was a child, and a young cane-cutter, Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll

By Ray Lawler. Newcastle Theatre Company. Apr 28 - May 12 Johnnie (Jarrod Sansom), who took Roo’s place in the cutting team, turning up and showing he is trying to follow THIS production of Ray Lawler’s play about an annual in the older men’s footsteps. romantic get-together that runs into problems in its 17th year showed why it has been such a hit since it was first Cheryl Sovechles previously showed with her staging of staged in 1955 and became the first Australian play to wow another Australian classic, The One Day of the Year, how good locally written works are. It will be interesting to see global audiences.

The cast, under the direction of Cheryl Sovechles, her next choice of an Aussie play.

Ken Longworth brought out the sharp humour and moving nature of the conversations and remarks from the opening moments, Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

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Reviews: Musicals

Godspell.

Photo: Jason Abbott.

Godspell Conceived by John-Michael Tebelak. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Irregular Productions and Lydian Productions. Director: Karen Sheldon. Music Direction: Martin Cheney. Choreographer: Kerry-Lynne Hauber. The Parks Theatre, Adelaide. May 11 - 19.

BORN from the era that gave rise to hippie culture and its ideals of peace-and-love, Godspell spoke to a generation that were able to embrace what they saw as the positive, relatable aspects contained in the Gospels and their account of Jesus’ teachings.

Does this particular stage musical spectacular still have the power to connect with modern audiences, whether believers or agnostics? Director Karen Sheldon, along with a remarkable ensemble cast, and a flawless backing band, prove beyond a doubt that Godspell is a treat for the ages (and for all ages).

From the opening number, there is no mistaking this for anything other than a professional-standard performance, a show that sparkles. This is achieved far less through elaborate visuals than by the pure thrill of seeing a bunch of performers - none of whom really get any ‘time off’ out of the audience’s view - applying their considerable talents and energies to a warm, lively, uplifting piece of theatre.

Leading man Mark Oates’ take on the one-and-only Messiah is intriguing and engaging, matched by the charisma of Joshua Angeles as both Judas and John, the Baptist. Surrounding them are an ensemble who demonstrate end-to-end that the songs of Stephen 90 Stage Whispers

Schwartz and choreography by Kerry-Lynne Hauber are in the best of all possible hands.

Anthony Vawser Be More Chill Music and Lyrics by Joe Iconis. Phoenix Theatre, Memorial Hall, Spearwood, WA. May 18 - Jun 2.

ALTHOUGH it’s yet to have a Broadway run, the musical Be More Chill, based on Ned Vizzini’s novel of the same name, has an “underground” cult following which led to capacity houses and required Musical Director Krispin Maesalu to ask audience members not to sing along.

The show centres around social outcast Jeremy Heere (a likeable Charlie Darlington), who joins the school play to get closer to beautiful Christine (a lovely Dylan Dorotich).

Bully Rich Goranski (a strong Aaron O’Neill) tells Jeremy about a pill called a “super quantum unit intel processor” or SQUIP, which promises to change his life.

The cast had clear camaraderie, working well as a team, Stand-out performances included Peter Ho as Michael definitely a talent to watch. Joshua Towns is striking in a very strong portrayal of the SQUIP, an ultra-cool computer generated image who sets out to improve (but destroy) Jeremy’s life.

All of the cast gave focused, realistic performances which worked well in the highly unlikely scenario. The Phoenix production had no additional ensemble, meaning core cast worked especially hard.

First time director Benjamin Albert kept pace moving and showed promise. Phoenix is a challenging space, and

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blocking allowed for this in innovative ways. Choreography was clever with some shining moments - especially ‘chair’ dancing.

Sound balance was good, with both band and singing voices strong.

It’s great to see a show with a broad and different appeal bringing new audiences to community theatre.

Kimberley Shaw Piccadilly Olde Time Music Hall Conceived and Directed by Kate Peters. Top Hat Productions. Gold Coast Little Theatre, Southport. Apr 27 May 6.

THE Olde Time Music Hall was a popular form of British entertainment of yesteryear.

It featured many of the popular songs of the day, like “The Pheasant Plucker”, performed by the well-loved entertainers of the period, interspersed with the witty patter from the convivial Master of Ceremonies, Mr Martin Jennings.

In this production, Mrs Peters has assembled an ensemble well suited to this style of entertainment and features well-known Gold Coast performers including Mrs Kirri Adams, Mrs Sheila Bradley, Mr Arthur Shacklock, Mr Grant Ebbling and Mrs Peters herself, accompanied by Mrs Mary Walters on the piano and Mr Henk Steenhuis on drums.

The audience needed very little encouragement to join in singing along with the performers and enjoyed the presentation.

A couple of “hic-ups” along the way didn’t mar the evening, however problems with the sound during one particular song was disappointing - considering the amount of money GCLT have invested in upgrading the theatre’s technical equipment.

All in all - an entertaining piece reminiscent of a bygone era.

Roger McKenzie Les Misérables Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Original French text by Alain Boublil and JeanMarc Natel. Director: JJ Geelen. South Coast Choral and Arts Society. Victor Harbor Town Hall, SA. May 11 - 26.

ONE could fairly ask if this show has finally reached the point of overexposure, unable to avoid looking/sounding/ feeling worn out. Perhaps someday this will come to pass but not yet, not by a long shot.

With the pace kept fluid and the tone well-modulated throughout, it’s a sheer pleasure to revisit this grand, passionate tale. The generally simple set design functions, for the most part, very effectively, with the majority of scene changes being efficiently executed, while lighting design makes a strong contribution to the overall atmosphere.

Jon Grear’s characterisation of Jean Valjean communicates less of the desperate, hardened prisoner than one would wish; nevertheless, the performer is certainly capable of holding centre stage while

commanding our sympathy throughout. Guy Mansbridge, as the iconic antagonist Javert, brings conviction to the character’s self-righteous steadfastness, while lacking a little in the traits of intimidation and obsessiveness that might have made this a truly rounded and memorable portrayal.

The orchestra has its wobbly moments, but is generally up to the mammoth task at hand, while the quality of contribution made by the chorus/ensemble is consistently high, and goes a long way toward ensuring the all-around satisfaction that one leaves the theatre with. This production may not be a perfect one, but it gets so much so right so often that it’s still a glory to behold.

Anthony Vawser South Pacific

By Rodgers and Hammerstein. Queensland Musical Theatre Production. Director: Deian Ping. Musical Director: Gerry Crooks. Choregrapher: Ruth Gabriel. Schonell Theatre, St Lucia. Jun 6 - 10.

DEIAN Ping’s production of South Pacific is reverential to the source material with some good performances all round, but an outstanding song and dance turn by Louise Drysdale as Nellie Forbush sets the bar extremely high.

Ebullient, with a gift for humour and a bright clear singing voice she was the epitome of the small-town nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas. She carried the show. Opposite her, Valdemar Jakobsen was a stiff, patriarchal Emile De Becque who made the most of the score’s two classic solos, “Some Enchanted Evening” and “This Nearly Was Mine”.

Maria Newman brought fire and personality to the opportunistic Bloody Mary, singing an expressive “Bali Hai” and a charming finger-talking “Happy Talk” with Thien-Tam Nguyen (Liat). Michael Lewis was appropriately hunk material as Cable, James Rogers mined the comedy of the raffish Luther Billis, scoring laughs with “Honey Bun”, whilst Matai and Jai Godbold brought a sincere innocence to De Becque’s children Ngana and Jerome.

The men’s chorus were virile and sounded great on “There Is Nothing like a Dame”, with the women’s chorus matching them in vocal prowess as they lustily sang the reprise of “I’m In Love with a Wonderful Guy”.

The use of full-stage tropical island video projections throughout the show was a great idea and instantly transported you to the locations, likewise the footage of vintage warfare planes and troops added a period reality.

Peter Pinne Shrek The Musical Music by Jeanine Tesori, with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. Stray Cats Theatre Company. Directed by Karen Francis. Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. May 17 - 20.

STRAY Cats Theatre Company and Mandurah Performing Arts Centre brought this fabulous, fractured fairy-tale to life in a big, bold production.

Nicholas Gaynor was great fun, navigating the title role with a great presence and lovely voice. He was nicely paired with Lisa Taylor, who danced up a storm as Fiona - perhaps

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unsurprisingly, given she shared choreographic duties with Ashleigh Riley.

Jioji Nawanawa made an astonishing theatrical debut as Donkey, in a parfait of a performance with lots of layers Harry Stacey stepped up at the last minute to play Lord Farquaad in a very impressive, very funny performance, while Angus Young was a very funny Big Bad Wolf.

A gorgeous Dragon was constructed by David Hartley, which was a show highlight. Moved by six puppeteers, she had loads of personality and was given a power-house voice by Kristie Gray.

Shrek features a plethora of minor roles, played with character and enthusiasm. Standouts included Alyssa Burton’s Gingy and Sugar Plum Fairy, and Michele Gould’s Ugly Duckling, but all were great fun, and beautifully costumed.

Bronwyn White’s set used multiple levels well, with lighting (Karen Francis and Clint Gerard) adding mood.

The show was strong vocally, with the orchestra very tight, under the leadership of Musical Director Varintha Hart.

A big production with lots of heart and great for all ages.

Kimberley Shaw

Gary Wetherilt’s set was stylish, and there was good attention to detail in chosen set pieces. Costuming (Yvette Wetherilt and Kel Barnard) was lovely. Wigs (Lynda Stubbs) were excellent. Liam Gobbert led a talented 8 piece band.

The sun did come out tomorrow, with a feel-good production that delighted audiences.

Kimberley Shaw

Spamalot Book and Lyrics by Eric Idle. Music by John Du Prez. Marie Clark Musical Theatre. Arts. Theatre, Adelaide. May 26 - Jun 2.

COULD there be anyone who has not seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Possibly, but even if they haven’t they will still enjoy Spamalot.

Brian Godfrey must have Monty Python burnt into his mind because the sense of humour and silliness is constant and has the audience laughing from start to finish.

Michael Butler is every inch King Arthur - pompous, selffocussed, with a rich velvety voice.

Casmira Hambledon steals the show in her portrayal of The Lady of The Lake.

Buddy Dawson continues his run of comic roles with another success in a blonde wig that refuses to behave.

Sebastian Cooper makes the most of Sir Galahad, exceling in his duet with The Lady of The Lake.

Annie Jamie Wright recreates the famous “I fart in your Music by Charles Strouse. Lyrics by Martin Charnin. Book By general direction” scene to great effect.

Thomas Meehan. Roleystone Theatre. Directed by Tyler Chris Bierton’s rendition of Dennis Galahad’s mother is Eldridge. Kalamunda Performing Arts Centre. May 12 - 19. coarse, brash and someone who takes no nonsense from ROLEYSTONE Theatre’s Annie was lucky to reach the anyone. stage. After a last minute scramble to find a replacement Patsy is a hard role, being mostly pantomime, and Ben venue, they played at Kalamunda Performing Arts Centre.

Todd really nails it Despite difficulties, Annie was a great little show, with Damien Quick plays many characters, but none more excellent production values and some impressive memorable than the effeminate Prince Herbert. performances.

The Spamalot chorus changes costumes with ease and Bella Freeman was a delight in the title role. This spunky, at the drop of a hat. The choreography by Rachel Dow and animated performer charmed the audience and sang Rebekah Stonelaitken plays to their strengths. beautifully. Her best friend Sandy was played by Guinness, Ben Stefanoff’s orchestra provides a solid backing to the well trained by Angela Wright. Half a dozen orphans singers and is equally impressive in its own right. blended toughness with a heap of cuteness.

Spamalot is a must for all Python fans. Even if you are Peter Knol captured the transformation of Oliver not, you will probably be converted by the end of the Warbucks from mogul to “Daddy”, nicely paired with an show! elegant and efficient Celeste Underhill as Grace.

Barry Hill Katt Nelson, in a stunning community theatre debut, brought new ideas to Miss Hannigan, while Tim Tyrie and Pride & Prejudice - A New Musical Madeleine Shaw were strong, and audience favourites, as Script by Carl Lawton, adapted from the novel by Jane Rooster and Lily.

Austen. Music by Louella Jury, lyrics by Carl Lawton. The Zachary Cave belied his youth and inexperience to create Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Tasmania. Director: Anne a convincing President Roosevelt.

Blythe-Cooper. Playhouse Theatre Hobart. Jun 8 - 23.

A small ensemble was kept busy, playing multiple small THIS is the third performance of this musical version of roles. Chris Alvaro had a marathon of a show playing ten Jane Austen’s classic novel I have seen. This more fully roles, giving each a distinctive character. Mikaela Innes was realised vision, showcasing the talents of The Gilbert & a fabulous Star-To-Be, with all the ensemble focused and Sullivan Society of Tasmania, was also entertaining. clear.

Interesting directorial and staging choices by director Anne Schoolgirl choreographers Connie Wetherilt and Ebony Blythe-Cooper (who performed in the previous version) Uetake stepped beyond expectations with well constructed added to the production values, but could have been risky. and appropriate choreography, nicely executed by a cast of The sets were clever and quite lovely with great varying experience. attention to detail. I loved the “Pemberley Hall” set. Text 92 Stage Whispers

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Rent.

Online extras!

Watch a video from the opening night of Rent. Simply scan the QR code or visit http://bit.ly/2K6jdMf projected onto the set during Miss Austen narration was an interesting ploy. The choice of using a revolving set - to make to make the most of scene changes, in a timely and (mostly) effective fashion, worked, allowing for fast mood and scene changes.

The music was excellent: pianist Iestyn Perry, flautist Teresa Kingsbury and cellist Alex Legg were marvellous.

Voices, as expected of a G&S production, were of a high standard. Lovely, very well-mannered chorus work had a certain tableau effect which worked beautifully.

Stand-out singers included Anna Maynard (Lizzie Bennet), Andrew Hickman (Mr Darcy), Naarah Barnes (narrator, Miss Austen) and young Daniel Whitfort (Charles Bingley). Ian Williams (Rev William Collins) was pomposity itself, and Helen Edwards (Lady Catherine de Bourgh) excruciatingly snobby. The Bennet’s, Phillip Crouch and (understudy) Sara Coates, were just as we expect: Mr Bennet, droll and sympathetic, Mrs Bennet, irritatingly foolish. There were too many people to compliment, with the Ensemble the secret to the success of a musical such as this.

Merlene Abbott Rent

By Jonathan Larson. Director: Tim Hill. QPAC & Matt Ward Entertainment. Cremorne Theatre. May 2 - 20.

DIRECTOR Tim Hill is clearly one of those people for whom this musical holds special significance. He’s approached the production with meticulous attention to

detail and has drawn out some outstanding work from his cast and crew.

Trent Owers shone as Angel. He was fearless, believable and lithe. James Shaw (Tom Collins) sang beautifully and delivered a heartbreakingly lovely performance after Angel’s death. Ruby Clark (Maureen Johnson) had great commitment during her hilarious art protest. Tom Oliver as Mark Cohen carried the narrative amiably and acted convincingly. Ensemble player Hannah Grodin’s singing was fabulous in ‘Seasons of Love’.

Choreography by Assistant Director Tess Hill was excellent and supported the balanced blocking from brother Tim’s direction. As a bit of an art nerd, I enjoyed set designer Maria-Rose Payne’s nods to New York street art and graffiti culture and to Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Lighting by Wesley Bluff was taken to the next level thanks to a sculpture by Matt Godden that incorporated bright white lights.

Tying it all together was some reliable musical direction from Ben Murray and the band, which we got to watch in action throughout the show. The Brechtian choice to have the band onstage added to the effect of a crowded Alphabet City where creative artists are struggling to survive.

While the themes and storyline of Rent are definitely starting to feel a little retro and dated, the cast, crew and directors did such a great job, and the Brisbane audience adored the production.

Kiesten McCauley

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Funny Girl Music: Jule Styne. Lyrics: Bob Merrill. Book: Isobel Lennart.

Noosa Arts Theatre Inc. Director: Ian McKellar.

Choreographer: Libbie Hendrie. Arts Theatre, Noosa, Qld. Apr 19 - May 5.

WHEN Michelle Lamarca as Fanny Brice sang “I’m the Greatest Star” a frisson of electricity went up my spine and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I knew that whatever the rest of the performance held we were in good hands. And with show-topping performances of some of musical theatre’s greatest anthems, “Don’t Rain on my Parade,” “People” and “My Man”, Lamarca proved she was more than just run-of-the-mill. Not only did she nail the songs, her portrayal of vaudeville comic Brice was rooted so deep into the character that it had incredible pathos, incredible warmth, and was endearingly funny.

Adam Adra was a smooth and suave Nicky Arnstein, whose performance gave nuance and depth to a fairly conventional character. Linda Gefken mined Mrs Brice’s Jewish humour for multiple laughs, as did Yvie Somerville’s Mrs Strakosh. Glen Miller’s theatre-weary Music Hall owner Mr Keeney was an assured presence throughout, but pitchy vocals sometimes let down Steven Mitchell’s otherwise strong portrayal of Brice’s mentor and confidante Eddie Ryan.

The bevy of Ziegfeld lovelies added glamour to the production numbers, as did the period perfect costumes.

But it was Lamarca’s show - one of the Sunshine Coast’s best triple-threat performers. Top marks to director Ian Mackellar (assisted by Jo Hendrie) for giving her the opportunity and to Noosa Arts Theatre for mounting this forgotten musical classic.

Peter Pinne Carousel

By Rodgers and Hammerstein. WAAPA Music Theatre Students. Directed by Jason Langley. Regal Theatre, Subiaco, WA. Jun 16 - 23.

RODGERS and Hammerstein’s Carousel has darker overtones than its contemporary shows, but director Jason Langley’s production, featuring WAAPA’s Second and Third Year Music Theatre students, is an especially dark edged incarnation.

A particularly difficult musical to stage in the #metoo era - as it forgives, if not condones domestic violence - this production of Carousel is raw, the violence is open (thanks to excellent fight choreography by Andy Fraser) and the difficulties of loving an abusive man are well portrayed. Set in a period ranging from the Vietnam War to the mid 1980s, a more recent setting brings the events closer to our audience’s experience.

WAAPA’s biggest production of the year is an excellent showcase of much of what WAAPA can offer. While the set and lighting are designed by guest artists, they are aided by student assistants - the outstanding costumes were created by a student team, sound was designed by Maddison Bradfield, and stage management was led by Brooke

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Verburg, among the seventy plus students on the creative and production teams.

David King leads an eighteen-piece orchestra, all students, who play with precision.

Amy Fortnum is a likeable, sympathetic Julie Jordan, who plays the 15 year age range of her character convincingly. Her best friend Carrie Pepperidge is played with a lovely sense of fun by Jessica Clancy.

Andrew Coshan plays both sides of Billy Bigelow, giving him both apparent charm and frightening volatility, with a beautifully resonant voice. Todd Peydo is a wonderfully villainous Jigger Craigin. Kurt Russo provides a lovely contrast as the awkward but reliable Enoch Snow.

Stacey Thomsett brings depth to the fleeting appearances of Mrs Mullin, and Elise Muley gives a mature performance as ‘Aunt’ Nettie Fowler despite her obvious youth - with her rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone a highlight.

Alexandra Cornish makes a lovely 15 year old Louise Bigelow - her late in show appearance worth the wait.

Both the second and third years are strong cohorts, with strong vocal and dancing performances. A beautifully choreographed prologue (Cameron Mitchell), including a gorgeous carousel sequence, sets the standard for strong work throughout.

While the violence and the occasional risqué moments may have been somewhat shocking, Carousel is an excellent public display of WAAPA’s high standards and a snapshot of the future of the industry.

Kimberley Shaw Camelot

By Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. Directed by Neroli Sweetman. May 4-12.

OLD Mill Theatre revived classic musical Camelot in a beautiful looking production that felt good and sounded lovely.

George Boyd created a vast Camelot on the pocket size stage, his sets supplemented by stunning projections.

Michelle Sharp’s costumes were picture-book polished and pretty.

Richard Hadler was a likeable, affable King Arthur, forming a strong union with Ellen Brookes’ stunning, sweet -voiced Guinevere. Thomas Dimmick brought confidence and a touch of narcissism to interloper Lancelot.

Music Director Justin Freind shines as quirky King Pellinore. Craig Menner’s Merlin is quietly magical, Howard Steinberg does well as Sir Didian, Jenny Trestrail gives depth to Morgan le Fey and Adam Lebransky brings lightness to Dap. Tahlia Menner gives lovely ethereal voice to Nimue, Felix Malcolm, brings youthful maturity to malevolent Mordred, Eliza Malcom performs well as a loyal page, while Denver Havercroft is a delight as Tom of Warwick, a perfectly tuned performance of this hope for the future.

A pleasant night of old-fashioned escapism.

Kimberley Shaw

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Pirates Of Penzance.

Schools On Stage

Essgee’s Pirates Of Penzance

By W.S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Additional material by Melvyn Morrow. Directed by Lisa Laurino. Gibney Hall, Trinity College, Perth, WA. May 10 - 12.

TRINITY College’s production style was camp, larger than life, less than subtle and lots of fun. A large cast meant the stage was full to the brim with pirates, all in fine voice and highly focused.

The Pirate King was played with purple-panted panache

by Kosta Paraskov. Declan Allen was a lovely leading man as Frederic, bringing earnest devotion to duty in an impossible situation. He worked beautifully with Sophie Hamer, a gorgeously voiced Mabel.

Jayda D’Agostino stole scenes as Ruth - an amazing performance from a 15 year old. Roberto Iazzi was strong as Samuel.

Jeremy Hansen is the very model of a modern Major General, with a lovely broad-stroke performance, with Patrick O’Donoghue a lovely, lanky Police Sergeant with laudable low tones.

Essgees’ sisters rock out more than is traditional, and a dozen young ladies (borrowed from other schools) brought fine fettle and pizazz.

The team of police were the best I have seen outside a professional production, ten true baritones who danced very well. Choreographer Paula Nicoletto created innovative dances throughout.

‘With Cat-like tread’ was a highlight, as were interactions with Musical Director/Conductor Robert Braham, who led an orchestra of students and community members. Some lovely ‘improvisations’ were in play, and the use of a zip-line.

Pirates of Penzance was an explosive production that augers well for the continuation of Musical Theatre at Trinity.

Kimberley Shaw The Drowsy Chaperone Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. Music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. Rosny College. May 17 - 26.

SCHOOL shows increasingly exhibit high production values. A large and experienced production team are given the budgets to support what is recognised as a valuable learning experience for students. Rosny’s The Drowsy Chaperone is a case in point.

The Drowsy Chaperone is a show within a show, a solitary man reliving his memories of the golden age of musicals. The set, the domestic environment of the Man in Chair, was well appointed and versatile. The excellent choreography made the most of the space with seamless transitions between narration and action. The costumes, and there were many of them, were stunning.

The performances were vocally on point. Diction was exemplary and supported by a tightly drilled band. The talent on stage was outstanding. Mitch Denman was in

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Stage Whispers 95

Schools On Stage

We Will Rock You.

excellent voice. Georgia Cooper, Laura Cruise and Tayla Moschogianis gave very assured performances. Whilst some of the humour in the show is dated, part of the charm of the show is that it pokes fun at itself. We can forgive Adolpho because the caricature was so well done (Dylan Burgos). The star of the show was, however, Isaac Sargent, as Man in Chair. Sargent’s performance was physically well characterised, funny and poignant.

Anne Blythe-Cooper We Will Rock You (School Edition)

By Queen and Ben Elton. The Kings School and Tara Anglican School for Girls. Mar 14 - 24.

THIS production had a level of technical resources which mainstage theatre companies would struggle to match. The Kings School theatre had five pin point laser lights that beamed down to simulate electronic jail bars. Other rays and assorted lights stunned the audience and twirled away during a giddy extravaganza that also included on-stage fireworks and oceans of fog.

The level of detail in the costuming was also fabulous.

The stage craft was aided by volunteer ‘old boys’ and ‘old girls’ who assisted with choreography, music, make up and were included as backup singers. One of the former students crafted a very impressive statue of Freddie Mercury.

We Will Rock You is a big musical undertaking and the school brought in professional musicians who formed a kick ass band. The lead guitarist came to the front of the stage for the final song, “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

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Kate Chidiac as Scaramouche had the stand out voice of the production. She was belting out the notes faultlessly … at performance number six. She had genuine chemistry with Ariyan Sharma as Galileo.

The role of the Killer Queen is also a demanding one for younger voices. In this production it was cleverly played by two performers, Zoe McShane and Joanna Thomas. They faultlessly spoke their dialogue and sang their songs in unison. Sitting next to me was a school student. “I am not really into musicals but that was amazing” - was his comment as he left the theatre.

David Spicer Disco Inferno St Edmund’s College, Canberra and St Clare’s College. May 3 - 5.

DISCO Inferno tells a classic tale of redemption. After the hero sells his soul for the promise of fame and fortune and everything that comes with it, he soon realises that the quick fix he asks for is not the answer. With the fame and fortune come the trials and tribulations which make him realise that he should have been careful what he wished for.

Each member of the cast loved their time on the stage belting out the 70’s classics, from “Boogie Wonderland”, a Village People Medley to “Hot Stuff”, “I will Survive”, “Starman” and the show’s namesake “Disco Inferno”.

The love and enthusiasm of the show was shared equally by the audience. I cannot tell you the number of

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people who I spoke to that said they left the school hall in a much happier and joyous mood than when they arrived.

The great pleasure of directing a school musical is sharing the journey of creating a piece of theatre, the cast becoming a close knit family in theatre and being able to share the fruits of our labour with our audiences.

School productions are of intrinsic value to the culture of any school as expressed in the words of our female lead, Lucy Sugerman, who addressed the audience after the final performance. “For us this is what school is about.

Productions like these go side by side with core learning and academic subjects. From this musical we take away memories of collaboration, teamwork, laughs, song and dance and problem solving. It gives us a richness in education that can never be replaced by Google or technology or any Math equation.

Nigel Palfreman - Head of Creative and Performing Arts, St Edmund’s College.

Thoroughly Modern Millie New Music by Jeanine Tesori. Book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan (+lyrics). Iona Presentation College. The Regal Theatre, Subiaco, WA. Mar 23 - 25.

A STUNNING show, with amazing aesthetics, outstanding production values and top-class student performances.

Breanna Abreau (who alternated with Tabitha Kerlin), created a gutsy Millie with a beautiful crisp, clear voice - a

fabulous leading lady. She was nicely matched with Samuel Maloney as Jimmy Smith.

Georgia Wilson made a delightful and loveable Miss Dorothy Brown and her duet with Jason Nettle, a strong Trevor Graydon, was a highlight.

Eliza Chaney (Mrs Meers), played dual personalities with finesse, wonderfully supported by Minerva Chaney and Marcelle Brosnan (Bun Hoo and Ching Ho). Brooke Andrews was excellent as officious Mrs Flannery.

Jade Spirito stole scenes as Muzzy, with lots of pizazz and a gorgeous warm-toned voice.

The girls of the Priscilla Hotel were, without exception, strong. A strong ensemble of Iona ladies and borrowed boys, completed the cast with precision and focus.

Choreography, by Coby Brant, was amazing, including superb tapping and one of the nicest kick-lines I have seen.

Aaron Wyatt led a flawless 32 piece orchestra, a mixture of students and adults in the Iona community.

Costuming was stunning, under the leadership of Michelle Ward, with amazing use of colour and glamour.

Wigs, hair and makeup are to be commended - creating a great sense of time and more than a little show-biz. The sets, created by Nathan Weyers of NJW designs, looked fabulous and transitions were sublime.

A fabulous production in which any company would take pride.

Kimberley Shaw

Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Disco Inferno.

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Stage Whispers 97

Choosing A Show

High School Musical Tips ORiGiN Theatrical www.origintheatrical.com.au Wonderland: Alice’s Rock & Roll Adventure

By Rachel Rockwell & Michael Mahler.

Comedy/Drama Cast Size: 10 (expandable).

Band: 9 players.

Lewis Carroll’s beloved, poetic tale of selfactualisation is brought to life by a cast of actor/ musicians who create an eclectic, live rock soundtrack as 7½ year old Alice searches for her own inner musical voice.

Alice faces challenges and fears along the way but meets the ultimate test in the form of the Jabberwocky, an insidious monster made up of the dark thoughts and selfdoubt that lurks inside us all.

Be More Chill

By Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz Dark Comedy/ Contemporary.

Cast Size: 10 (expandable). This isn’t a musical for the popular kids, this is a musical for the other kids and works best with a cast of diverse misfits who ooze

personality and smarts.

Band: 6 players.

Jeremy Heere is just an average teenager. That is, until he finds out about “The Squip” - a tiny supercomputer that promises to bring him everything he desires most: a date with Christine, an invite to the raddest party of the year and a chance to survive life in his suburban New Jersey high school. But is being the most popular guy in school worth the risk?

Music Theatre International Australasia www.mtishows.com.au Boublil And Schönberg’s The Pirate Queen Have an adventure on the high seas with Boublil And Schönberg’s The Pirate Queen. From the creative minds behind Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, this show tells the tale of the true 16th century pirate Grace O’Malley, a woman who wreaked havoc on the British navy and fought heroically for the freedom of Ireland. A daring epic befitting a strong leading lady and energetic ensemble, The Pirate Queen is now available for licensing. Sail away!

FREE READ: http://www.mtishows.com.au/news/read-thepirate-queen-for-free-now-available-for-licensing-0

Maverick Musicals and Plays www.maverickmusicals.com You’re History (Bain & Patterson) A nerdy teenager turning a portable classroom into a time machine, sending a mischievous detention class hurtling back through history.

The package for teachers from Maverick Musicals includes easy to use resources to ensure quality production values, no matter how grand or basic a school’s venue might be.

98 Stage Whispers

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

On stage graphics, SFX, backing tracks CD additional to the band parts, free MIDI files.

Battle of the Bands (Steven Harris) is cleverly themed musical for intermediate level. It’s a tale about every young band’s dream - to be rocking out on the big stage to thousands of screaming fans, listening to your songs on the radio. Scored for a smaller rock ensemble, and easy to stage.

“Something’s going down - down in CREEPYTOWN!” (Bourgeois & Chambers) Want to creep out your audiences? Here’s a new musical crawling with vampires, witches, zombies, werewolves great leads and plenty of chorus groups. When a shy, vegetarian vampire meets an adventurous, outgoing human, she sees a chance to realise her dreams of escaping her crazy vampire world and her monstrous parents. They make plans to escape Creepytown forever!

Online ordering, including Rights, and free song, music and script samples at www.maverickmusicals.com

David Spicer Productions www.davidspicer.com.au The most popular High School musical in the DSP catalogue remains Back to the 80’s, closely followed by a new hit with a bullet - Masquerade (by Kate Mulvaney and others based on the classic by Kit Williams).

“Masquerade was a delight,” was the reaction from the Midnight Youth Theatre Company. The musical adventure is a wondrous world of riddles and hidden treasure. Bumbling Jack Hare is on a race against time to deliver a message of love from the Moon to the Sun. Includes CD backing track and orchestrations.

PERFORMING ARTS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2018. VOLUME 27, NUMBER 4 ABN 71 129 358 710 ISSN 1321 5965

All correspondence to: The Editor, Stage Whispers, P.O. Box 2274, Rose Bay North 2030, New South Wales.

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FREELANCE CONTRIBUTORS Are welcomed by this magazine and all articles should be addressed to Stage Whispers at the above address. The Publisher accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material. Black and white or colour photographs are suitable for production.

DISCLAIMER All expressions of opinion in Stage Whispers are published on the basis that they reflect the personal opinion of the authors and as such are not to be taken as expressing the official opinion of The Publishers unless expressly so stated. Stage Whispers accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any opinion or information contained in this magazine.

LIMITED BACK COPIES AVAILABLE ADVERTISERS We accept no responsibility for material submitted that does not comply with the Trade Practices Act. CAST & CREW Editor: Neil Litchfield 0438 938 064 Sub-editor: David Spicer Advertising: Angela Thompson 03 9758 4522 Digital production: Phillip Tyson 0414 781 008 Contributors: Cathy Bannister, Anne Blythe-Cooper, Mel Bobbermien, Michael Brindley, Rose Cooper, Kerry Cooper, Ken Cotterill, Bill Davies, Coral Drouyn, Jenny Fewster, Graham Ford, Peter Gotting, Frank Hatherley, Jude Hines, John P. Harvey, Barry Hill, Tony Knight, Neil Litchfield, Ken Longworth, Kiesten Mcauley, Rachel McGrath-Kerr, Roger McKenzie, Peter Novakovich, Shannon O’Connell, Peter Pinne, Martin Portus, Sally Putnam, Lesley Reed, Lisa Romeo, Suzanne Sandow, Kimberley Shaw, David Spicer, Penelope Thomas, Anthony Vawser and Carol Wimmer.

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 99

email at work, or wrote a story for Stage Whispers in some down time.

Musical Spice And yes, I did publish the year 2000 My son, a trainee sound recordist.

David Spicer Productions catalogue in Indonesia when I was working as a foreign correspondent there for a short time (that was a mistake - I forgot about customs).

It was also handy meeting the producer of The Boy From Oz when I interviewed him for the ABC in 1998.

However I pride myself on multitasking. One afternoon I was at the ABC studio in Gore Hill when a bushfire whipped up suddenly in southern Sydney. I raced to the chopper pad and at about 3.30 in the afternoon was directly above a row of houses, well alight. They were great pictures (not for the home owners) and no other commercial station was there yet!

We landed and over the next four hours I filed two radio news stories, two live crosses, a 7pm News story, and an “as live interview” which filled seven minutes of The 7:30 Report. Plus I succinctly answered two inquiries from theatres about the progress of their orders - albeit rather frantically.

Another time I spent a whole week covering a riot in the western Sydney suburb of Macquarie Fields. We were Online extras! there late at night dodging Molotov David’s appearance on Marketing Matters cocktails. When it had all quietened blew TV ratings records asunder. down my phone rang. “Hello, it is such http://bit.ly/2IgtNyw and such from Macquarie Fields High School”.

Recently I appeared on a low rating empire, with TV - which used film My brain froze. Goodness what Sky Business program to talk about separate across the other side of the would a teacher be calling me from turning my passion - theatre - into a harbour.

Macquarie Fields High for? “Has the small business. I reflected on starting Just over 20 years ago, when home riot started again?” my theatrical agency David Spicer baby duties clipped my wings as a “No,” she said, “we are Productions twenty years ago, then ten tenor with a local Gilbert and Sullivan staging Back to the 80s and need the years ago purchasing Stage Whispers society, I very accidentally became an music.” magazine with Neil Litchfield. My agent for a musical theatre composer. I I laughed out loud. mantra on the program was to develop submitted a story about his work “Why didn’t you call me yesterday your small business as a side-line and Pride and Prejudice - to Stage Whispers I could’ve dropped off the music on not to give up your day job. magazine and instantly got three the way to the riot.” (Boom-tish).

Only a week later I did just that. I bookings. Thus David Spicer I was very sad when the ABC put up my hand for redundancy at the Productions was born. It was very accepted my expression of interest in ABC, where I have worked as a radio much a very small business in the early redundancy, but by the same token and television reporter for 30 years. days. I called it after myself so I could happy that I did put my hand up.

When I started in 1988 we still had use my personal bank account.

Every ten years I usually start a new manual typewriters and carbon paper.

I have been rigorous in keeping my business … what about a theatre There was a large typist pool, an ABC two careers separate and in recent company at Bondi? driver, people smoked at work and a times have gone part-time due to the World War Two veteran was a workload from my ‘hobby’ businesses.

David Spicer colleague. Radio was a large important OK, maybe sometimes I answered an 100 Stage Whispers July - August 2018

Read scripts, listen to music and order free catalogue at: www.davidspicer.com.au david@davidspicer.com (02) 9371 8458

Our Most Popular Musicals

Schools Edition in 2019

NEW

21 productions in debut year.

G&S for the 21st Century.

Superb CD backing track.

Cruisin’ The Musical

Includes an AC/DC song.

Hot 50’s score

Wonderful dance opportunities.

“Our most successful musical.” Burnie High

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 1