Review and photos by Amanda Lee Starkey
Take your seats and buckle up, your flight is about to take off. To the rear are the exists, to the front is the toaster and kettle. For in-flight entertaining you will be serenaded by Pencil on the accordion. Fancy some in-flight shopping? Then a fire blanket is just what you need.
Continue reading Live Theatre Review : The Gremlins
Category Archives: theatre
The Metro Theatre – Sydney, Australia
The Metro Theatre has long been Sydney’s leading independent rock venue and has played host to some of the most memorable live gigs Sydney music fans have seen and heard. It is a landmark venue for both international and local acts, being a pivotal breakthrough venue for bands as they break on to the scene.
Location
The Metro Theatre
624 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000.
Box Office: Phone (02) 9550 3666
Fax (02) 9550 2990
http://www.metrotheatre.com.au
ROCK OF AGES now playing in Melbourne! [Theatre News & Tickets]
ROCK OF AGES is a hilarious, feel-good love story told through the hit songs such as: ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’, ‘Don’t Stop Believin”, ‘The Final Countdown’, ‘We Built This City’ and ‘More Than Words’ by iconic rockers such as Foreigner, Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Poison, Starship, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, and many more.
The Australian production of this critically acclaimed Broadway musical at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne from April 2011.
Continue reading ROCK OF AGES now playing in Melbourne! [Theatre News & Tickets]
MARY POPPINS in Brisbane from January 2012 [Theatre News & Tickets]
Brilliantly adapted from the beloved books by Australia’s own P.L.Travers and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, MARY POPPINS is playing in Brisbane from January 2012…
This spectacular production includes all of the best loved songs from the film including CHIM CHIM CHER-EE, A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR, JOLLY HOLIDAY, STEP IN TIME, FEED THE BIRDS and SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS.
Continue reading MARY POPPINS in Brisbane from January 2012 [Theatre News & Tickets]
‘The Rat Trap’ Polytoxic @ Brisbane Powerhouse, 9th February, 2011 [Live Review]
Review by: Lana Harris
 |
Let me introduce you to The Rat Trap. Bull whipping, lampshade hanging, Siamese twin ninja fighting cabaret. Using a mix of circus antics, contemporary dance moves, ye olde piano music, silent movie explanation screens and good ol’ physical comedy, Polytoxic act out the seedy and sexy story of the dive known as The Rat Trap.
The Rat Trap is a ‘scratch work,’ the beginnings of a finished piece performed as part of the World Theatre Festival at the Powerhouse. The festival contains several of these still cooking pieces, enticing viewers with an unpolished taste of performer vision. |
Polytoxic keeps a cracking pace through the show, including plenty of action designed to make the audience gasp and laugh. The result is an accessible piece where there’s nothing to ‘get’. Polytoxic make it clear to their audience that their sole purpose on stage during Rat Trap is not to send a message or explore deep, dark and meaningful themes, it’s to amuse the audience and have fun. The diversity of the performers, whose backgrounds range from theatre to dance to circus training, appears to be a strong feature in creating such an entertaining piece. The mix of talents twists intricacy and depth into the performance.
Polytoxic have been around since 2000, and have recently upped their numbers from a three piece to six performers. If the beginnings of The Rat Trap are anything to go by, the increase in entertainers will expand the possibilities of a group which are already known for their raw, energetic, and accomplished works.
Playing at the Brisbane Powerhouse until Sun 13 Feb 2011
Dates/Times
Fri 11 Feb 7.15pm
Fri 11 Feb 8.20pm
Sat 12 Feb 7.15pm
Sat 12 Feb 8.20pm
Sun 13 Feb 5.45pm
Sun 13 Feb 8.45pm
Visit the Brisbane Powerhouse site for all details.
More articles by Lana Harris:
* U2 @ Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane w/ Jay Z – 8 December 2010 – Live Review
* Rise to Remain “Bridges will Burn” – EP Review
* Radio Birdman “Live in Texas” – LP Review
* Montpelier ‘Last Boat’ Single Review
* Weezer “Hurley” – LP Review
* Soilwork “The Panic Broadcast” – LP Review
* Danza Contemporanea De Cuba @ The Playhouse (Brisbane Festival), 15th September 2010 – Live Review
* Polarity @ The Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane 13th September 2010 – Live Review
* Betrayal @ The Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane 10th September 2010 – Live Review
* Crow “Arcane” – LP Review
* Search for more article by this author…
FAST Festival of Australian Student Theatre – Call for Applications
FAST Festival of Australian Student Theatre
30 September – 2 October 2011
La Boite at The Roundhouse Theatre, Brisbane.
APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN
To apply for FAST 2011, please download an Online Application Form.
Be sure to save the form after you have filled it in, and then email the completed PDF to info@fastfestival.com.au.
Full Details at the FAST website
World Theatre Festival @ Brisbane Powerhouse – February 2011 [Theatre News]
Event: World Theatre Festival
Where: Brisbane Powerhouse
When: 09 February 2011 – 20 February 2011
Website: World Theatre Festival
WICKED @ QPAC’s Lyric Theatre, Brisbane from 11 January 2011 [Theatre News]
WICKED, the untold story of the witches of Oz, features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy Award winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman (‘My So Called Life,”Once And Again’ and ‘thirtysomething’), and is based on the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire. With musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who’s Tommy, How To Succeed…), WICKED is directed by 2003 and 2004 Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Assassins, Take Me Out, Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune). Continue reading WICKED @ QPAC’s Lyric Theatre, Brisbane from 11 January 2011 [Theatre News]
Boiling Point @ Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane 19 November 2010 [Live Review]
Review: Lana Harris
The show begins before we’ve even entered the room. An usher approaches, explaining that to gain admission, tickets are not enough. We’ll need to remove our shoes and any socks and crowd into the shopfront’s store room, leaving behind our footwear. As compensation we will be given a small torch. Crammed into the dark room with forty other people and their exposed feet, we wait for the show to begin.
There is no extra light provided once the doors to the shopfront are opened. We creep in using our bare feet for balance and our small torches for sight. Bolder venturers have already spotted the still as statue performers; others illuminate kitchenware hanging from the ceiling and news stories on the wall recounting the trial of a 1950’s female that killed her husband by poisoning him.
Continue reading Boiling Point @ Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane 19 November 2010 [Live Review]
Take Five with Alinta Chidzey
By Pepa Wolfe
 |
Take Five with Alinta Chidzey |
I think this [West Side Story] would have to be one of the favourite ones, to be honest.
:: Is there a character that you’d give anything to play? ::
Oh. Um… (thinks) I’d love to play Velma in Chicago. That is one I would love to play, for sure.
Continue reading Take Five with Alinta Chidzey
On the Road to Somewhere – Alinta Chidzey in West Side Story [Feature Article]
By: Pepa Wolfe
|
Actress Alinta Chidzey is wowing audiences as she burns up the floor in West Side Story, bringing sass and charm to the role of Anita. Life Music Media caught up with her for the Brisbane leg of the Australian Tour. For someone who has just taken a quick break from an intense tech week to talk to the media, Alinta Chidzey appears very relaxed. |
It’s a sunny day at Southbank in Brisbane, where the cast and crew of the classic musical West Side Story are busily preparing to launch the next leg of their Australian tour. Chidzey sits sipping an orange juice and speaks enthusiastically about the role of Anita – the fiery Puerto Rican immigrant unwillingly caught up in a 50s gang war – for which she is receiving rave reviews.
Continue reading On the Road to Somewhere – Alinta Chidzey in West Side Story [Feature Article]
WEST SIDE STORY @ Lyric Theatre QPAC, 7th November 2010 – Live Review
Review by: Pepa Wolfe
West Side Story, the classic piece of Musical Theatre inspired by Romeo and Juliet and conceived by Jerome Robbins, hit Brisbane this week in a flash of movement and colour.
Director Joey McKneely brings a wealth of experience to the Australian production, reimagining again as he has done around the world, this story of star-crossed lovers and feuding gangs on the streets of 1950s New York.
The rear projection of a grainy black and white still of New York City located the piece, surrounded by tiers of iron balconies, the simple scope of the design hinting at the grand scale of the drama that was about to unfold.
A vibrant production, of swirling movement, soaring vocals and rolling accents all buoyed by the full swell of the 19 piece orchestra, West Side Story maintains an intense energy during the group numbers, but wanes a little during the solo pieces. Both Josh Piterman as Tony and Julie Goodwin as Maria were in fine voice, but the outstanding choreography easily stole the show.
Continue reading WEST SIDE STORY @ Lyric Theatre QPAC, 7th November 2010 – Live Review
WEST SIDE STORY @ Lyric Theatre, QPAC Brisbane 4 Nov-5 Dec 2010 – [Theatre News]
“Broadway’s Greatest Dance Musical” – The Times (UK)
“If you buy one ticket, make it this one” – The Observer (UK)
This hot new production of West Side Story, one of the most acclaimed musicals of all time, will play a limited season at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) from 4 November 2010.
The moment the curtain rose on West Side Story on Broadway, musical theatre was at once changed forever. With groundbreaking choreography by the legendary Jerome Robbins, book by Arthur Laurents, an unforgettable score by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story created a new face for musical theatre, redefining an entire theatrical genre, with its superb musicality and dramatization.
Continue reading WEST SIDE STORY @ Lyric Theatre, QPAC Brisbane 4 Nov-5 Dec 2010 – [Theatre News]
The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table @ Cremorne Theatre, QPAC 15th October 2010 – Theatre Review
 |
Review: Pepa Wolfe
It was a wet, windy night in Brisbane for the opening of Wesley Enoch’s The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table, directed by and starring Leah Purcell. Produced by the independent indigenous company Bungabura Productions and presented by QPAC, this is the story of Opening Night. It goes something like this. |
The Cremorne had been transformed (the stage removed so that some of the audience was sitting amongst the set) into the simple dining room of a house on Stradbroke Island, sand strewn on the ground, with the backdrop arranged in pieces, working both as a broken barrier to the outside world and an obscure window into the past, the faces of time gone by etched into its panels. At its centre sat the table, Cookie’s Table.
Originally Cookie’s birth tree, it was cut down by the white man and turned into a table that was eventually passed down through four generations. This night the audience learnt the history of the table; its meaning, its power. Its mystery unravelling as estranged mother and son, Annie and Nathan, argued over its ownership, and in doing so challenged the meaning of family and the elusive nature of the truth.
Continue reading The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table @ Cremorne Theatre, QPAC 15th October 2010 – Theatre Review
Dreaming Up The Vision: Interview with Leah Purcell, 11th October 2010 – LifeMusicMedia Interviews
Actor/Director Leah Purcell talks to Life Music Media about character, coming home, and the joy of performing in The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table.
In 2008 actress Leah Purcell was honoured with Australian theatre’s highest recognition the Helpmann Award (Australia’s version of the Tony Award) for her role in Wesley Enoch’s The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table. Produced in Sydney as a Hothouse Theatre/Griffin Theatre Company production and directed by Marion Potts, the play was critically acclaimed, making its mark as an important piece of contemporary Australian theatre. Now a new production, presented by QPAC and staged by Purcell’s Bungabura Productions, brings this quintessentially Queensland story home.
While deep into the plays rehearsal period, the actress, who is also directing this version, took time to answer some questions for Pepa Wolfe.
What is the play about?
Well there’re two story lines. There’s the history of the table – it was my Great-great Grandmother’s birth tree. When settlement happened on this island they cut down that birth tree and turned it into a table. As a little girl she followed the table and got a job as a cook in the house where the table ended up. And throughout the lifetimes the table has been passed down…
…To the present day story about my character Annie and her estranged son Nathan. They’ve been estranged for 25 years. She had him when she was 13 and she left because of the talk around the incident where she fell pregnant, and the lies around that. [Annie’s] mother Faith passes away, which brings Nathan and Annie back together. The surface story is to argue and discuss who gets the table, but though that discussion we learn more about each individual character.
Continue reading Dreaming Up The Vision: Interview with Leah Purcell, 11th October 2010 – LifeMusicMedia Interviews