Category: Drama
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Boxing Day BBQ ★★★★1/2
Written by Sam O’Sullivan. World Premiere. Ensemble Theatre. Dec 5, 2022 – Jan 15, 2023 All shows should be this good. Boxing Day BBQ may look like a light, festive comedy from the outside, but once you pop the hood you’ll find a tight family drama that is finely tooled and smarter than it needs…
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2 Weeks & 10 Shows in LA & NYC
I managed to squeeze nine (well, technically 10) shows into a recent holiday to the United States. A week in Los Angeles (yes, I went to L.A. and watched theatre), and a week in New York provided a lot of chances to see shows and friends. But mainly shows… 2:22: A Ghost Story ★★★1/2 The…
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A Christmas Carol ★★★1/2
Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Adapted by Hilary Bell. World Premiere Ensemble Theatre Nov 25 – Dec 29, 2022. Christmas has come to Ensemble Theatre and a classic is being revisited with an air of freshness I wasn’t expecting. Australian legend John Bell leads a troupe of performers in retelling Charles Dickens’…
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RBG: Of Many, One. ★★★★
Written by Suzie Miller. World Premiere. Sydney Theatre Company. Oct 29 – Dec 17, 2022. There is a calculation to Suzie Miller’s new play, RBG: Of Many, One, now playing at Sydney Theatre Company. The calculation of a very intelligent woman (far more intelligent than I) looking ahead to the next step. This exploration of…
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The Caretaker ★★★★1/2
Written by Harold Pinter. Ensemble Theatre. 14 Oct – 19 Nov, 2022. There’s something about watching actors who are so intensely “in the moment”… It’s mesmerising. Actors who, even when they aren’t speaking, are so invested, embodying their role so completely, they are watchable at all times. And in The Caretaker at Ensemble Theatre you…
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Past The Shallows ★★★★
Written by Julian Larnach, based on the novel by Favel Parrett. Australian Theatre for Young People / Archipelago Productions, Sydney. 12 Oct – 9 Nov, 2022. Past The Shallows plays like an ever-shifting dream, as three actors take on multiple roles to tell the story of a broken Tasmanian family. The narrative is like the…
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The Mousetrap ★★★1/2
Written by Agatha Christie. Theatre Royal, Sydney October 8-30, 2022 then touring to Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. It’s serendipitous timing that Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap has opened in Sydney while the brilliant film, See How They Run, is still in cinemas. Together they’re perfect companion pieces, and seeing The Mousetrap before the film will definitely…
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Anatomy of a Suicide ★★★★★
Written by Alice Birch. Sugary Rum Produtcions, Chopt Logic and Seymour Centre. 6-29 October 2022 If you’re the kind of theatre nerd who gets off on inventive uses of theatrical form, as well a blistering good performances (and I definitely am), then the return season of Anatomy of a Suicide at Seymour Centre should be…
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Photograph 51 ★★★★
Written by Anna Zeigler. Ensemble Theatre. 2 September – 8 October 2022. This is nice theatre. That’s not a dig by any means. I need nice theatre in my life. Theatre that tickles at your brain and your emotions, filled with language that sings and moments that make you smile, and scoff, and frown. At…
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A Raisin in the Sun ★★★★1/2
Written by Lorraine Hansberry. Sydney Theatre Company. 27 August – 15 October 2022. As the lights came up at the end of Sydney Theatre Company’s production of A Raisin in the Sun I was angry. My reaction to the Younger family was at odds with the play’s intentions. Pack of proud fools! I was mad…
Cultural Binge 