Cultural Binge

Cultural Binge – independent theatre reviews from Sydney, Australia (mostly).

  • Never Closer (Belvoir) ★★★

    Never Closer (Belvoir) ★★★

    Sharp characters, tight plotting and witty dialogue combine to deliver an almost watertight script. This production, transplanted from Belvoir’s smaller 25a programme, gets a bigger budget to play with and the result is a crowd pleaser.

  • Death of a Salesman (Theatre Royal Sydney) ★★★★½

    Death of a Salesman (Theatre Royal Sydney) ★★★★½

    The great tragedy of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman isn’t how it ends, it’s the fact it is still appallingly relevant.

  • Switzerland (Ensemble Theatre) ★★★½

    Switzerland (Ensemble Theatre) ★★★½

    I can’t imagine the team at Ensemble Theatre knew that Netflix would drop its long anticipated ‘Ripley’, a new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ at the same time as they had programmed Joanna Murray-Smith’s play Switzerland but synchronicity is a wonderful thing.

  • Parade (Seymour Centre) ★★★½

    Parade (Seymour Centre) ★★★½

    There is a timeliness to director Mark Taylor’s new rendition of Parade that the creative team could not have anticipated when this went into production.

  • London: The Musicals

    London: The Musicals

    Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) ★★★★★ / Standing at the Sky’s Edge ★★★1/2 / Sister Act ★★★ / London Tide ★★1/2 I saw a bit of an odd-ball selection of musicals to be honest. Some were more experimental than others.

  • London: The Plays (Part Two)

    London: The Plays (Part Two)

    Long Day’s Journey Into Night ★★★ / For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy ★★★★★ / Remembrance Monday ★★★ / Spirited Away ★★★1/2 This kind of variety is why I love London.

  • London: The Plays (Part One)

    London: The Plays (Part One)

    The Hills of California ★★★1/2 / Machinal ★★★★ / Minority Report ★★★ / People, Places and Things ★★★★★ I saw a wide variety of plays from big West End blockbusters to fringe two-handers. As always, more money and bigger names doesn’t always mean it’s a better show.

  • London: The Cine-theatre

    London: The Cine-theatre

    Stranger Things: The First Shadow ★★★★ / The Picture of Dorian Gray ★★★★★ / Opening Night ★★ / ABBA: Voyage ★★★★. The collision of technology and the stage is nothing new but across all the shows I saw in London, a few used the blend of cameras, screens and live performance better than others.

  • The Emerald Room ★★★★

    The Emerald Room ★★★★

    Does Sydney’s new cabaret/dining locale make us green with envy, or send us all “Hulk! Smash!”? Well it’s more “Hulk! Get Smashed!” as The Emerald Room serves dinner, drinks, drag and more.

  • Tell Me on a Sunday (Hayes Theatre) ★★★½

    Tell Me on a Sunday (Hayes Theatre) ★★★½

    Erin Clare is remarkable in Lloyd Webber’s rather unremarkable musical.