Cultural Binge – independent theatre reviews from Sydney, Australia (mostly).
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Sibyl (Sydney Opera House) ★★★★
South African, multidisciplinary artist William Kentridge has an eye-opening Australian premiere to close out the Sydney Opera Houses’s 50th birthday celebrations. Sibyl demonstrates Kentridges “Gesamtkunstwerk”, his blend of forms to deliver a message. Encompassing hand-drawn animation, dance, song, shadow-play, physical comedy, sculpture and more, it is revelatory and truly expansive.
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The Dictionary of Lost Words (Sydney Theatre Co) ★★★
Words and language are powerful signifiers of what we consider to be important. While in the internet age words are easy to disseminate (like one guy spouting his opinions about theatre for example), the history of how we organise and communicate information and the decisions made along the way, is a thorny one.
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The Memory of Water (Ensemble) ★★★★
The premise of Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water sounds like the set up to a farce. After the death of their mother Violet (Nicole Da Silva), three sisters converge on the family home for the funeral. They each deal with their grief in different ways. It’s a comedy that’ll make you cry.
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Message In A Bottle (Sydney Opera House) ★★★★★
None of this should work. The music of Sting, mixed with contemporary hip-hop dance, and a story about the plight of refugees. But choreographer Kate Prince has pulled off a miracle in Message in a Bottle. Or, to put it another way… every little thing she does is magic!
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MQFF 2023 Reviews UPDATED
I’m reviewing films at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival this year for The Queer Review. I’ve consolidated my reviews (and those by other Queer Review reviewers) here so they sit in the one place. I’ve listed them in star rating order to make things easier for people considering going and added interviews we’ve run with…
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Robyn Archer: An Australian Songbook (Belvoir) ★★★1/2
Devised and Performer by Robyn Archer. Belvoir St Theatre. 18 – 29 Oct, 2023. Robyn Archer is a storyteller, it just may not be the story you expect to hear. It’s notable that the title to her new show is An Australian Songbook, rather than THE Australian Songbook. There is a multiplicity of options and…
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Bark of Millions (Sydney Opera House) ★★★★★
Full review up on The Queer Review.
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A Little Night Music (Hayes Theatre) ★★★★
There’s something thrilling about a chamber production of a Sondheim musical. Restricting the space and staging focuses everything on the music and performances. And with a score that can be as tricky as this, the performances need to be sharp.
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Blaque Showgirls (Griffin) ★★★
Blaque Showgirls is both a daft comedy and a commentary on the status of indigenous Australian lives. Terrible and terrific at the same time, it has the energy of a Christmas panto fueled with bags of cocaine – to be honest, I loved and hated it in equal measure.
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Venus & Adonis (Seymour Centre) ★★★1/2
Damien Ryan’s Venus & Adonis feels like a companion piece to Jessica Swale’s Nell Gwynn, both reframe Shakespeare with a female protagonist, lashings for humour and cutting commentary on the battle of the sexes.
Cultural Binge 