REVIEWS

This is an excellent show par none that can be enjoyed by both arts and footy lovers. By including the vessels of sportsmanship, authenticity, integrity and an outstanding dialogue, this quality production aptly conveys the community spirit, thrilling energy and intense physicality of this much loved and popular sport. The talented ensemble tackles the deep themes that writer Nathan Maynard covers in this play with humour, energy and a whole lot of heart particularly when the top dogs are pitted against the underdogs. 

PIP Theatre’s Banging Denmark advertises itself as a fun night of solid entertainment and it delivers on this in spades. It’s real, raunchy, and wriggles its feminism in underneath the laughs in a way that keeps it squarely in the land of entertainment rather than delivering a gender studies lecture.

Under the insightful guidance of Director Lee Lewis, Wright and Jamieson’s adaptation of this Victorian Gothic theatre work has been elevated to new heights where doubt, misinformation and deception takes centre stage.

Hill does an excellent job threading the metaphor of the team-mates being Wolves through use of physical theatre and individual movement sequences, creating an animalistic quality to their characters.

After an air-raid siren sounds, we were whisked away to the inner rooms, corridors, and outdoor deck of PIP Theatre, where the “choose-your-own-adventure” aspect of The Art of Courage really came into effect.

To answer the question of ‘Why this play?’ and ‘Why now?’. Based on Dekker’s direction, I’d argue that it was to remind us all that just because we may have the opportunity or resources to change someone’s lives who we believe is lesser than us, it doesn’t mean that we should. I’ll let you simmer on that…

When The Rain Stops Falling will bring you an experience of sorrow, love, life and death in the same heartbeat. This is a beautifully written and wonderfully performed theatre piece, you do not want to miss it.

The Observatory Theatre team launched their 2024 Season at Yeerongpilly’s Studio1. Lachlan Driscoll (Creative Producer), Lucy Rayner-Toy (Associate Producer) and colleagues certainly have much to celebrate. In developing what Driscoll describes as ‘big, bold, ambitious theatre that responds to today,’ the 2024 Season focuses on supporting and developing new works, centred on their successful Telescope new writing program.

My plus one and I were eager to see what lay ahead of us when we reached MetroArts for The History of the Devil. We were hopeful that we would see some evocative, intellectually rigorous, and emotionally poignant theatre. The show Polymorphic Productions gave us was certainly the first of these three things. 

I quite liked the character of Jordan and felt sorry for Mackenzie, but would I have felt differently if we had taken a different path? The only way to know would be to go back and make different choices, which I would happily do.

The three acrobats are the stars of this exceptional show that features incredible hand balance by Daniel O’Brien, a fluid and moving straps solo (and acrobatic ‘dance’) by Kimberley Rossi, and quite amazing strength work by Zac Stephens. In just over 60 minutes, the performers demonstrated their mastery of circus arts to create moments of beauty, strength, power, fear, tenderness, pain, humour, wistfulness, joy, and connection.

We’re guided through this seasonal smorgasbord by our elven MC, Maddy – a staunch unionist direct from the North Pole who’s (1) truly and deeply jaded by capitalism’s co-option of the holiday and (2) concerningly quick to guarantee we’re all on the naughty list this year.

There are a lot of great choices for a festive-themed show this season, including shows that have returned for many years. It’s great to see that JACs Entertainment has produced a show that complements those choices, offering an event that is suitable for the whole family.

When we talk about beautiful men, we will often say ‘Awh, he’s like a Greek God’. Headfirst Acrobats take this aphorism and run, giving us GODZ: a one-hour high comedy, high camp, circus extravaganza, all the while keeping it extremely sexy.

The showcasing of such a diversity of voices all affected by the climate crisis is what made IMPACT special. The entire event felt like a community getting together to share stories and find comfort in shared experience.

Our favourite medium is circus so it was important to tackle this subject and how we tell these kind of stories through this modality. It will be really interesting to see how the audience responds a series of images, a series of tipping points.

Party Ghost’s spooky, horror comedy was an absolute delight and had me belly laughing for a full 55 minutes.

I can see why Circa’s Eternity has been the elusive golden ticket of the festival: a sold-out world premiere production by internationally renowned local superstars, promising a site-specific work that brings acrobatic excellence and contemporary spiritual music to Brisbane’s St John's Cathedral.

If you enjoy seeing circus performances, you’ll enjoy this show. The cast do a wonderful job and display a wide range of fabulous skills. It won’t be a production that leaves a life-changing impression on you, but you will enjoy it even if you leave somewhat confused by the overall narrative. If, like me, you go in as an audience member with a critical eye for circus and dance productions and with a knowledge of the classical greats however, you may leave somewhat disappointed and confused.

Under the purposeful glare of the spotlight, the sight of two bodies cocooned in a tight embrace appeared before us. I saw their fingers endeavouring to make imprints on the skin of the other, pressing and digging into soft tissue. As they pushed themselves into each other while trying to simultaneously pry and peel themselves off the other, I gathered that the uneasy, uncomfortable yoking of their physical beings underscored the theme of common dissonance deliberately right from the get-go.