Us and All of This | Liesel Zink, Lawrence English, & Performing Lines
Zink and English have achieved something incredibly special here - a true collaboration with highlights coming from both mediums present within the work, it was an honour to watch it in this iteration, with these performers, at this location. Installation art has the ability to change the world in which it exists, and nowhere have I found this to be more true than with Us and All of This.
The Dream Weaver: Guardians of Grace | Grace Lillian Lee
Each set of armour and shield represents one of Grace’s relatives, creating a physical family tree of woven sculptures. The individualised detail and numerous differences (both subtle and obvious) in each relative’s manifested representations indicates a considered and thoughtful approach to the work. The artworks seem to breathe the life story and memories of their namesakes, and while inspecting the work I could almost see the emotion poured into each stitch and weave.
Cirque Jingle | JACs Entertainment
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.
Tracker | Australian Dance Theatre
Wiradjuri choreographer and Australian Dance Theatre Artistic Director, Daniel Riley, has brought together a talented team of creatives and artists to create a show that focuses on Daniel Riley’s exploration of the life of his Great-Great Uncle, Alec "Tracker" Riley.
In Your Dreams | Polytoxic
It is not often that I get the first line of my review handed to me during a performance. According to Polytoxic, my review should start with “five stars and checking [my] privilege”. We don’t do star ratings at Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane, but I’ll happily make an exception for Polytoxic’s new work, In Your Dreams. This show promises a line-up of glass-ceiling smashing, system dismantling, genderqueer, fiercely intersectional artists, and delivers spectacularly on this promise.
The Wynter of Our Disco Tent | Funny Mummies
The duo used real-life teenage diary entries to inspire a score of original 80’s pop tunes as lyrically witty as they were melodic. The musical numbers, and the show as a whole, teetered experterly on this line of self-aware cringe. Which, for an audience whose entry was more teens-at-an-80s-concert than stand-up goers, seemed like the perfect fit.
Club Culture Cabaret | Briefs Factory
At night, the Brisbane Powerhouse is a towering structure. When awash in a coloured glow, the industrial legacies of its brick exterior are exposed and amplified. Standing tall, it looms above the heads of those swallowed by its glass doors. Yet on Sunday night, with Fez Fa’anana (as Shivannah) sauntering amongst arriving audiences and flashing smiles over diamantéd shoulders, the building had never felt so warm.
BRED | Briefs Factory
As impressive as the physical elements were, some of the more powerful moments were the dialogue parts. Emily delivers a powerful spoken word poem that had everyone in the room listening and Luke Hubbard stole the show for me in a closing performance that delved into the ongoing racism in the Australian police force and Indigenous deaths in custody, something that resonated with me deeply.
Die Hard: The Movie, The Play | Act React
It was really great to be part of the live audience. I enjoyed the laughter (including watching some audience members almost in tears, as they were laughing so hard)… and it was wonderful to spend a whole hour in 1988 (a world away from the challenges of 2021.
Cirque Bon Bon | JACs Entertainment
Cirque Bon Bon does not hold back and offers a rich circus experience. It features a very talented crew of artists who perform the most iconic circus acts including acrobatic archery, aerials, juggling, hoop dance, unicycle, acrobatic skating, and roue cyr.
Demolition | Polytoxic
When arriving at my seat a wave of proud brown girl joy makes its way through my spirit as the demolition work site sets the scene for what is going to be one of the most memorable shows that I've witnessed. I was about to undergo a unravelling of identity and I was more than ready!
Demolition | Polytoxic
The importance of solidarity really stuck with me and I felt like I was being shown an inclusive version of sisterhood that I could really relate to. This was no highly sanitised mainstream girlboss sisterhood, but the kind of solidarity that can be difficult and gritty and requires you to show up for other people and do the work.
Demolition | Polytoxic
Polytoxic’s show Demolition is not only a staggering showcasing of Circus and Theatre, it is a moving and uplifting Call-To-Arms. The effortless shift of scenes drew my senses in and catapulted me from issue to issue that many women in this world face on a daily basis.
Theatresports Grand Championships | ImproMafia
I counted fourteen different scenes across the show, which I thought was an impressive number for an hour-long show, and served as a tantalising sampler of the wide, wild world of impro possibilities. Over those scenes, the performers each showcased their strong individual talents for improvisation, imagination, and characterisation – and their sheer joy at being on stage was palpable. There was a great sense of chemistry between all of the performers, which allowed them to skillfully, smoothly riff off each other through even the most surprising changes in a scene.
"Some people have likened impro to a drug because it is so addictive." Wade Robinson riffs on magic of impro and the upcoming Theatresport Grand Championships.
Sylvia spoke with show director Wade Robinson to find out more about impro and Theatresports. He also dishes on the upcoming Theatresports Grand Championships where the best improvisors from Brisbane and beyond will battle it out in the upcoming in a side-splitting showdown of quick wits, fast thinking and comedy clout.
Undertow | Shock Therapy Productions
Using the conventions of Epic Theatre, Foster and Jones allowed us to see their transitions in and out of characters and setting in a blacked-out stage. This not only placed an onus on the writing but also connected the characters lives and conflicts, showing that the difference between humans might be a metaphorical change of hat.
People of Colours | Naavikaran and Grace Edward
People of Colours is an important performance that has been created by BIPOC performers and creatives behind the scenes, allowing them a stage where they can express themselves and speak on various issues that impact marginalised voices and people of colour.
Aftermath | Australasian Dance Collective
A contemporary dance performance to an absolutely riveting electronic set. Honestly, watching that kind of music performed whilst having to sit still in a theatre chair is a practice in self-flagellation. High-octane indeed, the exertion of these young people was extraordinary, and endless.
Snapshot | Polytoxic
Part installation, and part dramatic outdoor performance, Snapshot is most of an hour of lockdown reminiscing, dreaming, recovery, survival and bouncing back. Much of the projections were recorded when Polytoxic sent a call-out to artists to record a message and respond and tell us how they were doing.
Awesome Ocean Party | Giema Contini & Brisbane Powerhouse
Giema Contini is arguably one of the best and most reliable theatrical performers in Brisbane City’s creative community. Regardless of the stipulations of a role or production, she brings a profound generosity and openness to her work that lends everything around her a strange and gentle veracity – a heavy and playful sense of emotional honesty.