2025 Season Launch | Queensland Theatre
From courtrooms to saloons, outback towns to the corridors of power, Queensland Theatre’s captivating 2025 program was enthusiastically welcomed with spontaneous, non-stop applause in celebration of reigniting our love for the power of theatre.
Trent Dalton’s Love Stories | Tim McGarry, Trent Dalton and Fiona Franzmann with Brisbane Festival and QPAC
Following the resounding success of Boy Swallows Universe as a novel, play, and Netflix series, it was almost a given that we would see another of Trent Dalton’s books adapted for the stage. Walking into Love Stories it is nearly impossible to not have expectations. But comparing the two adaptations is unfair, Love Stories is its own experience with a very different narrative approach.
GRIMM | Shake & Stir
Shake & Stir are one of Queensland’s best known theatre companies and they know how to put on a show. GRIMM, their latest offering, was no exception and soared into the self aware, campy horror I love with both glee and skill.
AMOR | D.I.V.E. Theatre Collective
Each phrase is a delightful piece of poetry expertly delivered. I long to read the script in it’s entirety, so that what was shared could be later accessed as a source of wisdom. I contemplate returning for another night just to hear it all again. Recitals came through in various dialects and the tonality of each reminds us of love’s universality. We all can sometimes struggle in it, or thrive in it, regardless of cultural background.
The Norman Mailer Anecdote | DOOR 3 & Queensland Theatre
Writer, Anthony Mullins, has written a ripper of a dialogue that bristles with tension and emotion. Under the deft direction of Julian Curtis, what starts off as a celebration, ends in a tangled web of lies and deceit in just under a harrowing eighty minutes.
Maze | The Naughty Corner Collective
The actors used neon tube lighting to move around the space, giving shape to the maze and blocking Wray’s path as he approached dead ends. This was a very effective use of the small stage. Further, it made the labyrinth feel alive, almost like a character itself, with the lighting being the blood pumping through the veins of the tunnels.
Same Penis Forever | Rebel Lyons
Humanising the different agents of social conditioning demonstrated that people make traditions, and traditions aren’t these immovable structures that must be obeyed at all costs. Traditions make culture, so if the diamond engagement ring was something some marketing mogul came up with to sell more diamonds, then why the hell do we take this ‘tradition’ so seriously.