Again, You Have Trusted Me | Sarah Stafford
I think I’m a fan because Stafford can silence a room as easily as she can get one onside, and that’s a skill, an artist that makes work that’s rough and stabby and is Not For Everyone. It’s so refreshing actually. I actually can’t think of another work I’ve seen in ages that felt so sharp-edged, so fresh in style and tone as this strange dark tonic.
The Ugly One | AllEntertainment
This performance is lively and light-hearted, not skirting away from its darker undertones but embracing them with a jaunty devil-may-care attitude. It’s an absurd play, with the supporting actors playing multiple characters each with the same name; which had me tumbling for clarity on a couple moments. It is relentless; the scenes blur quickly into, across, under and over each other, and the actors did a fantastic job of taking us along for a ride with them.
Slippery | Curtain World
Slippery is almost too slippery (lol) an experience to be described in something as rigid as words. A campy absurdist horror comedy with a built in murder mystery. The conventions and tropes of each form/genre are used expertly by Esther Dougherty’s script to delve into the psyche of each character and the intricacies of their inner lives as well as the plethora of hard hitting topics it tickles and teases throughout.
Return to the Dirt | Queensland Theatre
This play is sheer genius. It’s bloody brilliant. What a marvellous piece of theatre. I gave the cast a standing ovation on their first curtain call and I stood clapping long after they’d left the stage. I hope everyone gets to see this, young and old.
The End of Us | Rouge Theatre Co.
Full of sharp dialogue, witty exchanges and very episodic in nature, Fenton’s writing created a very surreal landscape which surprised and delighted. The thread that wove the scenes together was split into two, jumping between different stages in Meredith’s (Georgie Oulton) and Archie’s (Calum Johnston) plutonic marriage mandated by law.
Get Her Outta Here | Broccolini Productions
Get Her Outta Here is a quirky show created and performed by Isabella Broccolini at Sideshow as part of Anywhere Festival. It is a monologue that lasts for about 40 minutes that will make you rack your brain to find meanings and connections. You have to go in there with an open mind because there is nothing straight about this show.
Hello, Gaz Rhumbo! | Lightning Bolt Creative & Willem Whitfield
A fascinating play, with a whole lot going on. Hello, Gaz Rhumbo is a bizarre and fun-filled trip into the life, and untimely death, of our title character. The entire affair is reminiscent of a slightly perturbed gameshow, wherein the contestant gets a short recap and then has to fumble his way through a series of zany questions he is woefully unprepared for.
Booff | Clint Bolster
A delightfully imposing clown, when captured in the intimate setting of the tea room, Booff becomes even larger than life. I felt quite giddy, it’s such a space to step into, an otherworldly experience. If you were to enter this beautiful parlour from the chaos of a summer festival, you would be instantly transported to another world entirely. In this Booff has done that most perfect of magic theatre tricks, he has made the outside go away and the inside somewhere else.
Hello, Gaz Rhumbo! | Lightning Bolt Creative & Willem Whitfield
The show advertises itself as an absurdist comedy. The absurd element is spot on, with clever writing and joke props. A fully grown man in a diaper wails like a baby. A woman uploads information directly to her head and seems to orgasm. Frequently, the characters spoke in a voice from beyond their own experience, laying down exposition that felt simultaneously jarring and hilarious.
Dwell | Collectivist
Collectivist’s first production, Dwell, takes this concept and runs with it. Twists it, turns it, mashes it and destroys it in the best possible way, turning the traditional cabaret into a whole new beast. Similar in concept to HBO’s Room 104, in the world of Dwell’s hotel, anything can and will happen.
The Outhouse | Phoebe Manning & Sarah O'Shanesy
We all crammed into a tiny house in Highgate Hill in a manner reminiscent of many clowns jammed into a tiny car. Sitting on laps and crouching in corners, we settled in on top of each other and traveled together on a whimsical journey.
Terror Australis | Leah Shelton
The comedy is impeccable, it’s utterly bad form all the way through, a peculiarly Aussie delight… and yet she never once has to use a tired cliché or a sexist stereotype.