13: The Play | Legacy Ensemble & Anywhere Festival
Each of the thirteen performers seamlessly snapped between different set pieces and characters, sometimes even mid-sentence and didn’t miss a beat. In a split second, one actor could be a young child complaining to their parents and in the next breath, they were a gang member. Each transition was seamless as the last.
Nineteen | Underground Theatre Company
Overall, the actors as an ensemble were quite tight and captured the emotional repression and despondency that their characters were feeling. A special mention to Dominic Graves, who gave his character Noah’s broken masculinity and repressed trauma nuance and an emotional depth that was called for.
Five Shows for Teens and young adults to check out at Brisfest this year!
For Brisvegas residents, Brisbane Festival is the most wonderful time of the year. It is a time when art is celebrated and rejuvenated. A time when theatregoers roam the streets; a glass of red wine in hand, hopping from one show to the next. If you have a teen that is itching to get into theatre or maybe you have a teen that’s never been exposed to theatre before, here are your must sees of this years season.
This Ain't No Pussy Show | Kate Harman
Over the space of an hour we explore tropes of toxic masculinity, are presented with provocations on positive masculinity, look at the tangle of ethical motherhood, push it up against the dark heart of a lifetime wrestling with misogyny, and dance around themes of friendship, aging, empowerment, growth, and discovery. A meaty morsel, to be sure.
The Freshblood Festival 2021 | Vena Cava Productions
The Freshblood Festival allows a platform for emerging artists to showcase and workshop their work in a professional capacity. Each performance I viewed was written by current QUT students and alumni. I must admit that I was blown away by the level of professionalism that was showcased in this festival, and I hope that I will be able to get to the festival again next year.
The Time is Now | La Boite's Young Artist Company
The Time Is Now features ten storytellers from different ethnic backgrounds and ages, with the youngest being a ripe old age of twelve (nearly thirteen) and the oldest, eighteen. The work was built around the UN Declaration of a Child’s Rights, with each performer making their own amendment to it. These amendments include each child having freedom of expression, the right to be safe, the right to have ice-cream and the right to be a bad ass Queen.
Dear Adults | Virag Dombay and Harry Fritsch
Dear Adults is a verbatim piece performed by children that explores different dynamics they have with adults and provides a stage for their questions and concerns to be heard. It’s the kind of show that I wished I would’ve had access to as a child, especially with growing up in a rural town and the difficulties that arose there. To be able to have those honest discussions with the adults in my life is something I yearned for when I was younger and still do to some extent.
Jingle Bells Sucks Baubles | Ad Astra
Jingle Bells Sucks Baubles is a show that will 110% get you in the Christmas cheer, but is definitely not one for the children. From hallucinogenic cacti, to in house workouts via a smart watch to silent marches in Chermside over the environmental impacts of Christmas, Pierce Gordon’s script has it all.
Arc | Australasian Dance Collective
Arc was the first show of ADC since November 2019, and it was a remarkable post-pandemic lockdown comeback. It took place in South Bank, in the grassy area set against river and the cityscape as background. It is not often that you can enjoy the inviting feelings evoked by the Mercurian feet of dancers moving on soft grass.
Statum | Flipside Circus and Counterpilot
Statum is a smashing show, a dynamic collaboration between Flipside Circus and Nathan Sibthorpe (Counterpilot). Setting the standard for high-quality productions from youth ensembles, Flipside have created a fun hour of high-energy stunts, fusing technology and circus tricks in a range of visually interesting scenes.
We Live Here | Flipside Circus
It's so good to see these stories on stage, in a world where every other show is about the artists own challenges, self-indulgent narratives of privileged lives. This show advocates for those that have no time to sing their own praises, and is all the more gorgeous for it.
Hamnet | Dead Centre
Children. You cannot trust them. You cannot trust them to know the appropriate etiquette. They might ask you anything.
Wasteland | Flipside Circus
They tumble onto the stage, a gang of thieves, a motley crew, a pack of energetic youth, in a futuristic set that reminds me of shades of Tankgirl, or Waterworld, or even Mad Max – all films way too old for any of the performers to have ever seen!