Monsteria | GUSH
Does a woman become a monster when she refuses to be boxed by societal expectation? When she overconforms, and distorts her own true self? What maketh a monster? A creature beyond our control? A creature that will hurt us, in insidious ways? Do they come at us in the night, or are they waiting inside, just behind the closed eye?
A Rose Among Horns | Genevieve Butler
This is not a show for urban critics. This is a hoot of a show. It’s clever, and it’s complicated, but it’s also easy on the eye, and not so very hard to sing along. We already know how the story ends, after all.
There's Something About Mary(s ) | Cassie George
The songs are cleverly picked to provide an extra, often humorous layer to the story, while tugging at the nostalgia that often comes with music that we all know and love.
One the Bear | Black Honey Company
Decolonisation is an action, not an abstract concept. And it can be as simple as putting a new shape in an old box, a less-seen colour on a jaded set, a rarely-seen rhyme on a prestigious stage. Decolonisation is worthy work, but it doesn't have to feel worthy. It can feel like a whole lot of fun.
Bull | Kristian Šantić
Mythological creatures patched themselves together. Pan was present, Orpheus climbing from Hades, the horror and the cruelty of the Roman pantheon, the cold heart of Shizmu. A man in a cage, climbing to get out. The body that is frail that keeps on climbing. A creature is becoming.
Betty Grumble | Sex Clown Saves The World
Adults only, take no prisoners, leave no lover behind; this fucked up take on cabaret literally starts in a tip and ends in a furnace. It is scandalous, it is shocking, it is… political? Totally political. It’s debonair, it’s filthy, it’s fucking weird. It’s proper wired.
I just came to say goodbye | The Good Room
The audience rippled with trepidation for a minute, when they said this was a lock in. That’s right, my friends, once you are in you must stay in. And if you leave you can not come back. A fitting physical metaphor for the unfurling darkness ahead.
Per Te | Compagnia Finzi Pasca
They are almost reticent in their judicious use of acrobatic scenes. These are acrobats, but they have made a fable. The skills are there, but this is not a Cirque du Soleil-esque production. This is something else.
The Bluebird Mechanicals | Too Close to the Sun
Time moves, stands still. The narrator tells us our future. She has something to say. She has gone to great trouble to craft the tale. She has come a long way to tell us the story. We had best listen.
Danger Ensemble | The Hamlet Apocalypse
This show gets it. It gets that Shakespeare is funny. It gets that it ought to mean something. It pokes fun of it, whilst taking itself seriously at the same time. It is committed to the original, even as it tears it apart with both hands. It gets that tragedy is a car-crash, that you can't tear your eyes away from.
Regan Lynch Does It In Public
Regan dishes out his formative moments and his hero-worshipping reveries with equal measure, and it’s all good. He’s super charming, he’s easy to like. He sings, he dances, he gets his kit off. What's not to like.
I Am My Own Wife | Doug Wright | performed by Ben Gerrard
Some of the strongest words are Charlotte’s own, especially when she speaks about why she never restores anything, lest it loses its character. All scars are sacred time-keeping, all fault-lines are memories, all cracks are to be treasured; they are the living proof. Is she talking about antiques or human bodies. You get to choose.
The Inquisition of the Big Bad Wolf | Prying Eye
This is contemporary dance, but not as you know it. Interdisciplinary works are all the rage at the moment, and this talented company have nailed the brief, fusing dance, theatre and performance art into a great big hilarious wonderland.
Cargo Club | CfAT & DarahRouge @ MetroArts
These artists have made deeply personal work; the line between script and history is too blurry to grasp. These are stories that need told, and these are the people that need to tell them.In a stunning collaboration, these ten diverse and talented artists have created a work that is sublime, ethereal and very, very raw.
The Return of the Angry Mime
There’s something really lovely about stages like these. As our host pointed out early in the piece, you may be treated to great glory, or witness to failure, and that is beautiful in itself.
Inertia | Vulcana Women's Circus
Inertia is a brave new work that features ten young women acrobats in a visceral exploration of modern society and our culture of constant online connection.
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.
Ruckus Slam | 3rd Birthday Party
Unexpectedly, hungrily, over the past half a dozen years, Brisbane has developed a thriving poetry scene. As is the way in our deceptively lively river city, it happened under the radar.
Unleashed Pt. 2 | Vulcana Circus + special guests Prying Eye
It is important to have these kind of discussions, where the fourth wall is not only removed, but we get to go back stage. Oftentimes conversations only occur between artist and director, and perhaps a few close confidants. While not essential, having the opportunity to present works in development oftentimes adds to the developmental process.
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.