La Silhouette | Sui Ensemble
Created by Brissie legends Sui Ensemble, this was a roller-coaster of thrills and spills and colourful mayhem, with a brutal message of home truths revealed layer by layer like a very dangerous game of pass the parcel.
Re:membering | UMWELTCollective
This is deeply personal work. This is about these two sisters; not all sisters, but these ones in particular. The tides of the relationship are marked out, sometimes it is abundantly clear to us the vicissitudes, other-times we are left to wonder.
Man with the Iron Neck | Joshua Bond & Legs on the Wall
Damn. This show. This fucking show. You must go and see this show.This show will kick you in the guts, leave you reeling from laughter and then breaking your heart multiple times.
As If No-one Is Watching | Vulcana Circus and WaW Dance
In As If No-one Is Watching they have created a production that is both an incredibly intimate and dense exploration of women’s internal worlds and a whimsical, gloriously weird, life-affirming celebration of what they can achieve together.
En Masse | Circa
I adored the scene early in the first act when the cast were tumbled across the stage, blown by the howling winds of winter. This was easily some of the best tumbling I have ever seen, full of energy and purpose, no movement repeated, high-level skills interspersed throughout but not repeated just to garner applause. A fabulous scene.
Dust | DanceNorth
The dancers worked in a choreography that was reminiscent of robots or possessed creatures, it was creepily effective, heads and limbs askew, almost aggressively presenting an internal animosity, a struggle between self and a rogue body.
Umami Mermaids | Anna Straker
The perfect piece to wander across at a festival, in a dark corner where you think there be rainbows and friendly creatures of the deep, but there are only ghouls and destruction and wanton betrayal, and slighted ladies who smell of seaweed and ageing fishes, who bide their time until they can wreak their delicious vengeance.
Yummy | Yummy Productions
It’s a celebration of expression, a show-case of drag, and post-gender performance art all in one. It's not just for the boys, it's for everyone and every form of expression. Bring on the gender revolution led by Yummy.
Yothu Yindi and the Treaty Project & Yirrmal
This is truly political music. Music that heals. Music that challenges. Music to dance to. Music to rise up with
Biladurang | Joel Bray
The set is intimate. Obviously. The whole room is five meters by ten. We are offered terry-towelling robes and champagne. It is true, I have been to parties and illicit liaisons like this before, these same mundane walls, the art that becomes commonplace in these holding pens, these anonymous rooms where people stay when they are in-between places, meeting nameless others.
Hamnet | Dead Centre
Children. You cannot trust them. You cannot trust them to know the appropriate etiquette. They might ask you anything.
Ride | Backbone Ensemble
The nature of the tiny venues - the inside of a car - and the lively Saturday night timeslot - makes for an intimate confessional that has guest spilling secrets and demanding phone-jacks. The whole show has a feeling of risk, the kind of chance you take when you jump into a car with a stranger.
Love Letters to Fuckbois | Wightman & Stark
A simple premise: the two protagonists read out so-called love letters to men from their past, all the while discussed with just the right amount of wry humour as you would share over a bottle of cheap white with a girlfriend. The stories contain familiar faces and well-known archetypes we have ALL slipped into bed with. Regrets I've had a few, but maybe not so many as these lasses...
WHAM! BAM! Cabaret SLAM! | Ruckus Brisbane
And no, I’m not in the midst of a 90s flashback to Homebake, bleach blonde undercut, flanny and all. This is Brisbane’s newest scratch night - WHAM! BAM! Cabaret SLAM! Here, local artists of all shapes, sizes, modalities and talents levels will battle it out once a month for fortune ($100) and glory (the coveted and elusive full audience ‘Space NEEEEeeeddddllllleee’).
The Longest Minute | Robert Kronk & Nadine McDonald-Dowd
The show starts jovial, cheerful, giving a good Aussie ribbing to audience and players alike. But the skies are drawing in, and we are ultimately plunged into the deeply personal world of the Wright family, a tale of family life in the 80's and 90's, ever shaded by a dark cloud of racism and violence.
Wheel of Fortune | TAM Presents
The class commentary of the original remains firmly on the down low, and leaves you to make your judgements afterwards in the bar; the play sets the scene, but in this modern world of sexual promiscuity are there really any forbidden fruits to scandalize the punters?
Proximity | Kelsey Laura
Obviously the metaphor of the eggshells very apparent, very early on. I thought it was a very brave work. Really brave to pick such a challenging topic and put so much of yourself into it.
Invisible Things | Alex Mizzen
Invisible Things showcases all that is possible with New Circus – that circus can be used as a modality for telling complex and rich stories, not just for tricks and applause. Through intricately planned choreography and improvisation, Alex creates a world that is both deeply engaging and breathtaking to watch.
Poison | Lot Vekemans
They paved the stage with woodchip and paths of white quartz. From the first step, the first crunch of the lily-white stones, I am transported to the quiet paths of cemeteries up and down the country, the courtyards of crematoriums.
Dinopocalypse | Ruckus Slam
What if dinosaurs did not die out in a mass extinction 65 million years ago and instead went underground and evolved over tens of millions of years into a vaguely humanoid species not too dissimilar from ourselves? And what if a catastrophic event drove them out of their homes and forced them to seek safety in our own and our government sought to contain them, both for their safety and for our own? And what would you do if you got a chance to visit the facility that contains them, at the launch of their dinosaur integration program?