Gutenberg! the Musical! | Springboard Productions
Displaying amazing musical muscle and acting ability, the two leads played around 30 characters between them with multiple different accents. No costume and makeup meant they really had to rely on their own characterisation, especially when the hats and accents started to come off and on thick and fast, along with the puns and the Broadway numbers. Chaos does ensue, but it is such well-controlled chaos.
The Politics of Vodka Lime & Soda | T!ts Akimbo
I was genuinely really delighted by the musical numbers, and I was surprised because that's usually not my thing. They were really fun and would cut between sharp cheesy choreography in the characters heads, to their real life drunken stumbling and screaming into the microphone. I think this would have been really easy to mess up but the way it broke up the action was really natural and the actors' delivery had me deep belly laughing at several points.
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.
ASK | Tristan Niemi
You could absolutely feel the tension in the room, it was palpable. I felt the recognition of my role as a voyeur in this maelstrom, and my heart started to race. It was thrilling. I felt compelled to keep asking questions. In fact, I asked questions through the whole show, for various reasons. Originally it was curiosity, and even partly some sort of weird benevolence towards the artist in the beginning. This was killed off by of an uncontrollable desire to hear as much of their story as possible.
This Way to a Fireside Chat with Lucifer | Lightning Bolt Collective
But in my consultation, I was quickly informed that Satan is here to run in the national election. Lucifer's candidacy feels at home in an age of populist and potentially demonic global leaders, running on an appealing platform of climate justice and the fulfilment of my every desire. The conversations around politics grounded the experience while simultaneously making light of the often depressing political landscape. Voting often feels like deciding which party is the lesser of two evils, so why not vote for the devil?
Show Ponies | Brisbane Writers Festival
essa may ranapiri was the final one to take the stage, delivering an intoxicating and hypnotic poem threaded with the personification of an echidna as a woman who has no choice but to be violent for their voice to be heard. Accompanied by a beautiful score from their homeland, it was a poem that will stay with me for some time. Utterly striking.
Literary Death Match | Brisbane Writers Festival
The arena was the Princess Theatre, as fierce as the MCG on Boxing Day. The crowd was appropriately tipsy and rowdy for a Wednesday night on the town. The lighting was shmick and the judges were ready to roll. We had the jack of all trades/‘thrower of shit on a wall and seeing what sticks’ Benjamin Law, the pocket-rocket, beatboxing Hope One and the conqueror of the Argentinian men’s water polo team (you had to be there) Reuben Kaye.
"I don’t want pain to be my legacy." Tristan Niemi on subverting the expectations of theatre
The artists that I’m close with, when we talk about our practice, we often come to a place of discussing this pressure we feel to be in pain in order to making art of value. But when a layer of othering, as you put it, is added to that the pressure becomes intensified and localised to the “otherness” we are branded with. I, personally, plan on being a working artist for the rest of my life and I don’t want pain to be my legacy. I don’t want the next generation of artist to have to inherit that from me and feel that same pressure. So, I’m using ASK to point out the despicable nature of this pressure.
The Wynter of Our Disco Tent | Funny Mummies
The duo used real-life teenage diary entries to inspire a score of original 80’s pop tunes as lyrically witty as they were melodic. The musical numbers, and the show as a whole, teetered experterly on this line of self-aware cringe. Which, for an audience whose entry was more teens-at-an-80s-concert than stand-up goers, seemed like the perfect fit.
Leaves of Glass | The X Collective
The cast endures the emotional intensity of Phillip Ridley’s script in a most admirable way. They maintain the energy of the text and keep it engaging despite the numerous, lengthy, and unnecessary blackouts. Caroline Sparrow and Sandra Harman in particular give deeply nuanced performances that ground their scenes in the mundanity that memory plays are known for.
To Hunt a Killer | Dark Stories
To Hunt a Killer had a distinct connection to Brisbane|Meanjin. The team constructed the narrative around a specific site that is well known to many Brisbanians, which absolutely made this piece special. Equally, this would be a cool experience for those visiting the city and would give an opportunity to explore a popular area in Brisbane in an experience you just would not get during the day.
POWER | Strong lady Productions
Childs herself seems like the type of person whose hugs make you feel safe. She possesses a charm that helps her win the audience over almost immediately. Childs is the perfect guide and guardian for the audience as they travel through what power, strength, vulnerability, and weakness all look and feel like to them. From hearing her story and witnessing her vulnerability I can confidently say Childs is not only a Strong Lady, she is a strong person as well.
The Long Pigs | We3
I strongly feel like dark humour such as this plays an important role in fostering our resilience as humans. For this reason, the Long Pigs is a brilliant example of disruptive theatre and highlights for me the importance of the fool in creating social commentary through clowning. It was the perfect balance between dark and light.
Briefs: The Classics | Briefs Factory
As a shameless Briefs groupie, I’d seen all the acts before, but that didn’t matter in the slightest. All the performers know how to work the crowd and respond to the audience’s energy, camping up acts and whipping us into a frenzied applause at the drop of a hat. And of course, Shivannah kept the show moving at a high pace with her winning commentary and stunning outfits sourced from op shops around the world.
Arterial | Na Djinang
This performance for me showcased the new storytellers of our time, the holders, and caretakers of ancestral message. The work of Arterial to me was a deep dive into what it means to be living now, as a First Nations person in so-called Australia. Ritual and Relationship a strong theme throughout, upheld in a deep respect of Country, Culture and Self.
Knee Deep | Casus Creations
Knee Deep is a beautifully-crafted display that wordlessly spans both the Intimate and large scale. The 60 minute show is absolutely packed with contemporary circus skills, including literal high-points of towers, hoop, trapeze, and silks—and intimate moments of playful wooing of the egg, and interchangeable, duets, trios, and quartets that move across and though the space.
Club Culture Cabaret | Briefs Factory
At night, the Brisbane Powerhouse is a towering structure. When awash in a coloured glow, the industrial legacies of its brick exterior are exposed and amplified. Standing tall, it looms above the heads of those swallowed by its glass doors. Yet on Sunday night, with Fez Fa’anana (as Shivannah) sauntering amongst arriving audiences and flashing smiles over diamantéd shoulders, the building had never felt so warm.
Diva Dive | Finucane and Smith
This is a variety show with a travelling circus feel to it, its numerous stunning acts from around the world sewn together by MC Moira, some kind of vampiric love goddess. She carried us through a host of dazzling dances, spine-tinglingly beautiful singing, trapeze, burlesque, boylesque, physical comedy and all manner of gender-defying feats.
"It is up to the individual to draw from their own wellspring of self-belief." Overcoming writers block with Ad Astra
We chose this play for several reasons. Firstly, the overarching theme of a playwright who is struggling with writers’ block is a metaphor for anyone who has struggled with the creative process. No matter what drives you as a human being, we all have a creative muscle and at times, it needs massaging!