Images of an ageing Ghandi flit through my mind occasionally. They’re a cliché for political activism, akin to the image of Martin Luther King Junior’s infamous proclamation, “I have a dream”. These are epic images, and Ghandi’s in particular speaks of a life well-lived, and spent on something worthwhile. For the rest of us, our dreams—whether they’re as big as Ghandi’s or not—have a very tenuous relationship with the realities of our lives, but paradoxically these same dreams are usually the driving force in what an individual manages to achieve.
The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.
Tags: Dylan Thomas, fortyfivedownstairs, Julian Meyrick, Martin Luther King, Patricia Cornelius, Patrick White Playwrights Award, Rhys Mc
Every now and then a play comes along that leaves you feeling like you’ve just witnessed something important, but you’re not sure what. Winter’s Discontent is one of them. It is coherent, intelligent, demanding of its audience and at times funny, but I still feel like I missed something. Like there was something substantial, important, that the writer was trying to communicate, and I’m a bit of a goose for missing it…
The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.
Tags: The Street Theatre, William Zapper
Before going along to see Every Single Saturday I must admit to a little apprehension. It is the same fear I face every time a conversation turns to sport or someone makes a comment vaguely sports-related and then looks at me as if I am expected to make a certain type of comment. That’s right, I’m a member of Australia’s smallest minority group: the Sports-Ignorant. Thankfully, although it really is all about soccer mums and dads, Every Single Saturday makes life easy even for the Sports-Ignorant. There’s even one of us amongst the characters!
The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.
Tags: Australia, Daniella Lacob, Geoff Sirmai, Joanna Weinberg, Matt Young, Melanie de Ferranti, Paul Geddes, Recreation and Sports, Sara Grenfell
Love Cupboard can be neatly summarised as the story of an adolescent girl who isolates herself from the rest of her life to live with her boyfriend (hence the love); and to avoid discovery, hides in a cupboard in his lounge room (hence the cupboard). The story is as quaint as its title…
The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.
Tags: Arts, Cameron Thomas, Cathy Hagarty, Cupboard, David Atfield, Emma Gibson, Hanna Cormick, Peter Butz, Peter Matheson, Relationships, Romance, Scott Cummings, Tim Levy
Henry Lawson’s legacy is not an easy one to identify. It is wrapped up in the mystery of the Australian identity, which is now, as it was in Lawson’s day, straddled across the divides between urban and rural, between civilised and free, and of course between global and local. Max Cullen’s play, Faces in the Street, somehow manages to explore these weighty notions while remaining firmly grounded in the story of Lawson’s life…
The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.
Tags: Australia, cultural cring, Henry Lawson, Lawson, Max Cullen, New South Wales
There is an understated richness in every aspect of Toy Symphony. From the rigid, unforgiving box set, to the delicate simplicity of its marvellous performers, to Michael Gow’s unassuming dialogue, the play is replete with this marvellous juxtaposition of natural simplicity with deep pathos…
The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.
Tags: Barbara Lowing, Chris Pitman, Danial Mulvihill, Ed Wightman, Geordie Brookman, Lizzy Falkland, Michael Gow
In Richard III, Shakespeare has left us one of the greatest challenges to the willing suspension of disbelief ever created; Richard is a foul and loathsome character, and yet every time I see the play, I am amazed at how much sympathy I have for the detestable excuse for a human being I am presented with. Everyman Theatre has left me in this state yet again.
The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.
Tags: Adrian Flor, Arts, British, Duncan Driver, Duncan Ley, Helen McFarlane, Ian Croker, James Scott, Jim Adami, Literature, Peter Fock, Richard III, Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, World Literature
Foyer Talk 