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Virginia and Some of Her Friends

La Mama’s Explorations series is a season of new and often experimental works that challenge theatrical boundaries and process and explore new ideas.

Virginia and Some of Her Friends is one of this year’s offerings, and while it is not especially innovative in style, it does combine theatrical techniques that are not often seen in harmony.

This piece sits somewhere between the musical and the play with music. Like a musical, the songs deliver a substantial component of the character and some plot. But like the play with music, the songs jar, altering the flow of action and realigning the audience’s attention not unlike Brecht’s verfremdungseffekt.

As for plot, there is little…

The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.

Fag Boy and the Married Guy

17 Jan

Few theatre-goers will struggle to relate to the experiences of bullying the protagonist of Fag Boy and the Married Guy recounts for audiences at La Mama over the next few days. This is a strongly developed story that explores – not terribly subtly – both bullying and the gay dating scene.

Now an adult living the dream with a great job, great house, and the means for a business-class tour of Europe apparently, William arranges a rendezvous with…

The rest of this post is published on Australian Stage.

The Hamlet Apocalypse

09 Oct

I think Dionysus was smiling on me when I rocked up at La Mama tonight without a booking. And to be within those hallowed walls was, as always, a humbling experience. The Danger Ensemble‘s The Hamlet Apocalypse illustrates beautifully the human inclination to cling to what we know when facing what we fear.

Director, Steven Mitchell Wright, says that “this work is very simply about a group of actors choosing to perform William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the face of the apocalypse, the end, death, finality, loss, whichever it is for you”. And while there is an element of simplicity in its performance, there is nothing simple about the way these actors face their apocalypse. Rather, there is an understanding and intense depiction of the very human emotions of fear, anticipation and determination.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the perfect partner for this story, and its broad plot arc has been deftly interwoven with these actors’ story. The cast delivers Shakespeare’s dialogue with aplomb, and I may well have wanted to see them simply do Hamlet, were it not for the fascinating development of the actors’ characters. As the cast counts down to the apocalypse, their own fears, insecurities and personalities render some of Shakespeare’s most profound characters dull by comparison with these performers, whose experiences resonate spectacularly in La Mama’s confined space.

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Posted by Trevar Alan Skillicorn-Chilver on Friday, 9 October 2009 in La Mama, The Danger Ensemble, William Shakespeare

Tags: Dionysus, Hamlet, Katrina Cornwell, Kenneth Branagh, La Mama, Laurence Olivier, Lloyd Allison-Young, Mark Hill, Peta Ward, Robbie O'Brien, Shakespeare, The Hamlet Apocalypse, Tora Hylands, William Shakespeare

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- Australian Stage (Canberra Reviews) lists and reviews live shows in all Australian capitals.
- Canberra Critics Circle the ‘old guard’ of Canberra’s critic community.
- Canberra Dilettante is a nice little blog about many things, with a fair chunk of theatre.
- Cluster is a community for us playwrights.
- Curtain Call is Crikey’s theatre blog, reviewing shows around Australia (by which, apparently, they mean Sydbourne).
- Frank McKone Theatre Criticism Frank McKone has been documenting theatre in Canberra since the mid 90s, and he is archiving all of his reviews on this blog.
- No Plain Jane is a well-considered and thoughtful blog focused on theatre in Adelaide.
- OffPrompt lists opportunities for anyone in Canberra to get involved in community theatre.
- RiotACT Theatre theatre section of Canberra’s best media outlet.
- Stage Noise reviews theatre (and more) in Sydney.
- That Guy Who Watches Canberra Theatre is an anonymous blog from another theatre tragic. Or at least it looks that way.
- The Canberra Critic anonymous reviewer of Canberra productions.
- The Official Blog of Lachlan T. Ruffy is a particularly enjoyable blog from a rather verbose member of Canberra’s acting fraternity.
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- Canberra Philharmonic Society one of Canberra’s longest-running musical theatre production companies.
- Canberra Repertory Society Canberra Rep is a big part of Canberra’s theatrical history and continues to play a major part in bringing new shows to Canberra.
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- Canberra Youth Theatre creates and promotes theatre with young people that is inspirational, enriching, collaborative and innovative.
- Centrepiece Theatre a pro-am company staging a range of theatrical productions.
- Frank McKone Theatre Criticism Frank McKone has been documenting theatre in Canberra since the mid 90s, and he is archiving all of his reviews on this blog.
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Tag Archives: La Mama

Virginia and Some of Her Friends

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Fag Boy and the Married Guy

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The Hamlet Apocalypse

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