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September is done and dusted, Brisbane Festival is over for another year, and I can see this shade of fuschia on the back of my eyelids 💖 I wrote in my final August newsletter that I expected to finish September in a neon-pink coma, covered in confetti, and I'm pretty much there.

At the opening night of The Human Voice & The Call on Tuesday night ✨ It's a compelling, moving double bill of one-act, one-woman operas, including the world premiere of new Australian work The Call, sung in English. Sopranos Alexandra Flood and Ali McGregor were brilliant. Although musically and stylistically different, the two works complemented each other thematically, each centred around a life-altering phone call and emphasising the power of connection, kindness, and hope.

Dinner with a view 🌏 we got to admire the Gaia installation before seeing Mistero Buffo at @metroarts last Thursday night. Julian Spooner delivered a masterful physical theatre performance in this tightly-packed one-man show, conjuring dozens of characters and locations with remarkable energy. First performed in 1969, Dario Fo's controversial work centred on the life and miracles of Jesus Christ, and still resonates in the modern world as it speaks to truth, power, justice, and inequality.

Last Tuesday night, we saw @restless_dance_theatre's neon-bright, entertaining, and thought-provoking dance theatre piece Guttered at the @kingpin_play bowling alley in Chermside. Performed in Brisbane as part of @brisbanefestival, the choreography of this site-specific work made full use of its unusual performance location as it explored life, love, and the dignity of risk through the lens of disability. The work was full of playful and whimsical moments, but clearly articulated its message and gave the audience ample opportunity to reflect and reconsider their own ideas of, and approach to, people with a disability. My review is online now 💃💕

While the rest of the city is lit up neon-pink this month, October has come early to La Boite with the lilac blush of jacarandas in Tiddas 💜 Adapted for the stage by Anita Heiss, from her 2014 book, Tiddas follows a group of five best friends as they navigate life, love, and literature together at their monthly book club.

With @bonniemaryliston at the world premiere of Holding Achilles at QPAC last Friday night, which was also the official opening night of @brisbanefestival 2022. If you haven't already heard me raving about it in person, Holding Achilles is an awe-inspiring collaboration between @deadpuppetsociety and @legsonthewall, presenting one of the Western literary canon's oldest narratives and most well-known mythological heroes through a queer lens. In writing a review, I struggled to find words that really captured the incredible achievement and scale of it, and I’m still not convinced that I managed to do so. So much of my first draft was just strong adjectives - majestic? Epic? Otherworldly? Breathtaking? Ambitious? Heartbreaking? All of this, and more. I'm seeing it for a third and final time tonight, and I feel like I'm still processing the visceral emotional reaction I had to that first performance last Friday. There is so much to take in - Montaigne's haunting vocals, the artistry and physical prowess of the ensemble, the technical wizardry and rich visual language of the work. And underlying all of that, never overpowered by the (considerable) spectacle, is the raw emotion and strength of the storytelling. This production has raised the bar, for me personally, in terms of what is possible in live performance.

First show of Brisbane Festival 2022! 💖🎉 Although the festival officially opens tonight, we were in the Cremorne Theatre last night to see the @shakeandstir adaptation of Shannon Molloy's 2020 memoir, Fourteen, about his experiences as a gay teenager in Yeppoon in 1999. It's gut-wrenching, and joyful, and the cast do a really outstanding job. Although I felt that the play stumbled in balancing cheery 90s nostalgia and affording the story’s trauma appropriate gravity and pause, the rendering of regional life in central Queensland is pitch perfect and there are some magnificent moments of humour and emotion. My full review is online now at @limelightartsau ✨

The Almighty Sometimes finishes at Queensland Theatre this week - I saw it recently, and it’s a heartbreaker. Directed by Daniel Evans (which is enough reason to see it, in my opinion) and written by Kendall Feaver, I’d say this is the best QT production of 2022. It’s sweet and funny and resonant and it holds the messy and complicated parts of the story without fighting to solve them. Wonderful performances by the cast, and some really interesting staging and sound design - I left the theatre with an ache in my chest, and the urge to call my mum 💙🧡

Last Sunday we attended the @villanova_players matinee of Letters to Lindy. The play draws on a collection of more than 20,000 letters that were sent to Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, from support to abuse and everything in between, while she was on trial and imprisoned, accused of murdering her nine-week-old daughter, before finally being exonerated after more than 30 years in one of Australia’s most high-profile and hotly debated cases. It was a moving performance, filled with a surprising warmth and wry humour as it dissected assumptions and accusations to reveal the woman and mother at the heart of the media circus.

Fringe Brisbane @fringebrisbane launched their first program on Saturday night, from their festival home under the Sky Needle in South Brisbane 💛 A new project from the team behind @anywherefest, Fringe Brisbane 2022 will run from 14 October to 6 November and will be presented in partnership with more than 100 independent producers and 20+ local venues. The inaugural program is online via their website - there's theatre, dance, comedy, burlesque, experimental art, live music, and more (also, the iconic bin chicken is the festival's wide-eyed mascot). I love discovering new spaces, ideas, and artists at Anywhere Festival each year, and no doubt Fringe Brisbane will bring the same delicious balance of risk and reward - great to see another opportunity for independent artists in Brisbane (as well as national and international acts) to be showcased and celebrated 🍾👏

The 90's nostalgia continues in Brisbane with Cruel Intentions: The 90's Musical, which opened at the Fortitude Music Hall last Friday night. A jukebox musical packed with hits from the era, the show captured all of the key moments of the 1999 film and showcased some formidable Australian musical theatre talent. In carefully replicating the film, the musical is 90s-movie-problematic (particular warning for homophobia) although attempts have obviously been made to soften or push back on some of these issues. Overall, it was a high energy show that captured all the drama, comedy, and momentum of a late 90’s movie, wrapped up in versatile, neon-bright staging and featuring outstanding performances by a talented cast.

A Wilde night out with @2littlehouses at @laboitetheatre on Wednesday for the opening of Lewis Treston's adaptation of An Ideal Husband 💙 set in Canberra(ish) in 1996(ish), Treston's script blends Oscar Wilde's wit and philosophising with 90s pop culture and Australian politics.

On Thursday we attended the opening night of Wesley Enoch and John Rodgers' joyful, jazzy musical The Sunshine Club (feat. the annual outing of my favourite jacket ❤💙💚), which has returned to the QPAC Playhouse more than 20 years after its initial 1999 season there. This swinging revival is directed again by Enoch, who wrote the book and lyrics, and stars a new generation of First Nations artists alongside a number of creatives who worked on the original production.

Misty mornings and blue sky days 🧡☕💙

At the opening night of Savoyards' Oliver! recently - this big-hearted show is packed with local passion and talent, featuring more than fifty performers from the community in this classic tale about the orphan boy who asks for more. My review of this energetic, entertaining, and emotionally engaging performance is online now, and there are only three shows remaining - tonight, and tomorrow - so see it while you can!

Workin' 9 to 5...and then heading to the Brisbane opening of @9to5au last Tuesday night! My full review is on the blog now (direct link in my stories). Inspired by the hit 1980 film, 9 to 5 The Musical is a fast-paced, high-energy, and surprisingly risqué night out, with outstanding cast performances and a sharp ensemble ✨ Thank you for inviting us @cw_publicity 💕

What a week! Three consecutive opening nights, and my brain is still swirling with songs and swordplay and adjectives to try and adequately describe it all. My review of The Last Five Years is online now for @limelightartsau (there's a direct link in my stories) and reviews of 9to5 and Bernhardt/Hamlet are close behind. Happy Sunday 🥂☕

I am not ready to return to a five-day working week after a month of long weekends 💐

Sweet little street (park?) library in Herston 💚

A belated snap from the QPAC Concert Hall, two Saturday afternoons ago at Queensland Symphony Orchestra's Mozart's Clarinet - an interesting and varied concert program including a short orchestral work from an Australian composer, the titular clarinet concerto starring QSO Section Principal Irit Silver, and Martinů's rollercoaster first symphony. It was fascinating to have a clear view of the clarinet, when the fingerwork is generally obscured by other sections of the orchestra, and Silver was magnificent - every note was clear, bright, and distinct. Full review is on the blog now 💜🎶

Backstreet Brisbane was founded and continues on the unceded land and waterways of the Jagera and Turrbal people.

I acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional custodians of the land where I live and work, to their Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Nations peoples.

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