Cast of The X Collective's Cleansed Content note: Please be advised this production contains, and this review refers to, simulations of drug use, extreme sexual & physical violence, incest, and suicide. The X Collective close their 2024 season with Sarah Kane's confronting and brutal play Cleansed. Directed by Wayne McPhee, with assistant direction and design by... Continue Reading →
Review: AI May (Embodi Theatre & PIP Theatre)
Clarise Ooi, photographed by Naz Mulla Embodi Theatre has premiered a new bilingual play at PIP Theatre, exploring the intersections of human emotion and artificial intelligence. Written and directed by Amy Chien-Yu Wang, with dramaturgy by Helen Strube, AI May is a bittersweet story of loss and love centred on the tensions between an immigrant... Continue Reading →
Review: Adrift (Counterpilot, Metro Arts & Brisbane Festival)
Audience of Adrift, photographed by Morgan Roberts Counterpilot brought their oceanic participatory theatre experience Adrift back to Metro Arts as part of Brisbane Festival, submerging audiences in the storytelling through audio-based instruction and immersion. Before entering the theatre, we were each fitted with an individual wristband, headphones, and a vest. Voices whispered in the headphones,... Continue Reading →
Review: Kitchen Studio (Elizabeth Willing, Metro Arts & Brisbane Festival)
Kitchen Studio is a gallery installation and series of activations at Metro Arts, West End, devised by artist Elizabeth Willing and presented as part of Brisbane Festival. The immersive, multisensory activations utilised small audience numbers and video design by Chris Howlett to be instructive and contemplative, delivering five "courses" that encouraged participants to consider the... Continue Reading →
Review: Camerata, Lou Bennett & Lior: Ngapa William Cooper (Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, Brisbane Festival & QPAC)
Camerata, Lior, and Dr Lou Bennett AM perform Ngapa William Cooper, photographed by Alex Jamieson Camerata – Queensland's Chamber Orchestra collaborated with singer-songwriters Lior and Dr Lou Bennett AM on a deeply moving concert, presented for one night only as part of Brisbane Festival. The first half of the concert featured songs by Lior and... Continue Reading →
Review: Young Bodies / Somebody’s (Yeah Nah Theatre)
After two successful staged readings earlier in the year, Yeah Nah Theatre presents their debut mainstage production at Backdock Arts, directed by Mik Hosking and produced by Campbell Lindsay. Written by Sydney playwright Miranda Michalowski, Young Bodies/Somebody’s premiered at Flight Path Theatre in 2022 and is a coming of age play about sisterhood, secrets, and... Continue Reading →
Review: Eucalyptus – The Opera
Desiree Frahn as Ellen, photographed by Billie Wilson-Coffey Eucalyptus – The Opera made its world premiere as part of Brisbane Festival, adapted from Murray Bail’s Miles Franklin Award-winning Australian Gothic novel. Ellen has been raised by her protective father, Holland, on a large property in New South Wales. Alongside his only child, Holland has dedicated... Continue Reading →
Review: Volcano (Luke Murphy’s Attic Projects, Brisbane Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, Channel Nine)
Luke Murphy and Will Thompson perform Volcano, photographed by Emilija Jefremova Luke Murphy has brought his colossal, episodic dance theatre work Volcano to the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of Brisbane Festival 2024, and it is everything you could want from a festival work – big on ambition and impact, flawlessly delivered, and resisting convention and... Continue Reading →
Review: Fun Home (PIP Theatre)
Aurelie Roque as Alison Bechdel and Adam Bartlett as Bruce Bechdel, photographed by Kris Anderson / Images by Anderson PIP Theatre has brought Fun Home, the musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s award winning graphic novel, to Brisbane for the first time. Directed by Sherryl-Lee Secomb, this moving production holds all the complex emotion and intellectual... Continue Reading →
Review: Scenes From A Yellow Peril (The Reaction Theory & BIPOC Arts Australia)
Photographed by Nathaniel Knight Presented by The Reaction Theory and BIPOC Arts Australia, Nathan Joe’s Scenes From A Yellow Peril is a theatrical mosaic that pulses with passion, and a powerful commentary on the experience of trans-Tasman Asian identity. This is the second production in Queensland Theatre's inaugural DOOR 3 program, which provides opportunities for... Continue Reading →
Review: Psycho Beach Party (The X Collective)
(L to R) Daniel Kirkby, Hayden Parsons, Bailey Dunnage / Aubrey Haive, Connor Scoble, and Justin Ryan. Image supplied by The X Collective. Presented by The X Collective at PIP Theatre in Milton, Psycho Beach Party is camp, crass, and chaotic in all the best ways. Set over one summer in Malibu Beach, the play... Continue Reading →
Review: Horizon (Playlab Theatre)
Julian Curtis and Ashlee Lollback as Cole and Sky. Imagery supplied by Playlab Theatre. Review of preview performance, 31 July 2024 A contemporary Australian Gothic play by Maxine Mellor, Horizon sees young couple Sky and Cole hitting the highway. Sky is on vacation from her high-stress legal job; Cole is returning to his family home... Continue Reading →