MAN ABOUT TOWN

Last year’s MTC production of Richard III was widely proclaimed as a masterpiece, with particular praise heaped on Ewen Leslie’s striking performance in the title role, Simon Phillips’ bold direction, and Shaun Gurton’s revolving, West Wing -inspired set. This year, the same creative team have re-assembled for Hamlet , with Leslie taking on the demanding role of the melancholy Dane. There is much to like about this new production, but for all its strengths, there is something of the air of a Hollywood sequel about it; a sense of rehashing a winning formula with less successful results. Updated into a world of power and politics where electronic surveillance is commonplace, this Hamlet sees messages delivered by mobile phones instead of by heralds and pages, an effective trick which was slightly undone by the cheap gimmick of having one of the actor’s mobiles ring during the opening scene, interrupting Claudius’s speech. Once again the production makes full use of the ...

White Whale Theatre's audacious, hilarious, horror movie homage is a sequel to Shakespeare's Macbeth . That's right, a sequel . Turns out the witches' magic is stronger than Macduff's sword; so even though he's been decapitated, Macbeth manages to return from the grave and wreak havoc upon Scotland once more, aided and abetted by the witch-goddess Hecate, his reanimated wife Lady Macbeth (who's now seeing damned spots everywhere , not just on her hands) and a ravening undead horde. Written and directed by David Mence in 2004, and originally staged at Melbourne University that same year, the play and its players then embarked for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006, where they garnered rave reviews (" Macbeth meets Shaun of the Dead in B-grade movie schlock-horror splendour!" raved The Scotsman ). Now it's been remounted at Trades Hall, with a cast of 13, a magnificent set of crags and standing stones that's more lavish than most independent thea...

Because I've been a bad, bad blogger of late - blame my life: there was a hell of a lot happening in July-August, most of which I can't go into detail about - there have been quite a few performances I've attended recently that I haven't had time to blog about: until now. Apologies for the brevity of the following 'reviews' (perhaps 'impressions' would be a better word); I've got rather a lot to catch up on! Bell Shakespeare's HAMLET There was a point, a few years ago, where I was determined never to see another Bell Shakespeare production. The company's shows - especially those directed by John Bell himself - had become stale, predictable and tedious, I thought - so much so that the last Bell production I saw, Romeo and Juliet , I walked out of in disgust. So it was with some foreboding that I went to see the Marion Potts-directed Bell Shakespeare production of Hamlet at the Arts Centre back in July. Happily, it wasn't that bad. Which i...

Being some brief impressions - I wouldn't call them reviews - of some recently seen performances around town. (I deleted last night's version of this post as I was in a foul mood when I posted it, and figured I might have been a bit too harsh on at least one of the shows I was discussing. On retrospect, it's still crap, but I wanted to be more considered in my condemnation...) Bangarra Dance Theatre: Mathinna The latest work by indigenous dance troupe Bangarra explores the life story of a young Indigenous woman, Mathinna , who was removed from her family at a young age and raised in the household of the Governor of Tasmania. Choreographed by Stephen Page, this production tells her story - a tale of vulnerability and a search for identity - through dance. While featuring a beautiful set and striking lighting design, I found the story itself presented almost too literally; an impression given weight by David Page's score, which lacked shading and subtlety. That said, a mo...