February
This 4000-year-old story could be fresh off the front page
Sanskrit epic Mahabharata showing at Perth Festival has an urgent message for all of us – particularly for some in the WA capital.
Wuthering Heights gets a folk-protest remix in new musical
The rebellious British director Emma Rice has made a version of Emily Bronte’s gothic classic that leans into its darkness and sense of injustice.
November 2024
Cirque Du Soleil’s latest is a burrito stuffed with spectacle
The Canadian circus giant bills Luzia as a “waking dream of Mexico”, and there’s certainly no way you’d nap during its action-packed two hours.
October 2024
Yentl drags success from antisemitic time
The play about an Orthodox Jewish girl who dresses as a man to study the Torah has extended its Sydney season, despite only 20 per cent of ticket buyers being Gentiles.
Mary Shelley would approve of this Frankenstein show
The monster loses his Hollywood green skin and goes back to his roots in a new production from Shake & Stir Theatre.
July 2024
This 59-year-old play about broke divorcees oddly suits the times
Two of Australia’s great comedic actors make this revival of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple a funny, relatable affair.
June 2024
When Maria Callas went from diva to teacher
By 1971, the celebrated soprano’s voice was worn out. This made for a febrile mood at her series of Juilliard masterclasses that year, now immortalised in a play.
April 2024
Rizzo steals the show in ‘Grease the Musical’
Step aside, Sandy – it was another Rydell High student who got the biggest response at Tuesday’s opening night in Sydney.
March 2024
Seven must-see shows in April
From West Side Story’s Tony and Maria on Sydney Harbour to Tom Gleeson’s return to stand-up in Melbourne, entertainment options are hot next month.
A play that will cut your complacency
Barrie Kosky’s production of The Threepenny Opera at the Adelaide Festival balances crooning and social commentary.
This play about the Lehman Brothers disaster is three hours long. It’s riveting
Masterfully acted and brilliantly staged, The Lehman Trilogy is as much the story of capitalist America as it is of the doomed bank.
February 2024
Sarah Snook’s London show is grotesque
Technical bravura, camera trickery and a high-wire, high-energy performance are not enough to make this show enjoyable or meaningful.
There’s now a play about Lehman Bros - and Dick Fuld hasn’t seen it
The Lehman Trilogy, which opens in Sydney this month, portrays the downfall of the bank, narrated by the original Lehman brothers themselves.
October 2023
Bell Shakespeare puts Twelfth Night through the gender blender
Review: A new production of Shakespeare’s comedy at Sydney Opera House finds laughter and darkness in our enduring fixation on physical appearance.
Sarah Blasko had long dismissed ‘Twelfth Night’ – then she scored it
Composing a soundtrack for the Shakespearean comedy seemed an unlikely job for this most serious of singer-songwriters, but music proved to be the food of love.
This theatre show uses playful puppets to send a sober message
An inner-city tornado blows Sunday dinner off the table, and a shark swims through a living room, as this Belgian production makes an affecting circus of global warming.
September 2023
Sydney’s blockbuster ‘cinema theatre’ is back
The team behind Australian theatrical smash hit The Picture Of Dorian Gray is back with another innovative take on a gothic classic.
June 2023
Kerr Neilson-backed theatre shines on debut
Review: Bell Shakespeare’s first full production in the new theatre bankrolled by the Rich Lister, Romeo & Juliet, made clever use of the state-of-the-art space.
March 2023
Adelaide’s ‘Mad March’ of arts defies spending crunch
The city’s long-held strategy of concentrating most of its performing arts festivals in one month appears to have paid off.
This Macbeth is grim but gripping
Bell Shakespeare’s new take on Macbeth, now at the Sydney Opera House, takes the Bard’s most despairing work and mostly turns it into dynamite.