A pseudo-autobiographical recount of the aftermath of the publication of her memoir, Banana Girl, Michele Lee’s new play bends the boundaries of past and present, reality and dreams in an exploration of the self as daughter, writer, woman, and outsider. Following her alter ego Natalie Yang through an out of control downward spiral of self-doubt, professional and personal failure, and disappointment with the illusion of success, Going Down contains all the elements of a powerful contemporary mirror for the millennial generation.
Tag / 2018
Merrily We Roll Along | Little Triangle
Little Triangle is a brand new Sydney theatre company dedicated to reprising under-performed musicals at a ticket price point that doesn’t cost their audience a week’s rent. As an effort to expand and diversify the musical theatre scene in Sydney, this is a valiant way to open a company. Their second production, Merrily We Roll Along, just closed their season at the Depot Theatre to wide praise and keen look-outs for their next show!
PARADE | Sydney University Musical Theatre Ensemble (MUSE)
Image by Keshav Unhelkar
PARADE is a show that fits at the intersection of a few pertinent global discussions: racial and religious persecution, misogyny and violence against women, and a lighter resurgence of American historical musicals. Perhaps the consistent feeling that the political climate of the United States is sliding further and further into the past is calling people to turn to staged political events with clearer moral codes and reliable heros’ journeys. Whatever the reason, director Hayden Tonazzi’s desire to add purpose and meaning to the society’s choice of major production is a commendable one.
the Wolves | Red Line Productions
Image by John Marmaras
Set over a few Saturdays of the team the Wolves’ indoor soccer (futsal) games, The Wolves depicts the overlapping and unpredictable lives of the nine under-17s players while they warm up before games. The girls gossip, make plans, discuss homework and global events, and reveal more and more of themselves to each other before an accident rewrites the tone of the rest of their lives.
Kill Climate Deniers | Griffin Theatre Company
Kill Climate Deniers is a new Australian political satire about the state of the political, scientific, and social discourse around climate change in our country. It depicts a group of eco-terrorists storming Parliament House during a Fleetwood Mac concert in order to hold the audience, including the Minister for the Environment, hostage and demand the Australian government put an immediate stop to global climate change. Written by David Finnigan, it won the 2017 Griffin Playwrights Award.
Are We Awake? | bAKEHOUSE
Charles O’Grady’s third original play makes a return to the stage at Kings Cross Theatre as part of Sydney’s 2018 Mardi Gras. Are We Awake? details a crucial morning in the lives of Endymion (Mathew Lee) and Hypnos (Daniel Monks) as they navigate the complexities of their relationship. O’Grady’s script is a well-balanced one which flows smoothly between the joy, desire, frustration, anger, and (dis)comfort of contemporary queerness, disability, love, and external practicalities. It’s a balance placed in the safe hands of director Sarah Hadley who adds a delicate direction to the two-hander.
Single Asian Female | La Boîte Theatre Company @ Belvoir St Theatre
After a much acclaimed run at La Boîte Theatre in Brisbane, Michelle Law’s debut play, Single Asian Female, is back at Belvoir St! It’s a show I would not miss after weeks of reading rave reviews on Twitter in 2017. Marketed as witty, fierce, and fresh, Single Asian Female promised to be properly contemporary Australian comedy. Get ready for another rave.
Lethal Indifference | Sydney Theatre Company
This isn’t a show I can really review because, structurally, it is multiple, repeated, and overlapping accounts of domestic violence. I’m not particularly interested in critiquing how “good” or “entertaining” this show was because I’d rather spend our time talking about why Lethal Indifference, and shows like it, are important and essential to our broader community.
If you, like me, have heard the stories, know the facts, and can rattle off statistics at the drop of a #notallmen, then this show will not surprise you. If you watch the news or spend any time on social media, this show will ring familiar to you, as well. But this show is true. Every day, this show is terrifyingly, petrifyingly, cruelly true.
Top Girls | Sydney Theatre Company
An STC production of a Caryl Churchill script is almost a promise of something glittering and sarcastic, like Kip Williams’s two previous Churchill productions with the company, Love and Information (2015) and Cloud Nine (2017). Imara Savage’s opening image of Marlene (Helen Thomson) in an outrageously 80s blue sequinned dress, hair up to here, under a dazzling silver ceiling, even seemed a nod to Williams’s sharp, silent tableaus in both Love and Cloud. However, Top Girls overall lacked a clarity which dulled Churchill’s criticism of the impact class has on feminism, politics, and privilege.
Night Writes 