Oscar Wilde famously had a keen eye for the hypocrisy and double standards underpinning the facade of polite London society as displayed prominently in his play The Importance of Being Earnest. But his wit and insight were in full force from his first theatrical work about the hard line between good and bad women.
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Is there such a thing as an old British manor without a spooky history that creeps hauntingly into the present? At Mandacrest the house and its residents, new and old, are plagued by werewolves, vampires, mummies, and the tragic deaths of a boy and his mother. Just when it seems the mystery has been solved, another spectre rises from the dead as a reminder of the evil that lurks on the moors.
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This review comes from Night Writes guest reviewer Josephine Lee
Is a peaceful domestic dream life still possible in our violent reality? Orphans by Dennis Kelly is an electrifying tale about a middle-class couple, Helen and Danny, who are trying to have a normal domestic life until Liam, Helen’s brother, enters covered in blood, turning their dinner and life on their heads. What unfolds is a series of twists and turns of violence and racism, raising the question of whether a peaceful and domestic life is possible in a violent world.
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David Williamson’s script comes at a time of great uncertainty as the world continues to navigate the pandemic and the increasing devastation of climate change while also attempting to reconcile the human disasters of war, greed, and power. In 17th century England, the state of things was similarly bleak.
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A woman, alone, heartbroken, awaiting the ring of the telephone. The audience eavesdropping, piecing together a doomed evening based on half a conversation and a long history. Eventually the silent pauses and dropped connections grow louder with the woman’s increasing distress and despair.
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For the first concert of the Song Company’s 2022 season themed Higher Ground, the program attempted to recreate the intimacy of a music room or a listening party with the focus on the act of listening. Brahms – Ein Deutsches Requiem encouraged listening not only for the audience of the performers but also between the performers themselves.
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Charles and Larry are still brothers even if they haven’t seen each other for 10 years. Neither of their lives have gone entirely to plan but maybe reconnecting will open up much needed space for healing and forgiveness. Or it’ll have them both spiralling backwards. It’s worth trying, though, right?
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Jason is a quiet fellow, navigating puberty, helping his mother after the death of his father, and pursuing his particular interest in sock puppetry. But something shifts when his mother introduces sock puppets to the church as a youth group activity. Was it the proximity to God that turned Tyrone or was his devilish proclivity just laying in wait, biding his time until he had some real ammo? Will the small town of Cypress, Texas ever really know what really happened in that church basement?
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After weeks of rain, a coming-of-age story set under the summer sun was a sip of sweet relief. But not everything in Paradise is as good as it seems with a rogue orange vandal on the loose and a neighbourhood watch more invested in peace than justice. Maybe a blast from the past is exactly what this neighbourhood needs to shake it out of its stuffy ways.
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It’s symbolic that a play about difficult birthing stories would have such a protracted pregnancy spanning from Lucy Clement’s idea in 2019 to the stage in 2022 after multiple postponements due to the pandemic. But the frustrating process reflected the feelings of uncertainty, fear, disappointment, and resentment in these women’s experiences, the sides not often shared about motherhood.
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