Image by Brett Boardman
Neecy has organised to have three generations of her family to meet at their traditional family camping spot for a secret occasion. Choosing to ignore their personal crises for the weekend, the women wear away the shine of happy quality time very quickly. The intrusion of a controversial photographer, employed to document the event by Neecy, doesn’t help to stabilise rocky communication.
Image by Stephen Reinhardt
For this year’s Sydney Comedy Festival, Theatresports put a twist on the conventional competition structure and pitted performers from three generations against each other to find the ultimate improv decade. Bringing together stars new and old from the Sydney improv scene, Theatresports All-Stars was a celebration of the community and the performers keeping the form going.
For their first concert of 2019, Sydney’s Bel a cappella performed a wide ranging program of pieces from familiar composers and some unusual outliers. Performing in the quaint Victorian St Augustine’s Catholic Church, the choir were additionally joined by AirCon, a whistling group, to add another flair to typical choral singing.
It’s the late 19th century and Sherlock Holmes is on another case with his trusty friend and confident Dr John Watson. Through a series of interrogations, tips, and disguises, Sherlock thinks he has pieced together a string of murders and cracked the case. It’s just like any other murder mystery except this one is entirely improvised!
Image by Clare Hawley
Joseph K has been arrested by an unknown entity for an unknown crime and, while it’s unclear what the consequences of his arrest may be, his identity is slowly being erased from all systems and databases. With the help of his sister and some unusual characters, Joseph hopes to fight the charges and get his life back on track. In Tom Basden’s adaptation of the Franz Kafka novel the Trial, the validity and efficacy of the modern world’s bureaucracy and impenetrable policies are satirised to the extreme.
Image by James Hartley
Global events over the last three years have dragged Animal Farm, the anti-Stalinist novel by George Orwell, back into the spotlight. This adaptation for the stage by Geordie Brookman animates the slow but steady journey from revolution to dictatorship in an English farmyard with a single actor representing all characters.
In a charming genre mash-up double bill at the Independent, the String Contingent performed their last concert for the promotional tour of their new album with opening duo Blue and Sentimental. Written during a tour of northern Australia, From Here or Somewhere Else is an album celebrating the unique physical and social landscape of Australia.
The Short + Sweet Theatre Festival Gala Final is the culmination of 180 short plays and 12 weeks of performances boiled down into the top 12 plays battling for the top spot. Over two nights the plays are performed, judged for the last time, and then awarded on the final night of the festival. It’s in this final week that the spirit of the festival is at its most potent and the stage positively buzzes with excitement.
Image by Blake Condon
Jeff and Hunter have three weeks to write a brand new musical to submit to the New York Musical Theatre Festival so, for lack of a better idea, they write a show about the process of writing a show. As a love letter to musical theatre and homage to the creative industry in general, [title of show] follows in the footsteps of great writer duos to explore friendship, creativity, and the journey through self-doubt.
Image by Robert Catto
Everyone’s been there; at a Halloween party, trying to have a spooky time, and accidentally opening a portal to Hell. Writer Qui Nguyen’s work is well-known for integrating gore and horror tropes with puppets, humour, and a lot of fight choreography. This Australian premiere of his play Alice in Slasherland sees the Lewis Carol story turned on its head.
Night Writes 