Latest Reviews
SIX the Musical
Review by Suzanne Tate Henry the Eighth's famous brides are once more gracing Melbourne with their iconic, powerful presence, as the blockbuster show SIX returns once again to the Comedy Theatre. Since premiering at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017,...
Funeral Flowers
By Jennifer Beasley. A challenging performance that tackles difficult subjects allows the magnificent Lucy Ansell to soar. Trigger Warning (taken from Red Stitch Website): contains strong language and mature themes. It includes depictions of sexual assault, rape,...
Steel Magnolias
By Darby Turnbull As Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag says “Hair is everything”. The Salon or Beauty Parlour has always been a place for people, usually of the same gender, to commune and let their guard down. Theatrically it’s a setting of potent possibilities; at her...
Uncle Vanya
By Adam Rafferty Like the rest of Russian writer Anton Chekov’s plays, Uncle Vanya has had innumerable English adaptations since it first graced the stage at the turn of the twentieth century. Venerated Aussie playwright Joanna Murray-Smith penned this version for...
Vista
By Jennifer Beasley. Bold and brilliant, Vista is an outstanding production whose seamlessly execution allows one story to duplicate and raises the bar on contemporary dance. Amazing. Australia’s foremost chorographer, Stephanie Lake, has me floored. Her company, the...
Grey Gardens
By Adam Rafferty It’s hard to believe it has been fifteen years since the revered Broadway musical Grey Gardens has graced a Melbourne stage but considering the limited engagement of that first staging by the now defunct The Production Company it’s definitely not too...
Pretty Woman The Musical
Review by Suzanne Tate Pretty Woman: The Musical has been a long time coming, especially for Australian audiences. The idea was first raised in 2013 by producer Paula Wagner in discussions with Garry Marshall and J.F. Lawton, the director and writer of the...
Bring It On
Review by David Gardette Premiering in 2011 and making its Broadway debut in 2012, Bring It On: The Musical brought together an impressive creative team including Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Amanda Green (High Fidelity) and...
And What Will People Say?
By Jennifer Beasley. A sublime presentation, both beautiful and terrifying, of generational trauma from Domestic Abuse as told through a bespoke fusion of spoken word, dance, singing and music. *** Trigger warning: Mentions of Domestic Violence. As a critic, it can...
Features
Stuart Bruce and his Sacrifice of Farinelli
The Sacrifice of Farinelli is an original Australian work depicting a fictional interpretation of history inspired by real figures from the 1700s, Riccardo Broschi, a composer, and his brother Carlo Broschi - who went on to become the legendary Farinelli, an...
Jane Montgomery-Griffiths: Masterpieces is a profound piece of work about the importance of humanity in dark times
This July, Theatre Works proudly brings Nadia Tass’s production of acclaimed playwright Heather McDonald’s Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity to the stage, a haunting and urgent production that interrogates the cost of survival and the...
Josh Helman wants to get people really talking
Arthur Miller's timeless tragedy, Death of a Salesman, with Neil Armfield at the helm, is set to return to the stages of Melbourne and Brisbane for a strictly limited season after its triumphant Australian staging in 2024. Anthony LaPaglia as Willy Loma, Alison Whyte...
Waitress Media Call
Check out the cast of Waitress The Musical for Melbourne’s media at Her Majesty's Theatre! Inspired by Adrienne Shelly’s beloved film, and brought to life by a trailblazing female-led creative team, including a book by acclaimed screenwriter Jessie Nelson, an...
Stage Door Matters with Nic
Encore! I am back - and no, unlike The Phantom of the Opera, I have not been lurking dramatically beneath QPAC this whole time. For those who do not know me, my name is Nic (she/they) and I am a Brisbane-based theatre enthusiast with a passion for the arts, teaching,...
Renee Palmer – The human fragility of Between the Lines
Now in their 32nd year of celebrating the annual event, Bloomsday in Melbourne, proudly bring their latest season to fortyfivedownstairs this June. Between The Lines - The James Joyce/Groucho Marx Letters is a story about a young scholar who makes the discovery of the...
News
Essendon Theatre Company – Top Girls
Britain, 1981. Two women have reached the top of their respective fields. Tory, Margaret Thatcher has been elected the United Kingdom’s first female Prime Minister and Marlene has been promoted to Managing Director of Top Girls Employment Agency. To celebrate, Marlene...
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: The Second Coming
The sermon on the mount returns to Arts Centre Melbourne for a victory lap – including hot new takes on today’s world – as Jonathan Biggins transforms into the visionary, reformer and rabble-rouser, Paul Keating. Exploring the former PM’s landmark political...
See Newcastle in a New Light at New Annual
City of Newcastle unveils the bold full program for its flagship arts festival – transforming Newcastle's beaches, ocean baths, laneways, parks and beloved landmarks into stages for 10 days of art, music and ideas from 25 September to 4 October 2026. From sunrise...
Powderkeg players – Closer
In the heart of late-nineties London, a quartet of strangers are drawn together by chance, passion and temptation. As relationships shift and loyalties are tested, a tangled web of love and duplicity transforms into a dangerous game where desire and deception blur the...
Competitions
Win Tix to Savages
Win one of two double passes for the upcoming season of Savages. They’re for the 7:30pm show on Thursday the 3rd of September at the Acland Street venue in St Kilda To be in the running, please send your answer to the below question to: ...
Win Tickets to Sweeney Todd
Win one of two double passes for the upcoming season of Sweeney Todd at Chapel Off Chapel. They’re for the 7:30pm show on Friday the 11th of September. To be in the running, please send your answer to the below question to: editor.kris@theatrematters.com.au Mrs...
... because theatre matters.
About Us
Theatre Matters is a community group that loves, promotes and discusses all things to do with Australian theatre.