Latest Reviews
The Wrong Gods
By Adam Rafferty Australian playwright S. Shakthidharan, author of the widely awarded epic Counting and Cracking, seen as part of the 2024 RISING: festival, returns this year with the rather more concise, fable-like story of The Wrong Gods. A ninety-minute tale of a...
Love and Information
By Chris Hosking Can love be measured in megabytes? What information is stored in memory? How do we find it once lost? Will a barrage of information bring us closer together or divide us? Caryl Churchill’s brilliant 2012 text Love and Information is a challenge and...
Batshit
By Jennifer Beasley. A showcase of a fractured mind unearths the pathologisation of women. Trigger warnings: Depictions of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and flashing lights. Ah, the good old days. When the easy fix for an unhappy and sexually unavailable woman was...
![FEMME PLAY [ungrateful slut]](https://theatrematters.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/unsl-400x250.jpg)
FEMME PLAY [ungrateful slut]
By Ash Cottrell It had been many, many years since I’d been to, The Butterfly Club. Last week marked the first time in a long time and it was great to be back. An eclectic, artistic, albeit kitsch coupling of trinkets and colours characterises the space. It all feels...
Endgames
By Jennifer Beasley. Masterful direction unleashes the oratory power of Max Gillies in a profound triptych that uncovers moral male deficiencies and entrenched misogyny. It’s probably the first time in my life that I have been so blown away by directional talent in...
The Birds
By Jennifer Beasley. A binaural sound experiment allows The Birds to come to life and asks the question that who would win at the end of the world, Man or Nature? Writing horror for the stage is a tricky thing, and when you present a monologue at 80 minutes, so many...
Shadow Boxing
By David Gardette Shadow boxing presented by theatre works and feet first collective Shadow Boxing is one of those shows that grabs you and doesn’t let go. It’s raw, intense and instinctive. Written by James Gaddas in 1989, and premiering in 1994, the play centres on...
Beetlejuice The Musical
Review by Suzanne Tate For the Gen Xers amongst us, Beetlejuice: The Musical is a flashback to our youth. It is based on the 1988 film Beetlejuice starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, although substantial creative license has...
Les Misérables Arena Spectacular
Review by Dave Gardette Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Les Misérables returns in grand fashion with the Arena Spectacular, a concert-style reimagining that trades traditional staging for vocal and visual grandeur – resulting in an emotionally charged, epic...
Features
Karlis Zaid unveils the real David Bowie in Loving the Alien
Karlis Zaid's show, Loving the Alien, will have its world premiere at Arts Centre Melbourne this July. A love letter to David Bowie, this original theatre piece features songs and storytelling with Zaid and entertainer, writer and director, Aurora Kurth, in the lead...
Alan Dukes in The Spare Room
Helen Garner's harrowing but loving story, The Spare Room, is set to open at Belvoir Theatre tomorrow. Adapted for the stage by its director Eamon Flack, The Spare Room is set over the course of three weeks while the narrator, Helen, cares for a friend dying of bowel...
Beng Oh: Finding the light in Soldier Boy
Soldier Boy is the story of the youngest Australian known to have died in World War I. James Charles Martin was only 14 years and nine months old when he succumbed to typhoid (after serving for only seven weeks) during the Gallipoli campaign. He was one of 20...
Emma Woods explores connections and communication in Love and Information
With its rapidly shifting scenes and characters, Love and Information by Caryl Churchill, explores contemporary human connection and communication in a society saturated with information. For actor Emma Woods the biggest takeaway from Churchill's insightful piece is...
Rachelle Ann Go: overcoming insecurities with joy
Rachelle Ann Go was always destined to be a singer. Her parents told her she was humming along to a song on the radio at just eight months old. Inspired, her father taught her to sing and play musical instruments. At the age of six her father would put her on...
Katie Reddin-Clancy End Game
Multi-award-winning writer and performer Katie Reddin-Clancy presents a dark comedy about an eccentric cabaret performer’s soul review. How would you describe your show to someone who knows very little about it? It’s a solo show about a cabaret performers soul review!...
News
Melbourne Theatre Company – Mother Play
The bonds of love are tested in this expansive yet intimate drama rich with humour and wit, starring film, theatre and television legend Sigrid Thornton, alongside Yael Stone, Ash Flanders and directed by Lee Lewis. Careening through the twentieth century – from the...
“We didn’t think we’d survive” Comedy Theatre Finds Success, Against The Odds
Comedy Republic Will Celebrate Its 5th Birthday With All-Star Gala at The Capitol Comedy Republic, now recognised as one of Melbourne’s leading comedy venues, celebrates its fifth anniversary this June, marking a remarkable recovery and growth after officially opening...
Calling all horn-bags! Book your tickets toot-suite ploise doll for a Fountain Lakes Christmas Carol
Well crack open the Tia Maria and put on some footy franks! Christmas is coming fast and chaos reigns in Fountain Lakes. Kim can’t stop picking at the old leg of ham in the fridge which is giving her hallucinations of ghosts of Christmases past, present and future....
Amplified: The Exquisite Rock and Rage of Chrissy Amphlett
Chrissy Amphlett’s fierce spirit is set to ignite UMAC stage in World Premiere rock cabaret Developed by Jacaranda Productions and UMAC, with support from Geelong Arts Centre, Amplified sees Sheridan Harbridge weave her personal experiences with reflections on...
Competitions
Win Tickets to Smokescreen
Win one of 2 double passes for the 7:30pm show on Wednesday the 9th of July of Smokescreen at fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne To be in the running, please send your response to the below to: editor.kris@theatrematters.com.au Who does Bud work for?...
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Theatre Matters is a community group that loves, promotes and discusses all things to do with Australian theatre.