By Jessica Taurins Hear My Eyes events are, as the name implies, a veritable feast for the senses. Their core concept is re-scoring an existing film and playing the resultant work live, bringing new feelings and emotions to the onscreen visuals. I expected a lot from...

By David Gardette  A rich, memorable, wonderfully acted revival that does justice to Lawler’s iconic vision. Holding a defining place in Australian theatre history, Ray Lawler’s Doll Trilogy is a gripping portrait of working‑class life. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre has...

Review by Tim Garratt Do our friends really know how we feel about them? What stays unsaid between us? And if the truth came out, would these friendships survive? Those questions are front and centre in ART, a comedic piece by multi-award-winning French playwright...

By Adam Rafferty Written by Melbourne Theatre Company NEXT STAGE Fellow Jean Tong, Do Not Pass Go is a workplace drama that thanks to its title conjures the idea of work being like going ‘directly to jail’. We open on the first day of the job for Flux (Ella Prince) a...

By Karyn Lee Greig This Edge of the Heart production presents 4 cautionary tales, around the themes of ageing and what counts in the time we have. It is a highly entertaining programme of drama and dark humour, well executed by creatives and cast alike. These plays...

By Jennifer Beasley. The mutability of time and space is recreated in this extraordinary meta play that intertwines and merges four Larrakai mothers, Country, The Dreaming and Dream. You don’t often see the playwright also directing their play, but Jada Alberts...

  With a book by Catherine Johnson, Mamma Mia! is a musical featuring the songs by Swedish pop group ABBA, with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The musical debuted in London in 1999, then Broadway in 2001. Mamma Mia! has become the longest running...

  Review by Suzanne Tate   First staged in 2011, The Book of Mormon, written by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone, has earned a reputation as a chaotically funny and bitingly satirical musical that pushes the limits of language, taste and theatrical...

By Nick Pilgrim In the past year or two, whodunnits have returned to the local live entertainment scene with a vengeance. Standout plays and experiences include: And Then There Were None Dial M For Murder Murder In The Graveyard The Mousetrap The 39 Steps Just to name...

By Nick Pilgrim As I queued last Friday night to see Robert the Octopus, I overheard the following snippet of conversation. “When you see a PO PO MO CO show, expect the unexpected. Even if you never know what you’re quite in for, you’ll always be entertained.” I...

By Jennifer Beasley. Oh Mickey, You’re so fine, You’re so fine, You blow my mind, Hey Mickey! Many thanks to Toni Basil who appeared to have written Oh Mickey specifically for kinetic ball of motion Mickey Wilson, whose personality beguiles you as soon as you walk...

By Darby Turnbull Twelfth Night or (What you will) is one of William Shakespeare’s mid-career comedies, post Comedy of Errors and As you Like it where he’s reached new heights in structural form; nimbly balancing balls to the wall farce and aching melancholy, and pre...

By Jennifer Beasley. Raw, authentic and captivating, Countertenor Glenn McKenzie time travels with their beautiful singing as they unfold the life of 18th Century Castrato, Gaetano Guadagni, in this performance where vulnerability collides with disability and...

By George Dixon. I was very privileged to attend and experience one of the most masterful dance performances I've attended in a long while. “Songs of the Bulbul” is part of the Persian Sufi culture. The Bulbul (nightingale) is part of the Sufi myth. As a prelude, the...

By Jennifer Beasley. A Midsumma Festival cabaret viewed through the ASPEC lens, Sophie Harvey infuses her warm personality with show tunes, Golden era tunes and THAT Queen song.  Sophie Harvey, a freshly minted 20-year-old theatrical musical performer hailing from...

By Jennifer Beasley. Danish Sheikh’s love letter to the rigid and outdated stance of Indian LAW, skilfully weaves Taylor Swift, Queer rights and heartbreakingly asks – What became of Kokila?  ** NB: Trigger Warning. (References to violent sexual assault). I’m going to...

By Nick Pilgrim Leon Zat (played by Anthony LaPaglia): [the morning after Leon admitted having an affair] I f****d up, all right? People f**k up. Sonja Zat (played by Kerry Armstrong): Really? Well, I don't. You know what's so easy, Leon? It's so easy to go out and...

    Written by Arthur Sullivan (music) and W.S. Gilbert (libretto), The Pirates of Penzance premiered in New York City in 1879, then opened in London just a few months later in 1880. Countless productions have taken place over the years ever since, but it's...

By T.J. Dobson A show as unmissable as the Montague Street bridge! ‘Bev and Myrt and The Scrolling of Doom’ has all the warmth of a well-made shepherd’s pie, while featuring some butt-kicking queer senior citizens saving the world, one intergalactic trouble at a time....

By Nick Pilgrim  "This is one of my favourite fringe shows of all time. Not only were the performers hilarious AND beautiful to watch but so was the lighting and set." "Great complicity between these highly skilled performers. strange, quirky, and funny this piece has...

By Suzanne Tate It feels somewhat lazy to use the title of a performance as your main adjective, but my experience on Thursday night felt transcendent indeed. The exquisite voice and masterful vocal control of Mama Alto, along with her warm personality,...

By David Gardette Heirlume Productions launches its debut production with Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, a rarely staged work that carries tremendous historical weight. For a fledgling company, it is an ambitious choice — one that honours the legacy of...

By Darby Turnbull During his opening night address, playwright Ben MacEllen described The Placeholder as ‘Steel Magnolias through a tran lens’. With the cult classic due to make a touring revival later this year I think it’s only appropriate the Naarm is lucky enough...

By Jennifer Beasley. Political satire, Queer history, crisp writing and exemplary acting and directing makes this meta play a standout for the Midsumma Festival.  Aside from the title being a colossal mouthful (yes, pun intended. It’s a Queer festival after all,...

By Jennifer Beasley. Leading towards the new Millennium, Gary Helmore’s play examines Queer history, and the heartbreak of love.  Playwright Gary Helmore (The Night Market, Golden Boy), not only writes superb monologues, but he has that other necessary skill, he is...

By Jennifer Beasley. A cute, sexy, musical comedy romp through the world of Gay dating.  It’s exciting to see a two-hander musical about the trials and tribulations of Gay dating with intention- the desperate need to get married within the year fuelled by Larry’s...

By Jennifer Beasley. A clever and well performed one-man comedy defies expectation and hilariously reimagines Peter Pan. Dean Robinson, where have you been hiding? Certainly not in the closet, as this reframing of Peter Pan as the original ‘Twink’ at the Midsumma...

By Jennifer Beasley. Beguiling, bewitching and bejewelled, Piper’s Playhouse is Melbourne’s best and newest TOP destination for indulgent glamour and incredible artistry.  *NB Strictly 18+  Diva. Burlesque. Magic. Circus. Contortionist. Champagne.  Storming into...

By Jennifer Beasley. A brilliantly written play and a dream cast with excellent direction make this an instant Australian classic.  Well, wasn’t I a lucky ducky to get to review this? Occasionally one gets to see THAT play, the elusive ode to the muse of creativity,...

By Jennifer Beasley. Gritty, mesmerising and uber athletic, Andrea James Lui slays the pole and captivates the audience.  It’s the Midsumma Festival, and to begin my foray into the start of 22 days of LGBTQ+ offerings, I decided to go with a bang. The Pole Shebang, to...

By Ash Cottrell For me, Wednesday evenings during summer are for opening nights and mid-week drinks. While January in Melbourne is, in many cases, about the tennis, it’s important not to forget the joy and stimulation of another kind of spectacle - the theatre. A...

By Suzanne Tate Duck Pond was a captivating experience, combining the tales of ‘Swan Lake’ & ‘The Ugly Duckling’ with breathtaking acrobatics and circus arts. The creativity in the amalgamation of these two stories in such an effective and entertaining way, with...

By Jennifer Beasley. SPECTACULAR! Gravity & Other Myths present their latest jaw-dropping circus act, Ten Thousand Hours, to the Playhouse at The Melbourne Arts Centre. At a frantic 60 minutes, this fast paced, strikingly visual and fear-inducing performance will...

  Saturday Night Fever, the musical debuted in London's West End in 1998, with a book by Nan Knighton in collaboration with Arlene Phillips, Paul Nicholas and Robert Stigwood. However, long before the stage adaptation, Saturday Night Fever was a movie starring...

By Jennifer Beasley. Artistic Director Glenn Elston OAM has once again demonstrated his complete mastery on the plays of William Shakespeare with this riotous deconstruction of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, with hilarious results in this play within several plays,...

Review by Annie Zeleznikow Given its status as a cultural and musical juggernaut, I imagine I don’t need to explain the plot of CATS. Never mind that the plot is as simple as its title (it’s about Cats!) you don’t need to follow the plot closely to greatly enjoy the...

Review by Suzanne Tate   Anastasia sweeps the audience up in what the author Terrence McNally describes as the ‘fairytale’ of a possible life of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov, the youngest daughter of the last Czar of Russia, played by Georgina...

By Jennifer Beasley. A universal fairytale of the power of the Christmas Spirit(s) and the enduring message of transformation will win over the hardest heart. This much-loved Christmas story once again lands in Melbourne for a fourth season of A Christmas Carol. An...

By Jennifer Beasley. The culmination of 20 years of PIECES, as produced by the LGI at the University of Melbourne, is a triptych creative tour du force. Lucy Guerin Inc (LCI) and the University of Melbourne Arts and Culture (UMAC) present a 75-minute showcase of three...

By Jennifer Beasley. The ultimate Meta theatre is brilliantly portrayed by the future stars of theatre. Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. What a title! Written by Alice Birch, where it was commissioned in 2014 by the Royal Shakespeare Company (London) and won the George...

By Nick Pilgrim I am what I am I am my own special creation So come take a look Give me the hook or the ovation It's my world that I want to have a little pride in My world, and it's not a place I have to hide in Life's not worth a damn till you can say I am what I am...

By Adam Rafferty As a treat for the festive season, Shakespeare’s ever popular romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing is reliably a diverting treat and this new, compact interpretation by Director Mark Wilson puts a wacky and saucy swirl on top. Cutting the cast back...

By Nick Pilgrim Cicily (Nydia Westman): "Don't big empty houses scare you?" Wally Campbell (Bob Hope): "Not me, I used to be in Vaudeville." The Cat and The Canary (1939)  At seventy-five minutes in length, The Haunting of Spook Mansion (By Ghosts) packs a great deal...

By Karyn Lee Greig William Shakespeare’s The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus, often shortened to Titus Andronicus, was written around 1592, when he was about 28 years old. It is thought to be Shakespeare’s first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to...

By Nick Pilgrim “One day can change your life. One day can ruin your life. All life is, is three or four big days that change everything.” Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) It would be fair to say that William Shakespeare is the most famous playwright of all time. In my...

By Darby Turnbull Premiering at Griffin Theatre Company in 2022 Dylan Van Den Berg’s Whitefella Yella Tree was hailed as ‘new Australian classic’ (Sydney Morning Herald) and the enthusiasm has only gotten more glowing with return seasons at Sydney Theatre Company and...

Review by Tim Garratt   One of Shakespeare’s finest comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has sparked inspiration in countless forms, from ballets and operas to novels and paintings. More recently, the play inspired Australian writer, composer and lyricist Laura...

By Jennifer Beasley. Ahoy me matey and blow the ship Vivisectress down into the deep, dark, waters. Mind yonder pirates, Bagfoot and Saucy Jack, trapped upon the gallon, do not deceive ye! For they are bonkers, mad and terrified of Pantomime and ventriloquism. Let’s...

By Nick Pilgrim  This reviewer can’t think of a better way to kick off the silly season. Following extended sell-out stints in Brisbane and Sydney, Blanc de Blanc Encore has moved down south determined to give curious Melburnians the evening of their lives. With the...

By Jennifer Beasley. This fiercely intelligent play portrays the late, great artist Joy Hester as the true Icon she was, blazing in rebellious glory, and stunningly acted by Emma Louise Pursey. When life mimics art, mimics life, and the circle returns. Emma Louise...

By Bronwyn Cook "This wall of disparity between us, Frankie, we gotta break it down. So the only space left between us is just us." Wrapped up in a complex, circular-collison, complicated post-coital conversation between Frankie and Johnny this is the crux of their...

By Nick Pilgrim Death is the one absolute that links all living beings, yet it remains a major taboo in Western society. Where many cultures and religions openly acknowledge and even celebrate the process as part of life’s natural cycle, dying is the one topic we...

Review by Suzanne Tate     Opening night of Hair in Melbourne on Friday was an immersive, transcendent experience, bringing to life the rebellious counterculture of the 1960s.   ‘Hair’ does not fit the mould of a standard musical theatre show in several...

  By George Dixon Inspirational true-life account of pain and hope Upside Down Fantasyland is Troy Rogers' autobiography. If appearances can be deceiving, the well-spoken, articulate, well-dressed person on stage is the product of true grit, determination and the...

By George Dixon Extremely entertaining with plenty of audience participation  Melbourne’s theatre comes alive, starting with its “Fringe Festival.”  2025 is no exception, with approximately 500 live performances on offer. Antony (Dr H) Hubmayer, a native of Adelaide,...

By Jennifer Beasley. Evocative, poetic and primal, What Lies Beneath reframes the myth of Persephone as the final taboo of a woman’s sexual awakening and reclamation of her power. It’s hard to believe that this is playwright Sarah Miller’s first play. A beautiful...

By Nick Pilgrim  "This show is a must-see if you’re looking for a wild, laugh-out-loud, and jaw-dropping experience!" "More fun than a barrel of monkeys!" This is Cirque du Soleil meets Magic Mike—Elixir is the wild, raw and rowdy. You can't miss this. "Beyond the...

& Juliet is a jukebox musical featuring the pop music of songwriter Max Martin, and book by David West Read. It features an array of well-known pop songs, in addition to one song written specifically for the musical. & Juliet is a story for anyone who has read...

The Lucky Country is a new theatrical work that explores what it means to be Australian. With music and lyrics by Vidya Makan, and Sonya Suares as co-creator and director, The Lucky Country is a one act song cycle that packs a lot into its 65 minute run time. The show...

By Nick Pilgrim Building in momentum and diversity with every passing season, this year the Melbourne Fringe Festival is bigger and better than ever. Packed with over 500 events across a multitude of genres, the three-week program is a international celebration of...

By Nick Pilgrim The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual tradition which hits the ground running every spring. Since its inception, the three-week long event grows in leaps and bounds with each passing season. Thanks to more than 500 choices on offer this year...

By Jennifer Beasley. Outstanding. An incredible blend of AV, dance and surrealism reflects the lives of disabled individuals in this metatheatrical production. With only about 6% of plays and films centring on disabilities, those of us able-bodied can lose sight that...

By Chenoah Eljan Walking into Marie’s Crisis at the Melbourne Fringe Festival feels a little like crashing the warmest, most nostalgic piano party you didn’t know you needed. Modelled on the beloved New York basement piano bar of the same name, this show promises a...

By Nick Pilgrim Checked Out: The Musical is dedicated to anyone - including myself - who has spent their formative years navigating the grind of the employment rat race. If you’ve ever worked long, exhausting hours in low-paying jobs across hospitality or retail, this...

By Jennifer Beasley. Brilliant writing presents a bittersweet flashback to the Noughties with pumping music and a sleepover party that uncovers the dark places that dwell within us all. Is Anyone Even Watching? The title itself is ironic and encapsulates the humour of...

By Jennifer Beasley. An emerging exceptional talent waiting to take the world by storm, Luella Fitz brings her high energy and insightful commentary in BLI$$ to expose the hidden power of women. Lilith. She-demon, black moon goddess. In Jewish mythology she was...

Reviewer: Nic Conolly A Fairytale Reimagined with Heart, Humour, and High Heels A joyous, heart-warming, and unabashedly feel-good evening that leaves you smiling from ear to ear. The morning after Pretty Woman: The Musical, the glitter and warmth of last night’s...

By Darby Turnbull Dissection of Fairy tales and fables and the ways they mould young minds and worldviews is well worn but still fertile territory. For the last three generations those fairy tales have been heavily filtered through the Disney machine; the brutality,...

By Chenoah Eljan   Ro Campbell's True Crime Walking Tour at Melbourne Fringe offers Festival goers the unique opportunity to get up and move around, laugh a bit and learn a bit, and in the case of this very lucky reviewer - enjoy some unseasonable balmy Melbourne...

By Darby Turnbull Arts Festivals are essential to the fabric of our community; last week when AI generated ‘actress’ Tilly Norwood was inflicted introduced to the world and the general feeling of hopelessness at the spectre of AI colonising the Arts space, it was...

By Mama Natalia Bent Burlesque crawled out of the shadows at the height of the Australian Burlesque revival, one of a handful of subversive and deliciously dark shows designed to flaunt the self-imposed rules of propriety, turning the concept of what was acceptable...

By Jennifer Beasley. Utterly compelling, Director Fini Liu showcases his technical talents with a brilliant team of creatives in a mesmerising journey into a broken mind. Let’s go on a journey. We’ll take a ship, named the SS Ariel’s Dream, and play some chess to...

By Jessica Taurins jks: a comedy(?) has a familiar nostalgia about it. It's like a Twitter argument where I can't block any of the participants, but I also just can't stop reading the thread. It's also like the experience of being trapped in the corner at a party by...

By Chenoah Eljan MZAZA: The Birth and Death of Stars is the Pauline Maudy show, with guest appearance by Greta Kelly. The two have been collaborating since 2004 on the music, and since 2020 on the production company, that bring this show to Melbourne Fringe Festival....

By Jennifer Beasley. Emotional, raw and powerful, Katy Warner’s play Refined showcases once again her extraordinary talent to craft individualistic characters. It’s that time of the year again readers – the almighty Melbourne Fringe Festie! How amazing and here we go...

By Chenoah Eljan Melbourne Fringe Festival is nothing if not an opportunity to see performance that doesn’t fit neatly into expectations, trusted form, and that is just a little bit risky - for its creators, its performers, and its audience. Instructions, presented by...

By Adam Rafferty  The fact that Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 gothic thriller novel Rebecca has been adapted for the screen and stage innumerable times across the last eighty-odd years is simple proof of the timeless qualities of the dark and suspenseful story. So, it...

Review by Tim Garratt   Forty years ago, the original Back to the Future film premiered, becoming the highest-grossing motion picture of 1985. The film’s success led to two sequels and eventually inspired a stage adaptation.   Directed by Tony Award-winner...

  Colour & Light: The Art of Stephen Sondheim is the latest new work by Australia's first and only Sondheim repertory company Watch This. The show is a collection of Stephen Sondheim's greatest works. However, upon arrival into the Theatreworks performance...

By Darby Turnbull One of the perks of reviewing is the opportunity to go see theatre that might otherwise have gone under your radar. Shows you might have only had a cursory glance at on a company's website you might have missed without the extra professional...

By Jennifer Beasley. Brilliant direction elevates this play into a tense psychological thriller with many questions left unanswered. Stuttered sound. Light flashes – a standoff between new patient Jane (Jessica Clarke) as she holds a gun pointed at the therapist Loyd...

Review by David Gardette    A jukebox musical that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the life and artistry of Michael Jackson, MJ the Musical focuses primarily on the period leading up to the 1992 Dangerous World Tour. Opening on Broadway in 2022, the show has...

By Darby Turnbull Deconstructed adaptations of classical works, particularly Shakespeare, can be a welcome boon. In addition to a reduced run time, they can be thematically resonant and sharply emphasise moments in the text that might be particularly enlightening....

By Rebecca Waese The ancient tale of Troy exploded upon the Malthouse stage this week in a ground-breaking re-telling that fuses the past and the present and questions the myths we tell ourselves about war. Playwright Tom Wright (Medea, The Odyssey, and The War of the...

By Jennifer Beasley. An action paced comedic feast through the film noir lens of Hitchcock’s cinematic retelling of The 39 Steps will leave you breathless from laughter. Keep your wits about you and hold onto your hats – this is one hell of a comedy ride! After...

By Chenoah Eljan. Noni Hazlehurst is a force. You’d watch her read the Melways cover to cover and be transfixed. She can communicate more in a half-expression than most do in a soliloquy. Fortunately, The Lark, written by Daniel Keene and directed by Matt Scholten,...

By Karyn Lee Greig, Bangarra has done it again. Even better. Illume is a light to us all. It is not only an artistic triumph but a profound affirmation of culture - past, present and future. From the very first starry scene, Shadow Spirits, we get a sense of...

By Nick Pilgrim Last month I had the privilege of reviewing Dial M For Murder. In my enthusiastic critique, I opined how whodunits were making a fashionable comeback. Earlier this week, The Play That Goes Wrong flipped this highly respectable, straight-faced genre...

  American Psycho is a musical with book by Roberto Aquirre-Sacasa, and music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik. The musical is based on the 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis, which was also adapted for film in 2000. The musical had its world premiere in London in 2013,...

By Jennifer Beasley. An extraordinary tour-de-force weaves the metaphysical with the mundane in an aged care facility in this new work by award winning writer Irene Korsten. Writer Irene Korsten, who won the Green Room award for Ordinary Misery, has delivered a play...

  Tarzan the Stage Musical is an adaptation of the animated Disney film, with a book by David Henry Hwang, and music and lyrics by Phil Collins. The Disney film was first released in 1999, with the stage musical premiering on Broadway in 2006. Nearly twenty years...

By Darby Turnbull Briony Dunn’s adaptation and production of E.M Forster’s The Machine Stops, currently playing at Theatreworks opens with a sly play for the audience’s attention. For many, many minutes we watch lead actress Mary Helen Sassman shuffle minutely from...

By Adam Rafferty Millennial playwright and actress Kirsty Marillier writes about the experiences of her South African forebears in this historical fiction about family living under the system of apartheid in 1976. After years of hearing stories from her family about...

Review by David Gardette   Clovelly Fox’s staging of Adam Gwon’s intimate musical Ordinary Days, finds a heartfelt home in Melbourne. Set in early 2000s New York, the show follows four individuals—Claire, Jason, Deb, and Warren—as their lives intersect through...

By Nick Pilgrim For local readers over a certain age, the works of Oscar Wilde were staples in secondary and tertiary education. Known for their brilliant wordplay and caustic wit, Wilde slid nineteenth-century London society under the microscope for all to see. To...

Reviewed by George Dixon   A reimaged masterpiece by Victoria Opera.    If there is ever an Opera to experience, Abduction is the one. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's “The Abduction from the Seraglio” was originally presented on 16th July 1782 at Burgtheater,...

Review by Tim Garratt Penned by Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music), Once on This Island first appeared on stage in 1990. A new production, presented by Curveball Creative and directed by Brittanie Shipway, just opened at Sydney’s Hayes Theatre...

By Anthony Morris The Orchard is a new work by Pony Cam, a high-energy experimental theatre collective who have been creating memorable shows for over five years, often operating on the “fringe” edges of mainstream theatre. Known for their physical, fresh, and...

By Nick Pilgrim Whodunits are making a significant comeback on the Australian stage. In the last few years alone, two touring revivals (by Agatha Christie) like And Then There Were None or The Mousetrap have resonated with audiences hungry for strong story lines and...