By Darby Turnbull Three girls, one boy, minus one sister.  Minusonesister, Anna Barnes’ 2013 adaption of Sophocles Electra, which was the recipient of the Patrick White Playwrighting award that year, makes a welcome return at this year's Fringe Festival. Barne’s savvy...

By Natalie Ristovski One thought pervaded my mind for the bulk of my foray into the world of Mythos: Ragnarok this Melbourne Fringe Season, and that thought was: Why is this not a dinner theatre show? To be fair, one would be forgiven for wanting to avoid tying...

By Anja Eljan (age 8) The maddest of mad scientists, Magnus D Magnus, is the ruler of the show KABOOM! Magnes D Magnes calls himself “the world’s stupidest genius and the smartest idiot”. He shows the audience mind-blowing science experiments and shocking explosions....

By Chenoah Eljan Prehysterical is Head First Acrobats’ kids show at the Fringe, to offset their adult only offerings Crème de la Crème and GODZ. The show is expertly crafted with clever attention to detail and outstanding direction from Adam Opus. The audience is...

By Darby Tunbull Harry Styles is a fascinating pop culture figure, you either get him or you don’t, I’m the latter, however I think I just about get the people that get him. The break-out star of teen heartthrob sensation One Direction he’s managed to parlay his...

By Darby Turnbull There’s a moment in every maturing reader's experience when they realize how dense and disturbing JM Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy actually is. Alongside the fairies, pirates, mermaids and flying with the aid of some fairy dust and happy thoughts are...

By Chenoah Eljan One beautiful Melbourne evening Dylan Marshall and Earl Marrows were sitting on a park bench together admiring the beauty before them when Marshall turned to Marrow and said: “I bet I can come up with more tree puns than you can.” And so, Pining for...

By Karyn Hodgkinson Alienation by Jake Silvestro & Romain Hassanin @ NICA 4 stars It has been fascinating to see how circus has developed in my living memory. As a child, it was the proverbial clowns with red noses - sometimes scary to a small child - trapeze...

By Jessica Taurins "Be a Doll, Won't You?" brutally forces the audience to consider their role in human objectification, their opinions on sex work, and their ability to separate performance from performer... plus there's a fun dance sequence in the middle! Developed...

By Ash Cottrell If I’m being honest, The Vault, a temporary structure erected at the Queen Vic markets for the glorious, Melbourne Fringe Festival was somewhat difficult to find. Surprising, given it is a twenty-metre geodesic dome, constructed for outdoor...

By Chenoah Eljan Dylan Cole enters the stage wearing head-to-toe black with his headphones on. Large, achromatic puzzle pieces are spread out on the floor. Piano music plays. Cole picks up a single puzzle piece, cradles it like a baby, sets it down. The puzzle piece...

  By George Dixon   Elvis has always been a controversial figure; you may love Elvis or loathe him, take him, or leave him, but there is one thing for sure, Elvis and his music became a Musical Revolution.   This new production, Elvis: A Musical...

  With music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and book and lyrics by Tim Rice, Chess The Musical has had a somewhat checkered past. The original concept album released in 1984 received rave reviews and the single 'I Know Him So Well', performed by Elaine...

By Darby Turnbull Nick Payne’s Constellations is a story that explores multitudes, but to my eye doesn’t contain them. A high concept love story that explores a relationship between Physicist Marianne and Beekeeper Roland through the seemingly infinite possibilities...

By Darby Turnbull It’s all there in John O’Donovan’s title. It’s a mouthful, it’s slightly audacious and its verbosity immediately catches our attention. Cocaine is a play about barriers and the incremental things we need to transcend them; drugs, sweets, alcohol,...

By Darby Turnbull This is the third two hander relationship drama I’ve seen over the Fringe Festival and for one that makes aims towards explorations of mortality, grief, guilt and finding some momentum in life after profound loss it feels the emptiest. Liam Borrett’s...

By Chenoah Eljan It’s 2am and Ange Lavoipierre can’t sleep because life, mental load, anxiety, and that catch-all bag of delightful and absurd crap called the human condition. What ensues is one hour of sharp dialogue, guided sleep meditations, celebrity apologies,...

By Chenoah Eljan MATADOR sabor de amor (taste of love) is a series of transitions interspersed with brief dance numbers, matter-of-fact corset removals, and the soundtrack of a Zumba class. The show is performed in “The Vault”, a 20-meter geodesic dome intended for...

 By Chenoah Eljan Crème de la Crème by Head First Acrobats is a perfect medley of acts in this year's Fringe, deftly led by MC Cal Harris. As a whole the show is so polished its relaxed in the best way possible, the timing is punchy and the impressive tricks and...

  Review by Bronwyn Cook   Mamma Mia…here we go again! Making its third decade appearance, Mamma Mia! The Musical is back after its 2001-2005, 2009-2010 and 2017-2018 productions.   Whilst the world sure has changed since we last saw these dancing...

By Darby Turnbull After over a decade of performing Bradley Storer, the ‘dark princeling’ of Melbourne Cabaret makes a triumphant return to the Butterfly Club for a musical retrospective of some of his favorite musical performances. Pithy self-deprecation within his...

By Anna Hayes The notion of aging is something that we’ve all thought about in one way or another over the years; when you’re young, you hope the bouncer won’t ask for ID, when you get a bit older, you’re flattered when he does… All jokes aside, aging is a serious...

By Darby Turnbull Niusia, takes its name from creator and performer Beth Paterson’s indomitable grandmother who she knew in the final decade and a half of her life as a bitter, vitriolic crank, who whilst loving and enigmatic, had a pointed mean streak. Through 60...

By Adam Rafferty As one of our most prolific playwrights, Melbourne’s own Patricia Cornelius hasn’t had her works produced by our mainstage theatre companies nearly as often as you might think. Considering how well her writing captures uniquely Australian voices it...

By Rhylee Nowell Go on a delicious treat of a Journey with Innes Lloyd So, I’m going preface this with I am a huge fan of Innes Lloyd. They always bring me so much joy. And Journey to the Centre of the Earth is no different. A delightful romp from beginning to end,...

By Bec Johnston The contemporary audience often maintains a one-sided and undeviating relationship with the art they choose to consume. With the advent of on-demand streaming, indulging in movies and even stage performances from the comfort of the living room has...

Review by George Dixon Melbourne Opera’s Maria Stuarda is the second of Donizettis’s Tudor Trilogy (Anne Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux.) While the previous performance, “Mary Stuart” (2015-2017), was presented in English, Maria Stuarda is sung in its...

By Nick Pilgrim In more than a decade of reviewing, I have had the privilege to witness a tremendous range of shows, events, and experiences. From plays and musicals, or cabaret to comedy, perhaps the most diverse and challenging category I have critiqued would be...

By Anna Hayes There’s been a lot of talk recently about space – there’s a kind of revived race to the moon and, of course, we’re busily looking for stuff on Mars, and Elon Musk is using all of his hot air to try get a rocket off the ground – it’s a wonder that one...

  By Jody Miller   The Broadway sensation WICKED looks at what happened in the Land of Oz… but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin, who is smart, fiery, misunderstood and possessing...

By Jessica Taurins Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is touted as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, and thankfully the 2023 Melbourne production entirely lives up to such a grandiose descriptor. Written in 1949, Miller wrote his two act play about his...

By George Dixon. The Melbourne performance of “idk” played at North Melbourne’s Arts House. The venue was perfect - its extra depth and ample stage area provided opportunities for every inch to be utilised. This seventy-minute production is admirably titled “idk” with...

By Nick Pilgrim “Sin City dazzles in Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades.”  For more than a decade as a reviewer, I have had the privilege to watch a solid handful of variety acts brought to life in their many ways, shapes and forms. Featuring everything from singers...

By Ash Cottrell What’s better than an evening out with a glass of prosecco and a side of The Bard? Last Friday night was precisely this kind of evening at the dynamic, fortyfivedownstairs, with the hotly anticipated opening night of, Julius Caesar – brought to life in...

By Cedar Brown Entering Prophet’s play space, I was struck by the visually exciting design – suggestions of protest, war, and destitution suspended around the audience; the characters, wrapped in their own realities, occupying scaffolding, stages, and platforms of...

  Moulin Rouge! The Musical is back at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne's East End Theatre District.   After a COVID-interrupted start, Moulin Rouge! The Musical finally made its Australian premiere in Melbourne in November 2021. The COVID-shortened Melbourne...

By Karyn Hodgkinson  One can be forgiven for thinking that How to Save a Tree is solely about protecting the environment. Though concern for the environment is ever-present, we are asked to consider other ideas and issues specific to particular protests in Melbourne....

By Heather Bosted Newly elected Edith, is the youngest woman to ever lead her country and she has 90 minutes to get ready for the most important speech of her life. Enter a young makeup artist from David Jones, Rosie, with the mission of giving Australia's Youngest...

By Chenoah Eljan The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is exactly what it says on the packet: the Bard’s 38 plays condensed into an hour and half, roughly 152 costume changes, four dozen murders and a kiss. It would seem an impossible feat, and yet...

By Cedar Brown Coming into the foyer of the Werribee Mansion’s adjacent hotel at 7.45 for an 8pm start to the show, we happened across a TV playing the women's soccer world cup. Australia vs France playing for who goes into the semi finals, nil all. The would-be...

By Adam Rafferty Often described as Britain’s greatest living playwright, the brilliant Caryl Churchill is renowned for works that take unusual and experimental forms, while always being wondrously relatable. With more than 30 plays to choose from, companies who wish...

  Review by Suzanne Tate   The Antipodes Theatre Company’s production of Guys & Dolls: A Musical Fable of Broadway at Chapel off Chapel is a refreshing new take on a classic from the Golden Age of Musical Theatre. To begin with, the casting exemplifies...

  Originally a 1967 novel by Joan Lindsey, the story of Picnic At Hanging Rock took on mythical proportions when a film adaptation first hit cinemas in 1975. Growing up in the 1970s it was almost impossible to not have at least some understanding of Picnic At...

By Darby Turnbull I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Kerosene and Sirens individually and each were on my list of theatrical highlights for 2021 and 2022 respectively. It’s a rare treat to be able to revisit a piece, rarer still with the original creatives, and it’s long...

  Review by Jody Miller   Featuring over 40 hit songs, Elvis: A Musical Revolution celebrates the extraordinary life of award winning, cultural icon, Elvis Presley. From his childhood in Mississippi, to his triumphant ‘68 Comeback Special, and ascent to...

By Darby Turnbull Sex comedies throughout the ages; Shakespeare to Neil Simon, have traditionally relied on miscommunication or straight up deceit in their pursuit of amorous exploits. One genre I’m enjoying emerge in modern writing and production is the ‘consent’...

By Jessica Taurins Life after death is polarising. There could be an afterlife where your dreams come true, or everything could end at brain death, or some of us poor souls could be trapped between one ending and another. Ghosts, poltergeists, spectres, phantoms - all...

 Review by Jody Miller   A Dark and Thrilling Masterpiece, Sweeney Todd - The Musical  The Demon Barber of Fleet Street A Musical Thriller 22 July - 27 August 2023 In the Drama Theatre | Sydney Opera House Presents | Musical Theatre   Stephen Sondheim’s Tony...

By Kristopher Hinz Black humour is the silver lining in this coming of age tale with a twist. Perfectly paced for drama throughout, Rachel Edmond’s masterpiece When You Wore Braces is two-person theater at its best. Edmonds debut play is unafraid of exploring the...

 By Nick Pilgrim Stewart Reeve is an award-winning one of a kind. Or, to put his brilliant hour-long roller coaster ride in sharp perspective, he is every kind. In over a decade of reviewing, I have had the privilege to witness a solid handful of world-class local and...

By George Dixon I always find that any production performed by the originator (writer) tends to enhance the intent and meaning of the script, as the interpretation is presented from the writer’s perspective. Rough Trade is a one-person play written and performed by...

By Nick Pilgrim Just as Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean did for figure skating (Face The Music) or Michael Flatley with Celtic Folk (Riverdance / Lord Of The Dance), Burn The Floor turns the conservative world of ballroom upside down. What was once perceived as...

By Adam Rafferty A brand-new musical from the team at Working Dog, (i.e., the producers of television’s Utopia and Frontline, films The Castle and The Dish, and 2014’s wildly successful MTC play, The Speechmaker) … you had me at new musical, but this is an unexplored...

By Darby Turnbull Welcome back Patalog! After a 4 year hiatus which contained a global pandemic and one of their producers Ben Walter’s term in Harry Potter and the cursed child, one of our finest local companies returns to 45 downstairs with a smashing presentation...

By Darby Turnbull It feels like Melbourne Theatre Company and Malthouse are trying on each other's frocks in an interesting piece of contrast programming. MTC has the incendiary, in ya face (by mainstage standards) Is God is and it’s Malthouse who’s doing the sedate...

  While we have the opportunity to watch old films, it's impossible to go back in time to watch a theatre performance. There are so many incredible performances that will be remembered only by those privileged to have witnessed them at the time. Therefore, the...

By Anna Hayes  Anticipation for a good holiday is at the heart of Michael Gow’s classic play ‘Away’ which has been revived for a run at Theatre Works’ HQ in Acland Street. I say ‘revived’ but it seems like this is a work that is never too far from the Australian...

By Karyn Hodgkinson There is much to admire about Deborah Cheetham Fraillon’s work. A Yorta Yorta woman, soprano, composer, educator and nurturer of indigenous artists, she continues to give much to the Australian cultural landscape. She is also an innovator, which...

By Darby Turnbull I’m a huge admirer of romantic comedies, a genre much maligned as somehow being insubstantial mainly because their most devoted audience members consist of femme individuals, women, queer men etc and so complacently derided. But when done right...

By George Dixon Quicker Than the Eye The Melbourne Magic Festival has grown over the years into one of Melbourne’s major festivals. One of the wonderful aspects is that, generally, magic is a fantastic live visual experience. It is a skill that takes years to master...

By Stephen Mitchell After premiering at La Mama Courthouse in 2018, Just A Boy Standing In Front of A Girl has endured a couple of false starts at fortyfivedownstairs, courtesy of everyone's favourite pandemic, previewing in 2021 and finally opening in 2023 after what...

Whether it's the original book, the film starring Judy Garland or the various musical stage adaptations, L Frank Baum's story of The Wizard of Oz is a well-loved classic tale. Under the direction of Kim Anderson, Theatrical's production has retained all the familiar...

Review by Jody Miller   A Mesmerising Blend of Mystery and Melody: City of Angels at The Hayes Theatre Sydney   Presented by Joshua Robson Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co   City of Angels, the critically acclaimed musical, has found a...

By Adam Rafferty This is a very unique play and a very unique production for Melbourne Theatre Company (in co-production with Sydney Theatre Company), not just in storyline, but in style too. This is a tale of revenge in almost a comic book kind of ‘action-writ-large’...

By Anna Hayes Red Stitch Theatre is the venue for the Australian premiere of U.S. playwright Clare Barron’s challenging work ‘Shhh’, a play that explores the concept of consent through a number of different characters. The play follows a relatively loose narrative,...

By Jessica Taurins Underneath Ms Archer has a number of themes running throughout, from modernity vs. antiquity to social media and its hold on the world. So, it was a bit of a shame to find one of its central story conceits was a bit lost without the relevant...

    World premiere musicals in our country are all too often small-scale productions by independent companies in little theatres outside the CBD; applauded by the small audiences who get to witness them, but soon forgotten without a producer willing to develop it...

  Review by Tim Garratt In 1994, Disney made its first foray into musical theatre, mounting a stage adaptation of one of its most recent and revered films. Only a few years earlier, Beauty and the Beast had become a box office smash, earning $403 million at the...

Review by Tim Garratt Celebrating 70 years since its first performance in London, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is now inviting Australian audiences to experience its tale of murder mystery. Theatregoers in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra have had...

By Ian Nott MJ Wilson knows how to make an entrance albeit an understated one. He parted the maroon curtains of the Butterfly Club stage on Monday night with panache and a wide welcoming smile. He has gliding, wistful way of moving on the stage and the audience was...

By Bronwyn Cook What better way to follow-up from the musical theatre Christmas (aka the Tony Awards) than to celebrate the songs we know, some we may not know, but definitely love with a Broadway Diva, otherwise known as Olivia Ruggiero. In a tightly paced, swift...

By Darby Turnbull Following their critically acclaimed and sold-out production of Ignis at last year's Melbourne Fringe, Anthropocene Play company reunites Director Bronwen Coleman and several members of the cast to present Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at Theatreworks....

By Nick Pilgrim In thirteen years of reviewing, I have experienced a solid array of pieces which deep dive into important social and community issues. Standout examples include: Australia’s Escalating Homeless Crisis (Trash Goes Down The River) Spousal Euthanasia...

  Jekyll and Hyde is a musical loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.   With music by Frank Wildhorn, book by Leslie Bricusse and lyrics by Wildhorn, Bricusse and Steve Cuden, the musical made its...

By Adam Rafferty For a young Aboriginal man from up North, looking to make it on your own in the Big Smoke can require hard work, compromise and in the case of Jacky, some intrepid career options in order to achieve your goals. Commissioned as part of MTC’s NEXT STAGE...

By Anna Hayes How to review Samuel Beckett? It’s a funny one because, no matter what you say, you’re probably wrong. But as the character in his penultimate work Worstword Ho says: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Those immortal lines, repurposed in a wide...

  Review by Suzanne Tate   Unless they were very young, or had been living under a rock, it’s safe to say that the performance of the 50th anniversary production of Rocky Horror Show was a trip down memory lane for most of the audience. The over-the-top,...

  Reviewed by Tim Garratt In a 2018 interview, Tina Turner said, “People think my life has been tough, but I think it’s been a wonderful journey. The older you get, the more you realise it’s not what happened, but how you deal with it.” Seeing these events from...

By Nick Pilgrim “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be a nobody?” Kim Stanley (as Lillian Farmer) Frances, 1982 Death of a Salesman is an American Classic. Authored in 1948 by Arthur Miller (1915 - 2005), the prolific playwright is also known for All My Sons...

By Darby Turnbull I saw Declan Greene’s Moth at Malthouse in 2010 as a socially isolated and awkward 16-year-old, lured in by the promise of a piece of theatre delving into adolescent angst, bullying, mental illness and death. In short, I was exactly the target...

  Waiting For God is play based on the BBC television comedy written by Michael Aitkens. The story is set in the fictional Bayview Retirement Home near Bournemouth, UK. The original television series ran for five series in the 1990s, but the play is set in a more...

By Adam Rafferty The joys and pitfalls of a contemporary mixed-race relationship is a wonderful subject matter for today’s youth to study, as they potentially find themselves having to navigate these issues in an ever-more multi-cultural Australia. As part of the...

By George Dixon YIRRAMBOI 2023 is an exciting First Nations creatives festival that provides opportunities to showcase the immense scope and depth of talent. Inside Out, penned by Maurial Spearim, is no exemption. Spearim is a highly accomplished and versatile artist...

By Darby Turnbull There’s something in Stephen Nicolazzo’s production of Loaded, adapted from Christos Tsiolakas’ novel that puts me in mind of a diorama in a museum. It’s not just Nathan Burmeister’s attractive set with its curved frames and cunning revolved stage;...

By Ellis Koch With my reviews I try my best to not review content, or at least only review it in vague summary. In part this is because I don't want to be the type of reviewer who gives you a breakdown of the plot and characters - I'm reviewing a production, not a...

By Ellis Koch Bayou Bart is a short, 30 minute play that attempts to cram as many interesting characters into its short duration as it can but ultimately suffers from "so much to do, so little time". As a play it has some really intriguing concepts and characters but...

Once is one of those exquisitely beautiful musicals that is almost impossible to adequately describe in words. Not surprisingly, the musical has won eight Tony Awards - including the highly-coveted Best Musical Award - four Drama Desk Awards, an Academy Award, a...

  Review by Lucy Eyre   Once in a while a show comes along that not only captures a moment in time, but reminds us that, regardless of the aspects of identity that make up the individual, we have a shared humanity that binds us together. Come From Away is...

By Adam Rafferty While promoting Happy Days recently, its star, Judith Lucy has been quoted as saying she’s giving up comedy. One could assume that perhaps this is because being cast in the role of Winnie is arguably the apogee of any actresses’ career. Only a small...

Bu Nick Pilgrim How time flies.  Exactly one year ago I was offered the chance to preview Driftwood, a brand-new and completely home-grown live musical.  Using the memoir of the same name by Eva de Jong-Duldig as its springboard, this powerful war-torn drama spanned...

By Ian Nott The abundant intrigue with this new play by Mark Andrew is immediately found in its inventive title, The Critical Marriage, a play produced by the team at Melbourne Writers’ Theatre at Gasworks Theatre. The main character (aged Imogen), played effortlessly...

By Anna Hayes An audience member dropped, unknowing, into a seat would have been forgiven for thinking that they were watching a contemporary Australian drama at Red Stitch’s latest offering, the Australian première of Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul.  The play, which...

By George Dixon Josh Staley is undoubtedly one of Australia’s best close-up magicians.  Every theme-based performance is not only unique, it also spotlights a specific element of magic. Josh Staley’s “Poker Face” is no exemption. While Staley is somewhat poker-faced,...

By Jessica Taurins Sometimes an actor is just an actor, and sometimes an actor is their character through and through. Aside from owning a book shop, it turns out that Dylan Moran is - in more ways than one - an exact replica of his early-2000s Black Books character...

  Review by Jody Hooker   Just prior to the opening night of RENT in New York City, its creator and composer Jonathan Larson tragically passed away before getting to witness his masterpiece. But, before RENT, Larson had created another musical. And just like...

By Nick Pilgrim Writing for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, one is spoiled for choice. With more than 500 acts converging on the city over a hectic three-week period, there is at least something guaranteed for...

By George Dixon. Adam Rozenbachs is, without a doubt, one of Australia’s most-loved comedians of stage, screen, and Television. With a history that has entertained and delighted audiences for over 10 years, Rozenbachs has more that honed his skills which include...

By Adam Rafferty Winner of the Best Newcomer award at the 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Frankie McNair hasn’t rested on her laurels over the last year. Returning this time around in the form of a washed-up lounge singer of yesteryear named Tabatha...