AFI/BAFTA/SAG/Emmy/Tony/Globe/Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush radiates as Lady Bracknell in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s new production of The Importance of Being Earnest, writes Jason Whittaker.
Melbourne Theatre Company
Hamlet by the MTC
He’s been dead for almost 400 years, but Shakespeare still knows how to work a dastardly revenge tale with the Melbourne Theatre Company’s latest rendition of Hamlet, writes Siobhan Argent.
Daily Proposition: a Sorkin-esque drama on stage
The Joy Of Text is ripped from headlines of literary hoaxes and school s-x scandals and deconstructed into a perceptive parable on formal and informal life education.
theatre reviews Next To Normal — Playhouse, Melbourne
A musical about bipolar disorder? Next To Normalis an unswervingly honest piece of Pulitzer Prize-winning theatre. But miscasting blunts the power of this Melbourne Theatre Company production, says Jason Whittaker.
David Williamson: no apology for my play, but for my generation
After Crikey’s scathing review of David Williamson’s Don Parties On, the celebrated playwright hits back: he’s not apologising for his new play, but he will apologise for his generation.
Who’s aspirational now? Williamson’s Party as vapid as the times
David Williamson got to his feet at the premiere of Don Parties On to be applauded, a polite if halfhearted acknowledgement. He smiled contentedly. Williamson is nothing but content. Blithely, indolently content, writes Jason Whittaker.
2010 on stage: the best (and worst) from Melbourne
From Shakespeare to Mamet; centuries-old operas to brand-new local works. And in a year that saw independent producers and smaller shows shine, a brassy all-American musical was probably the best of the best. Jason Whittaker names his top picks from the Melbourne stage in 2010.
Theatre review: The Grenade — utterly conventional and thoroughly enjoyable
Playwright Tony McNamara’s production The Grenade, which was tried and tested at the Melbourne Theatre Company and has just arrived in Sydney, is an enjoyable lark that proves there is nothing wrong with a conventional play, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
Theatre review: Let The Sunshine set on Williamson?
Melbourne’s chattering cultural critics can kill two birds with one stone at The Playhouse this month: another unchallenging ‘mainstream’ (whatever that means) play from the Melbourne Theatre Company, another blunt social satire from the tallest of playwriting poppies, David Williamson.
Daily Proposition: Theatrical whimsy from an acclaimed playwright
There’s a lot to be said for a bit of romantic whimsy on the stage. Two shows from one of America’s most celebrated playwrights are enchanting audiences in Brisbane and Melbourne this month.
Daily Proposition: Enjoy the farce of a ‘Boston marriage’
Love and marriage, Frank Sinatra crooned, go together like a horse and carriage. A new play from the MTC, Boston Marriage, demonstrates why. It’s a Wilde-esque farce worth seeing.
Theatre review: Boston Marriage, very funny farce
Love and marriage, Frank Sinatra crooned, go together like a horse and carriage. Melbourne Theatre Company’s Boston Marriage captures the argument splendidly, says Jason Whittaker.
Sexism is a long way from a final bow in Oz theatre
On Sunday, a panel of critical women’s voices spoke of a “tsunami of discontent” that the Australian theatre industry in general is sewn up by male directors and writers, writes Steve Dow.
Creative roles for women hard to find in Australian theatre
Crikey’s tipster who last week expressed dismay at the lack of women programmed in Sydney’s Company B theatre season for 2010 was certainly not alone.
