EMERGING CHOREOGRAPHERS PROGRAM 2025 - Quantum Leap Australia

Choreographers L - R:         Chloe Curtis - Akira Byrne - Maya Wille-Bellchambers - Jahna Lugnan        Gigi Rohrlach - Lucia Morabito.

Mentors: Alice Lee Holland, Emma Batchelor

Costume co-ordination: Natalie Wade, Linda Uzubalis

Sound mastering Kimmo Vennonen – Lighting support: Owen Davies, Sidestage.

A Block Theatre, Gorman Arts Centre, 13^th, 14^th December 2025.

Performance on 13^th December reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Introducing this year’s edition of the Emerging Choreographer’s Program, Artistic Director and CEO, Alice Lee Holland revealed that QL2 Dance would undergo a name change to Quantum Leap Australia, with this program being the first under its new name. 

Holland also mentioned later, that in her mentoring, she had encouraged the choreographers, who’s ages ranged from 16 to 19 years, not to concentrate on producing a polished final work, but rather to use the opportunity to test their ability to express complex ideas through dance.

The Emerging Choreographer’s Program is an annual program that provides young Quantum Leap artists with the opportunity to create their own original short dance work.

They are guided through the process by professional mentors, this year Alice Lee Holland and Emma Batchelor, provided with rehearsal space and access to dancers, but all decisions regarding concepts, costuming, lighting, music and direction of their dancers are their own.   

This year, all the emerging choreographers participated as dancers in at least one other work by another of the choreographers. One explaining in the Q & A following the performances, that this had proved a helpful strategy with her own problem solving.

For interested audiences, how the aspiring choreographers’ embrace this opportunity, and the topics chosen for their dance work, can be fascinating.

Quantum Leap Australia dancers perform METAMORPHOSIS by Maya Wille-Bellchambers

18-year-old Maya Willie-Bellchambers has already been accepted into VCA for study next year. Although she has participated in the ECP previously, “Metamorphosis” is the first work she has created alone.

Inspired by her interest in mental illness, she drew her inspiration from the transformation of caterpillar to butterfly, to express feelings of entrapment.

For her ambitious work, five dancers, costumed in semi-business attire, remained expressionless as they worked closely together to create unsettling visuals, during which their fingers were constantly wriggling. 

Quantum Leap Australian dancers perform "MIRAGE OF MEMORIES" by Lucia Morabito

 First time participant in the ECP, Lucia Morabito also utilised five dancers for her work intitled “Mirage of Memories” with which she explored notions around personal and collective perceptions of memory. 

Created in four distinct chapters, her dancers languidly paraded, formed graceful groups, or simply sat as if sunbaking, as they watched one or more of their number scrawl words on the wall behind them.

 Indefinite and undimmed – Crossroads/Naïve Desperations – In Grievance Of Its Shape – Comicality Of My Recollections, began to cover the wall.  And while the words meant little to this viewer, it was difficult not to be captivated by the lyrical mood created by the movement and soundtrack which included a lovely version of the song “Stairway to the Stars”.

Quan

Quantum Leap Australia dancers performing BREATHING STATUES by Gigi Rohrlach.

A similar mood was evoked by Gigi Rohrlach’s lovely creation,” Breathing Statues”. To the music of nature sounds mixed with Masakatsu Takagi and Rosalia, Rohrlach joined dancers, Akira Byrne, Anna Maksimova, and Coral Onn to perform a graceful work featuring gentle unison movement and poses to elicit visions of forgotten statues in an overgrown forest.

While the choreography may not have been groundbreaking, it was certainly lovely to watch and perfectly chosen for its purpose.

 

Quantum Leap Australia dancers perform "CHOROPHOBIA" by Chloe Curtis

Although 16-year-old Chloe Curtis has been participating as a dancer in ECP’s since 2022, this is the first time she has been involved as a choreographer.

Challenging herself with a difficult subject, fear of phobia, she worked with six dancers to create, “Chorophobia” exploring six different psychological reactions to fear.

Very well performed by the dancers, to a nervy, well-chosen soundtrack mix, the work had the dancers reacting to flashing lights while performing slithering movements, spasms, twitches and at times, simply rocking gently to evoke their responses to the various criteria.

Jahna Lugnam performing in "THE SHAPE OF ME IS CHANGING by Akira Byrne

18- year-old Akira Byrne was awarded a Canberra Critics Circle Award for the extraordinary solo work she created and performed during the 2024 ECP.

This year she challenged herself further by joining dancers Jahna Lugnan, Coral Onn, Marlon Clode, Juliette Feerick and Reuben Reynolds to deliver her own original poetry in her work exploring physical confines and living with pain, “the shape of me is shifting”.

Performed to Harland Rust’s, “I’m Sending Conrad Away”, the work was remarkable for its imagery and an extraordinary performance by Jahna Lugnan. Already a charismatic dancer, Byrne is exhibiting the potential to become an extraordinary dance creator.

Quantum Leap Australia dancers perform "THE DOG SHOWS NO CONCERN" by Jahna Lugnan

The final work of the program, intriguingly entitled, “The Dog Shows No Concern” was created by Jahna Lugnan, participating in her fourth ECP, and her third time as a choreographer.

Setting out to resist audience expectations and inspired by the David Byrne book “American Utopia”, this work featured a surprise at every turn.

At its heart is a very funny choreography performed to a version of Bizet’s “Habanera” written for his opera “Carmen”, but in this version, performed po-faced by the dancers, with inventive, and very funny choreography that resisted any reference to the opera.

Delightfully entertaining, it proved a perfect way to end the program, leaving this reviewer looking forward to seeing more work from this choreographer.

Throughout, the Emerging Choreographers Program 2025 proved impressive for the attention to the production elements, costuming, lighting and sound, for the commitment and skill of the dancers, and for the ingenuity and imagination of the fledgling choreographers.

 

Quantum Leap Australia dancer performing in "MIRAGE OF MEMORIES" by Lucia Morabito.



Photos by Olivier Wikner, O & J Wikner Photography.

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

LOVING - Photographs of men in Love, 1850s to 1950s & A loving City - Queerberra Revisited

LOVING - Photographs of men in Love, 1850s to 1950s

A loving City - Queerberra Revisited

Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG), Gallery 2 | 6 December 2025 to 5 April 2026

Whilst most certainly being complementary, these two exhibitions in adjoining spaces are also very different to each other. LOVING – Photographs of men in Love, 1850s to 1950s is, obviously, only about men. The large number of photographs in the display is essentially monochromatic.

Installation image - LOVING – Photographs of men in Love, 1850s to 1950s © Brian Rope

But, when visitors walk through into the next space to A loving City – Queerberra Revisited they will immediately see colour images hung against a background of vivid rainbow colours.

Installation image - A loving City – Queerberra Revisited © Brian Rope

The content of LOVING was created by collectors and arts professionals Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell. That married couple discovered an old photograph of two other men in a tender loving embrace at an antique store in Dallas, Texas, 25 years ago. The image sparked a passion which resulted in a global journey searching for other photographs capturing men in love. They searched flea markets, auction houses, family albums and online collections, gradually gathering from all over the world over 4,000 tender images of male couples taken between the 1850s and 1950s - 100 years of social history and the development of photography.

In 2020, they published a book internationally, showing hundreds of the previously unpublished vernacular photographs depicting romantic love between men that powerfully and movingly reasserted both that love is love and that there had always been men who loved each other. It and this exhibition tenderly portray romantic love between men. There are snapshots, portraits, and group photos taken in the most varied places and situations. Often taken when male partnerships were illegal, the collectors identified the men in the images as couples by what they have described as the unmistakable look in the eyes of two people in love, by their body language, and even by coded inscriptions. There is a diversity of image formats - ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, glass negatives, tin types, cabinet cards, photo postcards, and more.

Three years later, the collection was exhibited for the first time at the Musée Rath in Geneva. Now, it is being displayed in Australia, co-presented by CMAG and the Delegation of the European Union to Australia. The photographs on display have been digitised. They tell stories which have a considerable impact when we consider them. They speak to spirit and resilience. LOVING brings to light the lives and stories of male couples from around the world - giving voice to their courage, intimacy and enduring love for their “other halves”.

Unknown subject, Loving: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s © The Nini-Treadwell collection

Unknown subject, Loving: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s
© The Nini-Treadwell collection

Unknown subject, Loving: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s

© The Nini-Treadwell collection

The second exhibition, A Loving City: Queerberra Revisited, is a return to a 2017 portrait series - Queerberra by photographer Jane Duong and producer Victoria Firth-Smith.

Created between 2015 and 2017, in the lead-up to Australia’s same-sex marriage postal vote, the original project captured over 100 portraits of LGBTQIA+ Canberrans in their homes, workplaces and everyday spaces. Over weekends spent in bedrooms, workplaces, and on the streets, portraits of pride, exhaustion, defiance, love, and hope were captured with grace and honesty. Some subjects were already out. Others came out for the first time. This unique art project set out to portray the beauty of Canberra’s rich array of local identities from LGBTIQ, asexual and cisgender peoples, to drag queens and kings, and beyond. Everyday lives were captured and shared with pride - some had not been ‘out’ publicly, others were very much in the public eye.

On 15 November 2017, Canberra’s voters delivered Australia’s strongest "Yes" vote in support of marriage equality. The Queerberra book was launched the very next day. Eight years later, this revisiting of the book and original exhibition showcases 99 of the original 100 portraits from that book and invites audiences to consider how much things have changed in that time.

Caitlin and Jill, Queerberra - photography by Jane Duong and produced by Victoria Firth-Smith

 

James, Queerberra - photography by Jane Duong and produced by Victoria Firth-Smith

These two exhibitions are simultaneously intensely intimate and deeply political. Each one stands alone in its story and tone; together they form a larger narrative about connection across generations, time periods and other things that often divide us.

This review is also available on the author's blog. And a shorter version is on a Canberra City News webpage.

A CELTIC CHRISTMAS by a Taste of Ireland - Canberra Theatre

"A Celtic Christmas" dancers in action.

Directed and choreographed by Brent Pace

 Co-Directed and Co- choreographed by Ceili Moore

Musical Direction by Charlie Galloway – Set Design Gavin Leahy

Sound and Video design by Jack Kearney.

Performed by Mitchell O’Hara – Callum O’Neill – Tom Doherty – Cathal Doughan - Declan McLaughlin – Ciaren Keogh – Joey Roca – Rochelle Hoffman – Meagan Urbanek – Aoibhin Kenneally – Emma Martin – Eleanor Murray – Minnie Yarnold – Bella Masters.

Presented by Pace Live’s A Taste of Ireland – Canberra Theatre – December 12, 2025.

Reviewed By BILL STEPHENS

The cast of "A Celtic Christmas"

A very specific dance style, Irish dance is characterised by upright posture, rigid torso, and rapid footwork, accompanied by fiddles, pipes and drums.

As with classical ballet, exponents usually commence learning the techniques at an   early age, then perfect those skills by participating in competitions initially at fairs and social gatherings.

In 1994 a seven-minute interval dance presentation by Michael Flatley and Jean Butler during the Eurovision Song Contest sparked world-wide interest in Irish dance, leading to the creation of the stage show Riverdance in 1995.  Riverdance combined Irish dance with theatrical elements and became a global sensation.

 A Taste of Ireland grew out of this interest in Celtic dance and for more than ten years has been touring the world in various iterations. A Celtic Christmas by A Taste of Ireland is its flagship Christmas production.

Rochelle Hoffman and the cast of "A Celtic Christmas"

A Celtic Christmas presents a captivating blend of Irish tunes with upbeat arrangements of Christmas carols, all wrapped up in a pretty package of colourful costumes and theatricalised Irish dance. The show provides a delightful evening of feel-good entertainment along with some truly spectacular Irish dancing performed before a huge painted backdrop depicting a cosy room with blazing fire, augmented with a giant video screen utilised for locale changes. 

Although there is a story included that’s meant to connect the impressive group dancing, but the rigid Irish dance technique isn’t really conducive to storytelling so that the production numbers devised to support the storyline, although spectacular, often felt contrived.

The singer and musicians for "A Celtic Christmas"

Particularly as the dance numbers were interrupted by items performed live by a singer, a fiddle player and a guitarist, subtly enhanced by a pre-recorded soundtrack; ostensibly to provide time to allow the dancers to change costumes, but being traditional Irish songs and music, appeared to have nothing to do with the story being told.

Regretfully that trio shall have to remain nameless as there is no reference to them either in the printed program or the A Celtic Christmas website.   

But it was the dancing that the audience had come to see, and in that area, this troupe is very impressive indeed. Among the talented ensemble cast are some who have danced in productions of Riverdance and Lord of the Dance around the world, and most rank among the top ten world title holders for their Irish dance skills.

Mitchell O'Hara and Rochelle Hoffman in action during "A Celtic Christmas"

Led by Mitchell O’Hara and Rochelle Hoffman as the lovers, commoner Oisin and Princess Ava, they perform a succession of spectacular, inventively choreographed group routines.

While the first half of the program impressed with its impressive energy, discipline and attention to detail, after interval, the pace slackened alarmingly with the inclusion of obvious padding.

A long sequence involving the male ensemble pretending to be blokey carollers performing poorly sung carols, seemed superfluous. Had the performers attempted harmonies and treated the carols with respect, it may have had some point. But as presented, the singing was raucous and performed in a manner likely to offend Tom in the audience to whom those particular carols have significance.

Mitchell O'Hara in action during "A Celtic Christmas"

There was also a long solo by O’Hara in which he demonstrated his impressive dancing virtuosity. As skilled and charming as he is, however, his propensity to shamelessly milk his applause, caused him to overstay his welcome.

This was time that could have been more interestingly devoted to devising more opportunities for individual ensemble members to demonstrate their obvious mastery of the dancing technique the audience had come to see. 

Mitchell O"Hara - Rochelle Hoffman and some of the cast of "A Celtic Christman"




Photos supplied.



This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au

 

Hand to God - Everyman Theatre

 Hand to God by Robert Askins. Presented by Everyman Theatre at ACT Hub at Causeway Hall. 10 December – 20 December 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Dec 12

Directed by Jarrad West

Cast
Michael Cooper as Jason (and the puppet Tyrone)
Amy Kowalczuk as his mother Margery
Lachlan Ruffy as Pastor Greg
Meaghan Stewart as Jason’s girlfriend Jessica
William 'Wally' Allington as Timothy, one-time school acquaintance.


Hand to God is an American play: embarrassingly funny; a crude satire. Yet, in the final scene of a young man’s mental breakdown, we see a reflection of America this century – even unto Donald Trump.

Though first produced in 2011, the teenager with his devil of a hand-puppet is an image that inevitably brings to mind that over-the-top ham actor’s extremities in his first Presidential Term 2017-2020, and currently.

Tyrone with Michael Cooper as Jason 
in Hand to God, Everyman Theatre 2025

 The point about the play is that it’s very funny – I would say terribly funny.  AI says The play is described as a "blasphemous black comedy (with puppets!)" that explores faith and morality and is intended for adult audiences due to its mature content, coarse language, and sexual references.  So, don’t take your chidren.

 

William 'Wally' Allington as Timothy, Meaghan Stewart as Jessica, Michael Cooper as Jason

 More – it really means, don’t take the children to America, where the diabolical Donald has Trumped – like Tyrone trumps Jason, destroying his faith in family –  even at the level of our international family.

In their small-town Cypress, Texas, Marjorie’s attempts to stay true to her marriage vows after her husband’s death, distracted by entertaining the faith community with puppets which go crazy, represent a world ruled by the dictates of an entertainer who believes he is the real thing.

Fortunately we still have the writers and performing artists we need to help us at least understand ourselves a bit better.

This is where the puppets and the terrific performances by Everyman come into the picture.

Once upon a time, many years ago when Drama was still not an independent school subject, I experimented with teachers of disaffected young teenagers using drama to assist with their education.  Using just one hand as theirself and the other as a puppet, what the hands said to each other, about behaviour issues, for example, could result in a new awareness about actions and consequences.  If the situation was managed by the teachers carefully and positively, of course.

In Hand to God, son Jason’s emotional dilemmas about his mother Margery’s struggles to find her way out of the grief and loss of her husband, while facing up to his own attraction to Jessica – and including the threat from Timothy’s sexual intentions towards both women – is simply not a situation that can be managed.

This is because they, including Paster Greg who is attracted, probably genuinely, to Margery, are all enclosed in an emotional prison.  There is no escape hatch; nor any independent non-interested outsider to help them manage.  Even in my teaching role, as my experiments showed, a successful change was difficult to achieve.

So in performing Jason, as he, as himself, talks with and argues with his puppet, who is also Jason – and in doing so instantly switching voice, mannerisms and feelings from one character to the other – Michael Cooper achieves an extraordinary feat as an actor.  From the very beginning, sitting alone (but with Tyrone) before any other characters have come on stage, I could respond at once to him, not as a puppeteer, but as a real person with some kind of special relationship with his puppet.

That degree of professionalism built throughout the cast and makes this production of Hand to God as good to see and engage with as I can imagine.

I fear, though, for America – and therefore for all the world – because Trump plays himself as Tyrone all the time, never revealing what we may hope is a real commonsense character hidden in himself.

The result is that too many people laugh – as we certainly did last night at The Hub – at the entertainment, and don’t realise that Marjery’s hope that her puppet show will create peace and harmony can’t succeed without true emotional intelligence.

The play ends deliberately without making it clear that the inordinate mess in the Church Hall, where everything is torn up and scattered everywhere, can never be put back in order.

Or maybe we might think that Margery’s final hug with Jason is an OK sign for the future.

For America, I guess, we haven’t got to the end of the play yet – but I’ve stopped laughing.  This is serious.

And I thank Jarrad West and everyone in Everyman Theatre.  

See Hand to God, but be careful of your mental puppets.

Michael Cooper, Amy Kowalczuk and Lachlan Ruffy
in the final scene of Hand to God, Everyman Theatre 2025

 

 

HAND TO GOD - Everyman Theatre - ACT Hub

Michael Cooper as Jason, with his puppet friend, Tyrone in "Hand to God"

Written by Robert Askins – Directed by Jarrad West

Executive Producer/Technical Director/ Sound Designer: Nikki Fitzgerald

Set Design: Jarrad West – Puppet Design: Emma Sissons

Lighting design: Nathan Sciberras -Stage Manager: Lucy van Dooren

Intimacy Co-ordinator – Lachlan Ruffy.

Presented by Everyman Theatre - ACT Hub until 20^th December 2025.

Opening night performance on 10^th December reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Tyrone (Puppet) - Jason (Michael Cooper) - Margery (Amy Kowalczuk) - Jessica (Meaghan Stewart) 

This is the second production by Everyman Theatre of this extraordinary play. If you missed it first time around, do yourself a favour and try to catch it this time.

Again, expertly directed by Jarrad West, with a cast of many of the city’s most accomplished actors, all of whom are new to their roles, apart from Michael Cooper who repeats his tour de force turn in the central role as Jason. This alone is a compelling excuse to revisit this play, even if you were lucky enough to experience its first iteration.

Jason’s mother Margery (Amy Kowalczuk) has been recently widowed and is trying to manage her grief by making puppets for the local puppet club. Margery is a member of a fundamentalist Christian congregation which uses puppets to teach children to follow the Bible and avoid Satan.

Timothy (William Allington) - Jessica (Meaghan Stewart) - Tyrone - Jason (Michael Cooper) in
"Hand to God"

Jason has a crush on his next-door neighbour, Jessica (Meaghan Stewart), who together with his best friend Timothy (William Allington) the school bully who’s attending Alcoholics Anonymous, are all members of the Puppet Club run by Pastor Greg (Lachlan Ruffy).

Pastor Greg has designs on Margery and is doing his best to persuade her to put on a performance by the puppet club the following Sunday.

Pastor Greg (Lachlan Ruffy) wooing Margery (Amy Kowalczuk) in "Hand to God"

When the characters become sexually attracted to each other, Jason’s hand puppet, Tyrone, takes on a life of its own, announcing that he is Satan and revealing secrets the other characters would rather leave unacknowledged.

“Hand to God” can be enjoyed as a farcical romp. It certainly is fun on that level. The writing is witty, even if the language and the subject matter is often quite confronting.

But for those looking for something deeper, the author, Robert Askins, delivers, by drawing on the classical tools of humour to create a desperate atmosphere of mental and physical chaos and violence to display taboos denouncing the hypocrisy of American society, and more particularly, that of Christian congregations faced with the sexuality of teenagers. To this end, he challenges his audience with a complex combination of laughter and unease as he dares them to laugh as they cringe.

Director Jarrad West understands this, and his cluttered set design reflects this notion.   He’s directed his actors to interpret the characters, not as clowns, but as real people, and while most of their reactions are ridiculously over-the-top, the audience is compelled to emphasise and feel for them.

In a brave, compelling performance, Amy Kowalczuk becomes Margery, a woman on the brink of a nervous breakdown, and in her grief, in no mood for a relationship.  Overwhelmed by the attentions of Pastor Greg, and horny teenager, Timothy, her responses are both terrifying and hysterically funny.

Willam Allington, as the sex-obsessed punk teenager, Timothy, is as confused as Margery by her responses to his advances. The cleverly staged scene in which they succumb to their mutual lust is one of the highlights of the production.

 Lachlan Ruffy invests the role of Pastor Greg with a creepy venality that makes it easy to laugh at his inept attempts to seduce Margery. Then later, even admire his acquisition of enough backbone to challenge the out-of-control puppet, and yet, still rejoice in his come-uppance when his self-serving hypocrisy is finally exposed.  

In a delightfully restrained performance, Meaghan Stewart charms as the manipulative teenager, Jessica, aware of Jason’s clumsy attentions, and unimpressed by his friendship with Timothy. The scene in which Jessica and Jason engage in small talk while their puppets joyfully explore every possible sexual position, is another of many highlights.

Jessica (Meaghan Stewart) - Tyrone - Jason (Michael Cooper) share a moment in "Hand to God".

But as accomplished as the performances of the supporting cast are, it is the virtuosic performance of Michael Cooper, as both Jason and his puppet, Tyrone, which drives the production. 

Cooper manages to invest each character a distinct personality and voice, so that there is never the slightest confusion as to which character is speaking, even though he never attempts to disguise his own voice with ventriloquism techniques.

The mood of the play darkens with the climactic scene in which Tyrone begins to take control of Jason’s life. Cooper’s performance of their final fight for control is brutal and disturbing to watch but brilliantly executed and absolutely memorable.

Jason (Michael Cooper) and Tyrone harass Margery (Amy Kowalczuk) observed by Pastor Greg (Lachlan Ruffy) in a tense scene during "Hand of God". 

Though some may find it disturbing and confronting, this production of “Hand to God” is hugely entertaining, brilliantly performed, full of surprises and shocks, and an excellent representative of the quality of the productions presented by ACT Hub throughout 2025.  

                                      Photos by Janelle McMenamin and Michael Moore.

 

  

HAND TO GOD

 

 Hand To God by Robert Askins

Director: Jarrad West. Executive Producer / Technical Director: Nikki Fitzgerald. Stage Manager: Lucy van Dooren. Sound Design: Nikki Fitzgerald, Lighting Design: Nathan Sciberras. Set Design: Jarrad West. Puppet Design: Emma Sissons. Intimacy Co-Ordinator: Lachlan Ruffy

Backstage Crew: Jude Livermore, Alex Boulton, Paige Rawlins, Sophie Hope-White

 

 

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Michael Cooper as Jason with Tyrone

 Three years ago I described Jarrad West’s inaugural production of Robert Askins’ black comedy   Hand to God as “outrageously funny” and “discerningly honest”. West’s revival for Everyman Theatre is still outrageously funny and even more disarmingly honest in probing the fragile complexity of the human condition. Although still capable of having an audience in fits of laughter, this revival appears somewhat darker and more cynical in its depiction of the characters' inner turmoil. Of the original cast of Michael Cooper as meek and mild Jason. Stephanie Roberts as Margery, Jason’s mother, Arran McKenna as Pastor Greg, Josh Wiseman as the rebellious sex crazed Tim and Holly Ross as the sweet and innocent Jessica only Cooper reprises his role as Jason whose tyrannical puppet Tyrone creates a seismic upheaval from the very depths of the subconscious in a tsunami of truth. West’s casting for the revival is impeccable, showcasing some of Canberra’s most outstanding actors.

 

The cast of Hand To God during a devilish moment
Lighting by Nathan Sciberras

Amy Kowalczuk plays Margery, desperately trying to run the church’s puppet club while struggling to cope with the grief at the loss of her husband, the attentions of Pastor Greg, the profession of love by young Timmy and the volatile behaviour of Jason in the grip of Tyrone’s demonic outbursts.  Kowalczuk’s performance is perfectly restrained, searingly honest and wildly liberated when Tim’s sexual advances release the repression. William Allington’s troubled teenager, Tim, exudes surly defiance which becomes unbridled lust when Margery succumbs to her desires. This is in stark contrast to Lachlan Ruffy’s  professions of love and controlled propriety as a servant of the church. Ruffy’s Pastor Greg is the epitome of true Christian morality, while all around him the devil wreaks mayhem and madness.  As Jessica Meaghan Stewart demonstrates her versatility as an actor in her portrayal of the demure and sweet innocent, whose secret fantasies are eventually awakened by the sexual abandonment of her puppet Joelle  with Tyrone. Pivotal to the production is Cooper’s brilliant portrayal of the shy Jason in tandem with his explosive and uncontrolled outbursts as Tyrone.  Cooper’s transition between characters from  human to puppet is magnetic, his timing brilliant and his vocal dexterity and physicality riveting.

Michael Cooper (Jason) and Amy Kowalczuk (Margery)

With a cast as outstanding as this, Jarrad West’s production is a master class in direction. The performances reverberate with honesty. The timing is faultless, the business  is clever and inventive   and West keeps the pace racing along through moments of high octane chaos, simulated sex scenes, tender moments of pathos and empathy and crazy hilarity.  What I wrote in 2022 at the highly success and award winning production rings true of this revival, so I shall repeat it as a reason not to miss this excellent and highly professional production

Meaghan Stewart as Jessica. Michael Cooper as Jason
with puppets Joelle and Tyrone designed by Emma Sissons

“Depending on your sense of humour Everyman Theatre’s production of Hand to God will either have you laughing until you cry or crying until you burst into uncontrollable laughter. It’s a blasphemous devilishly outrageous black comedy.  The guffawer will split his, her or their sides at the rude retorts of the rebellious puppet Tyrone. The giggler will find the sexual antics of mother Margery and yobbo Timmy hilariously ribald. But the more restrained subtle smiler will simply smirk with secret delight  at the absurd members of the local church ministry puppet club. If however, you are prone to shock and indignation, then this wonderfully clever, and an absurdly Pandora’s box of all your private fascinations is certainly the place to revel in your unabashed catharsis.

William Allington as Timmy and Lachlan Ruffy as Pastor Greg

ACT HUB has forged a reputation for providing the very best in first class theatre and Everyman’s Hand to God is no exception.   Playwright Askins reminds us of the complexity of human nature and the peril of blind acceptance, false idols and painful suppression. The comedy may be black but the moral is gleaming white thanks to Tyrone, whose manner may be brash but at least you know at which hand you stand.

 Everyman Theatre’s Hand to God is a revival that you would be sorry to miss.   Let your Tyrone loose and hand it to God. You’ll be glad you did!”

Photos by Janelle McMenamin and Michael Moore

 

 

 

HAND TO GOD

 

Written by Robert Askins

Directed by Jarrad West

Everyman Theatre Production

ACT Hub Theatre, Kingston to 20 December

 

Reviewed by Len Power 10 December 2025

 

When shy young Jason joins his mother’s Christian Puppet Ministry in the tiny, conservative town of Cypress, Texas, he unwittingly releases the Devil through his creation of a puppet, Tyrone. The resulting effect on Jason and the characters around him has to be seen to be believed!

 Robert Askins’ play, first produced off-Broadway in 2011, seems to have everything you need for a good night out at the theatre - religious hypocrisy, family dysfunction, shockingly bad language, faith, bullying, morality, bereavement, horny teenager troublemaking and assorted sexual stuff, blasphemy, insanity, puppet addiction, obsessiveness, furniture smashing, virginal timidness, ear biting, frenzied behaviour and violence. I think that was everything…

All five members of the cast give strong performances with excellent comic timing. Michael Cooper as Jason and his puppet, Tyrone, displays extraordinary vocal ability that brings Tyrone to malevolent life, adding a surreal edginess to the show. His physical performance as he fights with the puppet has to be seen to be believed.

Michael Cooper (Jason)

Meaghan Stewart is quietly funny as Jessica, the young woman attracted to Jason. How she manages to show her true feelings for him results in a hilariously explicit sex scene. William ‘Wally’ Allington, as Timmy, the youthful and horny town tough chasing after the mother, Margery, gives a nicely repellent and amusing performance.

Amy Kowalczuk as Margery, the religious mother overtaken by lust, brings out the humour in her role through thoughtful characterization. Lachlan Ruffy as the hypocritical Pastor Greg with a strange dress sense, is funny as well as creepy.

Lachlan Ruffy (Pastor Greg) & Amy Kowalczuk (Margery)

The speed at which this show is played is breath-taking at times. The Director, Jarrad West, has kept a firm control on the frenzied and farcical action in the first act, but the second act seemed less humorous and slower, making it feel more uncomfortable than funny in places.

Overall, ‘Hand to God’, with its fine performances and strong direction, is an outrageously funny play with a lot of truth under the surface.

Photos by Janelle McMenamin & Michael Moore 

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

 

PRETTY WOMAN The Musical - Theatre Royal - Sydney

Samantha Jade as Vivian Ward and Ben Hall as Edward Lewis in "Pretty Woman" 

Book by Garry Marshall & J.F. Lawton – Music and Lyrics by Bryan Adams & Jim Vallance

Directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell – Recreated by Rusty Mowery

Resident Director: Liam McIlwain - Musical Director: David Skelton

Music Supervision, Arrangements and Orchestrations: Will Van Dyke.

 Scenic Design: David Rockwell – Costume Design: Tom Rogers

Lighting Design: Kenneth Posner & Philip S. Rosenberg – Sound Design: John Shivers

Produced by Jones Theatrical, ATG Productions & Gavin Kalin Productions

Theatre Royal, Sydney until 4th April 2026.

Sydney opening night performance on 4^th December 2025 reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Ben Hall as Edward Lewis - Samantha Jade as Vivian Ward and company in "Pretty Woman"

You don’t have to be a fan of the film, on which this musical is based, to be charmed by this delightful adaptation. Possibly one of the few souls on earth who missed the film, this reviewer still succumbed to the Broadway panache employed by director and choreographer, Jerry Mitchell, and his collaborators, in transforming this seductive adult fairy-tale into a stylish stage musical.

The casting is impeccable. Samantha Jade is bewitching as the feisty streetwalker, Vivian Ward, who wants to be “Anywhere but Here”.  An accomplished singer, actor and dancer, Jade draws on all those skills to create a character, constantly intriguing, as she traces the trajectory of Vivian’s journey. It is the role which will be remembered as her break-out role, and which stamps her as an exciting new musical theatre leading lady.  

Similarly, Ben Hall, as the ridiculously wealthy businessman, Edward Lewis, who intrigued by “Something About Her” provides Vivian with the opportunity (and money) to become her ‘real’ self. Hall has the look and bearing of a perfect Prince Charming and the voice of a Broadway leading man.

Ben Hall as Edward Lewis and Samantha Jade as Vivian Ward in "Pretty Woman"

Both have the presence, and the acting chops, to convince audiences to forget the improbability of the storyline, (thoughts of Sweet Charity, My Fair Lady, even Cinderella), and put questions of common sense aside to wallow in the lusciousness of their romance.  

But this is where Jerry Mitchell’s brilliance surfaces. Recognising the differences between a successful Hollywood movie and a successful Broadway musical, he has surrounded Vivian and Edward with a milieu of thoroughly delightful supporting characters, stylish settings, glamorous costumes, and clever choreography. Theatrical devices which delight the eye and burnish the storytelling.

Tim Omaji as Happy Man and cast of "Pretty Woman".

Principal among the supporting characters is Tim Omaji, completely lovable as Mr Thompson, the manager of Beverly Wilshire Hotel (Oh, for a hotel manager like this one). Omaji also plays an other-worldly, hippy character, Happy Man, who leads the ensemble through “Don’t Forget to Dance”.

Both roles provide Omaji with the opportunity to exercise the formidable dance skills for which he gained fame as Timomatic. The male dance duo during “On a Night Like Tonight” performed by Mr Thompson and the porter, Giulio, (an effervescent Jordan Tomljenovic), is a real showstopper which had the first night audience screaming with delight.

Another showstopper was the dreamy staging of “You and I”, in which Edward introduces Vivian, gorgeous in the iconic red dress, to opera. Snatches of “La Traviata”, gloriously sung by Rebecca Gulinello as Violetta and Callum Warrender as Alfredo, are threaded through swirling dancers in an intoxicating confection observed by Edward and Vivian from a red velvet opera box.

Michelle Brasier as Kit De Luca and cast in "Pretty Woman".

Michelle Brazier, as Vivian’s hooker friend, Kit De Luca, also gets opportunity to display her well-honed comedic skills and powerful vocals in “Welcome to Hollywood”, “Luckiest Girl in the World” and “Rodeo Drive”.

Good performances abound among the busy ensemble, who each play a variety of roles and execute Mitchell’s demanding choreography with enthusiasm and pizzazz.

So how does “Pretty Woman – The Musical” compare with “Pretty Woman- The Film”?

I’ve no idea, but if the film was half as good as the musical, then it is easy to see why it is a favourite for so many.

However, with the musical, as well as a captivating story, expect upbeat songs, spectacular dances, glamorous costumes and scenery, and a cast brimming with top-flight Australian talent. It might surprise you by becoming your favourite musical.

 

The cast of "Pretty Woman".



Photos by Daniel Boud.