VANYA & SONIA & MASHA & SPIKE

 

 Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike by Christopher Durang.

Directed by Steph Evans. Assistant director Gabrielle Purcell. Set design Chris Baldock. Lighting design. Rhiley Winnett and Steph Evans. Sound design Gabrielle Purcell. Costumes and Props Chris Baldock, Steph Evans and the Cast.  Photography Zac Bridgman. The Studio, Mockingbird Theatre Company. Belconnen Arts Centre, May 15-23 2026. Bookings: belcoarts.com.au

 Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Tracy Noble as Sonia. Chris Baldock as Vanya in
Christopher Durang's Vanya & Sonia & Masha &Spike

If laughter is the best medicine then Mockingbird Theatre Company’s production of Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike by Christopher Durang offers a healthy remedy. But peel back the layers of mirth and you will find Chekov’s inspiration exposed. Vulnerability, longing, futility, loss and regret are wrapped in veils of laughter. Durang has drawn on Chekov’s characters and plots to paint a portrait of the American way, framed in the circumstances of The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull. Bipolar Sonia (Tracy Noble) and gay Vanya (Christopher Baldock) live in the deceased parents’ house in Pennsylvania. They live out their empty lives after having cared for their parents throughout their later years. Their sister Masha (Helen McFarlane) is a famous actress of the silver screen, self-absorbed, wealthy and with toy boy Spike (Darcy Worthy) in tow. She has returned to the family home to attend a party at the nearby home that once belonged to the whiplash-tongued Dorothy Parker and reveal her plan to sell the family home. Audience members familiar with Chekov’s plays and characters will enjoy Durang’s references, cleverly enveloped in sitcom humour. Next door neighbor, aspiring actress Nina (played with enchanting innocence by Lily Welling) plays the heroine, a molecule in the age of global warming, in Vanya’s absurdist play along the lines of Constantin’s didactic experiment in The Seagull. India Kazakoff completes the casting as the psychic and eccentric house cleaner Cassandra, cursed like her mythical namesake with the gift of prophetic visions.

Helen McFarlane as Masha

Directed by Steph Evans, Mockingbird Theatre Company’s production of Durang’s Tony Award comedy is brilliantly cast with three of Canberra’s finest performers in the sibling roles of Sonia, Vanya and Masha and three emerging and highly promising younger actors playing the roles of Spike, Cassandra and Nina. This creates a beautifully balanced ensemble with each actor assuming an idiosyncratic identity. 

Darcy Worthy as Spike

 Noble evokes sympathy with her doleful basset hound expression. Frustration burst forth as she hurls coffee cups that shatter on the living room floor. There is the insecure and frightened telephone conversation with a prospective and unexpected suitor. Baldock gives a sterling performance as Vanya, burdened with insecurity and delivering a passionate grievance at the loss of the past. Baldock returns to the stage with a tirade at the young and arrogant Spike that affirms his place as an actor with a  commanding stage presence. McFarlane’s Masha is a mockery of the celebrated star, demanding attention and commanding authority until insecurity surfaces to confront honesty. These performances embody Chekov’s power of introspection and Durang’s gift of hilarious comedy with a sting.

Lily Welling as Nina

Welling, Worthy and Kazakoff have been ideally cast by Evans to contrast with the older characters. Welling, whom I predict could be destined for a bright future in the profession, is the perfect ingenue and capable of playing Chekov’s Nina in The Seagull. She exudes the quality of infatuation In Durang’s interpretation of the character. Worthy’s Spike is physically perfect for the role of Masha’s young lover, convinced of his sexual appeal and adolescent in his arrogance. Kazakoff’s costuming depicts the image of an East European peasant woman with the powers to predict the future. Durang has written her as a lampoonery of earnest prophets of doom. It is a role that one might assume would be played by an older woman but Kazakoff makes it her own and revels in Cassandra’s idiosyncrasy.

India Kazakoff as Cassandra

At 150 minutes with a fifteen-minute interval, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike is longer than most but it is played with such relish and authenticity that the time passes quickly, interrupted only by the audience’s laughter and engagement with Durang’s insightful comedy and the actors' enjoyable performances. Would Chekov have approved? It would most likely depend on his sense of humour. Durang’s appropriation is not Chekov but one senses a reverence for Chekov’s affectionate depiction of human nature. And with that in mind, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike is a thoroughly entertaining evening of clever action, tight direction and first-rate performances. Even this reviewer had a good laugh and left the theatre that offered two saving graces in these troubled times, hope and a happy ending.  

SPHERE

Australian Dance Party 

The Vault

Season Closed

Reviewed by Samara Purnell

Dancer Jahna Lugnan. Photo by O&J Wikner

Entering into a concrete box on a bitumen carpark to watch a production showcasing the environment, our connection to it and how we see ourselves in it was a juxtaposition in itself. Upon entering, the audience is warmly welcomed and ushered into the dark, hazy space, warmed by a fireplace. A soothing voiceover repeats that we can sit or stand wherever feels comfortable and move around as the immersive performance takes place, noticing what we are drawn to. It is ten years since the Australian Dance Party (ADP) formed and SPHERE is their anniversary dance production. 

Several scattered bench seats and rugs on the floor allowed for people to sit solo or in a group. Many did not feel the urge to move around but some of the audience keen to watch the dancers right in front of them, or to watch the video footage from different aspects did change positions a few times. The Vault allowed the opportunity to display large-scale projections on all four walls. This was just as important an element as the dancing itself and the dancers regularly watched, engaged with and mirrored the images of themselves in the settings they were portrayed in. 

Photo by Creswick

The other striking element of SPHERE was the costumes by Kelli Donovan. Her textured, elegant, beautifully detailed costumes were absolutely captivating and deserved an up-close look. From sage greens worn by a couple of the dancers in the imagery of eucalypt trees and in orange, sun-lit water, to the black, almost beetle-like costumes, to the long flowing skirts and dresses, split up the side. A splash of red and yellow flashing across the black ones called to mind the colours of cockatoo species. These costumes showcased the muscles, form and slim tone of the dancers’ arms and torsos. 

Dancers of the ADP in SPHERE. Photo by Creswick

The small group of dancers performed mostly solo or in pairs, but at one stage came together to form a group and moved as a mound, like ants or beetles, with dancer Jahna Lugnan poised on top like a lizard on a rock.  

Photo by Creswick

Co-director Sara Black and Jason Pearce danced together, with imagery of themselves stretching, climbing and working off the concrete walls under a bridge. Their duet was a stand out choreographically, with seamless partner work lifting, counter-balancing each other and rolling around each other, imitating and expanding on the footage being shown. 

Urban graffiti was the backdrop for Pat Hayes Cavanagh’s solo and the chalk circles she drew as she swept across the floor conjured up diagrams of astrology and geometry. Noting the graffiti as modern art, an expression of rebellion and urbanism could it be seen as a thing of beauty too? 

The dancers moved like museum guards - emerging quietly and moving through the scattered audience, gracefully beginning their movement, then retreating ghost-like, back into it as they finished. 

Drone imagery of the dancers on blackened earth with burnt tree trunks was stunning and called to mind the balance of controlled burns and land management, with the intensity and terror of raging bushfires, before being drawn back to the space with its enclosed fireplace, gently keeping us warm. The slow movements of the dancers in knee-deep water surrounded by eucalypt trees was beautiful. All the imagery was captured and edited magnificently by Creswick.

Sia Ahmad’s soothing composition completed the immersive experience, with all the production elements and dancers creating a beautiful, slow-paced (for the most part) meditative experience, allowing an audience to focus on an element of imagery, sound, a dancer in front of you, the costumes or to take it all in at once. 

SPHERE simultaneously presented an opportunity for the mind to wander, contemplating ancient rituals and modern ones, urban brutalism versus bushland, preservation of our country, the microcosm and the macrocosm.  

We can immerse ourselves in nature, emulate it, force ourselves upon it and wonder if we are part of nature or merely of it?

ADP director Alison Plevey always has an environmental focus in the works she creates, and they are usually site-specific. SPHERE allows viewers to bask in the beauty of our native surroundings, whilst enjoying the creativity of different forms of artistry. 

Photo by Creswick

BLAMEY SWINGS ROCK - Blamey Street Big Band - The B - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre

The Blamey Street Big Band and guest vocalists

Musical Director: Ian McLean AM CSC

Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. At The B, May 16^th. 

Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

The Blamey Street Big Band.

Featuring a line-up of the cream of Canberra’s jazz musicians and now based in the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, Blamey Street Big Band continues to build a formidable following for its classy performances of classic swing band music. 

The band’s point of difference is that rather than confining itself to classic big band repertoire, Blamey Street specialises in re-inventing popular music genres by applying a swing beat.

Its ace is that within its number is master music arranger, Andrew Hackwill, who exercises his considerable skills by providing the band with testing, if fascinating, musical subversions of familiar hit songs.

Conductor Ian McLean addressing the audience

No doubt superfluous to mention, but under the fastidious baton of Ian McLean, a former Director of Music for the Australian Army, the performance of every arrangement was tight, disciplined and exciting.

But then so was the presentation of the concert. For this concert, black ties all round for the male musicians and vocalists, tasteful black for the female musicians, with the two female vocalists resplendent in sparkling sequins, all augmented with moody theatrical mood lighting to provide a professional gloss.

For this concert Blamey Street featured four excellent guest vocalists in Leisa Keen, Jared Newall, Steve Amosa and Ashleigh Harris, each an experienced vocalist and all obviously relishing a unique opportunity to perform with this polished outfit.  

Vocalists Leisa Keen - Jared Newall - Steve Amosa - Ashleigh Harris in full flight. 

Jared Newall had the privilege of opening the show with a driving arrangement by Ed Wilson of the John Paul Young classic Love is in the Air. Now residing in Canberra, Newall has previously toured internationally with The Ten Tenors. His experience was evident in his easy, relaxed vocal styling.

In addition to vocalising each of the singers provided a fun fact about the item they were about to present. Newall’s shared a little-known fact regarding the composition of Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger before adding a touch of Sinatra to his masterful interpretation.

He then launched into the first Hackwill arrangement of the program, a jaunty version of Joe Jackson’s Stepping Out.

Ashleigh Harris has sung with Blamey Street for both its ABBA and James Bond programs. She demonstrated her versatility with three Hackwill arrangements commencing with an upbeat version of The Little River Band’s Reminiscing. A playful introduction heralded Lionel Ritchie’s Hello, rounded out with a fascinating swing arrangement of The Rolling stones hit, Paint It Black.

Andrew Hackwill takes a solo

In devising his arrangements Hackwill makes opportunities to feature solos by particularly gifted instrumental soloists from within the band. Among them Mark Du Rieu and Peter Levan on trumpets, trombonist, Bronwen Mackenzie, saxophonists Andrew Hackwill and Joshua Hackwill and guitarist, Col Bernau.  

On each occasion the audience recognised their contributions with appreciative applause as the items progressed.

Making his first appearance with Blamey Street was Steve Amosa, well known in Canberra with his own bands TuchaSoul and the Steve Amosa Band. Amosa demonstrated his versatility introducing himself with Nirvana’s grunge rock classic, Smells Like Teen Spirit, followed by a smooth version of Spandau Ballet’s True. He rounded out his set with another Hackwill re-invention, Sherbert’s Howzat.

Later in the program Amosa returned to further delight the audience further with his smooth, laid-back performances of Hackwill’s arrangement of Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life and Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Leisa Keen could best be described as a staple of the Blamey Street Band. One of Canberra’s most versatile and accomplished singer/musicians, her superb vocalisations have long been a highlight of the band’s concerts. “Blamey Swings Rock” was no exception.

She commenced her first set with a stunning rendition of Elton John’s Bennie And The Jets, followed by Pink Floyd’s Money and rounded out with red hot version of Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke in which she demonstrated her impressive mastery of vocal scatting.

But it was in the second half that she really pulled out the stops with an up-tempo version of the Steve Miller Band’s Abracadabra, Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind, and Hackwill’s sublime arrangement of George Harrison’s Something.

If you’re still reading this, you will have gathered that Blamey Street take a very broad definition of rock, and the way they play it is likely to convert a whole new generation to the genre. 

If you haven’t yet experienced this remarkable ensemble, you can catch it again at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre in October when it turns its attention to the music of The Rat Pack for which it will add strings to the musical mix.  

                                                Photos by Stephen McGrory  

This is an extended version of the review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS 

                                                            on 17th May 2026  

    

TINSELTOWN - The Burton Brothers - Tuggeranong Arts Centre

Tom and Josh Burton in "Tinseltown" 

Presented by The Tuggeranong Arts Centre - 15th May, 2026

Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Real life brothers, Tom and Josh Burton emerged from the Melbourne comedy scene. They quickly attracted attention with their unique brand of sketch comedy, which saw them nominated for best comedy at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

But it was the success of their brilliantly written and performed shows at the 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe that really made audiences sit up and take notice.

For their first appearance at The Tuggeranong Arts Centre, they performed their latest show, Tinseltown, a ferociously funny, high-energy romp through the glitz, grit and absurdity of the Hollywood you thought you knew.

 With the aid of little more than two small boxes for props, and a couple of willing volunteers drafted from the audience, the brothers somehow managed to capture the glamorous spirit of Hollywood’s golden era with their series of quick-fire sketches featuring a gaggle of absurd, instantly recognisable characters in a convincing demonstrations of their mastery of the art of sketch comedy.

Particularly memorable among those characters was the ambitious young director trying to convince the 89-year-old ingénue to star in his forthcoming film. She keeps harking back to her heyday.  Her only starring film was “King Kong”. Their recreation of the entire “King Kong” film is a miracle of ingenuity and hilariously funny.

Tom and Josh Burton in "Tinseltown"

But then there’s the guy in the neon-green suit hustling tourists for photos on Hollywood Boulevard, the award acceptance speeches, the potted movie parodies and of course, even the Colombia Pictures logo.

On the surface it feels chaotic, wild characters, quick fire banter, and moments when you think they’re making it up on the spot, but beneath the playful veneer lies razor-sharp timing, a meticulously crafted structure and a knack of knowing exactly when to push the joke and when to pull back.

The show whisks the audience from red carpet glamour to behind-the-scenes meltdowns, skewering celebrity culture with affectionate satire rather than mean-spirited jabs. Their characters feel both hilariously exaggerated and oddly familiar, like you’ve met them at a party you wish you’d left earlier.

What makes Tinseltown shine is the brothers’ ability to make the audience feel like co-conspirators in the madness. This slick, smart, joyfully unhinged love letter to showbiz is as much about the joy of performance as it is about lampooning Hollywood excess.

  

                                                            Photos supplied.

                             This review first posted in CITY NEWS on 16th May 2026.

BEYOND

Exhibition Review: Visual Arts | Brian Rope

BEYOND: An art tonic, making sense of this discombobulating time by Kati Gorgenyi, Toni Hassan, John Pratt, and Ujala Aftab

Chapel Gallery, Charles Sturt University | 7 – 23 May 2026

We read, hear and view true, distorted, opionated and fake news stories every day. We struggle to make sense of so much that reaches us via newspapers, radios, TV broadcasts, the diverse accounts on all the different social media platforms, and even in the views of family and friends. Are you distressed by the state of our world and the assault of saturating, doomsday news?

The four artists in this exhibition, Kati Gorgenyi, Toni Hassan, John Pratt, and Ujala Aftab, each grappled with what it meant for them to be living in the information age and to be perplexed by the speed of environmental and political change. They used diverse materials to address the complex issues.

Their joint project was conceived in 2024 with shared questions: 'How do we sit with what we are seeing and hearing?’ and ‘How might we move beyond grief?’’ Newspapers became a common material for them - referencing news and the notion of global legacy. The four artists found comfort in talking about ‘The News’ together and about different processes they were exploring and adopting. At that time, all four were Canberra-based. Hassan has since relocated to Adelaide but continued producing works for the show - and has taken a leading role pulling it all together.

 

John Pratt says that, for him, “overwhelmed is too strong a word, but we come into contact continuously with ‘The News’ as a field, pulled into a mode of distress. If you're empathetic to some of the things that are happening, it’s hard to contend with or accommodate.” His work seeks to juxtapose natural elements, digital codes and media as a way of exploring the impact of technology on the way we understand our place in the world.

 

Pratt has contributed woodcut and collage pieces.

John Pratt - Passage, woodcut and collage work, 2025.

Kati Gorgenyi says she found herself in long periods of avoidance, when she just could not bear seeing and hearing about the state of the world, destruction from all directions and the way people in power present themselves, and how the media reports. She then began playing with newspapers - altering the material, making sculptures, and painting with an encaustic medium. She recycled, reformed and reshaped the material seeking to create an alternative environment.

Gorgenyi’s contributions are wax, pigment and newspaper pieces plus an installation of pots, newspapers and bamboo constructions. Seeing a small and peaceful part the outside world through the window behind her installation was somehow incongruous.

Kati Gorgenyi - Beyond 3 – wax, pigment, newspaper, 2026

(installation shot – Brian Rope)

Kati Gorgenyi - Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow

- Installation: Pots, newspaper, bamboo, glue, 2026

Kati Gorgenyi - Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

(installation shot showing outside world behind – Brian Rope) 

Ujala Aftab is a watercolour and textile artist who has been working with pattern and repetition, embroidering on transfer prints of newspapers. On her Instagram account, she describes her artwork very simply as Experimental Embroidery Art.

Aftab is showing four mixed media pieces.

Ujala Aftab - Detail of Weariness – Mixed media: embroidery on canvas with acrylic and ink, 2024. 

Toni Hassan also speaks about the news. “It enters us, the drama, the conflict. It can change us, as stories do. I have, for some years, been thinking about ways to express the impacts and how art can help me make sense of human history over time. I wanted to go beyond doomsday narratives, to something perhaps richer. I’d also become increasingly intentional about reducing my news consumption, after being a journalist and opinion writer for many years. Drawing became an accessible way to make sense of things, begin to frame history and my place in it, and also meditate on the themes that surfaced. Rocks became a motif for the heaviness of the world and ancientness.”

Hassan contributes a range of coloured pencil on paper artworks. They are complex and need thorough exploration to maximise the impact each has on us, just as the barrage of news and commentary from both traditional and social media that surrounds us every day also impacts us.

Toni Hassan – The grief and sense of loss that I often attribute to a failure in my personality is actually a feeling of emptiness, where a beautiful and strange otherness should be encountered / A short history of alienation, pencil on paper, 2024

Top: Too much to chew (information without integration frustrates wisdom) – pencil on paper, 2026

Bottom: The woman who ate too much news – pencil on paper, 2026

(Installation shot by Brian Rope of two works by Toni Hassan)

This is an exhibition well worth visiting to thoroughly explore the messages conveyed.

This review is also available on the author's blog.

Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike

 

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang (USA).  Mockingbird Theatre Company at Belconnen Arts Centre, May 13-23 2026.  140 mins including 15 mins interval.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
May 15

Setting: Bucks County, Pennsylvania USA.  The year is 2013.

Cast:

Vanya – Chris Baldock; Sonia – Tracy Noble; Masha – Helen McFarlane
Spike – Darcy Worthy; Nina – Lily Welling: Cassandra – India Kazakoff

Production Team:
Director – Steph Evans; Asst Director – Gabrielle Purcell
Stage Manager – Gabrielle Purcell & Steph Evans
Set Design and Realisation – Chris Baldock, with Steph Evans and Gabrielle Purcell
Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Steph Evans
Sound Design – Gabrielle Purcell
Costumes & Props – Chris Baldock, Steph Evans and Cast
Intimacy Director – Steph Evans
Photography – Zac Bridgman

Mockingbird’s presentation of this 21st Century highly American vision of how Anton Chekov’s late 19th Century Russian characters can make us laugh – and worry about the future – now as then, is like drinking a whole bottle of sparkling wine – superficially bubbly to start with, and a satisfying vintage by the end.

This success is because Chris Baldock has the imagination, the taste, and takes every care as the best winemakers do, working with a small, remarkably well-blended team to make sure every little detail is exactly right – from the Pennsylvania accents, to the extraordinary facial expressions by one who is speaking and everyone else in response, to the choreography, and the instant changes of attitudes and emotions.

This makes top-class comedy from Baldock himself as Vanya, the family elder (since their parents have ‘passed’); trying to live peacefully with his adopted sister Sonia, seeking more in life than just housekeeping; in massive contrast with his true sister Masha, actress in the extreme.  

Not only does Masha turn the household topsy-turvy by bringing in the amazingly beautiful sexy young man Spike, who then brings in the equally beautiful sexy young woman Nina; but it is Masha who owns the house and pays for her siblings’ living costs, since her acting roles provided the money – until now as she is growing old, but doesn’t want to face playing grandmother in the next movie.

Then, taking us way back referentially from Chekov to ancient Greek theatre (is it Sophocles?) the weekly house-cleaner is Cassandra, who predicts the future but is not treated well by the Gods.  The role is farcical, and just what is needed to make ‘normal’ life impossible – and awfully funny.

The style of acting all this is very much over-the-top, as you may imagine.  You have to see the show to see it done – and everyone of these actors are at the professional standard the play requires.

Even to the point in the final scene when they achieve the seriousness of the absurdity of our lives to open our eyes.  We may still be laughing while we applaud such great acting.  Only afterwards we may start worrying about our own futures in post-2020s.  It’s a great vintage at the end of the bottle; but we have to think about the effects of drinking so much all at once.

Another imbibement from Mockingbird not to be missed.

 

 

 

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

 

Written by Christopher Durang

Directed by Steph Evans

Mockingbird Theatrics

Belconnen Arts Centre to 23 May

 

 

Reviewed by Len Power 15 May 2026

 

When playwright Christopher Durang decides to have some fun with the characters and themes of Anton Chekhov, his play, ‘Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike’, is the result. It’s wildly and outrageously funny but underneath all the exaggeration and absurdity, real characters emerge with their pains, hopes and disappointments of life. You don’t need to know anything about Chekhov’s plays to enjoy this, but it adds extra depth if you do.

It’s 2013 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Gay brother and adopted sister, Vanya and Sonia, live in a country house with a small orchard. They feel that life has passed them by. Their sister, Masha, a famous, ageing, yet troubled movie star, who owns the house, arrives with her young and handsome boyfriend, Spike. When Masha announces she wants to sell the house, Vanya and Sonia are plunged into turmoil about their future.  Spike begins to show interest in a pretty young neighbour and aspiring actress, Nina, upsetting Masha, and the housekeeper, Cassandra, adds to the drama with her dire warnings and prophesies of disaster.

Tracy Noble (Sonia), Helen McFarlane (Masha) and Chris Baldock (Vanya)

The cast of six – Chris Baldock (Vanya), Tracy Noble (Sonia), Helen McFarlane (Masha), Darcy Worthy (Spike), Lily Welling (Nina) and India Kazakoff (Cassandra) – give their characters real life while playing the humour for all its worth. There are many delicious moments to enjoy including the characters’ monologues, an awful play reading and a voodoo doll sequence. The actors all display excellent comic timing and maintain a frantic pace throughout.

Director, Steph Evans, has obtained a fine balance between the truth in the characters and the frenzied humour. It might all be crazy fun but the humour is grounded with a logic and truth, nicely realized by the director and the cast.

With a running time of 150 minutes, including interval, the play did seem a bit overlong, but, overall, this is a very funny play expertly done.

 

Photos by Zac Bridgman

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/.