DAISY PULLS IT OFF – Canberra Repertory

 

Daisy (Ashleigh Butler) - Antonia Kitzel (Miss Granville) & girls.

Written by Denise Deegan – Directed by Kate Blackhurst

Designed by Annie Kay – Lighting design by Nathan Sciberras

Sound Design by Nev Pye – Stage Manager: Ann-Maree Padarin

Rep Theatre 10-26^th September 2026.

Opening night performance on 11^th September reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

The Library at Grangewood School for Girls - seated Daisy (Ashleigh Butler) - Trixie (Helen Noon)

In 1927 the staff and pupils of the exclusive Grangewood School for Girls are rocked by the arrival of its first ever scholarship pupil, the resourceful budding-adventuress, Daisy Merideth, played by Ashleigh Butler.

Daisy quickly finds a new best friend in Trixie Martin (Elaine Noon), who educates her in the secrets and traditions of Grangewood. But before she can be fully accepted into Grangewood, Daisy discovers she must overcome several challenges.

Can she outwit the diabolical machinations of the school’s arch-snob and general meanie, Sybil Burlington (Alex McPherson) and Sybil’s adoring acolyte, Monica Smithers (Kara Taylor)?

Can she discover the secret of the mysterious Russian music teacher, Mr Scoblowski (Sue Gore Phillips), or find the long-lost secret treasure of Grangewood and save the school?

Or most importantly of all, can Daisy help the school to victory in the all-important Hockey Club Final, given that she’s only learned to play hockey by reading a book?

If you know you won’t sleep until you find the answers to these pressing questions, your solution is to head to the Rep Theatre where all is revealed in its ripping production of Denise Deegan’s enticingly silly parody of the wholesome adventure stories of life in a 1920’s girl’s English boarding school.

Trixie (Helen Noon) - Claire Beaumont (Lily Welling) - Daisy (Ashleigh Butler)

This very British farce premiered in Southhampton in 1983, before moving to the Gielgud Theatre in London where it ran for 1,180 performances, following which it toured for another two years. Since then, it has become a popular choice for school productions.

Kate Blackhurst has taken her cue from this fact by staging her production as a school play introduced by the very proper headmistress, Miss Gibson (Azerie Cromhout), and performed by an all-female ensemble of 13 actors of widely varying ages who play all the roles.

In addition to those already mentioned, these include Ariana Barzinour, Alice Fitzpatrick, Rachel Howard, Antonia Kitzel, Jane O’Sullivan, Lily Welling and Jill Young.

Blackhurst keeps her cast busy with quirky stagings for key moments including Daisy’s train journey, the School Art Gallery, a cliff rescue, and the all-important hockey match, for which the cast bring with them any furniture and props necessary to indicate a sense of place on Annie Kay’s evocative but sparse static setting. All of which works a treat.

Miss Gibson (Azerie Cromhout) and the Grangewood School for Girls choir.

But despite the excellent production standards, the laugh-out-loud moments, and the witty sight gags, there appeared to be a disconnect as to the intention of the production.

In her director’s notes in the printed program, Blackhurst suggests the play has a political intent beyond its entertainment value. Yet her casting with a mixed-age cast, and her witty staging of many scenes seemed to work against that notion.

Several delightful comedic creations, especially Elaine Noon’s Trixie Martin, Antonia Kitzel’s Winnie Irving, Alex McPherson’s Sybil Burlington, and Azerie Cromhout’s very proper school mistress Miss Gibson, lean into the farcical elements of the play, as do the comic bellringer and the intentionally obvious beards for the two male characters, allowing outrageous plot twists to seem perfectly sensible.

Elsewhere, characters are played naturalistically, including Ashleigh Butler’s Daisy Meredith, setting up a stylistic confusion that flattens episodes that might have been funnier had the play been treated simply as a farce, rather than a political statement.     

 

                                                        Photos by Ross Gould

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2026

Photography Review by Brian Rope

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2026 (Various artists)

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (MRAC) - 13 August to 10 October 2026

2026 sees the 8^th Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP), although it had other names in its early years.

The winner of this year’s $30,000 prize is Troy Ruffels for a digital print on Composite Aluminium, titled Architectures of Connection, 2026. It will be acquired and join all previous MCPP winners in the Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (MRAC) permanent collection of post-war contemporary paintings, ceramic and photography.

The artist statement explains the title, telling us that “what usually escapes perception appears as a fleeting architecture of connection.” It shows us fine strands revealing patterns of movement and explores how photography can reveal delicate yet resilient connections.

Troy Ruffels - Architectures of Connection, 2026, Digital Print on Composite Aluminium, 70 × 120 × 3 cm

The adjudicators also Highly Commended Jenny Pollak for ‘A line in the sand’ and Aidan Galeger for ‘Into the Sun’. Those works, and all the other selected finalists and their accompanying artist statements can be seen in a virtual gallery here.

As always when an exhibition’s artworks are by numerous entrants, I’ll now follow my practice of discussing just a selection of other exhibits I found most interesting.

Ann Vardanega’s artwork is part of a project about domestic and family violence. In this piece, the artist has successfully explored the concept of the environment as a place of regeneration. It is excellent to have an artist responding to an incredibly important issue.

Ann Vardanega - Spirit of the Land 2, 2025, digital inkjet print on cotton rag paper, framed

David Bignell’s ‘Reflecting’ looks at a person through an apparently moving train’s window. His concept is that by showing a blurred figure amidst reflections from inside and outside the window, he is showing us something of how our memories are often what determines how we see ourselves. I related strongly to this because reflections in and through windows are a significant part of my own photography - although I have never thought about my work in the way Bignell has done. 

David Bignell - Reflecting, 2026, Inkjet print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Gloss 

Another artwork addressing a most important issue is by Julie Millowick. Its title clearly identifies the issue – plastic in waterways being ingested by marine life, thus causing the marine consumer’s death. Noting that plastic pollution has become endemic, the artist photographs plastic bags so they seem to be in waterways and so the created visual beauty hides the toxic impact.

Julie Millowick, Plastic in waterways is consumed by marine life who perceive it as algae or jellyfish_3, 2025, Digital Image, Inkjet print on 100% Cotton Rag

Lilli Waters is a Thai-Australian. Here she has explored her Thai heritage and ancestral mythology. The underwater still-life intertwines plants, flowers, and fish. The resultant meditative scene reflects Waters’ pre-occupation with the natural world in the context of her cultural memory. Essentially an autobiographical landscape, this is a most attractive visual artwork. Printing it on fibre rag adds to its beauty.

Lilli Waters - Nāga’s Lanterns โคมไฟของนาค, 2025, archival pigment print on fibre rag

Peter Charuk’s video artwork engages with a landscape where cane is grown. He has recorded a rapidly changing landscape. The outcome is an excellent contribution to discussion about the significantly important issue of climate change. It challenges us to ask ourselves what the social implications of our human use of the landscape are.

Peter Charuk – Collateral Atmospherics 28 18’ 51’’ S 153 26’ 4’’ E, 2026, single-channel video, colour, sound (stereo)

Rebecca Polonski’s ‘Un-Becoming’ addresses yet another important social issue in today’s world. The artist has done this by using negative images and excluding elements that she did not wish to show. Lichen on one side of the artwork draws our attention away from the face on the opposite side. This portrays the feelings of today’s youth that are overlooked or pushed to the fringes of our crowded world. The artist statement says that over time the cloth on which the piece is printed will weather and the youngster will gradually disappear. Of course, or young selves all do that as we age.

Rebecca Polonski – Un-Becoming, 2026, Pigmented ink on linen

The final exhibit I will mention is by Sandra Barnard. Her artist statement reveals it is a camera-less photograph made by exposing photographic paper inside an enlarger’s bellows. She has put various objects into that space and exposed them directly. In the resultant “reversed” image, the subject has become the film and the print is, in effect, the negative. The artwork references William Henry Fox Talbot's 1844 negative-positive photographic process and, specifically, that artist’s work 'Articles of Glass'

Sandra Barnard - That Might Look Good in My Enlarger II – Cruets CMYKRGB, 2025, Hand printed Chromogenic Photograph

Go see this exhibition if you can. And study the works and artist statements closely online.

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

 

 

 

DAISY PULLS IT OFF

 

Written by Denise Deegan

Directed by Kate Blackhurst

Canberra REP production at the Canberra REP Theatre, Acton to 26 September

 

 

Reviewed by Len Power 11 September 2026

 

It’s a rare play that gives 13 women, no men, a chance to play a set of colourful characters in a parody of a ‘Girls Own’ adventure in the style of the much-loved fiction of Angela Brazil, Ellinor Brent-Dyer and Enid Blyton.

 

Set in 1927 England in the elite Grangewood School for Young Ladies, Daisy Meredith, the first scholarship student, has to deal with practical jokes, snobbery and hockey while pluckily managing to solve a mystery at the same time.

 

This mystery story is performed as a play probably written by the school’s students themselves. As expected in a school play, props are minimal. The passing scenery outside a train window and the framed school portraits are particularly imaginative and amusing.

 

The characters are mostly schoolgirls with a couple of staff members, and they are played by actors of all ages. As part of the play, a couple of “male” characters turn up with false beards and moustaches to add to the fun.

Ashleigh Butler (Daisy) and Alex McPherson (Sybil)

This play is a golden opportunity for actors to play the characters encountered in this type of period fiction. Everyone has their moment and there are some outstanding performances. Ashleigh Butler as Daisy is a fine heroine filled with determination and moral courage. Alex McPherson plays Sybil Burlington, the nasty snob, with relish and the best performance in the show is Elaine Noon as the eccentric best friend, Trixie Martin. Noon shows a true understanding of the style required with her particularly uninhibited and delightful playing.

The play seemed a bit long and wordy for what it is and the pace was a bit slow at times. However, this is a funny play and a nostalgic dive back into the literature that people of a certain age grew up with.

 

Photo by Alex Unikowski

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/.

 

ARCADIAN SPRING - MUSICA DA CAMERA

 

Musica Da Camera String Orchestra

John Ma, musical director

Holy Covenant Church, Cook, September 5

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

It might not have looked like spring outside, but Musica Da Camera ensured their concert showed us the promise and glory that the season can offer.

With a thoughtful and apt collection of music works by Bach, Fischer, Scarlatti, Telemann and Vivaldi, this spring concert, directed by Early Music specialist, John Ma, was a delight for the senses.

Violinist, John Ma, gave entertaining and educational information about the chosen works and he was really in fine form with this concert. He could make anyone love baroque music.

The program commenced with Alessandro Scarlatti’s Sinfonia suite from Clori, Dorino e Amore. With harpsichordist, Ariana Odermatt, Ma led the orchestra in a spirited playing of this work with its grand opening, elegant melodies and charming rhythms.

Ariana Odermatt, harpsichordist

Ouverture Burlesque by Georg Philipp Telemann was next. Burlesque in the 18^th century saw music provoke laughter through parody or cartoonish exaggeration. The work provided musical portraits of Commedia del Arte characters such as Scaramouches, Harlequinade, Colombine and Pierrot. Ma’s colourful descriptions of these characters provided a welcome and amusing depth to the music.

John Ma with Musica Da Camera

The orchestra then played Bach’s sparkling Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor. This was a wonderfully clear and graceful playing of this timeless work. In three movements, Ma and the orchestra excelled with a particularly beautiful and sensitive playing of the central Andante. It was the highlight of the concert.

The next work, Vivaldi’s Concerto for Strings in B-flat major (Conca) was inspired by the strings mimicking the resonant blasts of a conch shell. It was a good example of the Baroque era’s spirit of experimentation and everyone clearly had fun playing it.

Johann Fischer, a German composer, was a good choice for spring with his 3^rd Suite from Le Journal du Printemps. The elegance of the French Court style blended with the contrapuntal traditions of German music and this fine work was very well played.

Telemann’s Excerpts from Die Satyn in Arcadien was the final work on the program. The introduction was rhythmic and full of atmosphere and the dances in the second half were witty, colourful and rousing. They were played with gusto and skill by Ma and the orchestra. By the end, there was definitely a feeling of spring in the air.

 

Photos by Dalice Trost

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 6 September 2026.

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/.

Len Power also presents the weekly Concert Hall program on Artsound FM, playing recordings of some of the best concerts from in and around Canberra. Concert Hall can be heard on Sundays at 8pm and is repeated on Wednesdays at 2pm.

 

 

ANIMAL FARM

By Elizabeth Brennan and James Jackson

From the novel by George Orwell

Created and Performed by Bloomshed

The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre to 5 September

Review by Len Power 3 September 2026

 

George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a fierce 1945 allegory for the Russian Revolution and satire on the Soviet Union and Leninism, proves to be an ideal vehicle for Bloomshed, a company who states that their work emerges primarily from the people who make it, not the other way around.

In Orwell’s original story, a rebellion by farm animals, who then create a self-governing farm built on equality, unravels as some animals see themselves as more equal than others.

Bloomshed sets the story in rural Australia, giving the animals a voice that sounds uncomfortably like the language of Australian labour politics. It may be your imagination, but some characters seem to be almost recognizable figures in the current political scene.

The second half of the show depicts the collapse of Animalism in a wildly satirical re-enactment of a Senate Select enquiry. While it’s broadly played and is very funny, it does feel uneasily close to the real thing.

Syd Brisbane and the company

The ensemble cast of eight - Anna Louey, Edan Goodall, Elizabeth Brennan, James Malcher, Laura Aldous, Lauren Swain, Sam Nix and Syd Brisbane – give equally fine performances full of energy and deftly defined characters. Their sense of timing of the humorous elements of the script is particularly strong.

It’s an eye-catching production with a stylish and substantial set of wood and glass. As well as the fine performances, Justin Gardam’s sound design is a major element of the production as is the clever lighting design by John Collopy.

Running just 75 minutes without an interval, this production moves at a frenzied pace, honouring Orwell’s original story but making it a recognizable take on the current Australian political scene. It’s highly amusing even though it makes you squirm.

 

Photo by Sarah Walker

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 4 September 2026.

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/.

 

  

BOMBSHELLS - Echo Theatre - The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre.

 

Written by Joanna Murray – Smith – Directed by Jordan Best

Lighting Design by Linda Buck – Set & Props designed by Jordan Best and Roz Hall

Costume Design by Jordan Best & Cast – Stage Managed by Owen Davis

Composed by Andrew Hackwill – Musical Arrangements by Leisa Keen

Choreographed by Nathan Rutup & Sally Taylor

Produced by Echo Theatre, The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre August 27^th – 29^th 2026.

Evening performance on August 29^th reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Written by Joanne Murray-Smith as a tour-de-force performance piece to showcase the talents of musical theatre star, Caroline O’Connor, “Bombshells” originally consisted of six short vignettes, focussed on the travails of six different women. O’Connor toured the piece nationally and it was filmed and broadcast on ABC television.

Later Sharon Millerchip, who had starred opposite O’Connor for a national tour of “Chicago”, repeated O’Connor’s feat by performing “Bombshells” for a season at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney.

In 2024, Jordan Best, had the idea of staging a production of “Bombshells” for her company, Echo Theatre, casting each vignette with a different actress. It worked a treat. So much so that “Arts On Tour” has picked up the production for an eleven-city NSW regional tour, of which these performances in Queanbeyan were the first.

In remounting her production for touring, Best wisely took the opportunity to omit the nightclub singer segment designed to provide the opportunity for O’Connor to exercise her remarkable vocals.

This handsomely mounted touring version has been slimmed down to five different stories, told without interval, with each story performed by a different actress. Each has her own attractive setting, and all remain on stage for the duration of the play.

Yanina Clifton as Meryl.

Yanina Clifton delivers a poignant performance in the first monologue as Meryl, a mother on the verge of 40 and a nervous breakdown. Meryl verbalises her thoughts as she sinks under her efforts to meet her own expectations of being the perfect wife and mother, while breast-feeding her infant, trying to cope with her inquisitive daughter, and worries about completing the housework and having dinner prepared before her perfect husband arrives home from work.

Her situation is almost too sad to laugh at, but Murray-Smith’s razor-sharp dialogue makes it impossible not to.

Louise Bennet as Tiggy

Louise Bennet plays Tiggy, a cacti enthusiast from the Queanbeyan East Cactus & Succulent Club. In the midst of her illustrated lecture on cacti, Tiggy is distracted by her marital problems and her comments become as sharp and spiky as her cacti as she struggles to keep her lecture on track.

Sally Taylor as Mary O'Donnell

No such problems for Mary O’Donnell, captivatingly created by Sally Taylor.  Mary is supremely confident that she will cement her position as the Liza Minnelli of St. Clare’s College with her self-devised solo Shaunessy the Mystery Cat. Just as she finishes her rehearsal, Mary learns that her arch-rival has chosen the same solo. In desperation, Mary decides to dance her solo to the music of Shaft.

Ella Buckley as Theresa

Ella Buckley plays a bride, Theresa, who is preparing for her wedding. As she dons her wedding dress, Theresa confides her joy in finally getting to wear this gown. But as her thoughts drift towards her life after the wedding, Theresa begins to panic at the realisation that she knows very little about her groom, realising that her only reason for getting engaged was to wear the wedding dress.

Lainie Hart as Winsome.

The final character is portrayed by Lainie Hart. Her name is Winsome, and she’s a well-dressed, outwardly sophisticated widow, who at 65 decides to embark on a new hobby; reading books to blind clients. When one of her clients’ requests that she read him extracts from a racy novel, Winsome discovers rather more joys to book-reading than she had an imagined.

The five actors remain on stage in their individual settings for the duration of the performance, with each monologue separated by a short oscillating lightshow which hints tantalisingly at how each character has progressed following their revelations.

Stylish and absorbing, “Bombshells” is a delightfully satisfying production notable for the depth of characterisation achieved by each of the performers, and for the careful attention paid to every aspect, especially presentation and choreography.

                                                          Photos by Ben Appleton - Photox

TOUR DATES: Queanbeyan 27-29^th August. - Cowra, Sept. 2.– Springwood, Sept 4  - Picton, Sept. 5. -Coffs Harbour, Sept 11.– Port Macquarie, Sept 12. – Dubbo, 16. -Belrose Sept18 & 19. – Griffith, Sept 23. – Albury, Sept. 25. – Bathurst, Sept. 27.

                       This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW.Link Here

BOMBSHELLS

Bombshells by Johanna Murray-Smith. Directed by Jordan Best. Echo Theatre. The Q Theatre. August 27-29.

 

Johanna Murray-Smith’s Bombshells is a series of insightful sketches reflecting the lives of a motley collection of women.

 

Jordan Best’s thoughtful production is off touring and is a tighter version than the one she directed in 2024, dropping off the last character, a singer from America doing a desperate Australian visit. This gave the show a slightly tentative finish on opening night but director and cast will find the right energy to tighten this.

 

The result is strong and often funny stuff, beginning with the pressurised monologue of a mother (Yanina Clifton) dealing with the non stop demands of a new baby and a couple of other small kids. Then comes the older woman (Louise Bennet) who is trying to sublimate her marriage breakup by taking up a new  hobby, growing cactus. The results as they show up in her presentation to what seems to be a cactus growers’ club are angry and spiky and darkly funny.

 

A bride (Ella Buckley), about to marry, talks through the romantic elements until she is left with some pretty mundane realities. The dress is not everything. A performance mad teenager (Sally Taylor) learns that not everyone plays fair as a rival in the talent quest sets out to outmanoeuvre her.

 

And a gentle widow (Lainie Hart) finds surprising fulfilment in reading to the blind…

 

Lovely perceptive stuff full of strong personalities that should appeal on tour.

 

Incidentally the lighting crew are to be congratulated for their navigation of the loss of a vital light at a crucial moment.

 

Alanna Maclean