RE-SHAPING IDENTITY ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

 

Reshaping Identity  GuoGuoHuiHui  

Choreography Guo Rui Dancers Chen Yijie, Wang Huaili, Wu Hui, Gunika Aniwa, Guo Rui Producer/Tour Manager Ning-dan Zhu Costumes Wu Hui Music Assistant Simon Bishop Lighting Designer and Technician Shee Hoe Low Sound Technician Qingge Wen Stage Manager Shiny Yu Trailer Shuangqi Images Shenzhen Fringe Festival. The Space. AdelaideFestival Centre. Adelaide Festival   Sat 28 February - Monday 2  March Note: Performed in Mandarin with English surtitles

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins  

 

Five dancers stand as living sculptures in the space. Each is distinctive in their costume and still pose. The shoulders jerk slightly and the body responds limb by limb, muscle by muscle until the entire body is in motion to a percussive sound track. Each dancer is rooted to the spot, each part of the body in a singular expression of the body’s impulsive response to the music. They are connected to the earth, each part of the body moving through the air until the rhythm builds, the dance courses through the movements. Each dancer reveals their singular movement through the upper body and the arms and to the trunk still rooted to the ground. Each gesture of the individual dance pattern is mesmerizing, unique and charismatic. Glimpses of traditional dance are captured in the gesture of the arms, the positioning of the hips, the rapid movement of the hands and the fixed feature of the face. It is recognizable and yet different as though the past is being channeled through the new language of contemporary dance.

The music changes and the dancers are released from their position, embracing the space and yet retaining the singular identity of each dancer’s movements until they blend into the unison of movement, circular and fusing individuality into a hypnotic expression of unified dance. The dance is mesmerizing, and celebratory of each dancer’s sense of joy. There is a freedom even in the unification of their movement. The rhythm to the music is liberating. Glimpses of folk dancing are captured in a moment and a movement and yet it is instantly modern, re-invented and re-shaped. Even in unison there is an individuality to each dancer’s movement. And in an instant the each dancer peels off from the circle to leave a solitary dancer on the stage.

The five dancers of GuoGuoHuiHui come from the different ethnic backgrounds of Tibet Yao,Uyghur and Han. Choreographer  Guo Rui explains to the audience how his vision was to incorporate the traditions of the past into a new contemporary style of dance that would reshape both past traditions and the identity of the dance, using dancers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Each dancer has a story to tell of their past life, the influences which have shaped who they are and their embrace of a new dance form. Chen Yijie begins the story of her journey as the other dancers enter and create a moving accompaniment to her narration. Translation from the Mandarin appears on the curtain at the rear of the stage. Between each dancer’s story there is a subtle choreographic movement of the group. Each individual merges into the group in a symphony of story and dance. Wang Huaili, Wu Hui and Gunika Aniwa all relate the very different backgrounds and life experiences but the dance is a celebration of new life, mercurial and dynamic.

As the stories come to an end Guo Rui incites a ritualist call that stirs the tempo of the dance. Accompanied by a furious percussive beat and costumed in Wu Hui’s fluorescent design the tempo of the dance builds to a ritualistic tribal movement accompanied by Guo Rui’s vocal incantation. It is primeval, Dionysian. The sculptural patterns of earlier slow movements are abandoned to the frenzied chants that build as a cathartic dance. Tradition has informed a new dance, a contemporary image of a re-shaped identity. I am left wondering whether this final dance of abandonment is a sacrifice of the unique identity that entranced me in the opening movements of the show.

However one may interpret the closing group ritual, Guo Guo Hui Hui offers an exciting insight into a new vision of contemporary dance in China. The identity of folk traditions becomes a powerful tool for the creation of a new dance style that does not abandon the past,  but reshapes it to evoke a different view of the world and one’s place within it. This beautifully staged example of the emerging new wave of contemporary dance in China surprises and delights. The choreography is mesmerizing, the dancers highly disciplined and skilled and I leave the Space Theatre buoyed up by the company’s optimism and hope. It is unfortunate that this Adelaide Festival exclusive will not be seen by other audiences. One can only hope that this young and dynamic company will return. If they do, don’t miss the opportunity to see their work.

Photos by Andrew Beveridge

MAMA DOES DERBY ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

 m

Mama Does Derby co creators Clare Watson and Virginia Gay
Photo by Claudio Rascella

Mama Does Derby 

Co creator and director Clare Watson Co creator and writer. Virginia Gay. Story consultant Ivy Miller. Designer Jonathan Oxlade. Lighting designer Lucy Birkinshaw. Music director, Guitar and Vocals Joe Paradise Lui. Luke Smiles Sound designer. Cast: Amber McMahon Mama/Maxine. Elvy-Lee Quinci – Billie. Aud Mason-Hyde – Hux. Annabel Matheson Drew “The Wombat” and Therapist Agatha. Antoine Jelk Voice of Nathan, Neil and Drums. Benjamin Hancock-Nathan. Dylan Miller-Dave and Neil. Calliope Jackson-Bass. Katya Spitsyna- Drums. Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Adelaide Festival. February 28-March 8 2026.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Amber McMahon as Maxine. Elvy-Lee Quici as Billie in
Mama Does Derby.  Photo by Tony Lewis

Over the years Windmill Theatre has gained a well-deserved reputation as a producer of quality theatre for Children and Youth. Co creators Clare Watson and the effervescent Virginia Gay’s inspiration to collaborate with the Adelaide Roller Derby skaters to create the ambitious and fast paced Mama Does Derby for this year’s Adelaide Festival is a stroke of theatrical imagination. The roller derby acts as a  metaphor for the rough and tumble of life’s challenges and the determination to keep on getting up when you’re down.

Sixteen year old Billie (Elvy Lee Quinci) and her young mother Maxine (Amber Mc Mahon) have moved to an isolated rural community to escape the stresses and trauma of the city. It is just the two of them and they find it difficult to fit in. Billie’s adoration of artist Frida Kahlo is misunderstood and her art work in her exercise books is regarded as meaningless doodles. Billie takes out her frustration by doodling on school property. This results in her referral to a therapist (Annabel Matheson) to attempt to cure her of her vandalism. Maxine is also trying to fit in to the new situation. She seeks companionship in the company of slow-witted Dave (Dylan Miller), while Billie finds a new friend in free spirited Hux (Aud Mason-Hyde). To assist Billie to gain independence Maxine enrols her in driving lessons with despondent Neil (Dylan Miller and Antoine Jelk).  In order to engage with the community Billie suggests that her mother join the local roller derby club, managed by Drew “The Wombat” (Annabel Matheson) who persuades Maxine to enter the grand final contest.  

Alone in her room, Billie recalls the trauma of earlier domestic violence and conjures up in her mind a nightmarish black figure played by a balletic Benjamin Hancock. It is not until Billie names The figment of her fear Nathan that she is able to resolve her trauma and confront her fears with Hux’s help at a Halloween party. Maxine is persuaded to take part in the roller derby grand final and Billie and her mother find the strength to face their fears, resolve their differences, respect their needs and learn to value their life in their new community.

Mama Does Derby is slickly staged theatre in education. The writing is purposeful and direct without being simplistic or too sophisticated. Its target audience is young people facing the crises of identity, physical change, peer pressure and parental control. Billie’s fears are manifest in the nightmarish imaginings, which she is able to control once she is aware that she has learned to live with her fears that will not go away.  Both Billie and her mother have embarked on a  journey of self discovery and at times the roles of mother and daughter seems\ interchangeable. Watson and Gay’s writing balances the octane powered excitement of the rollerderby skating with the more serious introspection of dealing with trauma and anxiety.  Any young teenage audience member is likely to identify with Billie’s plight. Any single parent coping with a teenage daughter while searching for affirmation of oneself will understand Maxione’s dilemma.

Mama Does Derby is a lesson in survival and resilience. The introduction of roller derby skaters infuses the production with exuberant energy and an ingenious way of changing sets and keeping the action moving.  At times the skaters tear around the space to the live rock music of the band under the  musical direction of Joe Paradise Lui. They rollerskate the furniture around the set as well as rollerskating around Jonathan Oxlade’s clevery designed set during the musical interludes between scenes. The rough and tumble is more sedately choreographed than one would expect in a real derby but this is theatre and dramatic action evokes the mood rather than the thrill and danger of the sport. Nonetheless it gives the theatre experience an originality and an energy that holds the audience transfixed.  

Windmill’s production is entertaining.  The actors are well cast. Only Quici and to a lesser extent McMahon are afforded an emotional complexity that offers more depth to the portrayal of the character in trauma. Quici is utterly engaging and thoroughly believable as a young teenage girl attempting to chart life’s challenges and overcome personal insecurities. McMahon captures the struggle that comes with early motherhood. The bond between Billie and Maxine remains strong and we remain confident that both mother and daughter will survive and succeed.  In the Entertainment Centre the play could have been edited, but I could be responding to the discomfort of the freezing air conditioning. The play is written for young audiences and deserved a larger audience of young people than at the performance I attended. “That was fun” an older audience member said as she left the theatre. She is right. But Mama Does Derby also has a serious message to convey. The most shattering line in the script is uttered by McMahon when she cries out at Billie “I have been held hostage too long to your mental health.”  Windmill’s production is a lot of sit back and enjoy fun, but I left the theatre thinking that there is still work to be done to fulfil the play’s potential to have a more profound impact.

 

HISTORY OF VIOLENCE ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

 

 

History of Violence. Based on Histoire de la violence by Edouard Louis. 

Directed by Thomas Ostermeier.  Director Thomas Ostermeier. Collaboration Director David Stoehr. Set and costume design. Nina Wetzel. Composer Nils Ostendorf. Video Sebastian Dupouey. Dramaturg Florian Borchmeyer. Lighting designer. Michael Wetzel. Collaboration choreography Johanna Lemke. Coproduction with Theatre de la Ville ParisTheatre National Wallonie-Bruxelle and St Ann’s Warehouse Brooklyn. The Dunstan Playhouse. Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival. February 7 – March 2 2026.

Cast: Christoph Gawenda. Laurenz Lufenberg. Renato Schuch. Alina Stiegler. Thomas Witte (Musician)

 Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Laurenz Lufenberg as the policeman. Christoph Gawenda as Edouard. 

Renato Schuch as Reda in Histoire de la violence  

Audiences who remember Thomas Ostermeier’s politically charged production of Who Killed My Father (Qui a tue mon pere?) at the 2024 Adelaide Festival may have some idea of what to expect from his production based on Edouard Louis’s autobiographical novel Histoire de la violence. In the tradition of Shaubuhne Berlin Histoire de la violence is a shocking and compelling account of the brutal sexual assault of Louis by a stranger he met while returning home to his Paris apartment on Christmas Eve. What unfolds are a series of reenactments of the events from the flirtation on the street to the invitation to Edouard’s apartment, sex between them and a violent outburst when Edouard accuses the Algerian Reda of robbery.

Christoph Gawenda and Alina Stiegler as Clara in Histoire de la violence

Ostermeir is forensically clinical in his exploration of the themes of violence and identity. His is a bare bones investigation of the incident in an attempt to reach the truth. The play opens with Edouard Louis (Christoph Gawenda) seated at the back of the stage as a team of forensic investigators enter to mark out the scene for evidence and fingerprints. On the screen at the rear a video of a naked man writhes on the floor. Edouard moves forward to a microphone and a raw and urgent retelling of the experience bursts forth, urgent, breathless and echoing with terror. Percussionist Thomas Witte accompanies the tense recounting of the horror of the scene. 

Edouard Gawenda and Renato Schuch as Reda in Histoire de la violence

The account is gripping, forecasting the violence that is about to erupt as Reda (Renato Schuch} twists the scarf about Edouard’s throat in an act of fury. And yet there are no clear answers to the conundrum. How does one explain the blood that is on the bed and the floor? Has Reda carried out his threat of murder? Does he strangle Edouard or does he shoot him) Or neither? We are left with a veil of ambiguity which clouds reality. Is Eduard’s account to his sister Clara (Alina Stiegler) an accurate retelling of the sequence of events? Is Clara’s retelling to her husband (Laurenz Lufenberg) a distortion? The characters become witnesses to the event and incidentally interpreters of truth. Clara’s view of the story is informed by her attitude towards her homosexual brother. The police are dictated to by procedure and prejudice towards North Africans. Cara and Eduoard are influenced by the depressed mother, forced to work in a menial and punishing job. Reda finds justification in the criminal past of his father and grandfather. The doctor’s disinterest is expressed in her disregard for Edouard’s condition as she finishes her hand of solitaire. The truth changes as each character creates their own reality. 

Renato Schuch as Reda in Histoire de la violence

Ostermeier is the master of alienation or what Brecht termed das Verfremdungseffekt. The direction is sharply anatomical and analytical.  The characters speak through microphones at times to tell their account or heighten the drama of the moment. Video is used to embellish the visceral effect of the sexual intimacy and the escalating violence. At times the actors break into a dance routine as a mockery of the seriousness of the situation. There is comical pathos in the caricature of the mother or the indifference of Clara’s boring husband. In Ostermeier’s production the history of any violence is a complex account of many truths,  depending on the character and motives of the teller. It is what gives this production power. There is not a murmer in the audience, gripped by the complexity of their own perspective. What is the truth and how can we change it? We are left with the force of our imagination to alter reality which is what Edouard does whether speaking to his sister, the police or the hospital staff or the audience.

 Ostermeier’s cast is superb. Gawenda and Schuch play Louis and Reda while the other actors change roles,  each creating a totally different and believable character. Ostermeier directs his outstanding ensemble with precision in a production that is at times suspenseful, searingly tense, humourous and intellectually demanding. Ostermeier and his Shaubuhne Berlin company once again confirm their place as theatre provocateurs. History of Violence is the kind of theatre that merits its place as a highlight of this year’s Adelaide Festival. Audiences will remain intrigued and provoked by the work long after they have left this extraordinary work.

Photos by Arno Declair 

  

BEDROOM FARCE

Written by Alan Ayckbourn

Directed by Aarne Neeme

Canberra Repertory

Canberra Rep Theatre Feb 19 - March 7

 

Reviewed by Alanna Maclean

 

Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce is old now, having all the marks of the 1970s about it as the older generation wrestle with hippies and the new age ideas of the young and everyone wrestles with old fashioned fixed phones. But in the expertly sensitive hands of director Aarne Neeme and a strong cast it still has quite a bit to say about marriage and relationships.

There’s three bedrooms onstage and the action swaps backwards and forwards among them. Firstly, there’s older couple, Delia (Sally Rynveld) and Ernest (Pat Gallagher), set in their ways, observing little domestic rituals, the parents of Trevor (James Grudnoff), an awfully immature hippy of a son who is paired with the very highly strung Susannah (Lara Connolly).

Malcolm (Lachlan Abrahams) and Kate (Antonia Kitzel) are a younger and more good-humoured pair but Malcolm’s doggedly unsuccessful approach to furniture building may be the big upset.

And the patience of Jan (Azerie Cromhout) is tensely coping with a bed bound Nick (Rob de Fries) because of his injured back. That’s a nice device for an actor and de Fries takes full advantage of the opportunities for comedy.

There are only three bedrooms on stage but four couples and it is Trevor and Susannah who provide much of the action in their self-absorbed wanderings between the three. These two take over each bedroom with their problems regardless of any sense of tact.

It’s a play that calls for (and receives) skilled teamwork as the action switches back and forth between those bedrooms, subtly differentiated by Andrew Kay’s straightforward set.

Ayckbourn’s plays are deceptive in that they seem on the surface to be just domestic comedy, but they always contain a character or two who is so disturbingly insensitive that you could shake them. Here it would be Trevor and Susannah, always invading others’ space, never noticing the effect they have on others.

Funny but with an edge of bleakness, this production is a reminder of the niggling power of a playwright who knows what he is doing.

A good night out with Ayckbourn and Canberra Rep and Aarne Neeme.

 

 

NEVER CLOSER

Written by Grace Chapple

Directed by Lachlan Houen.

Off the Ledge Theatre

Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre. February 19-28.

 

Reviewed by Alanna Maclean

 

Never Closer is a tightly written play set in Ireland.  At the beginning the Troubles are in full swing but the young Catholic characters are also concentrating on living life. Life moves on and they reunite but now one is partnered with an Englishman and tensions and violence arise. There’s an ending of sorts some years later that involves migration and return.

There’s strong playing all round, with Emily O’Mahoney setting the pace as the fierce Deirdre who stays in the family home while others move away.  Breanna Kelly as Mary is properly forthright as the young woman who calls a spade a spade. Natasha Lyall has a lovely knowing dignity as the one who comes back with an English partner. This is the wonderfully out of his cultural depth Harry who is deftly caught by Pippin Carroll. 

Joel Hrbek’s playing of the perceptive Jimmy is an insightful contrast to Conor (a disturbing portrayal by Nick Bisa), a young man who seems to have absorbed all of the devastating local history with an eye to continuing it.

Set and lighting have some good atmospheric moments and there’s a poetic transformation done by the cast late in the piece which makes one wonder why an earlier set dressing change is not done in the same way.

The ending feels oddly underdeveloped but there’s a power in the people and a great feeling for dialogue. There’s real strength in the interaction between the characters and the use of the history. And the playing is of a very high order. It was well worth a visit to the Courtyard to see this cast at work on what is a powerful recent piece of Australian writing.

 

STRAVINSKY, SCHUBERT AND BEETHOVEN - MASTERPIECES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

 

Jimmy Park, violin

Alexander Yau, piano

Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, February 28

 

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Showcasing masterpieces that embody the notion of a duo proved to be a very good idea for this pair of musicians, one on piano and the other on violin. They showed beyond doubt that they can play as one with three distinctive works by Stravinsky, Schubert and Beethoven.

Returning home for this special performance, Jimmy Park (violin) is currently undertaking post-master’s studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Alexander Yau, a Juilliard School graduate, is currently Associate Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

They commenced their program with Igor Stravinsky’s Divertimento, originally written for the ballet in 1928 and arranged for violin and piano in 1932. This work is colourful, rhythmic and playful with an underlying tension. Yau and Park gave it a fine performance, clearly bringing out all the distinct characteristics of Stravinsky’s work.

The next item was Franz Schubert’s 1826 Rondo in B minor. This work is both highly energetic as well as lyrical, challenging players both technically and interpretively. Their performance was exciting and well-controlled throughout.

Jimmy Park, violin and Alexander Yau, piano

The final work of the program was Ludwig van Beethoven’s 1803 Sonata No. 9 in A – the Kreuzer.  This major work in three movements has a reputation for technical difficulty in performance, requiring the ability to achieve a wide range of emotion in the music. The performers met that challenge superbly, especially with their electrifying playing of the exuberant third movement.

These works may have tested the performers, but both appeared relaxed and you could sense that they were thoroughly enjoying playing together.

To end this concert of highly emotional music, the performers gave a calming encore of the sweetly romantic Liebeslied by Fritz Kreisler.

 

Photos by Dalice Trost

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 1 March 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/.

 

The Taming of the Shrew

 

 The Taming of the Shrew adapted from William Shakespeare’s play.  Lakespeare, Canberra, February 17 to March 1, 2026. Locations: Various parks and venues across the Canberra region, including Belconnen Arts Centre, Verity Lane, Pialligo Estate, Tuggeranong Town Park, Patrick White Lawns, Glebe Park, and Haig Park.
Saturday 28 February, FREE, Haig Park
Sunday 1 March, Pialligo Estate (two shows - lunch and dinner)

Reviewed by Frank McKone
February 27 at Belconnen Arts Centre

Cast
Petruchia: Ylaria Rogers        Christopher (Kit): Michael Cooper
Lucentia: Shontae Wright    Bianco: Alastair James McKenzie
Trania: Anneka van der Velde    Grumia: Yanina Clifton
Gremia: Alice Ferguson        Baptista:Giuliana Baggoley
Biondello: Blue Hyslop        Hortensia: Claire Noack
Vincentia: Jill Young

Creatives
Director: Karen Vickery
Voice and Performance Coach: Sarah Chalmers
Costumes: Helen Wojtas        Milliner: Rachael Henson
Sound design/composer: Paris Scharkie
Jig choreography: Ylaria Rogers
Stage Manager: Disa Swifte




Lakespeare’s reinterpretation of The Taming of the Shrew turns Shakespeare on his head.  I’ve not laughed so much in many years.

I have long had doubts about The Taming of the Shrew.  In a time – in 1590 – when women were not allowed to perform in plays and women characters were played by dressed-up men, what was Will Shakespeare’s intention?  Who laughed as Petruchio starved his wife into submission?

And who got the joke as the man playing Katharina, the shrew, told women “Fie, fie! Unknit that threatening unkind brow, and dart not scornful glances from those eyes, to wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor!”

I imagine, in Shakespeare’s audience, the men laughing along with their friend acting the role, but I wonder what women – including Queen Elizabeth herself – really thought.  Could Katharina seriously be in love with Petruchio, a kind of male shrew, so they make a match?  Should I, in modern times, laugh along to the very end, or see Kate’s final speech as a serious invocation of women’s liberation – which I support? 

By turning the boys’ parts into girls – Petruchio to Petruchia – played by powerful women, and the girls’ parts into boys – Katharina (Kate) to Christopher (Kit) – played by weak men, and acting as much towards us, as in stand-up comedy, as to each other in competition for sexual prowess, the play becomes a thoroughly enjoyable laugh-out-loud highly confusing farce.

Just as it was probably meant to be in 1590, or more likely at its first recorded showing in 1594: "begininge at newing ton my Lord Admeralle men & my Lorde chamberlen men as ffolowethe [...] 11 of June 1594 Rd at the tamynge of A Shrowe."  I asked AI “What reaction did the first performance of The Taming of the Shrew in Shakespear's time have?”, and there’s plenty of history to follow up about changing approaches to this play over the centuries.  How Christopher got into the story is fascinating in itself.

In other words, when you see Lakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew you’re seeing much more than an enjoyable romp with terrific acting, physical choreography, and wonderfully detailed emotional interactions between characters, but an interpretation which places the status of women equally – or even more than equally – up against the historical status of men.

Very highly recommended.