SONGS OF ELTON AND GEORGE - Canberra Theatre

 

Tim Campbell & Anthony Gallea

Devised and performed by Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell

Lighting by Cam McKaige – Sound by Paul Bailey

Backing vocalists: Susie Ahern, Rocky Leprevite

Musicians: Sax: Tim Wilson – Drums: Carlo Parisi – Keys: Robbie Amato

Bass: Kim May – Guita:  Cory Jach.

Canberra Theatre: March 29. 2025 – Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Susie Ahern - Anthony Callea - Tim Campbell - John Foreman performing
"Songs of Elton and John" in Hamer Hall, Melbourne - Photo: Sam Tabone.

An enthusiastic Canberra audience sustained their extraordinary record of sold-out performances by Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell with their show “The Songs of Elton and George”.

After playing three sold out performance in the Hamer Hall in Melbourne and two in the Sydney Opera House in 2024, with John Foreman and the Australian Pops Orchestra, Callea and his husband, Tim Campbell decided to embark on a 32-date tour of major venues across Australia running from February to June this year; most of which are already sold out even though touring with a much smaller band than for their Hamer Hall and Sydney Opera house concerts..

Callea and Campbell are no strangers to sold out shows having already performed 27 of them across the country in 2023 with their “Up Close and Unpredictable” tour.

So, what’s the secret of their success? 

Anthea Callea performing "Songs of Elton and George" in the Sydney Opera House
 Photo - David Hooley 

Well to begin with, both are power-house singers. Callea is an Aria Award winning artist, who first came to fame as the runner-up in the 2004 edition of Australian Idol. His debut single, The Carol Bayer Sager/David Foster/Tony Renis/Alberto Testa song The Prayer became the second highest selling Australian single of the 2000’s. 

Over the last twenty years Callea has honed his skills to forge a multi-award winning career performing in concerts, musicals and special events for the likes of Queen Elizabeth 11 and Luciano Pavarotti. Artists with whom he has toured include Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Diana Ross.

Tim Campbell’s career is no less illustrious, ranging from starring roles in television series including Home & Away and House Husbands, hosting national prime time shows, among them Celebrity Singing Bee and Wheel of Fortune and starring in major stage musicals, Wicked, Rent and Shout!

These national tours allow them to combine their complimentary talents with excellent production values and disciplined direction to present crowd-pleasing performances which showcase their impressive individual performance skills.

Anthony Callea & Tim Campbell performing "Songs of Elton & George" in the Sydney Opera House
Photo: David Hooley

Callea and Campbell also have another ace up their sleeve in that their seventeen-year relationship has mellowed into an easy-going onstage partnership that allows both to make each other the butt of their good-natured humour.

In the case of Callea, this comes as something of a surprise, as he gets little opportunity to reveal this side of his personality on his television guest appearances which tend to focus on his artistry as a vocalist.

In trawling through the repertoire of Elton John and George Michael, which is the focus of “The Songs of Elton and George,” both artists have mined a fertile selection of excellent contemporary songs to create this entertaining evening of song.

Neither attempt to imitate the artists they have chosen to celebrate, but instead, put their own stamp on each song, with the support of excellent musical arrangements from their superb five-piece band and backing singers, Susie Ahern and Rocky Leprevite.

Attention to striking costuming and lighting design also set their show apart from many on the touring circuit, exemplified by Callea’s first entrance in a blaze of Swarovski diamantes to sing George Michael’s Father Figure, followed by Campbell, only slightly less extravagantly costumed, to sing Elton’s John’s  Yellow Brick Road, then joining Callea in a duet for George Michael’s Jesus to a Child, with Callea finishing the set with  stunning versions of George Michael’s  I Can’t Make You Love Me and Kissing A Fool.

The concert continued in in this vein, with the audience reacting vociferously as song after favourite song featured, with the choices of costuming becoming the basis of much of the humour; Campbell preferring more conservative choices to Callea.

Both backing singers got a moment in the spotlight with Rocky Leprevite joining Campbell for a medley of Elton John favourites, Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man and Daniel, and Susie Ahern joining him for George Michael’s, I knew You Were Waiting.

Anthony Callea & Tim Campbell performing "Songs of Elton and George" with the Australian Pops Orchestra in the Sydney Opera House in 2024. Photo: David Hooley.

Guitarist Cory Jack joined Callea for a stripped back version of Elton John’s Candle in the Wind which should have been a highlight but unfortunately suffered from the over-amplification of the guitar, a problem which seemed to creep in during the latter section of the concert when the band tended to drown out the singers.

However, Callea and Campbell have devised a winning formula, which will serve them well while-ever they maintain their production standard, with the songs of carefully selected artists providing them with endless repertoire on which to exercise their individual talents for imaginative re-invention.

Meanwhile, this is a concert you should not miss when it comes your way. That is, if you’re lucky enough to find a ticket.

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

The Glass Menagerie - Ensemble Theatre

 

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.  Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, March 21 – April 26, 2025.
Presented by special arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
March 29

Cast & Creatives

    Tennessee Williams. Playwright. ...
    Liesel Badorrek. Director. ...
    Danny Ball. Cast - Tom Wingfield. ...
    Blazey Best. Cast - Amanda Wingfield. ...
    Bridie McKim. Cast - Laura Wingfield. ...
    Tom Rodgers. Cast - Jim O'Connor. ...
    Grace Deacon. Set & Costume Designer. ...
    Verity Hampson. Lighting Designer.
Photos by Prudence Upton

Blazey Best, Bridie McKim, Danny Ball
as Amanda Wingfield, daughter Laura, son Tom
The Glass Menagerie, Ensemble Theatre 2025
Photo: Prudence Upton

Do your very best to get to Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre, on the Harbour at Kirribilli, no matter what the weather, for their production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie.  You have till April 26th.  It’s a classic.

How ironic is my shock as actor Tom Rodgers, as the smartly brylcreemed “gentleman caller” Jim, clumsily trying to dance with crippled terribly shy Laura, knocks over and smashes her beautiful but fragile glass model rearing horse (or rather, unicorn).  The whole audience gasped as one; and were horrified again as her brother Tom (Danny Ball in a consistently steady performance) threw another handful of precious glass, smashing it into the image of the face of his father; and like me were in tears for Bridie McKim’s delicately played Laura, left alone in her crippled world.

Bridie McKim and Blazey Best
The Glass Menagerie, Ensemble Theatre, 2025

 

Bridie McKim as Laura and Tom Rodgers as Jim O'Connor
in The Glass Menagerie, Ensemble Theatre 2025

Why is the power of this wonderful Ensemble Theatre production, so ironic?  On the very day as I watched The Glass Menagerie, in The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton was quoting from “the questionnaire sent by US officials to Australian researchers and institutions, seeking to determine whether their work complied with Donald Trump’s promise to cut funding from projects that support a ‘woke’ agenda.”

“Can you confirm that this is no DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] project, or DEI elements of the project?”

How even more ironic is it that Tennessee Williams’ character, gentleman caller Jim, is described by brother Tom when they were at high school, as so popular that within five years he could have become the President of America!  And now, at 22, like Tom, he works in an Amazon-like warehouse, and is soon to marry Betty.

So sorry, Laura.  

As I write, the Australian Broadcasting Commission is reporting on the problem of “boys’ culture” made so much worse by social media today. Has nothing changed since 1944?  Then, Tennessee Williams sent the boys like Laura’s father in the Depression and now her brother in wartime off to seek “adventure”, leaving their women frantic – like her mother, Amanda Wingfield, played to perfection by Blazey Best.  

So the final irony as I see it is that theatre, as produced by Ensemble Theatre, shows us the heights of human empathy in the teamwork of wonderful actors, and of human intelligence and understanding in the work of director Liesel Badorrek and her team of designers, set makers and stage managers, in presenting a great American tragedy of failing human relationships, just as true in this century as a century ago.

Theatre may be an illusion, but this work reveals the truth of how our real world is still no more than a collection of beautiful but yet so fragile possibilities, so easily accidentally knocked over – or so deliberately smashed by Presidents seeking adventure.  

Tennessee Williams saw World War 2 as the result of economic depression – a way of escape for the boys (though, in another irony not covered in his play, often a way into work for women, at least while the fighting continued).  It’s not unreasonable to expect that tragedy may be repeated in World War 3.  The Glass Menagerie is not just, as Ensemble Theatre says, “Williams’ timeless portrait of a shattered family” but an image of a shattered humanity.

Unfortunately President Donald Trump’s approach to theatre on The Apprentice surely means he sees Tennessee Williams as ‘woke’; and his performance in the White House attempting to intimidate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who actually ironically has been a seriously successful professional satirical comedian – showed Trump to be the worst kind of ham actor, dangerous because he has no self awareness.

So we ordinary people are left like Laura to a seemingly unfulfilling future.  But the strength of Ensemble’s production of The Glass Menagerie can be measured by the depth of the silence achieved by Danny Ball and Bridie McKim in the moment which ends the play.  Theatre of this outstanding quality makes life worthwhile, no matter what.

Bridie McKim as Laura
in The Glass Menagerie, Ensemble Theatre 2025
Photo: Prudence Upton

 

 

 

 

 

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME - Mockingbird Theatrics - Belco Arts

Ethan Wiggin (Christopher)

Based on a novel by Mark Haddon – Adapted by Simon Stephens

Designed and directed by Chris Baldock – Assistant Director: Stephanie Evans.

Lighting Design: Rhiley Winnett & Chris Baldock – Composer: Matt Friedman.

Projections Design: Matt Kizer - Projections realisation & operation: Rhiley Winnett.

Costumes and properties: Chris Baldock & cast – Stage Manager: Rhiley Winnett

Rehearsal Prompt: Liz St Clair Long.

Presented by Mockingbird Theatre – Belconnen Arts Centre – March 20 -April 5, 2025.

Performance on 26^th reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Claire White (Judy) - Ethan Wiggin (Christopher)

To mark its first official production as theatre-company-in-residence in the Rehearsal Room at the Belconnen Arts Centre, Mockingbird Theatrics is presenting this season of a compelling adaptation by Simon Stephens of British author, Mark Haddon’s novel. The play deals with the experiences of a fifteen-year-old boy, Christopher, who’s afflicted with Asperger Syndrome and traumatised by the discovery of his neighbours dead dog on his front lawn.

Christopher has an extraordinary brain, is exceptional at maths, but ill-equipped to interpret daily life. He’s never ventured beyond the end of his road alone and detests being touched. He distrusts strangers but nevertheless sets out on a mission to discover who killed his dog. His detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that turns his world upside down.

First seen in Canberra in 2018, in a production by the National Theatre of Britain, the extraordinary technical demands required to present this play appeared so daunting that it was surprising that a local company would attempt to mount it.

Yet Mockingbird Theatrics has taken on the challenge and delivered a remarkable production, directed by Chris Baldock, which while not as lavish as the British production, certainly rivals the impact of that earlier production, assisted in no small part by the intimacy of the venue, and the virtuosity of Matt Kizer’s video design.

This production is extraordinary in several aspects, but the remarkable clarity with which the play depicts the thought processes of the person at the centre of the play as interpreted through Kizer’s design and Baldock’s resourceful direction, provides a fascinating insight into his condition.

Ethan Wiggin (Christopher) during "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)

 For this production the role of Christopher is shared by two different actors at different performances. At the performance under review, the role of Christopher was remarkably interpreted by Ethan Wiggin, a relative newcomer to Canberra with an impressive background in theatre in Perth.

Christopher uses mathematics as his mechanism for expression. His world is depicted as a black box in which the walls and floor are covered with grids on which he scribbles equations to explain his thoughts, only occasionally breaking the fourth wall to talk to the audience direct.

His relationship with his estranged parents, played affectingly by Claire White and Richard Manning, is sometimes brutal, and it seems that the only person he really trusts with his innermost thoughts is his therapist, Siobhan, empathetically portrayed by Leah Peel Griffiths.

Leah Peel-Griffiths (Siobhan) and company.

Apart from Christopher, Baldock has all his actors wear white, requiring his talented ensemble, Travis Beardsley, Callum Doherty, Peter Fock, Meg Hyam, Anthony Mayne and Tracy Noble rely on voice and attitude to portray the variety of characters that Christopher meets on his journey.

This they achieve brilliantly, but despite the efforts of the strangers Christopher encounters on his journey, all efforts to break through his defences by other people are rebuffed.

Yet so clearly are Christopher’s thought process depicted that it’s impossible not to be drawn into siding with him and empathising with his apparent intransigence

This inaugural production by Mockingbird Theatrics is an exciting example of clever theatre-making at its best.

The inventiveness of Baldock’s direction and the imaginative way in which his stage design embraces technology to enable complicated mathematical equations and shifts in perspective to become thrilling theatrical experiences in the intimate confines of what was previously The Belconnen Arts Centre Rehearsal Room, augurs well for the success of this Belco Arts initiative.

                                                       Photos by Chris Baldock.

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

 

GUYS & DOLLS - Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

 

Angelina Thomson as Miss Adelaide in the HOSH production of "Guys & Dolls"

Music & Lyrics by Frank Loesser – Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows.

Directed by Shaun Rennie – Musical Director & Supervisor – Guy Simpson.

Choreographed by Kelley Abbey – Set Design by Brian Thomson.

Costume Design by Jennifer Irwin – Lighting design by Bruno Poet.

Sound Design by Jim Atkins – Presented by Opera Australia.

Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquarie’s Point 21 March – 20 April 2025.

Opening night performance on 21st March reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Cody Simpson (Sky Masterson) and the guys performing Luck Be A Lady in "Guys and Dolls".

 Although it won a Tony Award for its first Broadway staging in 1950, and is regarded as a Broadway classic, the musical “Guys and Dolls” still seemed an unusual choice by Opera Australia to be given the HOSH treatment.

The choice of former Artistic Director, Jo Davies, who was also scheduled to direct it, the musical was inspired by the stories of Damon Runyan which famously features cartoonish gangsters, gamblers and other characters who inhabited Runyan’s version of the New York underworld and who speak in a unique comic dialect that mixes highly formal language and colourful slang..

The score contains several memorable songs, but after 75 years, the book is dated and the world that Runyan celebrated is long gone. How the show would have presented had Davies remained to direct it as originally planned, will never be known, but her contribution to the concept is acknowledged in the printed program.

However, on her sudden departure, Opera Australia entrusted the directing responsibilities to emerging young director, Shaun Rennie, who has been hitting sixers with his productions over the last couple of years, and surrounded him with a team of the best musical theatre creatives in the country, including Musical Director, Guy Simpson, Choreographer, Kelly Abbey, Set Designer Brian Thomson and costume designer Jennifer Irwin, and a fresh young cast of accomplished singers, dancers and actors.

Despite the fact that most of the action for the musical takes place in a third-rate cabaret and a charity meeting room, Brian Thomson, a veteran in creating spectacular outdoor settings for HOSH, outdid himself with a set that, for the first time for a HOSH production, has the orchestra in full view of the audience, positioning them high above the outdoor stage behind a dropdown street sign. For his centrepiece, Thomson devised an oversized yellow New York taxicab which offers a surprise at every turn.



              Guy Simpson conducting the orchestra for "Guys & Dolls" - Photo: Neil Bennett

Guy Simpson took advantage of his large orchestra’s exposure by providing them with fresh new arrangements, including exciting new backings for the Cuban scene, and turning the title number Guys and Dolls, originally a duet, and Luck Be a Lady into spectacular full-stage production numbers.



Jason Arrow (Nicely Nicely Johnson) - Joel Granger (Benny Southstreet) - John Xintavelonis        (Harry the Horse) and the guys in "Guys & Dolls" - Photo: Neil Bennett

Unarguably the best commercial dance choreographer in the country, Kelly Abbey is renowned for the originality and virtuosity of her dance creations. Those who saw her stunning dance segments for the HOSH production of “Carmen” are unlikely to forget them.

However, for this production of “Guys and Dolls” Abbey has exceeded even those, by gathering together a team of extraordinary dancers, and pulling out all stops to create a series of spectacular dance numbers that not only show off the highly polished techniques of her dancers but also revels in the opportunities offered by Jennifer Irwin’s colourful 50’s inspired costumes, to fill the vast HOSH stage with riotous colour and movement.



      Angelina Thomson and the Hot Box Girls perform Bushell and a Peck in "Guys & Dolls"


But it is still the Director who has the responsibility of focussing and organising all these disparate elements so that the actors charged with telling the story, don’t get lost among all the activity on the vast stage. It is in this that Rennie excels.

Working with a dream cast of skilled musical theatre performers , none of whom would have been born when the musical was created, let alone participated in a crap game, Rennie draws on the brilliance of lighting designer, Bruno Poet, and the sound design skills of Jim Arkins, to create inventive blocking to both showcase his performers and captivate the audience with the storytelling.

His cast work hard to make their characters believable, but with “Guys and Dolls” this is a tall order, because, with the exception of Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown, the other roles are written as caricatures intended to be performed by actors skilled in the art of old-fashioned vaudeville comedy schtick.

Although the skill of clever schtick for actors is rapidly disappearing, Rennie’s cast endeavour to replace it with youthful enthusiasm.

Following her recent showstopping turn in “Candide” at the Sydney Opera House, the role of Sarah Brown offers Annie Aitken little opportunity to display her vocal and comedic brilliance. Her renditions of I’ll Know and I’ve Never Been in Love Before are prettily sung, but conventional.

Her only opportunity to display her comedic talents came with If I Were a Bell but due to the restrictive nature of the role, her interpretation of this song felt rather too forceful, even charmless, as were her over-enthusiastic responses to Sky Masterson in the Cuban scene.

Elsewhere her performance was nicely judged, even affecting, particularly in her duet with Cody Simpson, I’ve Never Been in Love Before, and her responses to More I Cannot Wish You sung by Tony McGill as Arvide Abernathy.



      Tony McGill (Arvide Abernathy) - Annie Aitkin (Sarah Brown) in "Guys & Dolls.


Surprise casting,and making his Australian musical theatre debut as Sky Masterson, Cody Simpson brought a youthful charm and fine voice to his role. He was given strong support from Bobby Fox as Nathan Detroit and Jason Arrow as Nicely Nicely Johnson, displaying his versatility, fresh from touring the country in the title role in Hamilton, along with Joel Granger (Benny Southstreet), Kieran McGrath (Rusty Charlie), John Xintavelonis (Harry the Horse) and Doron Chester (Big Julie), particularly during the spectacular staging of Luck Be a Lady.


                 
     Angelina Thomson (Miss Adelaide) & Bobby Fox (Nathan Detroit) in "Guys and Dolls".


But it is Angelina Thomson who steals the show with her exuberant performance as the long-suffering Miss Adelaide. Perhaps best known for her television role in the TV series Home and Away, Thomson has already appeared in a succession of musicals. However it is this exuberant performance as Miss Adelaide, which she smashes out of the ballpark with her accomplished singing, dancing and acting, particularly in Bushell and a Peck and Take Back Your Mink that will undoubtedly mark Miss Adelaide as her breakout role.


Whether or not “Guys and Dolls” is among your favourite musicals, this HOSH production is a rare of example of where the production, rather than the show itself, becomes the star, and how a talented director gifted with brilliant creatives and enthusiastic cast can transform a potential disaster into a diamante incrusted silk purse.


                                    Unless marked otherwise, all photos by Carlita Sari.




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

The Moors

 

The Moors by Jen Silverman.  Lexi Sekuless Productions at The Mill Theatre, Canberra, March 26-April 12, 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Opening Night March 26.

Cast

Agatha: Andrea Close; Marjory: Steph Roberts; Huldey: Rachel Howard
Emilie: Sarah Nathan-Truesdale
Moorhen: Petronella van Tienen; Mastiff: Chris Zuber

Contingency Moorhen: Rachel Pengilly (playing 21 March and 5 April)
Rehearsal contingency: Alana Denham-Preston

Production Team

Writer: Jen Silverman: Director: Joel Horwood
Production Designer: Aloma Barnes
Sound Designer: Damian Ashcroft; Lighting Designer: Stefan Wronski
Set Construction: Simon Grist
Production Stage Manager: Lexi Sekuless; Shadow Stage Manager: Ariana Barzinpour
Programming support: Timmy Sekuless and Zeke Chalmers
Photographer: Daniel Abroguena
Producer: Lexi Sekuless Productions
Major partner: Elite Event Technology; Principal Sponsor: Willard Public Affairs



Wuthering!  

See The Moors at The Mill to experience the heights of wuthering.  And indeed the depths of sister Agatha’s withering stares.  I think Andrea Close truly deserves a Julie Bishop Oscar [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7n2s6m-HbE  ]  

No wonder Emilie goes bonkers with her hatchet, and kills the conniving Agatha to death.  Living in The Moors with this simulation of the surviving Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne (Maria and Elizabeth died young), as well as their brother Branwell, chained in the attic, would send anyone round the bend.

Navigating Joel Horwood’s precision directing makes watching The Moors’ twists and turns exciting, like driving an obstacle course in a time trial in an electric car that can accelerate from stop to 100ks instantly.

If you are expecting an unconventional 19th Century romance of the Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Tenant of Wildfell Hall kind (the Brontës were never ordinary in their prudish time in history), then strap your seat belts on for a wild ride through Jen Silverman’s half-satirical yet still seriously enlightening exposition of life – like the one we all live daily – in a frighteningly unpredictable world.  

Kindness, empathy and self-awareness is what we need to learn in our relationships, beautifully represented – and wonderfully sensitively performed – in The Moors by Petronella van Tienen as the tiny Moorhen and Chris Zuber as the massive Mastiff: the Dog who thinks he is God.

Somewhat on the opposite of life is Steph Roberts’ maid Marjory – in her way as rational as Emilie tries to be; while Rachel Howard’s Huldey remains innocent and naïve through it all.

You can’t not enjoy the laughter and even the groans in The Moors experience – and you will certainly appreciate the thinking and skills that go into such stmulating theatrical fare.

Another excellent Mill Theatre production.  I don’t need to say, “Don’t Miss”.

https://sites.google.com/lexisekuless.com/mill-theatre-at-dairy-road/more/online-program-the-moors

 

 

 

 

THE MOORS

Written by Jen Silverman

Directed by Joel Horwood

Lexi Sekuless Productions

The Mill Theatre at Dairy Road to 12 April

 

Reviewed by Len Power 26 March 2025

 

First presented at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, USA in 2016, “The Moors” is a deliciously crazy melodrama that uses the elements of Victorian gothic fiction to tell a dark story of repressed desires, oppressive social mores, passions and secrets in an isolated and desolate setting on the windswept moors of England.

The play looks at the lives of two sisters, Agatha and Huldey, who live with their brooding brother, a maid and a big dog in a gloomy old mansion on the moors. When a mysterious governess arrives, dark tensions and strange passions threaten to engulf them all.

Andrea Close (Agatha)

Andrea Close plays the formidable sister, Agatha, a severe, miserable woman who rules the household. Her sister, Huldey, is played by Rachel Howard. Denied a social life and dominated by her sister, this sensitive young woman details her fantasies in a diary. Both Close and Howard give strong performances full of detail of these types of women found in novels from this time.

Rachel Howard (Huldey) and Steph Roberts (Marjory)

The slovenly and bitter maid, Marjory, a woman who has dark secrets of her own, is played by Steph Roberts. She gives a delightfully devilish depiction of this woman with attitude, dark eyes and birds nest hair. Sarah Nathan-Truesdale is a fine, Jane Eyre-like governess. It’s a nicely controlled performance of a mysterious woman with a past.

Steph Roberts (Marjory) and Sarah Nathan-Truesdale (Emilie)

The young, star-crossed lovers are played by Petronella van Tiernan and Chris Zuber. While she may be a flighty moor hen and he may be the large and lonely household dog craving affection, their innocence and growing love for each other is portrayed by both performers with a touching sensitivity.

Director, Joel Horwood, has obtained excellent performances from his cast, keeping them all effectively within period even though the humour and satire in the script take them into unexpected territories.

Production designer, Aloma Barnes has created a creepy setting with a towering background and a German Expressionist doorway. There is the constant sound of a chilly wind sweeping over the moors outside. Sound designer, Damien Ashcroft, and lighting designer, Stefan Wronski, have complemented this setting with perfect atmosphere.

This is a ferociously enjoyable evening of gothic madness and mayhem. Expect the unexpected.

 

Photos by Daniel Abroguena

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 MOORS

The Moors by Jen Silverman 

Directed by Joel Horwood. Production Designer: Aloma Barnes Sound Designer: Damian Ashcroft Lighting Designer: Stefan Wronski Set Construction: Simon Grist Scenic Painting: Letitia Stewart Production Stage Manager: Lexi Sekuless Shadow Stage Manager: Ariana Barzinpour Programming support: Timmy Sekuless and Zeke Chalmers Photographer: Daniel Abroguena Producer: Lexi Sekuless Productions Major partner: Elite Event Technology Principal Sponsor: Willard Public Affairs. The Mill Theatre. Thursday March 27 – Saturday April 12 2025 Bookings: events.humanitix.com 

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins 

Sarah Nathan Tuesdale as Emilie in The Moors

The macabre meets the bizarre in director Joel Horwood’s intriguing production of Jen Silverman’s The Moors. The intimate Mill Theatre, home to Lexi Sekuless Productions, is the ideal venue to present this Gothic parody, set on the bleak and windswept Yorkshire Moors. Although inspired by the lives of the Bronte Sisters, Silverman’s play has nothing to do with the famous sisters. The brother Bramwell is hidden away in an attic, and fed gruel by a morose maid through a slat in the ceiling. Emilie is the name of a governess who appears to take up a position in the bleak residence and Agatha and Huldie are two sisters. Echoes of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre may be recognized by lovers of the Bronte novels but The Moors is essentially Silverman’s flight of fantasy. 

Andrea Close as Agatha. Chris Zuber as Dog

As the audience enters the dimly lit theatre they encounter Huldie (Rachel Howard) writing in her diary. Her elder sister Agatha (Andrea Close) is sewing and the maid Marjory when in the Parlour and Mallory when in the scullery (Steph Roberts) is obsessively polishing a jug. At Agatha’s feet lies the family dog (Chris Zuber) In keeping with the gothic convention Emilie (Sarah Nathan-Truesdale ) is the outsider who enters the house in response to an invitation supposedly from Branwell to take up the position of governess. To her surprise, Emilie discovers that there is no child to governess and the letters were not written by Branwell. And so the plot thickens with all the surprising twists and turns that one might expect from the bizarre and the absurd. 

Also venturing into the absurd is the sub plot between the mastiff hound (Chris Zuber) and the petite Moorhen (Petronella van Tienen ), a moving tale of love and betrayal, beautifully played out by Zuber and van Tienen and mirroring the complexity of human relationships. 

Steph Roberts as Marjory. Sarah Nathan Truesdale as Emilie

Horwood has chosen a brilliant cast and directed them with flair and clarity. Howard energetically plays the  younger sister Huldie obsessed with literary aspirations and the desperate need to be noticed. She catapults towards a manic finale. Close convincingly emanates an air of Whistler’s mother and stony Victorian repressiveness softened only by her release from sexual repression. Roberts’s maid is the Riff Raff of Silverman’s Gothic melodrama. Roberts stamps every role she plays with her unique ability to create a character that is her own. Gesture and voice are used to good effect to differentiate between Marjory and Mallory and then aspiring author Margaret. Nathan-Truesdale’s Emilie effectively charts the challenging journey from the naïve innocent to the strong survivor transformed by the power of the vast and bleak moors. Zuber’s philosophizing dog and Petronella’s sweetly vulnerable Moorhen are a delight to watch as they play out Nature’s inevitable destiny. 

Rachel Howard as Huldie

Stefan Wronski’s lighting design and Damian Ashcroft’s sound design lend the production a powerful intensity. In the intimate space Howard gives full blast to Huldie’s Murder song with rock stadium potency provided by Wronski and Ashcroft. 

Silverman’s Gothic melodrama has been given a fully professional production at the Mill Theatre. Joel Horwood’s casting and direction maximize on an audience’s fascination with the gothic. The Moors is no Jane Eyre, Frankenstein or Turn of the Screw, but it is an entertaining and imaginative tribute to the Victorian gothic literature. The play runs for eighty minutes with no interval and guarantees audiences an original and highly enjoyable night of theatre at The Mill Theatre.

 

Chris Zuber as Dog. Petronella van Tienen as Moorhen

                        Photos by Daniel Abroguena                    

DIDO & AENEAS - Opera Australia - Sydney Opera House

Anna Dowsley (Dido) - Nicholas Jones (Aeneas)

 

DIDO AND AENEAS – Opera Australia.

Composed by Henry Purcell – Libretto by Nahume Tate

Conducted by Chad Kelly – Director and stage designer: Yaron Lifschitz

Costume design by Libby Mcdonnell -Lighting design by Matthew Marshall

Presented by Opera Australia – Sydney Opera House until March 29, 2025

Performance on 20^th March reviewed by BILL STEPHENS 

  

Anna Dowsley (Dido) and Circa member.

Widely regarded as the one of the earliest known English operas, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas focusses on the love of Dido, the Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero, Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her.

For his extraordinary production, first staged by Opera Queensland in 2024, Director and Stage Designer, Yaron Lifschitz has ditched historical references in favour of a stunning abstract, highly visual presentation in which spectacular acrobatics replace the more usual dance sequences inherent in baroque opera. 

As it entered the theatre the audience was met by text projected across a black screen posing a series existential questions and comments, among them “Why is it so hard to love the world?”, “The invention of the ship is also the invention of the shipwreck”, “Whoever goes in search of humans will find acrobats”, “Whatever I hide by my language my body utters”.

The effect of this attention-focusing device was disrupted by the 'Welcome to country' ceremony followed by the orchestra tuning up.

"Dido & Aeneas" - Circa and Ensemble 

However, as it settled into the opera, the prologue offered the first of a succession of arresting sequences, commencing with the sight of an embracing couple on a tightly lit pedestal. As they slowly moved, the curtain rose to reveal a row of candles flickering across the front of the stage, and a silhouetted figure traversing a tight rope, as Anna Dowsley, costumed as Dido, in a black sequined gown and orange wig, began the first of her arias.   

Uninterrupted by an interval, the opera progressed through a mesmerising series of brilliantly lit (Matthew Marshall), strikingly staged sequences. Although sung in English, on-stage surtitles kept the audience abreast of the artistic, though largely unintelligible, lyrics, as well as the locales in which the action was taking place.

Jane Ede (Belinda) - Anna Dowsley (Aeneas) and Circa ensemble.

The Opera Australia Chorus, Circa acrobats and supporting characters, Belinda (Jane Ede), Second Lady (Sian Sharpe), First Witch (Angela Hogan), Second Witch (Keara Donohoe), Spirit Mercury (Cathy-Di Zhang) and Sailor (Gregory Brown) were all costumed by Libby McDonald in similar elegant black uni-sex costumes. At certain points the acrobats discarded the trousers to enable their more difficult manoeuvres.

Only Dido (Anna Dowsley in sequins) and Aeneas (Nicholas Jones in a black dinner suit) were distinguished from the others.

This device allowed Lifschitz to keep them in focus while the rest of the cast participated in the tightly choreographed staging where it was often difficult to separate who were chorus and who were acrobats in scenes for which both were much more integrated by Lifschitz than even his Orpheus and Eurydice seen in the Opera House last year.

This freed the audience to concentrate on the beauty of the singing and orchestral playing while feasting their eyes on the succession of stunning, constantly changing, stage images.

Nicholas Jones (Aeneas) and ensemble.

Anna Dowsley and Nicholas Jones were masterful casting as Dido and Aeneas. Both in glorious voice, completely believable as the thwarted lovers and unfazed by the complicated staging into which both were more integrated than would normally be expected for such difficult singing roles.

For Dowsley this involved a stunning transformation in which she emerges from her sequined gown, stripping away her orange wig to emerge as a bald Sorceress, and for Jones, having to walk over the bodies of the acrobats while singing an aria.  

Anna Dowsley (Dido) and Circa Ensemble 

Conducted for this performance by Chad Kelly, the Opera Australia Orchestra and chorus paid homage to Purcell’s music with exemplary performances which ended with the chorus creating a stereophonic sound by singing from the balconies inside the auditorium for a stunning finale.

The rapturous response from the audience was a fitting indication of the success of a daring concept which honoured a work which has survived centuries.

                                  Unless otherwise marked, all images by Keith Saunders

A slightly shorter version of this review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on                                                                           25.03.25.

THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA - Chaika Theatre - ACT Hub.

Written by Federico Garcia Lorca – Adapted by Karen Vickery, assisted by Andrea Garcia

Directed by Karen Vickery – Stage design by Marc Hetu

Costume design by Fiona Leach - Sound Design by Neville Pye

Lighting Design by Disa Swifte- Music composed by Michael Huxley

Presented by Chaika Theatre - ACT HUB to 29^th March 2025

Opening night performance on 19^th March reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Written in 1936, just two months before his assignation in the Spanish Civil War, Federico Garcia Lorca’s play The House of Bernada Alba, exploring the effects of deprivation of female liberty, is regarded as a classic which has inspired countless productions, including an opera, a musical and even a ballet by Eleo Pomare with music by John Coltrane.

For her adaptation with Andrea Garcia, Karen Vickery has demystified the play by devising an audience-friendly version abandoning any attempts at faux Spanish, and having her actors deliver the dialogue in naturalistic English.

An interesting effect of this was that, while each of her all-female, multi-national cast give strong, thoughtful performances, it was when those who spoke in their natural European-inflected accents that her production felt at its most authentic.

Christina Falsone (Poncia)  - Zsuzsi Soboslay (Bernada) in "The House of Bernda Alba"

Zsuzsi Soboslay offered a powerful, mannered performance as the dominant matriarch, Bernada, who mercilessly wields her power over her five unmarried daughters, demanding that they enter eight years of mourning following the death of her second husband.

The eldest, Augustias (Sophie Benassi) the daughter of Bernada’s first marriage appears to accept this restriction even though she is betrothed to Pepe el Romano, a character at the centre of the play who is much discussed but never seen.

Amy Kowalczuk (Magdalena) - Maxine Beaumont (Amelia) - Zsuzi Soboslay (Bernada) in
"The House of Bernarda Alba"

Magdalena, (Amy Kowalczuk in a sensitively nuanced performance) appears to accept Bernada’s restriction as does Amelia (Maxine Beaumont). But Martirio (Yanina Clifton) whose suitor was rejected by Bernarda, and who now secretly harbours feelings for Pepe, despite his betrothal to Augustina, struggles with the restriction.

But it is the youngest of the daughters, the feisty, rebellious Adela (spectacularly interpreted by Karina Hudson) who throws the cat among the pigeons by entering into an intense sexual affair with the accommodating Pepe el Romano setting off a series of confrontations.  

Brief but effective cameos by Alice Ferguson as Maria Josepha, the grandmother on the verge of dementia, and Andrea Garcia as the nosy neighbour, Prudencia, add spice to the proceedings,  and although Bernada’s housekeeper, Poncia (Christina Falsone), constantly challenges her tight control over her daughters, it is the gossipy maid, Lucia (Diana Caban Velez) who unwittingly lights the fuse that leads to the explosive climax of the play.

Performed in the round, on a bare raised stage decorated with a few essential pieces of furniture representing the courtyard in which all the action takes place, the task of creating the oppressive atmosphere required by the play, was very much reliant on the talents of her actors.   

Although deprived of anywhere to hide, the actors were greatly assisted by Fiona Leach’s restrained, appropriate costumes, the excellent sound design by Neville Pye, and atmospheric lighting design by Disa Swifte.

It says much for the ability of her actors, and the strength of Vickery’s direction, that the intent and power of the play is so powerfully realised in another challenging, satisfying production by Chaika Theatre.

                                                            Photos by Jane Duong

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

 

BERLIN ELECTRIC - Wesley Music Centre

Bev Kennedy and Brad Cooper performing "Lied" in BERLIN ELECTRIC.

Devised and presented by Brad Cooper (Tenor) and Bev Kennedy (piano)

Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, ACT.

Performance on March 23 reviewed by BILL STEPHENS 

Bev Kennedy and Brad Cooper performing "Lied" in BERLIN ELECTRIC.

 The promise from Art Song Canberra of a wild Weimar fuelled afternoon of satire, hedonism, innuendo and gay abandon under the title of BERLIN ELECTRIC was an offer too good to resist.

The fact that the program lived up to the hyperbole preceding it surprised many in the audience used to more esoteric offerings from Art Song Canberra but dazzled by the artistry and brilliance of tenor Brad Cooper and associate artist, pianist Bev Kennedy.

Their presentation of an extraordinary selection of songs by composers as diverse as Korngold, Weill, Stolz, Spoliansky, Hollander, Eisler and many less famous, all sung in the language they were written, were a revelation, even to those of us who don’t speak German.

Renowned for his versatility Brad Cooper is an accomplished operatic tenor equally at home in Opera, Operetta, Lieder and Cabaret. BERLIN ELECTRIC emerged during the Covid lockdowns when opera houses and performing arts venues closed.

Rather than sit around and wait for the pandemic to pass, Cooper decided to take advantage of the situation to indulge his interest in German Kabarett, which draws on gallows humour, cynicism, sarcasm and irony for inspiration.

Finding the perfect collaborator in Bev Kennedy, one of the country’s finest cabaret exponents, together they devised this extraordinary program, which not only proved an enlightening insight into a particular performance genre, but also remarkably entertaining.

Recognising that many in the audience would miss the nuances of the lyrics when sung in the language in which they were written, Cooper preceded each song with a brief history of the circumstances under which it was written.

Apart from being an enthralling raconteur, Cooper drew on his considerable operatic skills to communicate the meaning and intent of each of the carefully chosen songs as he performed them.

In this endeavour, Bev Kennedy’s ability to capture the mood and atmosphere of each song was on full display demonstrating why she is so sort after as a collaborator by our most accomplished cabaret performers and recognised as being among Australia’s finest musical directors and accompanists.  

The songs addressed a wide range of topics relating to the decadence of the Weimer period (1919 – 1933) but still remains startingly relevant to events of the present day.

Brad Cooper in BERLIN ELECTRIC.

Superbly performed by Cooper, A Song Goes Round the World, linked with Austrian tenor Joseph Schmidt since 1933, was inspired by films and cabaret of that time.

The Robert Stolz ballad, The Song is Over (also known as Don’t Ask Me Why I’m Leaving) gained additional context when Cooper disclosed the story behind its composition.

Although written in the 1930’s, Esler’s haunting Song of a German Mother recounting a grieving mother’s anguish at realising the full significance of her son’s brown uniform, and his Ballade of the Crippled Brigade purporting that prosthetics are more beautiful than limbs, were unmistakable references to current events.

Hollander’s We All Want to be Children Again, in which the self-described happy little huns exhort listeners to forget the atrocities they committed and join them in frolicking nude among the flowers, chilled with its sinister silliness echoing contemporary views touted in social media.

Although just some examples of the treasures uncovered by Cooper and Kennedy for their extraordinary exploration of this bygone era, while hugely entertaining, their song selection throughout represented a brilliantly subversive comment on how little we seem to have learned from history.

After dazzling his audience with Weimar cabaret songs, Cooper had more surprises for his encores.

An hilarious version of Fascinating Aida’s Lieder complete performed with Dillie Keane’s choreography satirising the performances of Marlene Dietrich and Lotte Lenya, left his audience convulsed with laughter.

Then his gentle jazz-infused version of the Kurt Weill song Speak Low, complete with a superb cool-jazz accompaniment from Bev Kennedy, which he ended with some gorgeously high head notes, left his audience both surprised and pleasured. You should have been there.  

                                                  Photos by PETER HISLOP  

         This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 24.03.25