THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE - Canberra Philharmonic Society

 

Stirling Notley and the cast of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

THE 25^TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE – Canberra Philharmonic Society.

Music & Lyrics by William Finn – Book by  Rachel Sheinkin

Directed by Nathan Patrech – Musical Direction by Samara Marinelli

Choreographed by Lachlan Ruffy – Set Design by Nathan Patrech & Ian Croker

Lighting design by Nikki Fitzgerald – Sound Design by James McPherson

ACT Hub – 12^th – 28^th March 2026. - Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

There’s a certain magic in watching a show that knows exactly what it is, and The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee wears its quirky heart right on its sleeve.

Set in a fictional school gymnasium, the show follows a group of eccentric young contestants as they compete for the coveted spelling bee trophy, and in the process, reveal their insecurities, dreams and personal quirks.

Nathan Patrech’s direction is resourceful and imaginative, encouraging the audience to feel like they’re sitting on bleachers, watching friends and neighbour compete for glory. This is enhanced by the inclusion of four guest contestants, chosen from the audience each performance, ensuring that no two performances are exactly the same.

Ella Colquhuon as Mercy Park

Each of the characters in the show is drawn with such specificity that you can’t help rooting for them. From Ella Colquhoun’s overly intense overachiever whose performance of “I Speak Six Languages” is a genuine showstopper, to Amelia Andersson-Nickson’s shy newcomer whose love of words is sweetly expressed in her solo “My Friend, The Dictionary”, the characterisations are exaggerated yet deeply relatable, with each given a moment to shine through catchy, character-driven songs.

Amy Kowalczuk is pitch perfect as the gushy contest moderator, a former winner of the 3^rd Putnam Spelling bee and deeply invested in the outcome of the contest. Michael Cooper as the official word pronouncer, and Tim Stiles as the comfort councillor, provide hilariously dubious support.

Dave Collins plays a contestant with an unusual memorising technique. Two fathers pamper Meaghan Stewart’s contestant. Joe Mansell is an eccentric who finds himself a contestant in the contest by accident, while Stirling Notley’s chances are thwarted by an unfortunate, uncontrollable affliction. All delight with improvisational flourishes, which keep the energy electric with humour that is quick, sometimes absurd, but never cruel.

Stirling Notley as Chip Tolentino

Musically, William Finn’s score is a playful as it is heartfelt, featuring catchy melodies and clever lyrics. The lively choreography by Lachlan Ruffy, rich with classic cliche dance moves, especially for his spirited staging of “Magic Foot”, adds energy to the production and is enthusiastically performed by the cast.  

Despite its delightful absurdities, by the time this musical reaches its inevitable conclusion, you realise that The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee isn’t about winning or losing. It is about the messy, beautiful business of growing up, finding your voice, and spelling it out for the world to hear.

If you’re looking for a night of theatre that will make you laugh until your cheeks ache, a then unexpectedly tug at your heartstrings, then this delightfully exuberant production by the Canberra Philharmonic Society at the ACTHub is a bee is well worth buzzing over.    

                            Photos supplied by The Canberra Philharmonic Society

     This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 13th March 2026.

 

 

THEATRE OF DREAMS ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

 

 

Theatre of Dreams.

Choreography and music Hofesh Shechter. Lighting design Tom Visser. Costume design Osnat Kelner. Associate Artistic Director Bruno Guillore. Music Collaborator Yaron Engler. Set Collaborator Niall Black. Images Tom Visser. Cast: Dancers Alex Haskins, Robinson Cassarino, Tristan Carter, Frederic Despierre-,Keanah Simin, Juliette Valerio, Chanel Vivent. Musicians Norman Jankowski, Bartłomiej Janiak ,James Keane. Additional Music: I Remember. Written by M. Drake (Reservoir Media Management/Mushroom Music). Hofesh Shechter Company. Festival Theatre. Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival. March 13-15 2026.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 We notice the man standing in the second row. He climbs onto the stage and sneaks towards the black curtain. Curiosity extends his arm towards the curtain that he slowly opens. There is a flash of light on the figure within the gap. The body appears to jerk, sudden and spontaneous and the curtain closes. The man, now more curious than ever, once more draws the curtain aside. As swiftly as before more dancers appear revealed in a beam of red light. The movements are spasmodic, sharply etched and the man is lured into the dance. Choreographer Hofesh Shechter’s imagination is ready to break free of the darkness and into a dreamscape of the human psyche. Theatre of Dreams opens our minds to a world beyond the conscious, and yet instantly recognizable through Shechter’s electrifying choreography. His dancers transcend convention and expectation. Their dance, like our dreams, defies the expected and thrusts us into the world  of fear and wonder, driven by Dyonisian supplication to the celebration of the theatre of the dance.

 Shechter’s vision is photographic, flashes of imagery through the aperture of the curtain, sometimes narrow catching a glimpse of a dancer alone or with only a few or at other moments widened to reveal the company, captured in the lens of our amazement. Each dancer is the lead actor in their own creative expression of the moment or the theme. And then as if by some unimpelled force they are swept into a community of dance, instinctively forming a unified expression of Hechter’s choreography. It is mesmerizing, carrying the audience along and into a hypnotic world of astonishing physicality. There is no moment to escape the hold that Hechter’s company has. We are at once transfixed and transformed as Tom Visser’s lighting design dazzles us with flashes of red to capture the frenetic gesture or nightmarish fear. At another moment a flash of stark white creates a momentary freeze frame which morphs quickly into another company movement, impulsive and dynamic.

 A lone dancer becomes an Emcee, inviting us to the Theatre of Dreams. At the side of the stage three musicians appear beneath another shaft of red light that bathes trombonist, drummer and keyboard player in the cabaret world of dreams. A lone figure watches the dance unfold until he too is drawn into the company, twisting and turning into the community. The movements are supple, expressive and dynamic. Like a dream we are possessed in the moment, captured by Shechter’s idiosyncratic score. Theatre of Dreams is a journey into the uncontrolled regions of our subconscious. It can be real, a wave of panic or a tender moment that lulls us into a state of calm security. The various movements of Hechter’s choreography encourage the diversity of experience and an invitation to share the euphoria. The dancers build the tempo as if at a disco or a rave and invite the audience to join in and clap their hands. The invitation needs little urging as the entire audience leaps to their feet and begins to dance with the company. It is the dance of liberation. Finally the Theatre of Dreams like all dreams comes to an end in front of elegantly hung scalloped curtains, reminiscent of the curtains that hung in front of the old movie houses. 

 Like a dream, the unexpected, the mysterious, the fearful and the exciting all fade into the darkness or the waking and Hechter and his phenomenal dancers lead us from the fantasy to the reality of the light. There is a catharsis that only a total commitment to the experience can create. This is the exhilarating magic and power of Theatre of Dreams. It comes as no surprise that some I know bought tickets to return for another night at Theatre of Dreams’ all too short and unforgettable season.

Photos by Andrew Beveridge 

 

 

WHITEFELLA YELLA TREE ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

 

Whitefella Yella Tree by Dylan Van Den Berg.

Directed by Declan Green and Andy Sole. Composer/sound designer Steve Toulmin. Designer Mason Browne. Associate composer and sound designer Daniel Herten.  Lighting co-designers Kelsey Lee and Kaite Sfetkidis. Andrea James Dramaturg. Bayley Turner Intimacy coordinator. Tyler Fitzpatrick Stage Manager.  The Space. Adelaide Festival Theatre Centre. Griffin Theatre Company. Adelaide Festival 2026

Actors Joseph Althouse and Danny Howard. Images by Brett Boardmann

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Danny Howard as Neddy. Joseph Althouse as Ty

 in Whitefella Yella Tree

 

During the past several years I have been fortunate enough to review a few of Palawa man Dylan Van Den Berg’s. plays. Van Den Berg is one of the most significant and dynamic voices on the Australian stage today. He writes with authority that commands attention, a mind that compels us to consider the issues faced by indigenous people in our country today and with a heart that evokes empathy and perhaps an undiscovered understanding of First Nations People, their history, their culture and the very special place they hold in this country’s history for over as many as sixty thousand years. It is a legacy and a contribution that lies at the very heart of Van Den Berg’s plays.

Two young aboriginal boys meet under a lemon tree. Neddy (Danny Howard) is a young rumbustious larrikin, a rough and tumble kid from the mountain mob. Ty is sensitive, uncertain and more knowledgable about the ways of his river mob. The boys form a friendship, at first playful and innocent but as the moons pass and the boys venture into adolescence, their attraction grows and blossoms into love with the messiness, awkwardness and surprise of that first cautious kiss. Van Den Berg gently makes Whitefella Yellow Tree a tender story about queer love between two young men from different mobs who discover in their love something deeper than the inno0cent games of their childhood.  The time is at the beginning of the nineteenth century and their world is changing. Across the river the threat of colonial invasion is becoming a reality and Van Den Berg powerfully leads his characters into a world that is dangerously destroying the age old culture and society of Neddy and Ty’s people.

It is not an unfamiliar story of stolen land, stolen people, massacres and subjection to the gun. It is the horrific reality of lost language, lost customs, lost pride and lost identity. However, Whitefella Yellow Tree is not a chronicle of a past era. When we meet Ty and Neddy, they are dressed in contemporary clothes. Their language is the idiom of our time. Van Den Berg sets the play in early colonial times, but the costuming and the dialogue are of our time. The past is no foreign country. It is the signpost to  present trauma, to homophobia and racism. It is a stark reminder that humanity is universal, whether black or white, straight or queer, rich or poor. It is a lesson learned by Ty at the knee of his Auntie or by Neddy from the Elders of the tribe.

Suddenly the lemons fall with a loud thud to the ground. It is a sour and bitter omen of the change that is descending on their people.  A loud explosion in composer/ sound designer Steve Toulmin and associate Damien Kermen’s sound design forecasts the peril that will force Ty and Neddy’s love apart. The whitefella invades Danny’s mob, killing his people and stealing his sister and he must leave Ty to rescue his sister. Moons pass and deep longing lingers, locked in the lovers’ separation. The last time we see Danny, still seeking for a sister he will never find is when he appears to warn Ty of the white man’s approach. He is dressed in the period costume of a soldier, or white man’s policeman. It is the final irony, the ultimate degradation of assimilation. In Van Den Berg’s heartbreaking depiction of cultural and social erosion, the wonderfully free and playfully mischievous young Neddy is diminished to a servant of the oppressive Master, stripped of identity, though still hopeful that his subjugation to the white man and their ways may lead to his sister’s rescue. Ty too is the diseased victim of the white man’s inhumanity, awating an undignified death.

Co-directors Declan Greene and Amy Sole fully understand Van Den Berg’s symbolism and metaphor in a work richly laid with allusory imagery. Co-lighting designers Kelsey Lee and Kaite Sfetkidis shift the mood swiftly on Mason Browne’s set. The lemon tree hangs as a symbol of the white man’s threat at times blasting light, dropping fruit and glowing ominously or simply suspended as the ever-present symbol of the fateful destiny of two young aboriginal men who innocently fell in love. Theirs is a tragic tale of a cruel past that echoes still through the attitudes and actions of our  time.

As Neddy and Ty, Althouse and Howard give flawless performances. We are enraptured by their childhood innocence, moved profoundly by their emerging love and horrified by their cruel fate. The final image of Neddy bent over the dying Ty to protect him from the inevitable violence of the approaching white men is a heartbreaking reminder of deeds still not requited and justice not fulfilled. Their performances make it impossible for an audience not to be moved if not to tears then to a deeper understanding of playwright Van Den Berg’s plea for understanding and compassion.

Van Den Berg is the playwright we need more than ever following the fate of the Voice and I urge everyone to see any one if not all of this amazing playwright’s works.