This play was written in the early 1970s, so it is a little dated, but the theme is ageless. A film was made of one of Clooney’s best-loved farces – ‘Run for your Wife’ – but it was described as one of the worst films ever made. Clooney soon learnt that farces only really work with live audiences.

Ray Cooney began his theatrical career as a boy actor in 1946. After appearing in a dozen comedies, he began writing and to date has had eighteen plays produced in London’s West End. He appeared in many of the traditional British bawdy Whitehall farces with Brian Rix throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and this was when he acquired his skills.

This is an unusual farce, with very few doors opening and closing, but it is strongly character based around two madmen.

This 2-hour, classic English fast-paced, hilarious farce is presented by the Darlington Theatre Players and can be seen at the Marloo Theatre, 20 Marloo Road, just off Greenmount Hill. The shows are each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from Saturday 19^th November to Saturday 3^rd December. Curtain up at 7.30 pm.

Scene:                   1970s A large lounge room in a mansion on the outskirts of London.

Set design:          George Boyd at his best. The scene is a very spacious room that filled the wide stage with its burgundy walls, white doors and windows. At the rear of the stage are double doors, with 60 cm high Grecian urn plant pots on each side, planted with white weeping willows. Then a terracotta tiled step down to the hardwood floor, made of metre square tiles (artwork). Profound effect, and a huge amount of work.

Vaulting the wide stage are three large tan-coloured, curved arches on columns with fitted wall lamps. The two windows framed by light mushroom-coloured curtains showed the catering marquee in the garden beyond.

On the right of the stage are three doors, leading to a study, a hallway and a cupboard. There is a wine bar with a smart drinks table laid out for the guests. Centre stage is an Italian three-seat, peach velour studded settee and a matching chair. Immediately behind the settee is a bookcase. Several beautiful gold-wrought iron, marble-topped drinks tables are around the room.

Set construction:              Rob Warner, Adrian Ashman, Ray Egan, Belinda Beatty, Lesley Sutton, Neroli Sweetman, Steve Moloney, Zac Moloney and Luke Miller. MOST impressive work. The pure opulence look was achieved.

Props:                   Lesley Sutton has again furnished the room to look lived in. With a standard lamp, oriental wooden trunk, with several African wooden masks on the front of the bar.

Lighting design:                Shelly Miller achieved even lighting over all of the walls and sitting areas – difficult with such a large area. Well thought-out cosy colour tones.

Sound design:                    Guy Jackson has produced clear crisp sound effects and classic 1920s band music.

Lighting and sound operator:      Timothy Zuiddam fine work

Choreography:                  Marjan Martin helped Luke and Ellie with their twirls.

Stage manager:                 Rob Warner – slick.

Rehearsal Assistant:       Sandra Sando

Poster design:                    Chloe Wiggers

Costumes:           Marjorie DeCaux and Baci Boutique

With his beautiful daughter Judy (Belinda Beatty) about to   the happiest day of her life, tense advertising executive Timothy Westerby (Luke Miller) is struggling to finalise the plans for her massive society wedding – which is in only two hours’ time! Luckily, his serene and organised wife Ursula (Tracey Morrison) seems to be coping well.

Timothy’s business partner and best friend, Bill Shorter (Gavin Crane) is helping with the coordination of flowers, buttonholes, and catering arrangements for the reception.

Ursula’s humourless mother, Daphne Drimmond (Jacquie Warner) has arrived with her loveable, but senile, bumbling, and confused husband, Gerald (John Pomfet) a retired GP. They are thrilled because their granddaughter is about to marry the son of an Australian entrepreneur and billionaire, Charles Babcock (Rex Gray).

As they are all about to leave for the church, Timothy bangs his head and on coming around, finds himself accompanied by an imaginary stunning 1920s Flapper girl, Polly Perkins (Ellie Bawden – brilliant entrance), who is part of his current advertising campaign. The trouble is no one else can see this girl and Timothy is becoming increasingly infatuated with her.

How will Judy’s happy day go?

The play is about upper-crust English relatives, and this cast had fine ‘pukka’ English accents. The comedy was cleverly written, with several of the jokes filtering through a few paragraphs later resulting in delayed laughter.

Wonderful direction by Neroli Sweetman. Farces require a special delivery of the script, either in panic mode or being totally unaware of what is going on. Neroli has led her brilliant cast through the turmoil and can be most proud of the result. Luke as the proud father, started confused with the failing arrangements but soon turned into a suave teenager again. He remained poker-faced as all around collapsed. Then came the song and dance! A superior performance. Next was John, outstanding as the decrepit father, who was confused and with bad logic, tried so hard to understand what his family were doing – only to become even more confused. His skip and jumps were one of the funniest things I have seen in some time.

The key characters of a farce rely very much on the skilful feeds and backup of the remaining cast. The ladies were in contrast to the men, quite serious and dedicated to the wedding’s success, with ‘the Shorter’ man acting as a go-between.

This was a very funny script, perfectly delivered and a total hoot.

This lively two-and-a-quarter-hour ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ production by Roleystone Theatre was presented in the beautiful Araluen Botanic Park just off Brookton Highway – near the old Roleystone Theatre building. Free parking. You are invited to bring along drinks and nibbles. A small section is available at the performance area entrance.

The four-show season runs on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 4.00 pm until Sunday 20^th November.

The stunning venue is a quarter of an acre of spacious lawn and limestone curved terracing, facing onto a lawn and paved performance area with a lake beyond.

Further details:  www.roleystonetheatre.com.au

The Scene:           an exotic and enchanted remote island, with one inhabitant – Sycorax’s son Caliban.

The Set:                The natural setting, with logistics by Daniel Ramsell and Cameron Ramsell.

Props:                   Supplied by Kat Stark. Six large logs, drinking vessels, weapons, and some unusual costumes.

Sound:                  Peter ‘Pear’ Carr managed to have the speaker stands well to the side and despite most of the action taking place in front of them yet amazingly with very little feedback (normally actors should always be behind the speakers, which outside – from a practical point of view – can become very difficult). There was a small angle of about 10 degrees that caused a small amount of distortion, but Pear was quick on the fader and reduced a potential problem to a slight tinniness. Congratulations on the particularly good headset microphone control.

Lighting:              God.

Poster:                  Bright and inviting – Bree Hartley.

Costumes:           Penny Ramsell and Jo Padgett

Stage manager: None (?)

The powerful magician Prospero (Kate O’Sullivan) tells his daughter Miranda (Abby Jennings, captivating) that he, Prospero, should have become the rightful Duke of Milan, not his brother Antonio (Sam Barnett). When Prospero hears that Alonso, King of Naples (Azza Gee) is on the high seas with several Lords he orders his magic sprite, Ariel (Ben Adcock), to create a storm and wreck the ship.

Thanks to the Master of the King’s ship (Caity Webb) and the Boatswain (Andre Victor) most of the sailors and lords are washed up on a beach, unaware that on the other side of the island is the savage islander, Caliban (Benjamin Small) who is also under Prospero’s spell. Another noble, Alonso’s son, Ferdinand (Joanna Tyler) lands on Caliban’s beach. As Ferdinand is the King of Naple’s son, Prospero compels Ariel to arrange a meeting of Ferdinand and Miranda. They fall in love.

Across the island, King Alonso, and his trusted adviser Gonzalo (Phillip Steele-Young) with his councillors, Adrian (Kim Fletcher) and Francisco (Jack Barker) assume Ferdinand has drowned at sea. Now, hoping to become the sole heir to the throne, Antonio persuades Ferdinand’s aunt Sebastian (Kelly Salathiel, powerful) into killing Alonzo, but Ariel stops the assassination.

Caliban meets Alonso’s jester, Trinculo (Andre Victor) and his butler Stephano (Caity Webb, great fun) and tries to talk them into killing Prospero, but instead, they become very drunk.

What will become of Prospero and Ariel?

Even though I know the play well, I found when one actor plays two characters that the total lack of costume change, is a little difficult to follow. An audience member new to the play could have been lost. For example – and this certainly does not reflect upon the excellent performances – the Master of the ship and Stephano the drunken butler wore exactly the same outfits. Especially when a female plays a male part (no problem with this in the slightest) it is easier for the uninitiated to follow if some clue like a hat, apron, or sword is given to clarify the character, occupation, or sex.

This is a general comment for all outdoor events when actors mingle in the crowds, please be aware of the need to wash the costume regularly and use deodorant if a lot of exertion is involved.

The Tempest needs a strong Prospero, a fun Trinculo, and a lively Ariel. The other actors are still very important, but these key actors set the pace and mood. Director Paul Treasure selected perfectly, Kate as Prospero had authority and carried himself well, Trinculo had great comedic delivery and Ariel covered the whole auditorium fleetly and light-footed. The cast was word-perfect and projected well. In a wide-open space, it is easy to turn sideways, and even a powerful voice can disappear into infinity, but this cast without exception spoke directly to the audience and every word was heard and comprehended.
An outdoor performance can tend to be ‘chewing gum for the mind’ for an audience often as interested in passing around the cheeseboard and glasses of wine. Director Paul has ensured that the cast worked the audience well, approaching the patrons without any resulting embarrassment, making them feel part of the tale, and holding their attention away from the edible distractions.

Outdoor plays can vary, but this was one of the better ones. Strongly directed and had some terrific performances. Most enjoyable.

This Australian Classic is being presented by the students of the new and innovative Murdoch University unit EGL353, which covers Acting and Producing for Stage. Less than half the play’s actors are theatre students, with many of the others never having been on stage before. This course allows students in completely different fields to tread the boards and see how their specialty can be adapted or improved. The non-theatre actors included creative writers, scriptwriters, computer games designer, forensic scientist, and a dress designer. Being part of the action in this well-thought-out unit helps them think laterally and experience for themselves what really works and what is mediocre.

This 2-hour play for adults can be seen for 4 performances only. Curtain-up is on Thursday 10^th November, Friday 11^th, and Saturday evening at 7.30, with one matinée on Saturday 12^th at a slightly earlier time of 1.30 pm. The production is at the Nexus Theatre, near car park 3 in the grounds of Murdoch University.

The director has given one or two minor tweaks to the script to make it slightly more acceptable than the disturbing 1970s attitudes, but it is still crammed with political incorrectness.

For tickets, go to www.trybooking.com/CCJNS

The Scene:           The Hendersons’ house in the suburb of Lower Plenty in Melbourne.

The Set: Beautifully designed and built by the old stalwarts, Tim Brain and John King. The right and left wings of this stage are actually the theatre’s black walls, with a door on each side. The rear walls are ‘representative’ leaf green frames, which allow one to see the goings on in the passageway to the bedrooms. To the left at the rear is a large, raised kitchen with a high workbench overlooking the dining area. The kitchen was equipped with a sink, a fridge-freezer, and a working oven! Amazingly, the front of the divider was wallpapered with 1970s wallpaper.

Props:                   Ally Snell has produced a wonderful collection of 1970s furnishings including a combined 18-inch black and white TV with a radiogram in an oak case. The music for the play came through the actual baffled speaker (clever). There were bookshelves laden with encyclopaedias and classics. To the left was an oak table with four matching wooden chairs. On the kitchen bench was a cream portable TV, with rabbit ears!

Lighting design:                Tim Brain’s lighting is always well-balanced. There were two standard lamps in the lounge area. The view from the window is almost midnight. The sky was sloe black, crow black, Bible black (sorry wrong play) sky was covered in a mesh of tiny stars, most effective.

Lighting operator:            Smooth work by Sydnee Hopkins

Sound design and recording:       Tim Brain

Sound operator:               Sarah Courtis had various accurate cues as LPs were played and oven timers went off.

Workshop facilitation:    Ellin Sears and Stephen B. Platt, are always welcome.

Stage manager:                Sarah Courtis and her Assistant stage manager: Ben Marovac coped with the planned changes and an unexpected mop-up efficiently.

Costumes:           were supervised by Melissa Merchant, with the appreciated help from Melville Theatre and various op. shops, the clothes were perfect for the era. From the Safari suit to the bell-bottomed jeans, the clothes brought a smile – and a cringe.

Staunch Labor Party supporter, schoolteacher Don Henderson (Daniel Thompson) and his wife Kath (Alicia Pepper) live with their baby son in the suburb of Lower Plenty. It is the night of the 1969 federal election, so Don has invited a group of friends around to watch the election results on the TV as they come in. The whole country knows that the election result is a foregone conclusion, the ALP will win!

The first guests to arrive are two – gasp!! – Liberal supporters, accountant Simon (Tobias Kiste Momb) and his beautifully dressed wife, Jody (Emily Eddon); upset because everyone else is very casually attired. Then, the worse for drink comes Don’s university pal, loud and obnoxious Mal (Zachary Preedy) and his disillusioned wife, Jenny (Emillie Rivalland).

A respectable but uptight dentist, Evan (Ben Marovac) arrives with his attractive but condescending wife, donned in a floral dress, white tights and kinky boots; she is talented artist, Kerry (Kirti Rajwekar). The alcohol consumption increases and as old wounds are opened the situation becomes ugly. To make things worse, a middle-aged, sex-obsessed lawyer, Cooley (Jackson Billington) and his latest model girlfriend, pigtailed nineteen-year-old Susan (Jaimee Gardner) bursts in on the scene.

Mack (Jesse Bellotti), a design engineer – and parttime porn photographer – whose wife has just left him, passes around photos for his friends’ approval, before approaching Susan.
Don’s party is warming up.

The play was sympathetically and lovingly directed by award-winning actor and director, Melissa Merchant. It is a class exercise for the new course unit of stagecraft, direction, and production, which is only one lecture per week. As many of the cast had not even been on stage before and most had no ambitions of becoming regular actors, their main interests – as explained at the top of this review – are to experience being on stage thus linking it to their own diverse degree studies. With only a week and a half of rehearsals, my expectations were therefore low. Yes, there were the odd minor weaknesses, but overall this production was well above average. The word-perfect cast knew their parts, enunciated well, had conquered tricky situations like unobtrusively moving into position before their dialogue, good reaction, and interaction. They can all be very proud. As good as many seasoned actors with weeks of rehearsal.
A fabulous character study, and a reminiscent look at normal daily conversations 50 years ago. Great fun. Catch this classic again.

This production is generously supported by the Koorliny Arts Centre and Kwinana Industries Council. The season runs in Theatre One of the Koorliny Theatre complex, 10 Hutchins Way, in the Kwinana Town Centre. The show is 2 hours and 50 minutes (including interval) and can be seen on Friday and Saturday evenings at 7.30 until the 19^{th of} November. There are also Sunday matinées on the 5^th and 19^th at 2.00 pm.

The Scene:      1959 at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts.

The set:           Mainly quality projections on the rear cyclorama. The large cast and the fast-moving show would have made furniture props difficult to cope with.

The opening scene started with the cast singing on stage in front of the projected proscenium arch. Then the lighting changed, and the real theatre was now viewing the cast from their rear of the stage as though they were facing towards the imaginary audience. Sounds complex but the effect worked really well.

Lighting design and operation:         Kate Lloyd, like her new husband (the sound engineer below), has an excellent eye for good lighting. Vibrant.

Soundscape:               Alexander Coutts-Smith produced a crisp well-balanced orchestra and super headsets control. Most of the chorus had solos and with the fast-moving show, this would have been a big challenge. Splendid work.

Stage manager:         Natasha Weir aided by Deputy Stage Manager (Jocelyn Dale) had a cast that constantly made fast entrances and exits. No queuing to leave the stage, and wonderful control.

Costumes:      Head of Wardrobe – Lyn Hutcheon and her Costume assistants, Deb Fewster, Veronica Foster and the cast gave us several costume changes. From plush scarlet Can-Can dancers’ basques to baggy trousered suits. The styles were well thought-out.

The orchestra plays its brassy and slightly discordant overture under the pit conductor, Sasha Iljinksy (Tara Oorjitham). At the downmarket Colonial Theatre in Boston, a new musical called “Robbin’ Hood!” based on the English folk hero, is having its preview.

Rob Hood, played by the leading man Bobby Pepper (Rp van der Westhuizen – particularly good), has just finished an archery contest and is about to propose to the schoolteacher, Miss Nancy played by Niki Harris (Erin Craddock).

Madame Marian, played by the production’s totally inept leading lady, the atrocious tone-deaf singer Jessica Cranshaw (Michelle Ezzy- hilariously bad!) arrogantly takes her bow, then receives a couple of bouquets before strangely collapsing and dying on the stage before the entire cast.

The show’s uncompromising and wise co-producer, Carmen Bernstein (Lucy Eyre – beautiful voice) is wife of the show’s philandering promoter, Sidney Bernstein (Glenn W. Rykenrapp). The enchanting, smooth composer for the show-within-the-show is Aaron Fox (William Foskett) who is romantically linked with the show’s financial backer and general manager, Georgia Hendricks (Grace Johnson – heavenly clear voice). Then there is Oscar Shapiro (Vaughn Lowe), a miserable man who handles the finances; he is reading the newspaper theatre reviews. Once again, Daryl Grady (Glenn Scott) the theatre critic is again enjoying hammering their production and their stars,

The show’s gay, talented, and outspoken director, Englishman Christopher Belling (Christopher Alvaro – hilarious with magnificent one-liners), arrives and states that whilst in church that he had a visitation. The stage manager Jenny Harmon (Rachel Vonk, well done) tells Carmen there is a phone call for her. Fearlessly, Aaron tells Georgia the only reason she joined the show, was to renew her romance with choreographer Bobby Pepper.

Belling asks Georgia to sing Madame Marian’s opening number – she is brilliant, but her emotional depth comes from her failed marriage to Aaron. Hearing her voice, Aaron takes Bobby’s part and joins her, but Bobby furiously interrupts.

The Boston detective Lieutenant Frank Cioffi (Timothy Tyrie) who arrives with Detective O’Farrell (Dean O’Hehir) is immediately smitten at being on a real stage. He announces that he is a theatre fan, then isolates the scene. Rapidly Cioffi announces the death was caused by cyanide poisoning. He tells Belling to end his cast meeting, before offering advice on enlightening the Robbin’ Hood production.
Who carried the murder? This show will keep you guessing to the last couple of minutes.

The other cast members included: Harv Fremont (Matthew Walford), Randy Dexter (Jarvys McQueen-Mason), Roberta Wooster (Madeleine Shaw), Mona Page (Tatum Stafford), Marjorie Cook (Arianne Wescott-King), Arlene Barruca (Ebony Uetake), Roy Stetson (Michael Carroll), Brick Hawvermale (Charlie Darlington), Russ Cochran (Alan Gill). These actors are not simply chorus members, they are all on stage for most of the show and have complex dance routines, brief dialogue and short singing solos.

Choreographer: Connie Wetherilt had a novel twist on the dance sequences which reminded me of the Busby Berkeley swimming routines of the 1930s. The performers would all be singing along, when at the end they would gather in a group and explode, appearing like a flower opening. A great visual impact aided by the Dance Captains, Ebony Uetake and Tatum Stafford.
The dancing covered so many genres; Soft-shoe, jitterbug, verging on Charleston and jive, they were all there with every routine performed to perfection. Connie loves to involve the arm movements and these always give just that extra excitement to the dances.

Musical Directors: Tara Oorjitham and Taui Pinker cleverly started with cacophonous music to emphasise Jessica’s lack of talent, but after her death produced a well-balanced orchestra with the style of the fifties, plus wonderful control of the volume so that the singers did not need to fight to be heard.

The Band:            Reed – 1) Talitha Dunn, 2) Justin Farinosi, 3) Christopher Steicke, Wayne Griffiths, 4) Jeni Stevens

Brass                     Trumpets – 1) Paul Marion, 2) Michael Baker, Aavi Barker               Trombone 1) Dale Wescombe, 2) Bryce Henderson

Guitar:  Kieran Ridgway                 Bass: Damien Snow         Drums: Jesse Wormald                  Percussion: Lachlan O’Driscoll                Keys:     Taui Pinker

Director Kimberley Shaw has decades of experience and indeed it shows. This show hit the road running, with a colourful and powerful opening number. The cast was clearly spoken with just a hint of an American accent. Most of the action took place on the stage of the Boston theatre, so the cast was constantly in view and intermingled well. Static casts can kill a show. The standard of acting and the characterisation were superb. The vitality and vocals were amazing throughout.

This is a very funny show, with the added interest of a murder to solve. The quality music, dancing and colourful costumes made it a show to remember.

The scripts are all crafted to be up to date with digs at the news and the celebrities of the moment.

This wonderful panto is being staged by The Wembley Theatre Company in the Wembley Community Centre, 40 Alexander Street in Wembley.

The performances are at 7.00 pm on Friday nights, with matinées only at 2.00 pm on the Saturday and Sunday until Sunday 6^th November.

Scene:                   somewhere in the universe

Set and props:                   ingeniously designed with built-in humour, by Suzanne Croston. Space craft, Humpty’s wall, and a jail.

Set construction:              A huge amount of work for Suzanne Croston

Backdrop:           Fabulous village and mountain scene by Suzanne Croston

Lighting design:                 Jude Croston packed in plenty of colour and effects.

Soundscape and sound effects:                  Phil Wolter’s work included spaceships and light-hearted music. He was assisted by Mark Jackson who was the tech. operator

Costumes:           Clare Collins and Suzanne Croston, created outrageous outfits. From the silver lurex catsuit, to the scruffy Wott and Knott. Humpty Dumpty was impressive and the costume practical.

Stage crew and curtain operators:            Aimee Croston, Karen Ellis, Barbara Harvey, Tracy Richards, Flavie Waters, Graham Davies all swift and efficient.

Make-up:            Jordan Jackson has given us, amongst others, the rosy cheeked Dame, a wonderful chicken and the two uglies, Wott and Knott. Princess Glenda and boo hiss, Pangea! (Whose name means ‘the whole earth’, which she intends conquering.

A human looking robot, Humpty Dumpty Hum2Dum2 (Tom Ellis), has gone missing along with secret files that could be used to end the reign of the evil Queen Pangea (Suzanne Croston). In desperation, Prince Jaywalker (Kate Richards), the heroic leader of the rebel forces, sets off to find the Egg.

In panic, Queen Pangea has sent her nasty sons, Wott (Kathy Sampson) and Knott (Alli Hodgen) to get to Humpty first. However, Humpty has crash-landed on Planet Pantomime thus losing his memory. He is invited into the home of local benefactor, Delilah Scaraway (Peter Niblett), known as the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe.

Humpty meets some good friends, Gertie Chicken (Una Kristins), Glenda (Natalie Kettle) and Aladdin (Ella Hardy-Atkins). The two policemen Constable Painting (Gray Ray) and Constable Dull (Grace Garvey) try to help but they are not too bright.

Adele (Marisha Davies) meets one of the spaceship’s crew, handsome Hugo (Samuel Sparkes) and they are instantly in love.

Humpty meets many others like Chew Cracker (Layla Hefferman), the Knave of Hearts (Callum Fairweather), Pizza The Hutt (Mani Dashti) and the Clones (Pierce Brady and Audrey Hodgen) but who can Humpty trust?

The director, Bryce Manning, created several entrance points for the cast. Often taking the actors through or around the audience. The children seated on the floor in front of the stage seemed unfazed whilst mingling with the baddies.

Many of the cast were experiencing their first time on the stage, and yet with Bryce Manning’s superb guidance they all gave us a really outstanding pantomime. Everyone spoke boldly and clearly. They knew their characters and adapted with facial expressions and bodily functions – oh dear, Tony has really got through to me – bodily movements. The dialogue flowed naturally and even some of the younger cast members were interacting with the audience brilliantly. The Dame of the show was once again Peter Niblett, an absolute natural, his rapport being amazing. With Bryce’s direction and Peter’s exuberance, the youngster followed on. The panto was fast and furious.
Then of course you need the heroes, the idiots – Wott and Knott – the useless policemen, the drooling loving couple and the baddies. From the beautiful, but totally ruthless Queen Pangea, Suzanne knew how to push all the children’s buttons, without upsetting or frightening the smallest.

Pantomimes must have fun songs, colour, hilarious outfits, stupidity and allowing the children to feel that they are in control – by shouting ‘behind you’ – without them taking over. One of the best pantos I have seen for some time.

TREMENDOUS. Loads of laughs and groans.

If you have two or three children or siblings, you will know that although you were all treated equally as children, the outcome can be vastly different. This Price family are very typical. This is NOT a dreary home sitcom, but a gripping play that will have you enthralled throughout, with possibly a few tears.

Presented by the Melville Theatre Company at the Melville Theatre on Stock Road in Melville, the season of this 135-minute production is being presented on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8.00 pm, until Saturday 12th November. There are Sunday matinées at 2.00 pm.

Tickets from www.taztix.com.au/event/melvilletheatre.

The Scene:           2018. A suburban house and garden in Hallett Cove, in the southern suburbs of Adelaide.

The Set: Designed by Vanessa Jensen, the stage is split in two by the virtual outside wall of the sitting room. The back door (just the frame) leads out into a garden with its large aging gum tree and a wooden bench.

The interior is a loungeroom with a small kitchenette. It is minimalistic in design and furnishings. The walls and kitchen units are pure white. The carefully arranged pictures on the wall are blank white pictures in black frames. The round dining table has four chairs, all of which are matte black wood. A black leather chair is in the corner.

The effect is perfect, with no distraction to the intense story and magnificent dialogue.

Set construction:              Super quality by Lars Jensen, Peter Bloor, Sue Lynch, Ross Bertinshaw, Jacob Jensen and Barbara Lovell.

Lighting design:                Lars Jensen. Lars has a great eye for creating the seasons in the garden and moods of the characters. Fabulous use of colour tones.

Sound design:                    Lars Jensen has given us a rich soundscape. From the ice-cream van to the changing wildlife throughout the year. His recordings were not clipped (as is so often the case) and are clear. The music for the opening scene was a bass guitar and a rasping saxophone. At the end of the play, was a meaningful clip from Leonard Cohen.

Technical operator:         Vanessa Jensen – slick.

Costumes:           Michelle Sharp has selected attires that immediately confirm the person’s character.

Stage manager:                by the highly efficient, Clare Talbot.

Late teenager, Rosie (Marie-Eve Cigna) having just returned from a tour of Europe is back home in the garden, soaking in the security of the things she has known so well over the years. In secret she tells her surroundings of her adventurous trip, and the romance that took her into new territory.

Then comes the family’s welcome home greetings. From her loving, but at times overbearingly caring mum, Fran (Natalie Burbage) a hospital nurse and her retired father, Bob Price (Phil Barnett) who for decades worked in the local car factory, but who now spends most of his days manicuring his roses and cleaning up the already immaculate garden.

Moving to her father’s pride, the rose bed, is the elder daughter, Pip (Ruhama Rowe) happily married with two children and is an achiever at work. She tells us of her family and a new opportunity at work.

In the sitting room, is quiet shy Mark (Thomas McCracken) who has always been close to his younger sister, Rosie the two practically being like a set of twins. The next arrival is the older brother Ben (Thomas Dimmick), a born businessman, who by the age of 30 has already acquired significant wealth.

Join the strongly bonded Price family as they stagger their way – season by season – through a difficult year.

Each person’s story is not simply a quick hackneyed mention, but a richly written tale, interwoven with the whole family’s identity. Powerfully and yet sensitively directed by Vanessa Jensen. At times you will have plenty of laughs with the comedy, but then several cringes as you see your own relatives vividly paraded before you.

The caring, plodding father just accepts the family as it has always been. The domineering but intensely loving mother can see through her children. The children? Well, they are children, pushing their luck and developing their own characters. Every family member had their moment of intense drama, perfectly displayed by an extraordinarily strong cast.

With a fabulous well observed script, an innovative set, quality teching and dazzling acting, could it be that this multi-award-winning director has another ‘Play of the Year’ in her hands? An amazing play of the highest quality.

What do the audience do at the end of a poignant play like this?  Whoops of appreciation are out. Stunned silence would be understandable, but for the actors to know that they have been truly appreciated, a prolonged round of applause with perhaps your hands in the air whilst clapping could be the correct response.
A MUST-see production.

Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks in 1937) having dozens of films and television plays on his resume, is an instantly recognisable actor, but one that few can put a name to. He wrote this comedy masterpiece 46 years ago, basing the play in Stephney in the east end of London, where many of the population were Russian Jewish refugees. After a brief spell in America, where his father tried unsuccessfully to find work, the family returned to London.

This show was staged 16 years ago at The Bakery with virtually the same admirable cast, and it is really wonderful to see these very well-known faces rising from the dead to bring us this five-laughs-a-minute show.

This unique 75-minute, fastmoving one act play is presented by The Wembley Theatre Company at the Kaos Room at The Blue Room Theatre, in Northbridge on the 13, 14 and 15^th October at 7.30 pm, and then The Goodwill Club, in The Rechabites Hall, 224 William Street, Northbridge on the 19, 20 and 21^st October 7.00 pm.

If you have not been in the Rechabites for several years, be prepared for a shock. It has a smart ballroom – if that is still the correct term – several bars and a top-notch restaurant. This play was staged in the disco room in the basement.

There are many Jewish terms used throughout the play, the title Kvetch means whinger. A Goy is a derogatory word for a non-Jew. Shiksa derogatory for a gentile woman. Most of the terms can be understood in the context.

The Scene:          East end of London, in the rundown house that is home to a middle-aged couple and their obnoxious relative.

Set:        Four white wooden chairs a dining table with a large thick, white linen tablecloth.

The style of the play is one of normal dialogue but coupled with an action freeze when an actor, as an aside, will express their actual thoughts or anger. The ultimate in schadenfreude.

Middle-aged Frank (Peter Clark) has just returned home from his tiresome job of selling imported material to rich arrogant and underserving businessmen like George (Mike Hodgen).

Frank’s beautiful bubbly wife, Donna (Summer Williams) greets him and asks him to take a seat at the table as his meal is almost ready. After a terrible day at work and fighting through the traffic Frank is at breaking point. He smiles at Donna; says how much he is looking forward to her superb delicacies and then turns to the audience to gives us the genuine facts about her diabolical cooking. Frank sits next to an old woman dressed in widow’s weeds. She is his mother-in-law (Helen Munt) a sour faced woman with unsavoury habits.

Next day at work, Frank is talking to Hal (Matt Penny) who has sadly just lost his wife. To cheer him up Frank invites Hal back to the house for a meal – without warning Donna. A dangerous move!

Directed with limitless imagination by Bryce Manning this play gallops along at a cracking pace. From the Kvetch Frank, the miserable mother, a fawning wife and the quiet caring Hal, the laughs get louder and more frequent. This cast have some difficult tongue-tying lines to tackle and others that you would not wish to repeat at home. Peter was manic as Frank, for the whole play he had steam coming from his ears. Broken hearted Hal (Matt) was delightful as the kind loving friend who put on a brave face whilst inwardly crumbling. Summer was taken way out of her comfort zone as she gave lengthy revelations about her most intimate love life and desires. Great support from Helen and Mike as the other cogs in the broken machine.

We all have to admit we have workmates and relatives that we have to hold back on, and not to say what we really think. The dialogue is cruel and at time horrendous BUT so funny. This play says things that you just wish you had the courage to voice yourself.

If you missed this masterpiece it will probably be round again in another 16 years.

Fabulous much-loved cast with humour at its absolute best, delivered immaculately.

The Scene: New Jersey in the mid-1920s. The actual problem ran from 1917 to 1942.
The set design: Ellis R. Kinnear has kept it simple. With so many locations, full scene changes would have killed the pace.
Set construction: Ellis R. Kinnear, Sacha Emeljanow, Alex Comstock, and Jason Dohle have made a tall, small-paned window overlooking a blank wall of the adjoining building.
Sound design: In the four years since Sacha Emeljanow started Curtin Uni, she has tackled most aspects of theatre, all with notable success.
Lighting design and operation: John Woolrych at his best.
Stage manager: Sacha Emeljanow. Most scenes have symbolic or token props, so despite there being 26 scenes in the play, every scene change takes a mere 5 seconds. Great planning and instant movement when the lights go down at the end of each scene.
Wardrobe: Merri Ford has conquered the era beautifully, from the news reporters’ garb to the bosses’ suits, from the workers’ aprons to their Sunday best.
Promotion photography and programme: Great work by Rosalyn Anderson

In 1926, Grace Fryer (Abbey McCaughan – fabulous), is working in a factory making aircraft instruments. She and her two best friends, Kathryn Schaub (Georgina Teakle) and Irene Rudolph (Alexandra D’Ulisse) are painters. They put the luminous paint dots on the dials of night fighters and luminous watches. When some of the girls get severe mouth ulcers or feminine problems, their complaints are dismissed as poor hygiene or loose living by the factory’s doctor.
The well-respected owner of the company, Dr Sabin Von Sochoky (Jason Dohle – powerful) suspects that there is another cause, the radium paint they work with. So, becoming sick himself, he sells the company to Arthur Roeder (Brett Hamilton – quite detestable) a ruthless capitalist, with a tough staff supervisor, Mrs MacNeil (Audrey Poor).
The staff continue to have health problems, so Madame Curie (Carmen Dohle) is invited to tell them how radium actually cures cancer and definitely does not cause it. Tom (Alex Comstock) Grace’s boyfriend believes in the benefits of radium.
Grace is soon plagued by the local journalists (Alli Huefner, Alex Comstock) needing a big story.
The Company’s lawyer, Bailey (Travis Koch) warns of massive trouble brewing. Miss Katherine Wiley (Daniela Barbosa) a Civil Rights supporter and defender of the little man calls to see Grace.
Who will win?

This story starts quite slowly as the scene is being set, but with a great deal of skill the director – Ellis R Kinnear – and his strong cast, gradually increase the pace. The tension rises and more workers’ problems come to light. We see Abbey – as Grace in a most moving performance – as she becomes more disabled. Heart-rending.
Soon the newspapers and the lawyers are like vultures fighting over a dying corpse. Towards the end of the play, the suspense and frustration were stunningly portrayed.
There were no small parts, everyone had to be portrayed with conviction and power. Many of the actors had two or more characters, with different attitudes and accents; this was no barrier, they just slipped from a quiet caring individual to a loud heartless person within seconds.
A challenging play to stage and on a topic that may not sound interesting in comparison to today’s business, but it is riveting. Based a hundred years ago, with the workers’ rights and meddling newspapers, it could easily have been last week. Nothing changes.
Highly recommended.

This brand new 75-minute (no interval) show ‘Woof’ has its season from Wednesday 12th October to the Saturday the 15th in The Studio Theatre, Subiaco Arts Centre, 180 Hamersley Road, Subiaco with curtain up at 7.30 pm.

This set of short plays is brought to you by writers from Boorloo/Perth (Megan Rundle, Tim Lorian) and Naarm/Melbourne (Matthew Nixon, Honor Webster-Mannison).

Set, lighting design and operator:             Daniela Da Costa and Anaïs Popoff-Asotoff. Good atmospherics with carefully positioned lamps on stands.

The set:                To the left was an old settee with blanket over it. Behind, on a high podium was a toilet bowl. Centre stage, two-metre-wide white drapes went from ceiling to floor. To the right was a garden trellis with a park café table and chairs, again on a metre high podium.

Sound design:                    Tim Lorian and Matthew Nixon. Some fun sound effects.

Tech/Designers: Elsa Silberstein, Nicholas Warrand and Sophie Minissale, well thought-out.

Graphic Designer:             Nicholas Warrand has produced twelve outstanding colourful paintings of various breeds of dogs. These were hanging on the rear wall with spotlights picking out each picture.

Photographer:   Sophie Minissale’s programme photography was unusually good, both in lighting and composition.

Costumes and properties:             Megan Rundle and Tim Lorian

As a link between each story are a couple of dogs (Ben Nixon and Mikey Isitt) having a series of hilarious brief discussions about – amongst other things – the human neighbours and the toilet facilities.

Walter:                 written by Megan Rundle

When a couple who have just met wake up in the morning from a drunken stupor, their world collapses. The girl (Anna Harris) has been house and dog sitting for her friend, but Walter the dog has disappeared. In tears she asks the boy (Alex Hutchings) to help her find the friend’s crusty, little white dog.

Commitment Team:        written by Tim Lorian

Three quite different dogs (Rebecca Collin, El Finnie, Shannon Rogers) rough, smooth and elegant have lived together for a long time and two of them have just discovered they are about to be moved. Great discussions between the three as they recall past memories.

Hit:        written by Matthew Nixon

The apocalypse is about to take place. A man (Benjamin Quirk) with a gun in his hand herds his so-called best friend (Anna Harris) into a secure area. The man is about to go and live with his partner in a much safer area.

Dogterrain:        written by Honor Webster-Mannison

A couple of friends a parttime Clown (Anna Harris) and dog pound worker (Rachael Chamberlain) are in a building with high security that checks their every movement.

This not a collection of 15 minutes plays just thrown together. Each is a well-conceived idea, richly developed and then had a sprinkling of humour added. The quality of the dialogue is exceptional, with up-to-date references and an insight to how the younger gerneration think and behave.

The inventive directors, Tim Lorian and Megan Rundle have gathered an experienced cast, all of whom have a dry sense of humour with great delivery. To round off the writing and cast chemistry, Dramaturgist, Rupert Williamson has ensured the four plays blend together. There are hilarious moments and dark times, but no jarring links.

A very pleasant evening with quality entertainment.

This co-production is a joining of Curtin Theatre Arts and the Centre for Culture and Technology, whose research areas are concerned with disability representation in the media.

This stunning 90-minute (no interval) stylistic production is by the Hayman Theatre Company, in the Hayman Theatre in Curtin University, Bentley. The play’s storyline is contemporary but heavily dependent on Shakespeare’s Richard lll, now based in a high school and with a few new twists.

The performances are nightly at 7.00 pm, until Saturday 15^th October

As the playwright said, he hoped to “re-examine tired tropes about the disabled, create stories for people we’re not otherwise seeing, hire more disabled artists, and carry out a ground-up reconsideration of how theatres embrace the mantle of inclusion”.

This project, as well as tackling accessibility issues for disabled individuals, is having shows for the deaf and hard-of-seeing audience members, with Wednesday night’s show (Oct 12) having an AUSLAN-interpreted performance and Friday night’s show (Oct 14) will be audio-description supported.

Scene:   Roseland. An American High School

Set:        A ramp for wheelchairs leading to a high podium. Matte black 60 cm cubes as seating.

Props:   Ella Randle

Production Manager:     Stephen Carr

Lighting:              Excellent mood lighting by Katharina Brieden

Audio Visual Designer:   Sebastian Boyd has employed Richard lll’s mobile phone on his wheelchair and projected his thought and conversations onto a screen at the rear of the stage. The demise of Richard is signified by the melting of his crown – very clever AV work.

Stage Manager:                Paige Celenza helped keep the play’s pace up.

Sixteen years old Richard (Crystal Nguyen understudied by Zoe Garciano) is a disabled student who is constantly bullied and mocked by the other students; he is even looked down upon and spoken to in a patronising way by the kinder ones. In his group there is another student, Buck (Elysha Hayes) who is struggling to cope with a leg disability. Their tutor, Elizabeth (Lilian Tran) is a caring dedicated optimist.

For years, the school’s loud-mouthed footballer and heartthrob, Eddi (Rhys Healy) has been House President. Eddi’s latest conquest is dancing student, Anne Margaret (Tiandra Seal). Richard has watched as this egotist has converted the students to his warped way of thinking.

Richard decides that something must be done, he will stand in the next election as an ambassador for all. However, Bible thumping Clarissa (Josie Walsh) decides she too should stand and ‘save’ the school from the Devil’s sin.

The battle is on!

Costume Designer Danika Bentley and her costume assistant Lizzie McLean have created a school uniform of white shirts with a college badge and scarlet skirts or trousers. Well styled and fitted.

Dan Graham is a talented guest director (also with a disability) who has been flown over from Sydney especially to direct this production. With his Assistant Director and award-winning playwright, WA’s very own Dr Suzanne Ingelbrecht the show became one of the most powerful and brilliantly conceived that I have seen for many months.
Five years ago, ex-Curtin theatre student Kate Mulvaney OAM, who also has a serious spine problem, played Richard lll at the Sydney Opera House.

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/richard-3-review-kate-mulvany-masterful-as-bards-crippled-villain-20170424-gvqznf.html

I have seen Crystal in several plays over the past couple of years and each time she leaves you impressed by her acting skills, not as a disabled actor, but quite simply as a most capable performer. In this play Crystal really had a chance to prove how exceptional she is. For 90 minutes, non-stop, Richard was on the stage grabbing the audience by the throat and making them listen to every word he said.
Occasionally she would find herself slightly off her mark for lighting, but imperceptibly she managed to creep the wheelchair into the correct position whilst still delivering her complex dialogue. Her power of voice, the emotions in the delivery, her expressive face that with a slight flicker of an eyelid hinted at Richard’s devious thoughts and aims – amazing. When his college friends became condescending, Richard would regain power by quoting intricate passages from Shakespeare that left them floored.
The other cast members had a full understanding of their multifaceted characters, sometimes showing warmth but mostly expressing anger, frustration and cruelty to each other. No one was what they seemed at first. Tremendous cast chemistry throughout.
Thankfully, within seconds the audience totally forgot the wheelchair, and within a minute we accepted that the lead was a powerful actor. This part called for Richard’s disability to be at the fore and to be willing to have cruel comments thrown at Richard throughout the play. Truly, Crystal’s courageous performance was the best I have seen this year in both community and professional theatre. I cringe to think that an able-bodied actor would be asked to play this part. This is a clever play that should not be missed, it was funny, sad, invoked anger and admiration. WOW!. The standing ovation was well deserved.