The opening set is of a stage and backdrop made of the same wooden panels as the theatre wall. When the scene moves to Arden, the forest scene is truly breath-taking, and combined with the glorious autumn lighting brought gasps. (Set design, Christina Smith assisted by India Mehta; with Matt Scott as lighting designer).

       Being the eldest son, Oliver (Brett Dowson) has inherited most of his father, Sir Rowland de Bois’s estate. Instead of looking after his younger brother, Orlando (James Sweeny – brilliant), Oliver decides to keep all of the inheritance and even sacks the old family retainer, Adam (Igor Sas). When Duke Frederick’s (Geoff Kelso) court wrestling champion, Charles (Andy Fraser) hears that Orlando has challenged him to a fight, the wrestler promises Oliver that he will thrash his brother.

      Duke Senior (Geoff Kelso) has had his lands appropriated by his brother, Duke Frederick, and has fled to the Forest of Arden, to live rough with his exiled courtiers. Duke Senior’s schoolgirl daughter, Rosalind (Jovana Miletic – superb) and her cousin, Celia (Grace Smibert – excellent) are like sisters, and so the Duke Frederick allows them to live together.

      When Orlando fights the wrestler, the two girls watch and drool over Orlando’s triumph. When the popinjay organiser, Le Beau (Brendan Hanson) introduces them to the winner, Rosalind instantly falls in love with him, and he with her. The old servant, Adam (Igor Sas) warns Orlando that the Duke will be furious and that they too should take shelter in the Forest of Arden.

     Furious at the fight result, Duke Frederick banishes Rosalind from his court. She flees to the Forest with Fredrick’s daughter, and the court jester, Touchstone (Luke Hewitt). Two young women wandering in the woods is not a good idea, and so to ensure their safety, Rosalind dresses as a young man – calling herself Ganymede, whilst Celia dresses as a shepherdess and becomes Aliena.

       Duke Frederick orders Oliver to find his daughter, Celia or have his lands confiscated. Meanwhile, an exhausted Orlando and his starving companion, Adam, are welcomed into the Duke Senior’s group.

      Rosalind and Celia, still in disguise, also arrive in the forest and meet the rather dim shepherd, Corin (Greg McNeill) and his hapless assistant, Silvius (Nick Maclaine) who is desperate for the love of ‘rough’ Phebe (Cecelia Peters). Then Rosalind meets her dream, Orlando, wandering through the woods, he believes she is a man and tells ‘him’ of his dearest love Rosalind. Ganymede promises to cure Orlando of lovesickness by giving him love lessons.

    The Duke Senior’s melancholic attendant Jaques (Steve Turner) like to bring doom to every situation, and sitting on a large log in the forest he quotes ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players’ i.e. life is pointless in his mind.

    Deep in the forest, Touchstone has found a goat herder, Audrey (Caitlin Beresford-Ord). She is keen to be married but Touchstone is in no rush.

    Will anyone be married in the end? What will become of the cruel uncle, Duke Frederick?

The inventive and inspirational director, Roger Hodgman and his talented assistant, Lawrie Cullen-Tait have brought a wonderful fresh approach to this loved play. Every member of the cast was given their 5-minutes of fame, some as musicians but most as comedians. The personalities of every single character was alive, and filled with fun with not a weak link in the large cast.

The costumes were colourful and inventive (Christina Smith assisted by India Mehta) and immediately spelled out the required personality. Jennifer Edwards costumes were perfectly crafted, with help from Lexi Hobbs and intern Jennifer Stewart. Stage manager, Peter Sutherland and his assistant Liam Murray made the scene changes practically invisible.

Recently, composer and sound designer, Ash Gibson Greig has been in great demand, but every time he pulls a wonderful score out of the air, that matches the mood perfectly. Fight co-ordinator, Andy Fraser has been around for decades, helping and advising hundreds of actors and students on the art of fighting; so it was pleasing to hear a mutter of admiration as Andy came on dressed as the bold wrestler. The fight that ensued – with James Sweeny – must be one of WA theatre’s best ever.

An old favourite, brought up to date without spoiling the Bard’s work. Highly recommended for a fun night out.

This brave, bold company was created by two of the ‘The Pillowman’ actors, uncovers new avenues of theatre, focusing on different techniques and physical theatre. In 2013, American-Irish actress and creative inspiration, Rebecca Virginia Williams, joined the group as their director.

The two and a half hour shows run nightly until Saturday 19^th April at 8.00 pm.

The scene is an office in a police station, in an undemocratic country. There is a table and three chairs. The back ground consists of two, white translucent screens.

          Seated on a chair, with a black bag over his head, is Katurian (Jordan Gallagher) a pleasant young writer, who has written a series of ghastly short stories that are supposedly fiction but have been found to have a vivid resemblance to murders of local children.

        These three brutal murders are being investigated by the smiling Detective Tupolski (Garreth Bradshaw) whose mood can swing in a split second. His colleague is Detective Ariel (Bryn Coldrick) a sadistic thug who hates retarded people and paedophiles. On seeing the resemblance of the murders to the stories they decide to interrogate Katurian in their own thorough way.

       Whilst searching Katurian’s house, they discover his introverted, mentally challenged brother, Michal (Kiefer Moriarty-Short). Katurian is devastated on finding out that Michal has been talked into confessing to the child murders and, despite being in custody is determined to come to his rescue. But will the detectives listen to him?

This is a beautifully constructed drama with precise dialogue that holds you on edge for the whole performance. The marvellous director is Rebecca Virginia Williams, who has brought the ‘brothers’ of the play over from Sligo in Ireland. Rebecca has also selected from our local talent, Bryn Coldrick – who was recently glorious in ‘The trial of Judas’ – and Garreth Bradshaw, one of WA’s best directors, to take the other two parts. Garreth managed to produce and retain a most acceptable Irish accent throughout.

There are two very powerful and demanding acts, but the whole cast kept up the pace and drama without faltering. There was convincing violence with some very threatening moments, but nothing that would stay with you and thanks to the finely blended humour, unlikely to cause sleepless nights. No doubt, the amazing performances would probably take the actors hours to unwind.

Costume designers, Leah Toyne and Amy Murray have given a great deal of thought to the costumes, dressing the two brothers simply, giving them a vulnerable appearance. Tupolski was in totally in black – shirt, suit and overcoat; Ariel was in a black leather jacket, this made the pair look like Nazis.

The white screens were used throughout to display the projected silhouettes of the characters depicted in Katurian’s stories as they were being related. This live art was by Nic Doig. The lighting was very well designed (Rebecca Thompson) with powerful spots at floor level to head height, this gave harsh dramatic shadows and, with the new LED lamps, the perfect colour tone. The sound design called for some unusual effects, but Drew Krapljanov conquered the challenge well.

This topic of this play looks horrendous, but with such a clever script and magnificent, well directed performances, this could well be the outstanding play of the year. All theatre students should see this play to let them know what true acting is all about. If you appreciate quality, try and get a ticket, but with only 80 tiered seats in the auditorium be quick. Outstanding.