Lessons in Love [by Sharu Delilkan] The tension was palpable from the start. Between the Sheets opens with a go-getting high-flying power suit-wearing woman Marion (Jennifer Ward-Lealand) grilling her son’s teacher Teresa (Beth Allen) on his successes, failures, weaknesses and future. The beauty of Canadian playwright Jordi Mand’s writing is that we think we know the premise of the show, […]
Not the Six O’Clock News… but close enough [by James Wenley] Recall when Judy “Mother of the Nation” Bailey had to read the auto-cue about herself on the six o’clock news when her pay packet became a top news story? That’s one way to respond when the newsreaders become the newsmakers: continue on as normal. Now imagine if Judy Bailey had […]
Enough said? [by Matt Baker] While I wholly appreciate writer/creator Miranda Harcourt’s personal sentiment that “The poetry of the way real people speak has always been [her] favourite form”, I cannot help but reflect on exactly how it is that verbatim theatre has the ability to make the impact that it can. Recently, I was confronted with the contention that […]
Acting on the Camino Real [by James Wenley] At the Camino Real, to borrow from The Eagles, you can check in any time you like, but you can never leave. To mark the public debut of the second crop of actors from the industry-geared The Actors’ Program, Benjamin Henson directs them in arguably Tennessee Williams’ most experimental and misunderstood work: […]
Give ‘em the old tit-ill-ation [by James Wenley] If you think you know Chicago, leave your expectations at the theatre door. The stockings haven’t just been rolled down, they’ve been ripped completely off in this down and dirty, hyper-sexualised re-imagining of the Kander and Ebb musical from the warped mind of virtuoso Michael Hurst. There’s jazz, and a whole lot […]
Suicide isn’t painless [by Sharu Delilkan] Another Dead Fag epitomises the essence of The Basement’s ethos. In this case it was not only about appreciating young playwright Sam Brooks’ uncanny ability to write insightful modern day dialogue, but it was about seeing some of the actors who also work at The Basement performing superbly on stage. Dan Veint (Seb) shines […]
And they play guitar too [by James Wenley] They begin with a bold conviction: “Love will break your heart”. It’s an idea – and lyric –that Midsummer repeatedly returns to, as the play’s lovers wistfully sing the phrase over their own spare guitar accompaniment. At the first this seems awfully unsentimental, but there’s something awfully romanticised about this idea too, […]
The Artist’s Muse [by James Wenley] For artists Einar and Gerda Wegener, 1920s bohemian Paris represents “exciting times”. War is over, cinema is changing the world, and in these enlightened times there is the sense that you can be whoever you want. Gerda (Alex Ellis), the portrait artist, is the “modern woman in trousers”, rejecting her gender’s traditional role; Einar […]
Shallow Beauty [by James Wenley] The Basement Studio feels roomier than normal; with seating pushed into the corner, we gaze out on a backyard bordered with rows of white sheets on a washing line, images of flowers delicately projected over them. There are more flowers of various hues in buckets on the Astroturf lawn that completely envelops the ground. Lying […]
Shared Tears [by James Wenley] Tragedy hovers over low-caste Sanichari. She has lost her husband, and as her play begins, her son lies painfully weak and in an agony of coughing. She will lose much more as the play continues: the characters that surround her – her blind mother, he daughter-in-law, and her young grandson – will too depart for […]
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