The Ten Best Sydney Theatre Shows to See This March
Autumn is the perfect time to see theatre in Sydney. But laidback shows these are not.
The Ten Best Sydney Theatre Shows to See This March
Autumn is the perfect time to see theatre in Sydney. But laidback shows these are not.
Take a John Bell-directed tour of Nazi-occupied Rome in the 1940s. Get a better understanding of House of Cards with a new take on Richard 3. See a Helpmann Award-winning 'murder ballad' return to the stage. Or brush up on your geopolitics and US-China relations before things start to get interesting in the South China Sea. Autumn wields quite a hefty stash of theatre for Sydneysiders, so we've picked the shows you should focus your attention on. They're not light, they're not cruisy, but they're the best on stage this month.
By Matt Abotomey, Kelly Pigram, Tom Clift and James Whitton.
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“Sometimes I think the only way to be truthful is to say nothing at all,” says Thuso Lekwape’s Johnny, reflecting on an evening spent with Charlotte’s (Contessa Treffone) parents. The sentiment may not completely sum up Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s latest production, but there is a sense that the play says an awful lot without conveying much of anything.
The Mystery of Love and Sex, written by Bathsheba Doran, centres around Charlotte and Johnny, two American college students who have been friends for an age. Their relationship is easy, comfortable, solid — a bond that romance would only confuse. Charlotte’s parents (Deborah Galanos and Nicholas Papademetriou) can’t get their heads around this and try to nudge the pair into something more clear-cut. But Charlotte’s in love with a girl from college. And Johnny has slept with a number of men he can’t stand. Both are confused and as things get more complicated, the friendship starts to fray.
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9
For Back to Back Theatre, a Geelong-based company renowned for pushing the envelope with their award-winning productions, a play about death is hardly outside the comfort zone. Lady Eats Apple is the company’s newest production — and it’s their most daring work to date. Taking the audience on an awe-inspiring, thought-provoking journey from the beginning of time to the present day, the performance is an otherworldly trip that engulfs you in a world of tragedy.
The concept for the play emerged when Simon Laherty, one of Back to Back Theatre’s six ensemble members, suggested the company devise a tragedy for their next production. The rest of the team took to the idea immediately, says artistic director Bruce Gladwin. “Death is always a confronting topic but it’s also something every single person eventually has to come to terms with, so we decided to run with the idea and see where we landed.”
Lady Eats Apple premiered in Melbourne last year and will be performed at Carriageworks throughout March. From the set to the score, nothing about the play conforms to expectations.
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8
If you’re the kind of person who is quick to take offence, you might want to give the latest play from writer Declan Greene a miss. Indeed, all you need to do is look at the title to know that The Homosexuals, or Faggots, is not the kind of show to pull its punches.
Fresh from a successful run at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre, Greene’s blistering social satire is heading to Griffin Theatre Company. You’ll follow Warren and Kim, a pair of wealthy gay men who find themselves in an awkward situation involving a politically incorrect costume party and an easily offended academic. What follows is a farce that takes the piss out of hypocrites on both the right and the left, and has been described by the playwright himself as one of the more provocative things he’s ever written.
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7
Guaranteed to set the staffroom afire with gossip and outrage, New Theatre wades into the prickly issue of teacher-student relationships with Evan Placey’s Consensual.
Seven years ago, Diane was 22, a teacher’s assistant just getting to grips with the blend of riot control and guile needed to haul adolescents through a class curriculum. She made a mistake and got too close to a student who took advantage of her.
Seven years ago, Freddie was 15, unhappy and a mess. A teenager, in other words. He was groomed by one of his teachers and bragged about it after the fact.
Now, Diane is a qualified teacher and trying to get a new Sex Ed programme through the skulls of her Year 11 class. When Freddie turns up looking to press charges, both versions of events are played out, but Placey isn’t interested in who’s right. Rather, Consensual promises an unflinching account of what we tell ourselves about the horrible things we do to other people.
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The phone hacking scandal that blew up in the UK about a decade ago doesn’t immediately strike one as brimming with feel-good stories. The demise of a smutty tabloid was about as close to a silver lining as it got. Nevertheless, after digging around in the News of the World’s ashes, playwright Tommy Murphy has come up with an unexpected prize: redemption.
Mary Peirse plays Mary-Ellen Field, a business adviser who was wrongfully fired for sharing private information about her client in the early 2000s. When news broke that a number of celebrities’ phones had been tapped by Rupert Murdoch’s News International, Field realised what had happened and began sharing her story. When she shared it with ABC journalist Mark Colvin, it started a friendship which ended up with Field… but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Belvoir’s artistic director Eamon Flack has described the company’s 2017 lineup as an attempt to “defy the cynicism and shittiness of the world”. Mark Colvin’s Kidney could well prove a much-needed antidote to the chaos. Or, at the very least, a comfortable place to sit while civilisation shreds itself.
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5
The team behind bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company’s latest project doesn’t care what your nan thinks is appropriate dinnertime conversation. There’s a lot being said about religion and politics at the moment, but there’s plenty not being said too. Or perhaps it’s just not being heard. The Laden Table won’t give you that luxury.
When three generations of two families, one Muslim, one Jewish, get together to observe Eid and Yom Kippur respectively, things are bound to get a little rowdy. Amidst stories of cultural differences and similarities, of old lives and new ones carved out in a foreign country, sits a secret that affects both families and is slowly worming its way into the light.
Devised as an antidote to ‘dinner table racism’, The Laden Table challenges not only the way society perceives certain groups, but the way in which they perceive each other. Co-writer Nur Alam has said that the project is about fostering understanding, but it’s not taking any prisoners along the way.
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4
Yes, it’s opera. Yes, there are bits that you probably won’t understand. Yes, you will have to spend almost your entire inheritance just to get in the door. BUT. It’s directed by John Bell. It’s set in Nazi-occupied Rome and there’s music in it that will grab you by the scruff of the neck, frog-march you to a clifftop and toss you off the precipice into a vast, shining sea of Opera Appreciation.
Cavaradossi, a painter, is giving a church a spruce up when an escaped prisoner busts in looking for sanctuary and aid. Cavaradossi helps Angelotti, but it places him squarely in the sights of the Fascist police chief Scarpia. Scarpia takes Cavaradossi prisoner and makes Tosca, his lover, an ultimatum. He will spare Cavaradossi’s life in exchange for Tosca’s affection. If she remains loyal to Cavaradossi, however, he will be put to death. Decisions, decisions.
Opera isn’t known for being the most inviting of mediums, but if you’ve always wanted to know what the bellowing and viking helmets is about, you could do much worse than a John Bell-led tour of 1940s Italy.
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3
After a season at Griffin that earned it three Helpmanns and a NSW Premier’s Literary Award, Angus Cerini’s ‘murder ballad’ is popping down the road to the Wharf Theatre.
With the original cast — Paula Arundell, Airlie Dodds and Shari Sebbens — returning, The Bleeding Tree tells the story of a mother and two daughters living in rural Australia who decide to give the man of the house his marching orders. The eviction notice comes in the form of a bullet. But where’s the best place to dispose of a body in a small town? And what will the neighbours think? The Bleeding Tree is just as much a study of community reactions to domestic violence as a revenge thriller.
Scoring praise for its pitch-black humour, sharp lyricism and taut revenge plot, The Bleeding Tree will hang you up by the heels until it’s good and done with you.
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2
You know the photo. The day after the Tiananmen Square massacre, a single protester, shopping bags in hand, stands in front of a column of tanks, bringing them to a standstill. It is arguably one of the defining images of the 20th century, yet its subject remains an enigma. Later this month, STC delves into the mystery of ‘Tank Man’s’ identity and the difficult topic of US-China relations with Lucy Kirkwood’s Chimerica.
Director Kip Williams describes the play as a “detective story” which uses the events at Tiananmen as its jumping-off point. The play tells the story of Joe (Helpmann Award winner Mark Leonard Winter), a photojournalist who witnessed the protests in China. Twenty years later, he receives word from a contact that Tank Man could still be alive. As Joe begins his search, the United States and China, whose relationship till this point has been limited to tense formality and diplomatic argy-bargy, threatens to escalate into open conflict.
With recent political developments being what they are, Chimerica is the perfect chance to brush up on your geopolitics before things start to get interesting in the South China Sea.
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Bell Shakespeare artistic director Peter Evans has teamed up with Australian stage and screen actor Kate Mulvany to bring to life one of the most manipulative, dastardly and downright evil characters ever to stand before the footlights.
Mulvany will play the notorious woman-hater and generally tasteless gent, which will undoubtedly lead to some tasty additional layers in the play and a fresh look at this gem of theatre and literature. Shakespeare’s classic play explores King Richard III’s Machiavellian acquisition of power and has essentially served as a textbook for most politicians from Henry Kissinger to… well, you can draw your own conclusions.
The themes of power, deceit and malevolence amongst the ruling elite that are central to the play, have been echoed throughout the ages. If you’re keen to get more out of House of Cards, this is a good place to start.
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