Reviews

Sign your privacy away as you enter one of the most confronting, personal theatre experiences of your life. The University of Queensland Drama Department in collaboration with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre brings a new type of theatre to the Anywhere Festival with Unspeakable Acts of Privacy.

This is not a performance, it is more than that; this is an experience. Unspeakable Acts of Privacy combines physical theatre, intimate one-on-one confrontations, iPhone applications and audience’s personal information to reflect a world where privacy is dead. This production exploits the audience’s privacy as it pushes and shoves them through awkward, confronting and downright violating experiences. But that’s essentially what this production is; violation at its very best.

Written May 18th, 2012.

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Told through narration, song and shadow puppetry Julian Running is the story of a young boy who finds himself on an adventure across the sea in a boat made of a jumping castle that was blown a way in a storm.

The show was created by Jenny Bismire who designed and directed the shadow puppet performance and Matt Perkins who was the writer and musician.

I went along to the opening night held in Our Place, a new bar located in the Brunswick Street Mall. With its tea pots and garden gnomes it certainly a different direction from the old hard core scene of Club 299.

Written May 18th, 2012.

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Oh the gremlins, those pesky creatures who have made home on the planet earth. I’m not talking about the fluffy ones that if you get them wet or feed them after midnight multiply into horrid beasts (although who knows maybe these ones do as well). I am talking about Roxoff, Mofball & Botolf Gromlot who along with the rest of the Gremlin clan have set up shop at Reverse Garbage with their latest venture the budget airline company Airlinius Hippopotamus.

Written May 18th, 2012.

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A highlight of Anywhere Theatre Festival, tonight was The Painted Feet Orchestra’s debut concert. A new collective of incredibly talented performers, this dynamic concert featured pieces that ranged from klezmer to Mozart accompanied with multi-disciplinary elements including dance, live painting, and lighting. The Painted Feet Orchestra is incredibly versatile in their repertoire from performers of stunning talent.

Written May 18th, 2012.

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Friday, May 18, 2012

Experience Kansas City

Who is ‘The Monster’? (Source: Anywhere Theatre Festival)
An interactive piece, This is Kansas City is a charming and intriguing scratch work which employs the use of mobile technology and imagination to create an interactive installation.

This is Kansas City is a promenade work in which participants navigate around Southbank, directed by remote messages received through the use of a mobile phone, to collect information on the enigmatic criminal referred to as ‘The Monster’. At designated locations, participants are given specific instructions while details of ‘The Monster’ emerge, so they can ultimately pass judgement on whether they think ‘The Monster’ is really as evil as it’s made out to be.

Written May 18th, 2012.

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Getting intimate with strangers

Taking the Anywhere Theatre Festival mantra by the horns, UQ Drama students performed anywhere, and what felt like everywhere, on the UQ campus during the performance of Unspeakable Acts of Privacy.

Woven through a range of mediums and locations, this Zen Zen Zo facilitated piece consisted of an extensive cast exploring the concepts of Intimate Theatre.

Written May 18th, 2012.

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Poetry with Heart

I want a heart that’s a double kick drum

And with that, we fell into the world of two lovers in a West End music shop, surrounded by vinyl’s and CD’s. Taking us back to the time when rhyme was the mainstay for storytelling, Besty Turcot and Eleanor Jackson purred song lyric loaded poetry to an intimate crowd gathered in the shop. They told the story of love between two women who were walking to different beats of the drum.

Written May 18th, 2012.

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Presented by Medley Theatre Company 20 High Street, Ashgrove QLD 4060 Breathtaking Welcome! Would you like a coffee? Take a seat, pull up a blanket. As I entered the performance space for the Medley Theatre Company’s When They Could Not Breathe, I was greeted with smiles, had a laugh, and shared a chat among fellow [...]

Written May 16th, 2012.

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Welcome to ‘Merica! Culture starts right here. Pop culture, that is.

In the words of the creators: “American culture has bulldozed the world. We’re all drowning in Jennifer Aniston.”

Tonight, we are asked to choose one main dish and two sides. By secret democratic ballot, our group chose “Friends”, Elmo and Michelangelo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle…READ MORE

Written May 14th, 2012.

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Mr Shakespeare, you are clever aren’t you.

In 30 minutes the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble reminded me, and showed my 5 year old for the very first time, how skilfull and captivating the words of the Bard of Avon are.

QSE captured Shakespeares goodness in a bottle, condensed it, pressed it down and let it refine to its core. Then in 30 minutes, they poured out Shakespeare concentrate to an eager Twilight Market audience on a balmy Saturday night…READ MORE

Written May 14th, 2012.

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On Mother’s Day we celebrate family. In Mother Country we converse with the convict women of Moreton Bay, mothers of the future Brisbane.

The State Library’s Queensland Terrace is framed by the Great Wall of China – a collection of teacups, saucers and crockery. As we enter, we are invited to interact with the performers, and to follow instructions as the play unfolds.

The performance is rated for mature audiences (MA 15+) and is an Anywhere Theatre Festival must-see. READ MORE

Written May 14th, 2012.

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Childhood is an exploration of the senses – physical and emotional. Fear, love, and wonder are stirred and brought to the boil in Lightning in a Kettle.

This is a night-time butoh performance at the Dragon Keep Playground, New Farm Park. Night-lights turn the roots of the Moreton Bay fig tree into a many-pillared temple.

The adult audience spread their picnic blankets in front of the wooden walkway littered with toys, and listen to the accordion lullabye…READ MORE

Written May 13th, 2012.

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In fair Verona, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life. In West End, Romeo and Juliet live, love and die in 30 minutes.

Welcome to Queensland Shakespeare’s express 30 minute versions of Shakespeare’s popular plays – Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet.

The ticketed performances will feature all three, and the taster sessions on May 11 and 12 each feature two….READ MORE

Written May 13th, 2012.

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The Black Fox seeks us here, he seeks us there. The Black Fox may find us … anywhere.

Black Fox Theatre style themselves as “a crack team of local writers,
poets and musicians” trained in the arts of theatre and guerrilla warfare who can and will perform in any style, anywhere, where you least expect it.

Written May 13th, 2012.

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I wasn’t going to do a review of this show, I noticed two people had reviewed it already and I thought that was probably enough for one show.

I wasn’t going to review this show, until tonight when I took my children to see it, and in the words of my 9 year old, “it was awesome!”

It was with some trepidation that we ventured up to the check in desk of Airolinius Hippopotamus from where we were escorted to a spot in the waiting room and my son was ushered into a seat on an unknown young lady’s lap.

Written May 12th, 2012.

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Oxford Girl Theatre Project (Woolcock Park, Red Hill)
Duration: 50 minutes

It was more than a bloody nose, it was murder.

Written May 12th, 2012.

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Babushka Cabaret (275 Macarthur Terrace, Eagle Farm)
Duration: 60 minutes

“Murder is always a mistake. One should never do anything one can’t talk about over dinner.” To sing such tales for your supper has perfect pitch.

Dressed in funereal black with blood-red highlights, Babushka Cabaret’s soaring vocals are heard to advantage in the empty two-story warehouse at Hamilton Reach.

Written May 11th, 2012.

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What do you do if you are six years old and you’ve had enough of people telling you what you can and can’t do? You hitch a ride on a giant bouncing castle and head out to sea for an amazing adventure of course. Being only six, Julian doesn’t realise the dangers that face him on his journey. Sea monsters, pirates and singing sirens all inhabit these waters. Can Julian escape the perils of the ocean and return to his family or is he destined for a more sinister fate?

Written May 11th, 2012.

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Sliding my iphone into flight mode and lining up to be checked in to First Class, everything looked in order. Everything except for the Gremlin that was touching my hair and the Gremlin dog that was sniffing at my leg. My bag had been whisked away for inspection and a strange man had been told to take a seat on my lap. Welcome to Hippopotamus Airlines.

Written May 11th, 2012.

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We want you to review the Anywhere Theatre Festival The Anywhere Theatre Festival has forty productions and 120 performances over ten days. We think we’re asking a bit much to expect Brisbane’s network of critics to cover it all. We hope they’ll see as much as they can, but man, will they need to get out [...]

Written April 12th, 2011.

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