MUCTG’s production of Room 648 takes on an adaptation of Ray Cooney’s 1990 British farce Out of Order. A simple affair between a government official and a secretary from the opposition grows more and more complicated with the appearance of spouses, the hotel manager, a nosy concierge and a corpse. This already complex plot is further convoluted by intricate set and props, physical comedy and constant costume changes, … Continue reading Room 648: Five Star Farce
Mudcrabs: The Box Set, opened last night for the first of their four night run, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. A lively demonstration of sketch comedy, Mudcrabs’ nine members demonstrated varying levels of commitment to pull off an energetic and rousing performance. With nudity, defiance of heterosexual norms and an array of accents, this eclectic show is guaranteed to present a sketch … Continue reading Mudcrabs: A Set of Successful Sketches
The Mudcrabs’ contribution to Melbourne Fringe Festival was Mudcrabs in Space, a sketch comedy show that surprisingly, doesn’t have that much to do with space. The opening of the show wasn’t particularly funny, unfortunately, simply featuring the seven comedians repeating one joke again and again, getting increasingly louder. It was predictable, but definitely wasn’t an indicator of what was to come, for it was followed by … Continue reading Out-Of-This-World Comedy
From the minute the audience entered the Guild Theatre we were transported into the gritty and dreamlike world of FLW’s Who’s Afraid of the Working Class. The set – a garbage tip, mattresses and a table – radiated well-coordinated chaos. The live music was urban and surreal, and the actors frozen in their positions on stage already grounded us in their world. Who’s Afraid of … Continue reading First Class Performance
Remember Ronald Ryan. This phrase is a powerful conceit, and that’s not just because of the convenient alliteration. Those three words aren’t just there to provide the absolute shortest summary of a play possible, but to make a promise: that after two emotional acts, you will remember Ronald Ryan, the last man to be hanged in Australia. Queen’s College Music and Drama Society kept this … Continue reading A Play to be Remembered
A grey morning. Two tired uni students have a conversation. Claire Ferguson talks with Rachel Shrives, Assistant Director of UHT’s Macbeth + macdeath: a coda. What are one or two of the key elements of your production of Macbeth? Macbeth in a few words is about over turning the natural order. By natural order, I mean privileges that we’re given that we don’t question, being … Continue reading Macbeth: Interview with Rachel Shrives
“Nine new Australian works is more than you will ever see in one season of main-stage theatre,” Jean Tong rightly announced before the start of Tastings, a series of new Australian plays hosted by the UMSU Creative Arts Office. Coinciding with the 2017 season launches of major theatre companies around the nation (again highlighting the consistent lack of Australian work on the main stage) Tastings … Continue reading Time For the Main Course
