Donna Portland

Donna Portland is a journalist with experience writing for a regional newspaper and is also the author of a self-help book published in 2020. A lifelong admirer of the arts, she has a particular passion for live performances, particularly stand-up comedy, theatre and music concerts. As a reviewer for What’s the Show, Donna combines her love of film with her flair for writing, delivering insightful critiques that celebrate creativity while offering thoughtful analysis.

Mary Jane – A Quietly Devastating Portrait Of Love And Resilience

30 May 202530 May 2025 Donna Portland

Mary Jane Rating

★★★★★

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Written by Amy Herzog | Directed by Rachel Chant | Presented by Mid Todo Productions at the Old Fitz Theatre

In Mary Jane, director Rachel Chant and playwright Amy Herzog deliver a moving, understated, and profoundly compassionate story. Set in New York, the play follows the life of Mary Jane, a single mother caring for her chronically ill son, Alex. With remarkable grace, humour, and resilience, she faces a cascade of challenges – yet never loses her grip on hope.

Eloise Snape brings quiet power and emotional authenticity to the role of Mary Jane. Her performance is restrained yet deeply affecting, anchoring the production with a sense of dignity and realness that never veers into sentimentality. Through her, the audience is drawn into a series of poignant, often heartbreaking moments.

Alex, born extremely premature, requires round-the-clock care. Mary Jane’s world is shaped by hospital visits, shifting diagnoses, and a rotating cast of support figures. Much of the play’s strength comes from the ensemble cast – Sophie Bloom (Hensser), Janine Watson, Di Adams, and Isabel Burton – who deftly inhabit multiple roles, from friends and neighbours to nurses and chaplains. Their seamless transformations mirror the changing stages of Mary Jane’s life and underscore the idea that help often arrives in different forms.

The fluidity of the staging – shifting from Mary Jane’s modest apartment to hospital waiting rooms and children’s wards – is handled with quiet elegance, thanks to production designer Soham Apte and stage manager Estelle Gomersall. Lighting design by Izzy Morrissey and Luna Ng, along with Alyx Dennison’s subtle musical cues, help shift tone and place without disrupting the flow.

The American accents, coached by Linda Nicholls-Gidley, were well executed across the cast – an impressive feat for an all-Australian ensemble. Director Rachel Chant handles the material with a light yet sure hand, allowing the play’s emotional weight to emerge organically, without melodrama.

Originally described by The New York Times as “the most profound and harrowing of Ms Herzog’s many fine plays,” Mary Jane is slow-burning and gentle, but never dull. It holds the audience with quiet force, unfolding with empathy and depth. It’s no surprise the work was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Play.

Presented by Mid Todo Productions and executive producer Chad Traupmann, this production of Mary Jane offers a rich, affecting night at the theatre. On now until 15 June at the Old Fitz Theatre, it’s the kind of intimate, beautifully crafted play that lingers long after the final scene. And yes – the pub upstairs does excellent food and drinks, making it a perfect evening out.

To book tickets to Mary Jane, please visit https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/book-now.

Photography: Phil Erbacher

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Heaven: The Longing Beneath The Surface

17 May 2025 Donna Portland

Heaven Rating

★★★★★

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Two spotlights. One long wooden bench. That’s all that occupies the simple stage. Yet from this minimal set emerges a richly layered, emotionally textured piece of theatre. Heaven is a quietly compelling two-hander that rests entirely on the shoulders of its actors, and both carry it with grace, depth, and humour.

In alternating monologues, Mairead (Lucy Miller) and Mal (Noel Hodda) each tell their side of a shared story. They never speak directly to one another, yet the interplay of their perspectives – tender, funny, and heartbreaking – creates a powerful sense of connection. The chemistry is in the contrast: Mairead is fiery, frustrated, and yearning for affection; Mal is warm, wry, and wrestling with a long-buried truth.

Set in a rural Irish town on the night of a mutual friend’s wedding, Heaven captures a pivotal moment in two lives quietly unravelling. Mairead, long disconnected from both her husband and daughter, finds herself tempted by an old flame. Mal, equally starved for intimacy, reveals his lifelong but unacknowledged attraction to young men – something he has kept hidden behind the veil of domesticity. His quip about fantasising over “Jesus” as a young altar boy is one of several unexpected, laugh-out-loud themes that punctuate the play’s poignant revelations.

Director Kate Gaul describes the couple as “great friends, warm to each other,” but with “huge parts of themselves they haven’t revealed.” That observation anchors the emotional core of Heaven. Each character has settled into a life that looks fine from the outside but feels hollow within. On this one night, their reflections hint at the fragile possibility of change – of choosing not comfort, but truth.

O’Brien’s writing is lyrical and intimate. There’s an authenticity in both characters that feels deeply human – flawed, funny, searching. If the title Heaven seems elusive at first, it may be because both characters are chasing their own vision of it, hoping to escape the quiet despair of lives not fully lived.

Performed in the intimate amphitheatre-style space of The Loading Dock Theatre at Qtopia Sydney, the production’s closeness intensifies its impact. Every line lands clearly, every expression matters. With only subtle musical cues, the emotional texture is carried entirely by the strength of the performances – and both Miller and Hodda deliver. Both are Australian yet their Irish accents sound authentic!

The venue itself is worth a visit. Located in the heritage-listed former Darlinghurst Police Station, Qtopia is the largest museum and cultural centre dedicated to queer history and culture in the world. With four buildings on site, it’s worth arriving early or staying after the show to explore. A bar onsite offers refreshments, and the audience – an even mix of ages and genders – added to the warm, community feel.

Presented by Bitchin Wolf, a theatre and film company devoted to bold, magical storytelling, Heaven runs until 31 May. The performance lasts 90 minutes without interval. Tickets are $45 general admission and $35 concession.

A moving, quietly radical meditation on love, regret, and identity, Heaven proves that even the simplest staging can hold a world of complexity.

Written by Eugene O’Brien | Directed by Kate Gaul | Presented by Bitchin Wolf at The Loading Dock Theatre, Qtopia Sydney

To book tickets to Heaven, please visit https://events.humanitix.com/heaven-at-the-loading-dock.

Photographer: Alex Vaughan

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Interwoven Lives: A Review of Various Characters

14 May 20259 May 2025 Donna Portland

Various Characters Rating

★★★★★

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‘Various Characters’ is an aptly titled play that explores the emotional terrain of six individuals, each living in their own world and caught in the tension between isolation and connection. Their lives – diverse, troubled, and at times tender – intersect by circumstance, creating a tapestry of modern identity, dislocation, and longing.

Set in early 21st-century Sydney, the play touches on themes of multiculturalism and cultural identity, exploring how difference both separates and defines us. Through these characters, we glimpse the struggle of living in a society where connection is craved but hard-won.

Each character wrestles with personal transformation. Nina (Georgia Da Silva) is plagued by uncertainty and fear; Raoul (Tony Goh) stumbles through his inability to express himself and fit into the community; Mile (Tate Wilkinson-Alexander) grapples with identity and the burdens of responsibility. Boris, played with wide-eyed charm by Maliyan Blair, lives in a romantic fantasy. Zita (Nashy MZ) attempts to exert influence on the world around her, while Greta, portrayed with particular depth by Kate Bookallil, seeks to rewrite her future and reclaim a sense of purpose.

Bookallil’s performance as Greta, a Croatian mother, is a standout – rich in authenticity, expression, and control. Her presence brings emotional gravity to the piece. Blair’s Boris is also noteworthy, his youthful optimism providing contrast to the more subdued characters.

Though engaging and evocative, the narrative at times lacked clarity. Some character motivations felt opaque, leaving the audience uncertain as to why certain events unfolded. Still, the emotional beats mostly land, offering poignant moments of insight.

Technically, the production was tight. Set changes were executed smoothly in near darkness, a testament to the cast’s discipline. The minimalist staging adapted cleverly to both indoor and outdoor settings, and the restrained use of music helped maintain focus on the dialogue and action.

Performed at Flight Path Theatre – appropriately named, given the frequent sounds filtering in from low-flying planes – the two-sided amphitheatre ensured an intimate viewing experience, with every seat offering proximity to the stage. The theatre holds 90-100 people and has a bar with snacks. The demographic of the crowd was mostly younger with a mix of ages and ethnicities.

Written and produced by Šime Knežević and directed by Victor Kalka, ‘Various Characters’ offers a glimpse into lives trying to make sense of themselves and each other. While not every thread resolves cleanly, the performance is heartfelt, timely, and thought-provoking.

This play has an approximate runtime of 80 minutes, with no interval. The season runs from May 7 to 17, 2025. To book tickets to Various Characters, please visit https://www.flightpaththeatre.org/whats-on/various-characters.

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Snakeface – A Young Woman’s Raw And Unfiltered Portrait

14 April 2025 Donna Portland

Snakeface Rating

★★★★★

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Written and performed by Aliyah Knight, Snakeface is an unapologetically raw solo performance that plunges the audience into the turbulent mind of a young black woman navigating love, identity, and self-worth in white Australia. Staged in an intimate, amphitheatre-style venue seating no more than 80 people, the sparse set and close quarters create a confessional atmosphere – almost as if we’ve been invited into Snakeface’s private reckoning.

The play unfolds as a 90-minute monologue – fast-paced, fragmented, and emotionally charged. Knight’s character spirals through thoughts and memories, swinging between the emotional highs and gut-wrenching lows of relationships: a girlfriend she adores but who drifts in and out of her life, predatory men, and the isolating ache of being unseen. These aren’t clean narrative arcs but messy, unresolved entanglements – mirroring the chaos within.

There are moments of levity, brief flashes of sharp humour that puncture the heaviness. Yet overall, the experience is intense, almost claustrophobic in its honesty. It’s not an easy listen – the sheer density of language and emotional weight can be exhausting – but it’s also riveting.

Knight’s sculptor identity is cleverly embedded in the staging. A large block of soft clay sits at the centre of the set, which she digs into and manipulates as the performance progresses. By the end, she’s covered in it – a visceral visual metaphor for how we mould and are moulded by our traumas, desires, and decisions. The mesh backdrop, which doubles as a projection screen, flashes fragmented thoughts and phrases, echoing her inner turmoil and providing commentary or emotional cues for the audience.

The sound design by Marco Cher-Gibard adds an atmospheric layer – ranging from subtle ambient textures to pounding nightclub beats – underscoring shifts in mood and energy. Similarly, lighting by Rachel Lee and projection design by Wendy Yu enhance the storytelling, immersing us deeper into Snakeface’s emotional landscape.

Though the structure at times feels loose, even meandering, it’s this lack of polish that gives Snakeface its edge. It’s not about resolution – it’s about being seen in the mess. And Knight, as the sole performer, commands the space with stamina and vulnerability, keeping the audience engaged throughout.

Directed and dramaturged by Bernadette Fam and supported by a team of creatives – including producer Madeleine Gandhi, set and props designer Keerthi Subramanyam, and movement director Fetu Taku – Snakeface is a collaborative feat with Knight’s bold performance at its heart.

The audience was predominantly female and spanned a wide age range, clearly resonating with the rawness and relatability of the themes. Practical comforts – padded seats, excellent air conditioning, and the welcome permission to bring drinks into the theatre – made the experience physically enjoyable, despite the emotional intensity onstage.

Snakeface is not a traditional play – it’s a poetic excavation, a cry for recognition, and a reflection of one woman’s attempt to make sense of her fractured world. It may not be comfortable viewing, but it is compelling, urgent, and defiantly human.

Snakeface was awarded runner-up in the Australian Theatre Festival NYC 2024 New Play Award.

To book tickets to Snakeface, please visit https://belvoir.com.au/productions/snakeface/.

Photographer: Abraham de Souza

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