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Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure

10/08/2025 Anastassia Gerakas🚀🎭🎬

Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty Rating

★★★★★

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It’s no mystery why audiences continue to be captivated by Sherlock Holmes—and the Genesian Theatre’s Australian premiere of Moriarty proves just how enduring the great detective’s appeal remains. Ken Ludwig’s whirlwind theatrical caper, directed with flair and finesse, is running now through September 13, and it is nothing short of an amateur theatre triumph.

Celebrating its 80th anniversary and settling into a brand-new venue, the Genesian Theatre Company has marked the milestone with a bold production choice. Moriarty, a complex, fast-paced, and highly stylised Holmes adventure, is no easy feat—but under the company’s deft touch, it sparkles with energy, intelligence, and theatrical magic.

The game is afoot once more with a plot that launches with the theft of incriminating letters from a Bohemian king and soon spirals into a high-stakes game of espionage, deception, and pursuit. Holmes and his ever-faithful companion Dr. Watson are drawn into an international chase to foil the shadowy machinations of Professor Moriarty. It’s classic Holmes—with a twist of modern theatrical ingenuity.

Eight actors take on over 20 roles, switching characters, accents, and costumes at breakneck speed. This ensemble approach keeps the momentum electric. Peter David Allison shines as Dr. Watson, anchoring the narrative with warmth, wit, and humility. His storytelling binds the chaotic threads of the play into a coherent and compelling whole. Meanwhile, Susan Jordan is a revelation—slipping effortlessly between diverse characters, her skillful transformations and vocal dexterity bringing flair and creativity to every scene.

The technical elements elevate the experience further. From the cleverly used faceless puppets to richly detailed costumes, from crisp sound effects to atmospheric lighting that subtly underscores tension and intrigue, the backstage team delivers period authenticity with theatrical verve.

The production’s brisk pacing—driven by rapid scene changes, constant movement, and tightly choreographed action—keeps the audience on edge. Ken Ludwig’s script is sharp and respectful of Holmes canon while injecting just enough levity to balance the suspense. It’s a treat for both diehard fans and newcomers alike.

Moriarty at the Genesian Theatre is a testament to what passionate theatre-makers can achieve. It’s a love letter to classic detective stories, brought to life with heart, humour, and remarkable creativity.

The verdict? Elementary, dear reader: a must-see.

To book tickets to Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, please visit https://genesiantheatre.com.au/events/moriarty/.

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Three (Short) Plays by Tennessee Williams

10/08/2025 Claire Mulcahy⭐

Three (Short) Plays by Tennessee Williams Rating

★★★★★

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Ground Floor Theatre Company’s debut production of three one-act Tennessee Williams plays is a rare opportunity to see some of the American playwright’s earlier work. The three one-act plays, At Liberty, Auto-Da-Fé and This Property is Condemned, provide a compelling snapshot of the playwright’s early writing and excitingly foreshadow his later classics such as The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire.

Each play is like a staged vignette; a portrait of unfulfilled dreams, repressed longing and shattered innocence. In At Liberty, Gloria La Greene (Helena Cielak), a struggling actress, returns home in the early hours of the morning after a night out with a beau. Her mother (Emma Wright) sits waiting for her daughter. Theirs is a strained relationship. Gloria clearly chafes against the control her mother tries to exert over her, dismissing her mother’s concerns about her health. We see here Williams’ preoccupation with the domineering matriarch; an early prototype perhaps for the unforgettable Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie who suffocates her children in her attempts to love them. There are also shades of Blanche Du Bois in Gloria’s character; a woman in her thirties, still unmarried, still unfulfilled, still clinging on to the last remains of her youth and beauty.

In Auto-Da-Fé, we again witness an enmeshed parent-child relationship; this time between a mother and her adult son, Eloi (pronounced El-wah). Eloi (Will Manton) is in his late thirties but still lives at home, working in a post office. He casts judgment on the people who surround him in a rundown, impoverished New Orleans neighbourhood, condemning their licentiousness as if their vices threaten to infect him. Eloi is repressed but he needs to tell his mother something. In his postal worker job, he has come across a ‘dirty’ photo; it is almost too much for Eloi to describe yet Madam Duvenet (Emma Wright) draws the information out of him. Similar to At Liberty, we again see an adult child straining against the cage their mother has placed around them. But Eloi is also trapped in a cage of repressed sexuality and his preoccupation with the ‘filthy’ photo suggests something more. Again, Tennessee Williams shows early signs of the themes, particularly around sexuality, that he would grapple with in his later plays.

The refuge of fantasy is particularly poignant in the final play of the show, This Property is Condemned. Two children, Willie (Helena Cielak) and Tom (Will Manton), on the threshold of puberty, play by railway tracks. They seem to know each other but have lost touch. Their conversation reveals Willie’s broken family life; her mother has taken off with a man and her sister, who supported the family through sex work (although this is never said overtly), has died. The house they lived in is condemned yet Willie still somehow occupies it. She lives off rotting, abandoned food, sustaining herself emotionally with the memories of her sister she embellishes as a way to protect herself from her brutal reality.

Director Megan Sampson very competently captures the claustrophobic atmosphere of the worlds these characters inhabit. The small, intimate space of the Old Fitz downstairs theatre is perfect for the scenes of suffocating domesticity; we feel we are sitting in the living room with these damaged characters, straining to be free, to breathe fresh air. Set and costume designer, Meg Anderson uses simple props and costumes to evoke a 1930s Southern milieu. All three actors show admirable versatility in playing multiple roles, even attempting, though not always successfully, the difficult tonal shifts in the Southern dialects the characters speak in.

Three (short) Plays is running until August 15 at the Old Fitz Theatre, Woolloomooloo.

To book tickets to Three (Short) Plays by Tennessee Williams, please visit https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/three-plays-by-tennessee-williams.

Photographer: Robert Miniter

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Macbeth in The Lounge

08/08/202507/08/2025 Cherelle Flemming🥈🦉🎭🎶

Macbeth Rating

★★★★★

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‘Come You Spirits’ Theatre Incorporated’s production of Macbeth is being performed in the intimate and engaging space of The Lounge at the Concourse Theatre Chatswood. It creates the perfect atmosphere for delivering a truly personable Shakespearean performance.

There was a lovely welcoming message from the cast and they also concluded the performance with a heartfelt message of thanks. Although the actors were not amplified, they were heard clearly due to their perfected voice projection and the nature of the small space. I really appreciated the clarity, articulation and dramatic delivery, which ensured a well-absorbed performance. Shakespeare can often be difficult to digest, as the script is comprehensive, and sometimes players tend to rush through the complex dialogue. However, this was definitely not the case during this presentation. It was engaging and delivered in a timely, dramatic fashion, which had me – and certainly the entire audience- enthralled. The entire cast of six was of the highest professional caliber and all gave a spectacular performance.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were played by Charles Mayer and Jo Bloom, who portrayed a natural connection and chemistry on stage. They both brought great emotional depth in their leading role characters and delivered a solid convincing performance.

Charles Mayer displayed the overly ambitious character of Macbeth with great conviction throughout. He showed passion, ambition and then later portrayed the tortured, battered soul of his character.

Jo Bloom delivered the greatest of sincerity to the ever-goading, ruthlessly ambitious, Lady Macbeth. Jo also doubled as the Second Witch and skillfully transitioned between the two contrasting characters.

Banquo was played by David Halgren, who gave a haunting and eerie rendition of his character. He also showed great skill in his theatrical movements leaping on and off the table and in his ghost-like manoeuvres.

Ciaran O’Riordan’s performance as Macduff was heartfelt and convincing. He portrayed Macduff with all the passion the character deserves.

I really appreciated the well-projected clarity and dramatic delivery of Willa King’s portrayal of the First Witch. Her
resonating, clear vocal tones were deeply impactful.

The homage to our traditional Aboriginal custodians was beautifully and seamlessly interwoven throughout the performance. Ella Havelka, who beautifully portrays the Third Witch, is an alumnus dancer with the Bangarra Dance Theatre and honoured her heritage as a member of the Wiradjuri people by flawlessly incorporating traditional influenced movements in her portrayal as the Third Witch.

The dimly lit setting created an eerie atmosphere for the supernatural elements, which constantly wove throughout the play.
I was particularly taken with the regal, gothic themed dining room staging, complete with lit candelabras, tablecloths and goblets. Also, the staging for the infamous “Double, double, toil and trouble” witches scene, presented with a smoking cauldron and appropriate props was equally striking.

The costuming was very impressive and gave authenticity to the period. It was brought to my attention that the costuming, sets and props were all predominantly sourced second-hand. This is a credit to the Art Director Letitia Hodgkinson who passionately sourced a suitable array of fabrics and materials. Her actions are most admirable and show a great commitment to environmental sustainability, while maintaining a high standard of creativity and artistic sense.

The musical compositions by Brandon Read, music composer and producer, elevated and intensified the performance. The recorded soundtrack was impactful and creatively accompanied the dramatic themes, providing a more full bodied performance.

I would also like to mention the fantastic work of the Lighting technician Adam Applebaum. He made splendid use of spotlights and coloured lighting to enhance themes and poignant moments as well as amplify the eerie scenes.

‘Come You Spirits’’ presentation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is brilliant and captivating. Their rendition is condensed into a fast paced 90 minute performance centered around six main characters. A highly enjoyable performance with a stupendous professional cast.

To book tickets to Macbeth , please visit https://www.theconcourse.com.au/event/macbeth-in-the-lounge/.

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Betrayal

31/07/2025 Claire Mulcahy⭐

Betrayal Rating

★★★★★

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Watching Sport for Jove’s production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, now playing at the Old Fitz Theatre, I ran through alternative titles for the piece in my head. Some were: The lies we tell each other and ourselves; Why do we lie to each other? And lastly, why are humans so horrible to each other? On reflection, these are probably more questions the play provokes rather than suitable titles.

Betrayal is certainly a play that will have you wondering about why we cheat on each other. While set over fifty years ago, the theme of infidelity is a timeless one. Pinter wrote the play in reverse. It opens at the end of an affair, rather than at the beginning. In the first scene, Emma and Jerry, both in their late thirties, meet for a drink at a London pub in the spring time. Their conversation soon reveals they have been clandestine lovers, with their affair ending two years before. She is married to Robert who is best friends with Jerry. Jerry is married to Judith. Both couples have children. Emma reveals to Jerry that her marriage to Robert is over, in fact, they’ve broken up the night before. More shocking to Jerry though is that Robert has now learnt about their previous affair.

Desperate to talk to his long-time friend, the second scene sees Jerry meeting with Robert at his house. Their awkward dialogue hints at a brittle friendship. When Jerry finally talks to Robert about his affair with Emma, he is shocked (again) to discover that Robert had already known about the affair at least two years before. Jerry realises Emma has lied to him. How many times has she lied to him before? In his moment of outrage, Jerry seems to forget that he’s been lying too.

From here on, each scene moves backwards in time, travelling towards the final scene in which we see where the seeds of Emma and Jerry’s affair were planted. Pinter’s use of a reverse plot structure is effective. Each scene painfully reveals more to the audience about the couples. We start to see that behind the facade of domesticity lurk secrets and lies. A particularly devastating scene is when Robert discovers Emma’s infidelity as they holiday in Venice. Pinter’s economic dialogue here is especially biting, revealing so much in what is not actually said.

Betrayal is undeniably a bleak play. Under Cristabel Sved’s direction, the performers work hard to portray the ugliness of infidelity and the pettiness we are all capable of in our relationships. Ella Scott Lynch as Emma shines on stage; a woman caught between two men she both loves. Andrew Cutcliffe playing Robert captures the pain and impotency of a man whose wife has cuckolded him with his best friend. Matt Hardie as Jerry is effective in portraying a seemingly likable man who reveals himself eventually. None of the characters are particularly likeable but I think that was Pinter’s point. He has crafted characters who are real and, at times, baffling in their behaviour.

Set and Costume Designer Melanie Liertz has created a minimalistic set that fits well with the stark nature of the story. Vertical blinds are set to good use with scene titles projected onto them as well as photos of (ironically) happy family moments. I did wonder if the choice of these blinds was some kind of metaphor for the characters’ ‘blind’-ness in their relationships? Composer Steve Toulmin uses compelling piano music as transition between scenes. Verity Hampson and Luna Ng’s lighting design adds suitable mood to each scene.

Ultimately, Betrayal never really answers why we betray each other. Perhaps what it shows instead is that there is no answer for why we behave in the ways we do.

Betrayal is now running at the Old Fitz Theatre in Woolloomooloo until August 10.

To book tickets to Betrayal, please visit https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/betrayal.

Photographer: Kate Williams

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