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Shrek: The Musical ‘Inclusical’ by STaM

31/08/2025 Debra Campbell🥇🔥🦉🎭🎶

Shrek: The Musical Rating

★★★★★

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Set in a mythical “once upon a time” sort of land, this is the story of a hulking green ogre who, after being mocked and feared his entire life by anything that crosses his path, retreats to an ugly green swamp to exist in happy isolation. Suddenly, a gang of homeless fairy-tale characters (Pinocchio, Cinderella, the Three Pigs, you name it) raid his sanctuary, saying they’ve been evicted by the vertically challenged Lord Farquaad. So Shrek strikes a deal: I’ll get your homes back, if you give me my home back! But when Shrek and Farquaad meet, the Lord strikes a deal of his own: He’ll give the fairy-tale characters their homes back, if Shrek rescues Princess Fiona. Shrek obliges, yet finds something appealing–something strange and different–about this pretty princess. He likes her a lot, but why does she always run off when the sun sets?

We arrive in the Alexander Theatre foyer to see a swamp hut setting the feel of Shrek’s humble abode, a queue in the merch line entices us to buy some support cookies in theme and a spotlighted ‘green’ carpet for pics with our program.

This show is no ordinary version; an ‘inclusical’ by the one and only Stars and The Moon theatre company for all abilities known as “STaM” in Melbourne – with care they pair up kind ‘castmates’ and those having a special need to give them more confidence to perform; though you envisage it might, it does not detract from the show’s appeal or amazingness having two people play the one character. In fact, it definitely adds to the fun!! The sets, costuming and lighting are also nothing short of professional and the packed audience agrees with constant cheering. If you’ve read enough, you actually only have a slim chance to currently secure tickets as most shows are sold out!

We sit down in our ‘green’ tonight to hear firstly a comical introduction over the mic saying no gingerbread men have been harmed in making the show haha and that everyone can get up and dance and wiggle in their seats. Then ‘The Magic Mirror’ above us featuring Paralympic gold medalist Dylan Alcott entertains us with his one-liners and opens the show in Clayton where we are about to see a journey of embracing who you are.

We know this is going to be a good night as ‘Big Bright Beautiful World’ hits us very big and very bright! I’m already a bit emotional at watching the castmates carefully coax some of the performers onto the stage and within seconds they are all quite at home, many excited doing their second or third show with STaM.

Shrek played by Cameron Miller and Zac Parkes is larger than life as always and they have him down true to the Shrek we all know from the movie, even his speaking voice is almost identical.

Princess Fiona played by Chelsea Dawson and Lottie Coombes is just gorgeous, they both smash every song with their vocal ability and certainly a duet to long remember.

Two of my faves were Asher Stanton and Jordan French playing ‘Pinocchio’ and Eitan Meyerowitz and Zac Chester playing Big Bad Wolf, but really, ALL of the fairytale characters are FANTASTIC to watch and they do lots of funny quirky things on the side.

My eldest daughter, an avid musical theatre lover and regular performer in shows herself, came with me to this show and she was saying all the way through ‘he’s good’ ‘she’s good’ ‘they’re good’ in every scene. She was super impressed by the ‘Dragon’ singers but particularly loves to watch the ensemble, so never think you aren’t noticed if that’s you, because you surely are. e.g. the dancing mice feet behind the curtain (how cuuute), the girls with the ‘Awww’ ‘Gasp’ ‘Laugh’ signs (instructions for us viewers), everyone under that enormous red creature (you made us love watching her every move), and the Humpties who picked up the bricks to carry them all off without dropping them – well done!!!

Shout out to Gabe Harari and Evan Lever for their kneeling, knee walking ‘Lord Farquaad’ – both were absolutely hilarious!! Equally hilarious were Guillaume Gentil & Daniel Geng as ‘Donkey’ – I don’t think I have laughed so much from one character in any show I’ve ever enjoyed.

Dance timing in straight lines you might not expect to be exact in a show with limited abilities for some of the performers, but they were fabulous and every smile at each other and movement showed how much they loved being up there together. So many beautiful costumes too brought the whole live energetic picture together. We were so close to the stage as well we could feel the excited enthusiasm and nothing could beat the flag waving by all – even all of us in the audience got that green flag stuck on our seat and flipped it around like crazy!

All in all, a swamp load of serious talent in this show – you all deserved that full standing ovation and I’m sure there were plenty of proud tears from family and friends too, CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!

Lauren McKenna – Director
Michaela Raitman – Producer
Campbell Borello – Production Manager
SHREK – Cameron Miller & Zac Parkes
PRINCESS FIONA – Chelsea Dawson & Lottie Coomes (Covers – Jessica Mond, Lizzie Locke)
DONKEY – Guillaume Gentil & Daniel Geng
LORD FARQUAAD – Gabe Harari & Evan Lever
DRAGON – Dylan Don Paul (Dilonce) & Thanh-Tuok Autran

FAIRYTALE ENSEMBLE – Asher Stanton & Jordan French (Pinocchio), Ruth Ben-Danan & Alanna Baschera (Sugarplum Fairy/Gingy), Eitan Meyerowitz & Zac Chester (Big Bad Wolf), Teige Cordiner, Aidyn Patrzalek & Devin Goralsky (three Pigs), Mark J Rintoull, Zoe Better, Mia Decleva (The Bears), Ebony May & Katie McMillan (Fairy Godmother), Georgia Ellen & Danni Miller (Wicked Witch), Sarahbell Turvey & Tahli McLean (Duckling/Teen Fiona), Sayer Delves & Caomhe McCooey (White Rabbit/Baby Fiona), Alexander Gilbert & Jack Taylor (Peter Pan/Pied Piper), Jaimie Chapman & Tamara Stanton (Goldilocks), Jackson Harris & Mark Polonsky (Mad Hatter), Natasha Freiberg & Ellie Goldenberg (Humpty), Dani Filip & Shira Etzion (Hansel & Gretel), Jessica Mond & Jemima Scerri (Little Red)

DULOC ENSEMBLE – Tahlia Mandile, Charli Cantoni-Bud, Amy Tapp, Noah Prendergast, Adrian Salvatore, Lexi Kelsall, Ruby Alford, Alice Johnston, Carly Gauci, Lexie Goldenberg, Michaela Sacho, Kahli Anquetil-Kneale, Nineveh Dewhurst, Noa Godsell, Joshua Yip

GUARDS & DRAGON ENSEMBLE – Benji Kalkopf, Harry Stott, Brendan Saffer, Gilbert Esse, Tarus Fiu, Chris Patrzalek, Daniel Kraus, Sue Lesnjak, Lilly Lawrence, Lyndall Peachman, Jakob Demirel, Dan Don, Sienna Boorer, Savannah Mandile, Hayley Walsh, Raechelle Sibbing.

To find out more how you or someone you know with special needs and perhaps limited abilities can be involved with this very special theatre group see https://www.starsandthemoon.org/

Duration: Approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes including a 20 minute intermission. The show is easy access for all including assisted hearing, seeing-eye-dog friendly and wheelchairs of all sizes welcome. Wheelchairs on stage too with the performers loving every minute acting it up in this inclusical!

Venue: Alexander Theatre, Monash University Clayton Campus, 48 Exhibition Walk, Clayton. Free parking is available on site (more info). Please allow adequate time when planning your visit to find parking and the venue. Sometimes it is a 10minute walk from the car into the theatre.

To book tickets to Shrek: The Musical, please visit https://www.starsandthemoon.org/shrek.

Photographer: Matthew Chen

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The Machine Stops

27/08/202527/08/2025 Jenni Peters⭐

The Machine Stops Rating

★★★★★

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‘THE MACHINE STOPS’
Stage Play adapted by Briony Dunn from the short story by E.M. FORSTER.
Playing at TheatreWorks, St Kilda from 23rd – 30th August, 2025.

All fans of dystopian novels marvel at the predictions George Orwell made in his 1949 novel, ‘1984’ with many of the tech ideas proving to be true today.

E.M. Forster’s short sci fi story, ‘The Machine Stops’, from 1909, did the same thing way before Orwell did, and was then republished in 1928, translated into 10 languages and voted one of the best novellas up to 1965. During this time, the electric shaver, the television and landing on the moon all seemed sci fi to the masses.

In 2025, our modern-day debate heats up on whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) will destroy humanity and there are strong arguments on both sides, but there’s no denying AI systems that surpass human intelligence, or misalign with human values, could potentially lead to disaster.

Briony Dunn, Head of Writing/Directing and Stage Management at COLLARTS, has adapted Forster’s story for today’s stage, directed it, and co-designed the set for this Theatre Works production, along with Set Designers, Betty Auhi and Niklas Pajanti. Pajanti also designed the lighting, whick pulsates creatively, synchronising with the mood throughout the script, strikingly and is both ominous and futuristic.

The story is set in a world where humanity lives underground and relies on a giant machine to provide its needs. It predicts technologies similar to instant messaging and the internet. Forster pointed to the technology itself as the ultimate controlling force.

Both the set and the lighting are innovative and represent well the way the story would have played out in 1909 – or 1928 – and the way we may see an underground world today. The set imposes from the start, floor to ceiling metallic pillars – not quite to the floor – representing the control of the machine and symbolising its instant messaging, its regulatory power over its subjects, with its geometrical sequence on stage, columns lined in order, 4 x 4 presenting the boundaries humans live within, in a secular way. Only a single chair to the right breaks the sequence on stage.

We are introduced to a mother, Vashti, from the shadows backstage, moving slowly towards the light, which I felt could have been more powerful if done in much less time.

Mary Helen Sassman plays Vashti, Kuno’s mother, however they live on opposite sides of the world, both literally and emotionally.

Dunn’s play also realises this point drastically, focusing on the mother and the son, a juxtoposition without physical connection – at first.

Slick screen projections display grey communication between Vashti and Kuno, similar to our “Face-time”.

In Forster’s story, Vashti is content with her life, producing and endlessly discussing second-hand ‘ideas’ and using her work to avoid real in-person time with friends. Shades of social anxiety during Covid came to mind. Fascinatingly, this prediction from over a century ago has become true of some people today, who take clickbait and three-second sound bites from social media as their truth and real news.

In Briony Dunn’s stage play, Vashti is seen to contrast between happiness and habitual loyalty to the machine with a soul destroying, maniacal loneliness that Sassman portrays too well, almost as if she’s become part of the machine herself.

Kuno, played by Patrick Livesey, returns to his mother (and us) with the raw truth – quite refreshingly. Livesey’s performance had the energy of Richard Burton in Gielgud’s 1964 Hamlet, especially with his delivery of this soliloquy…

“We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralyzed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it.”

I look forward to seeing Livesey’s future performances.

A particularly clever scene when the machine finally stops and Vashti can no longer press buttons to satisfy her every need, shows Sassman’s Vashti spiraling desperately out of control.

Dunn’s ending is as Forster wrote and her adaptation is just as successful in providing a warning to humanity that its connection to the natural world is what truly matters.

To book tickets to The Machine Stops, please visit https://www.theatreworks.org.au/2025/the-machine-stops.

Photographer: Hannah Jennings

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A Twist of Fate

25/08/202525/08/2025 Caitren Sheather-Reid🥉

A Twist of Fate Rating

★★★★★

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As someone who has a love for the unusual (think Black Mirror, Supernatural, The X-Files), when this show landed in my inbox, I immediately jumped at the chance to see it. A Twist of Fate was advertised as ‘4 short plays, 4 devastating twists’ and I ouldn’t help but wonder if this series of plays lives up to the shows I so loved? Shows that provided such comfort to my younger self?

So, entering the Motley Bauhaus, surrounded by bricks and nestled in an old theatre seat far comfier than those of today, I waited. And in succession I watched Bestow, Mr Moore Wants Less, Mr Id and Possession.

Each of these plays made me either cackle in delight, widen my eyes or, pleasantly, a mixture of both!

Bestow had an infectious sense of comedy, of power, of understanding how to mix both the unusual and the highly relatable into one. I saw myself in all the characters and was totally hooked through each scare and each comedic beat.

Mr Id had more energy than a toddler after 3 lolly bags and I must give a commendation to Liliana Braumberger who played the title character for solidly keeping this energy. This was a play of moral dilemmas, sponsorships (that became increasingly more silly) and heart.

Possession was both innocent and curious, in a way that makes you almost feel pity for the title character. This is, of course, until the end twist. I swear I heard jaws drop to the floor and I really commend Kate Weston on holding the stage presence of the most delightful (and perhaps most twisted) little girl I have ever seen.

However, my favourite of the plays was Mr Moore Wants Less. Each scene, each character, each ridiculous scenario knew how wild it was and revelled in it. It also caused me to think, in the best way possible and genuinely felt both heartwarming and completely bonkers. This is one of my favourite combinations and was beautifully presented on stage.

As the Producer of Scary Goats Theatre, Chloe Towan played host to this tremendous piece of stage work. Towan was invested, intrigued and played the perfect disturbing narrator. It’s also a delight to see a company that works with many people in many roles. No-one really wears one hat. Each person played a significant role (if not multiple roles) in putting on a show that was unsettling, thought provoking and giggle-inducing in writing, acting, directing and more.

This show created not only a sense of community, but also a sense of beauty. And if this is the future of Melbourne Independent Theatre, then I cannot wait to see more. This show knew what it was, how to deliver and how to make the most fun out of it all. So, did it meet my expectations? No, it fully exceeded them. And maybe, just maybe that’s my own Twist of Fate….

To book tickets to A Twist of Fate, please visit https://linktr.ee/scarygoatstheatre.

Photographer: Kieran McNamara

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Break a Leg at The MC Showroom

24/08/2025 Amanda Lee Starkey🥉

Break A Leg Rating

★★★★★

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Imagine a bunch of social-media influencers landing roles in a high-stakes, Broadway-bound production—with zero stage chops. Rehearsals devolve into diva meltdowns, ego clashes, and utter mayhem. Then, in a desperate bid for team-building, they conjure spirits with a fake Ouija board… but the real ghosts show up. Cue the body-swap chaos—suddenly everyone’s in each other’s shoes, and opening night is just around the corner.

This is Break a Leg, a two-act comedy written and directed by Jason Ekonomides, playing at The MC Showroom from August 20 to 24, 2025

Prahran’s MC Showroom is an ideal match for this story. The intimate black-box layout ensures every grimace, costume flop, and ghostly flicker is close enough to touch. With seating capacity hovering around 80–100 depending on layout , the audience becomes part of the mayhem—not just observers. With minimal props, set design and an intimate atmosphere, actors are forced to rely on their craft- which is a huge pay off. It makes the production that much more authentic, as though we are just voyeurs, invited in for a sneak peek.

The performance offers quick pacing and over-the-top personalities ensure there’s never a dull moment. Body-swapping naturally demands expressive performance—from mannerisms to vocal tone—and the comedy thrives on it. The supernatural element isn’t just for show; it fuels plot momentum and raises the stakes. There are so many relatable moments for anyone who’s ever worked in a creative project—full of egos, deadlines, and “what even is blocking?” which garnered quite a few laughs from the audience. There are so many moments that garnered laughs, it’s hard to pinpoint the best one, which adds credibility to the skills of the cast, making the show incredibly entertaining. After all, when there’s no huge set and props are minimal, actors are left to their skills to draw the audience in, and they manage to succeed in this quite well.

Break a Leg is a rambunctious backstage farce that pairs clever body-swap hijinks with a comedic look at influencer culture and theatrical chaos. Performed in the cozy, tech-equipped intimacy of The MC Showroom, it’s a sharp, delightful night of theatre.

If you’re into rowdy humour, spirited performances, or backstage shows gone wildly off script—this one’s for you.

To book tickets to Break A Leg , please visit https://www.themcshowroom.com/whatson/break-a-leg.

Photographer: Billie Kennedy

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