Perth Theatre

Opening Night Review: After Dinner

After Dinner

After Dinner Rating

★★★★★

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It’s Friday night at the pub. The stage is set as five lost souls, and a distracted waiter, embark on a quest. On the surface, they appear to have different agendas, but underneath the bravado, they all share a desperate need to feel a little less lonely in After Dinner.

Set in the late 1980s, where the fashion and daggy pub restaurant are practically characters in their own right, big points go to the production team for nailing the brief. Under the direction of Tim Riessen, the cast does a magnificent job delivering the dialogue and mannerisms that are intentionally stilted to demonstrate the awkwardness of their relationships and scenario.

Dympie (Kezia George of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Hansel & Gretel), Paula (Lisa Divall of Short ‘n Sweet) and Monika (Amanda Alderson of Squid Games and Frankenbolt’s First Christmas) work in the same office, and had they not worked together, it is unlikely they would have socialised outside of work. The handsome Gordon (Altus Vernooy, making his stage debut from behind the scenes) and Stephen (Ian Fraser of Cracked and Done to Death) meet up at the pub through a mutual friend who never shows up. The waiter played by Tarek Jabado (Frankenbolt’s First Christmas and Under the Table) is a man of few words, but his looming presence (and often absence) is a steady shadow among the chaos.

 

With the ladies at one table and the men at the other, it doesn’t take long for them to notice each other, much to the dismay of the controlling Dympie, who just wanted a quiet Friday night with Paula.

Except this is no typical Friday night as Paula invites the grieving Monika, whose revelations into her marriage reveal a tirade of confronting and intimate truths. The exploration of adult themes and graphic nature of After Dinner suggests you might want to pick your theatre date carefully as some audience members may find the content uncomfortable.

Just as you need to break an egg to make omelette, the messy characters dissolve and then evolve, albeit subtly, as life often does before epiphanies set in.

Performed at the Roxy Lane Theatre just behind the Volare bar on Whately Crescent, this retro theatre is the perfect backdrop to the 1980s. Written in 1984 by Kalgoorlie-born playwright Andrew Bovell, who wrote Strictly Ballroom and Lantana, the fact that it’s still being performed decades later demonstrates the timeless theme of loneliness and the human condition. Poignant, funny and relatable, if the audience’s response to opening night is anything to go by, After Dinner will continue to leave a lasting impression for many more decades to come.

Performance dates: 7, 8, 9*, 14, 15, 16*, 20, 21, 22 & 23* March
Recommended MA 15+
Times: Evenings at 7.30pm, *Matinees at 2pm
Tickets: $23 adult, $19 concession, groups of 10+ $18 each

To book tickets to After Dinner, please visit TAZ Tix.

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

Two Churchill Plays: Presented by Melville Theatre Company

Escaped Alone and What If If Only

Escaped Alone and What If If Only Rating

★★★★★

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Melville Theatre has brought two thought-provoking performances to the stage in their latest double-bill offering, Escaped Alone and What If/If Only.

Both written by British playwright Caryl Churchill; each brings to the table deep themes of the human experience – that being catastrophe and grief.

Starting the night with Escaped Alone – director Lucy Eyre has brought together a strong group of four women whose chemistry excels on stage. Set over an afternoon tea, each woman reveals and grapples with their own personal form of catastrophe, leaning on each other to navigate their struggles.

Susan Lynch leads the group as Mrs Jarrett – dealing with PTSD as a survivor of a natural disaster. Her emotive asides are a driving force of the piece, and it’s evident she is pulling from raw emotion to bring the scripts to life.

Having later discovered that these scripts feature no punctuation, Lynch is to be commended for letting the actors really make it their own.

In her Melville Theatre debut, Caroline McDonnell is another standout as Vi, providing a raw authenticity to the role as she navigates family troubles.

Natalie Burbage and Suzannah Churchman nicely round out the group as Lena and Sally, respectively, bringing some light-hearted comedy to the show’s more serious tone.

With strong performances and a solid foundation, my only real qualm with this production was more a matter of the writing than this particular performance itself. Mrs Jarrett’s alluded trauma felt rather ambiguous and left both myself and my friend feeling a little lost at times, though we were still able to enjoy the show regardless.

 

Escaped Alone and What If If Only
Escaped Alone and What If If Only
Escaped Alone and What If If Only

What If/If Only was much more my speed. It offered a poignant 20-minute look into human grief and the spectrum of emotions that come with it.

The immediate clinical feel of the box-like set by Lars Jensen – mimicking the small acrylic box at the front of the stage – creates a strong impression, soon filled with the tableau of the characters within to make it feel as if we are watching some kind of study in a lab.

The stark black-and-white costuming provided by the cast further contributed to this idea.

Lucy Eyre is an anchor as the central nameless character who has experienced the loss of a loved one to suicide. She does well to simultaneously appear vacant in her grief-stricken state while also amplifying the range of emotions, questions and ‘what ifs’ people ask themselves when grappling with suicide in real-time.

Personifying said ‘what ifs’ is Jarrod Buttery as the flamboyant future, Clare Talbot as the spunky and matter-of-fact present, and Tanisha Mavunduse as the hopeful yet starkly realistic child future.

Props must go to both Lucy Eyre and Natalie Burbage for pulling together and executing two insightful performances that leave audiences questioning their own battles with emotion and looking internally to reflect on their own experiences.

To book tickets to Escaped Alone and What If If Only, please visit https://melvilletheatrecompany.au/current-production.

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

Comedy Carousel

Comedy Carousel

Comedy Carousel Rating

★★★★★

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5

Three one-act plays, one charming theatre and oodles of talent. The Garrick Theatre’s latest stage production, the Comedy Carousel delivers ridiculous hilarity and maybe a murder or two.

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a stage production? ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned by Being in a Bad Murder Mystery’ offers plenty of insight into the pandemonium when dealing with a bunch of actors rehearsing for a murder mystery play. Throw in a script written by Agatha Christie knock-off Magetha Misty, a loopy director and an indecipherable accent coach, and you (and the cast) are left wondering whodunit and what was done to whom.

The actual director, Ali Louise, did a fantastic job of herding the high-energy cast by encouraging them to be as wacky as the show within the show. Among the tantrums, over-the-top death scenes and butchering of Shakespearian references, this tight-knit troupe delivers cohesive chaos with many laugh-out-loud moments. Narrated by Erin Shay Horrigan with Julia Webster playing the director role and Cambren Price playing the frustrated stage manager, the actors include Rebekah Hannah, Samantha Cashford, Paris Romano Jenner, Aaron Wilkes, Kirsty Plews, Quentin Mitchell, Jason Robert Lester and Steve Moloney, who perform as only thespians can in theatre blacks adorned with madcap props.

The second one-act play, Therapy Go Round, centres around a traumatic break-up that sends Brooke spiralling and into therapy. When she arrives at Dr Marita Welsh’s clinic and is greeted by assistant Janine, Brooke soon wonders who is shrinking who. If only her eccentric therapist had paid attention to the details and Janine wasn’t so absent-minded?

 

Comedy Carousel
Comedy Carousel

Written by playwright Sean Guy and directed by Carly Ranger, Therapy Go Round is performed by an all-female cast of Lis Hoffmann (Dr Marita Welsh), Kylie Calwell (Janine) and Casey Smith as Brooke. The simple set of ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned by Being in a Bad Murder Mystery’ was miraculously transformed in moments into a clinic with soft pink lighting, a desk and two chairs – had there been a couch, no doubt Brooke would have needed a good lie-down and cry after her session.

Soon enough, a couch appears on stage for the final one-act play titled The Heist, brilliantly performed in New York accents by Colleen Johnson (Muriel), Karin Staflund (Camila), Marsha Holt (Ingrid) and Julie Holmshaw (Delia). Set in an apartment in NYC’s gritty Bronx, as the four ladies settle into their game of Bridge, there’s a sudden knock on the door. Gangster Lenny (played by Andreas Petalas) barges in full of misguided attitude but soon loses control of the situation as the ladies mess with his head as only a bunch of New Yorker broads can.

Directed by Lynne Devenish and written by actor and playwright Shirley Toohey (with script assistant Christine Offringa), strong characterisation creates an evocative sense of place and poignant storytelling to the background soundtrack of the borough’s sirens as Guildford’s trains and planes thunder by.

The ticket price of $15 is incredible value for three one-act plays and the calibre of talent from the cast and crew, including stage managers Sarah Durack and Jason Blaine, Don Allen (Lighting Designer) and sound designer Geoff Holt. Established in 1932 and situated in the heart of historic Guildford, the Garrick Theatre is one of the longest-running community theatres in Perth and always welcomes new members for ongoing discounts, events, news and auditions.

Performance dates: February 6th, 7th , 8th , 9th*, 13th, 14th & 15th February

All evening shows begin at 7.30pm, * denotes the matinee show at 2pm

To book tickets to Comedy Carousel, please visit TAZ Tix.

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

I Watched Someone Die On TikTok

I Watched Someone Die on Tik Tok

I Watched Someone Die on TikTok Rating

★★★★★

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With the show’s title, ‘I Watched Someone Die on TikTok,’ I had no idea what to expect from this show. All I knew was that it would be a one-person show. Sometimes these can be the best sorts of shows without any preconceived ideas.

As part of the Perth Fringe Festival, WAAPA alumnus Charlotte Otton delivers a quirky, commentary-style and partial biographical performance involving her relationship with the internet and social media.

Although the performance is delivered in a humorous manner, it touches on serious topical issues such as social media addiction, minors on social media, cyber-bullying and the multitude of disturbing content found on the internet.

Charlotte takes the audience on a journey from the early stages of the internet in the early 90s to the colossal digital platform it now is.

She makes a point of how the internet is filled with so much dark content and how easily accessible this content is to any person of any age. This content she refers to includes people dying in hospitals, beheadings and people being beaten to death. In the early internet days, it may have been a bit tricky, but certainly not impossible, to access such content, but nowadays, videos, regardless of whether they are age-appropriate or not, so easily pop up in social media feeds.

I Watched Someone Die on Tik Tok
I Watched Someone Die on Tik Tok

The strong grip social media has on people’s lives is real, and Charlotte brings this to focus. In one segment, the absurdity of some of the TikTok challenges is brought to life as she playfully takes up the challenge that the audience selects for her.

Any person who is guilty of doom-scrolling will relate to Charlotte’s commentary.

I found this show immensely entertaining and Charlotte to be an outstanding solo performer. I never knew which way the show would go or what Charlotte would do next. Mirroring much of how Tik Tok operates, she performs multiple segments in the show at a fast pace—keeping the attention of the audience glued to the stage.

To book tickets to I Watched Someone Die on TikTok, please visit https://fringeworld.com.au/whats_on/i-watched-someone-die-on-tiktok-fw2025

This year’s Fringeworld Festival Perth runs from 17 January to 16 February. For more information, please visit https://fringeworld.com.au.

Photographer: Sophie Minissale

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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