Eureka Day

Eureka Day

Eureka Day Rating

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In Eureka Day, Jonathan Spector’s razor-sharp satire of liberal consensus and public health anxiety, a seemingly progressive Californian school board descends into chaos over a mumps outbreak. But what could easily become a smug send-up of anti-vaxxers and virtue-signallers is instead something more nuanced, uncomfortable, and timely. Under Craig Baldwin’s deft direction, Outhouse Theatre Co’s production at the Seymour Centre lands every comic beat while never losing sight of the emotional truths buried beneath the surface.

Although the play is distinctly American in setting, this Australian staging loses none of its relevance. The characters feel instantly recognisable, the debates all too familiar. This is a story not just about vaccines, but about what happens when our desire for clarity and reassurance collides with ambiguity, grief, and fractured trust.

Katrina Retallick is particularly compelling as Suzanne, the new age, soy latte-sipping board member whose calm certainty masks deep personal pain. She walks the tightrope between satire and sincerity with precision, making Suzanne both maddening and deeply human. When the character’s backstory is revealed, Retallick’s performance shifts into something tragic—an aching portrayal of a parent failed by the institutions she once believed in.

Jamie Oxenbould’s Don is equally affecting. The embodiment of well-meaning, moderate liberalism, Don wants nothing more than to keep everyone happy. Oxenbould captures his charm and diplomacy perfectly, but also lets us see the cracks forming under the strain of trying to appease all sides. His unravelling in the brilliantly staged Zoom scene is as funny as it is painfully relatable.

Deborah An brings a quiet strength to May, initially playing her as a reserved and observant figure. But as the stakes rise, An reveals the steel beneath the calm, delivering a performance that builds patiently to a moment of quiet triumph. Christian Charisou’s Eli enters bold and brash, full of passionate conviction, but undergoes one of the play’s most significant emotional shifts. His transformation, grounded in his role as a father, adds weight and tenderness to a character that could easily become just a mouthpiece.

As Carina, Branden Christine is a standout. Starting off as a newcomer eager not to step on toes, she grows into a voice of clarity and compassion. Her confrontation with Suzanne doesn’t just showcase moral courage, but also the empathy that gives the scene its emotional punch. Christine subtly anchors the play’s message: that we must speak up for what we believe in, but also make space to truly hear one another.

Technically, the production is sharp and inventive. The colourful, clean set provides a visual cue for the play’s early optimism, which contrasts starkly with the bleakness of the later hospital scene. The use of live projection, sound, and lighting in the Zoom sequence is a highlight—expertly timed, uproariously funny, and all too recognisable to anyone who survived the remote meeting era.

Eureka Day is a biting, intelligent, and unexpectedly moving production. Outhouse Theatre Co has created a version that speaks directly to Australian audiences, reminding us that the messiness of democracy—and of parenting—has no borders. It’s as hilarious as it is human, and well worth seeing.

To book tickets to Eureka Day, please visit https://www.seymourcentre.com/event/eureka-day/.

Photographer: Richard Farland

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Rehearsal For Murder: A Classic Murder Mystery That Keeps You Guessing

Rehearsal For Murder

Rehearsal For Murder Rating

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To me, a ‘Whodunnit Mystery Murder’ should encompass suspense, have interesting characters – each one having a cloaked shadow of suspicion, unforeseen twists and of course, an untimely demise. The Castle Hill Players performance of Rehearsal For Murder had all of this, and more.

Set in the 1950’s in an empty theatre on New York City’s Broadway, director Grant Brennan and the cast and crew drew us back to a time on the cusp of colour television where viewers were used to watching dramas in black and white. This theme was well integrated into the play, noticeable in the costume design of the main characters’ clothes which were all grey. Far from being a dull grey through, costume designer Leone Sharp ensured a timeless and classic feel.

The play opens with the narrator, Alex Dennison (wonderfully portrayed by Thomas Southwell) a successful playwright who lost his fiancé to an apparent self-harming circumstance one year ago. On this anniversary, he has invited his Broadway colleagues to partake in the reading of a new play he’s written, one which coincidentally, (or not so), involves the people who were last involved with his fiancé, actress Monica Welles shortly before her death. Alex’s script plays out certain circumstances that involve Monica and the characters and allows the audience to immediately see that they all have a motive to murder her!

Through cleverly orchestrated visual and audio theatre, the audience becomes involved with the plot, questioning who would benefit from Monica no longer being in the Broadway play. Who’s the murderer? Was it the best friend, Monica’s understudy? Her husband? The producer, an actor, director or the leading man? Through clever use of lighting (by Casey Moon-Watton) dimming and spotlighting at opportune moments, combined with sound effects and the use of The Pavilion Theatre’s space around the audience, it produced a dynamic atmosphere.

Showcasing the typical music of the time, sound designer George Cartledge creates a feel reminiscent of an olden-days radio drama. Alex Dennison narrates the play to the audience, with the backdrop of the music underlying his words. Thomas Southwell’s calm demeanour as a narrator carries the play’s tone throughout the performance.

A standout from this play was from Gina Willison, who portrayed the producer, Bella Lamb. She states that she’s ‘not an actor’, but Alex forces her to read the script he’s prepared, and I sympathised with her indignation at what she was forced to do.

Monica Welles, portrayed with an innocence by Lola Carlton, appeared not in ghostly form but as herself in flashback scenes. It was clever the way the scene seamlessly blended into the past, with Monica interacting with the other characters, each time leaving another hint as to what may have happened to her.

Rehearsal For Murder has a big cast. Brett Watkins (Leo), Ben Wheeler (David), Ella Rose Titterton (Karen) Brett Joachim (Lloyd), Sophia Laurantus (Sally) David Senior (Ernie), Chris Scarpellino (Man) and Melissa Applin (Loretta) all portrayed their characters well and created an interesting storyline. I attended the opening night, and as the production progresses, the New York accent should become more consistent.

During the interval, I heard various audience members talking. They were guessing, calling out the names of characters of who they thought ‘dunnit’. I had a couple of theories, based on who I thought had the most motive. Did I guess right? This was one of the most fun parts of a murder mystery – so I won’t reveal if I was successful or not! You’ll have to see the Castle Hill Players performance to find out.

Rehearsal For Murder is playing at the Pavilion Theatre from 30 May – 21 June 2025. To book tickets to Rehearsal For Murder, please visit https://paviliontheatre.org.au/rehearsal-for-murder/.

Pavilion Theatre
Doran Drive, Castle Hill
Tickets: $30 / Concession $25
www.paviliontheatre.org.au

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The Revlon Girl: Grief, Grit and Grace in a Welsh village

The Revlon Girl

The Revlon Girl Rating

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In a quietly moving production, The Revlon Girl brings to life the complex emotional aftermath of one of the UK’s most devastating tragedies – the Aberfan disaster of 1966. Directed by Jennifer Willison, this amateur production presented by Hunters Hill Theatre honours the resilience and humanity of those left behind.

On the morning of 21 October 1966, a coal waste tip collapsed onto the village of Aberfan in South Wales, burying Pantglas Junior School. The landslide killed 144 people, including 116 children. The event, as sudden as it was catastrophic, left a community overwhelmed by grief, anger, and unanswered questions.

Docking’s play imagines a meeting of four bereaved mothers, eight months after the tragedy. They gather in a back room above a pub – still deep in mourning, but grasping for something, anything, to lighten their pain. In a gesture that’s equal parts defiant and desperate, they’ve invited a Revlon representative to speak to them about beauty. The logic? Maybe a touch of lipstick could lift the spirits, even briefly.

Each woman carries her grief differently. Rona (Anthea Brown) is fiery and confrontational, lashing out at others to mask her own despair. Sian (Laura Stead) is eager to please, lost in a fog of denial and abandonment. Marilyn (Kate Kelly) clings to the hope of contacting her children through spiritual means. Jean (Annalie Hamilton), heavily pregnant again, struggles to reconcile the past with the future growing inside her.

The Revlon Girl (Niamh McKervey) at first seems naïve and out of her depth, awkwardly tiptoeing around the room’s raw emotional undercurrents. But as the evening unfolds, she reveals her own hidden grief – bridging the gap between outsider and insider, and showing how even small acts of care can resonate in moments of deep despair.

While the play echoes with sorrow, it’s peppered with disarming humour and small moments of grace. The dialogue is rich with wit, capturing the unspoken ways people try to survive the unbearable. It’s a credit to the cast that these tonal shifts feel authentic, and not forced.

The minimalist set (Casey Moon-Watton) and restrained lighting (Wayne Chee) focus attention exactly where it should be – on the women, the words, and the emotional tension in the room. Subtle sound effects – rain, thunder, distant echoes – underscore the weight of memory without distraction.

The Hunters Hill Theatre’s home at Club Ryde is a relaxed and comfortable venue, seating around 100 in an air-conditioned auditorium. With food and beverages available at club prices downstairs, and ample onsite parking, it makes for a welcoming evening out.

Running from 30 May to 22 June 2025, The Revlon Girl is a sensitive, compassionate portrayal of unimaginable grief and the strength it takes to keep going. It reminds us that even in the darkest moments, connection – and yes, even a little lipstick – can offer a flicker of light.

Written by Neil Anthony Docking | Directed by Jennifer Willison | Presented by Hunters Hill Theatre at Club Ryde

To book tickets to The Revlon Girl, please visit https://www.huntershilltheatre.com.au/whats-on.html.

Photographer: Dan Ferris

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Mary Jane – A Quietly Devastating Portrait Of Love And Resilience

Mary Jane

Mary Jane Rating

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Written by Amy Herzog | Directed by Rachel Chant | Presented by Mi 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 Matilda Holton. Lighting design by Izzy Morrissey and Luna Ng, along with Clare Hennessy’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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