theatre - Whats The Show

Madwoman Monologues

13 November 2024 Amelia Williamson

Madwoman Monologues Rating

★★★★★

Click if you liked this article

The Butterfly Club has once again been set alight by brilliantly talented performers as part of the final season of Madwoman Monologues.

The show is produced by female-oriented theatre company Baggage Productions. Founded in 1999, Baggage Productions has staged Madwoman Monologues every year since 2011, bringing together actors, directors, and creatives from the Melbourne region.

Programme One of this season’s Madwoman Monologues sees six monologues encompassing loss and heartbreak as an overwhelming theme.

Opening with ‘Moll’s Wighty Task’ performed by Melina Wylie, the audience welcomes her abundant technical skill and dedication to character. Following the story of a widowed Englishwoman, Wylie explores hilariously absurd ideas with bold confidence, before slowing the monologue down toward its grief-stricken cornerstone. Between detailed costuming and carefully placed accenting Wylie’s monologue was able to leave a lingering shadow throughout the night.

‘Scrub’ written by Louise Hopewell is performed by Kate Mulqueen. The successive monologue offers an effective contrast as the audience follows the story of a millennial-aged woman beginning a new job on a construction site after losing her partner to an affair. The script offers an abundance of hilariously put profanity, with supportive use of props and stage design adding to an indulgent use of characterization. Mulqueen’s performance is heartening, relatable, and soul-bearing as she intertwines the tragic loss of family members throughout her story.

Alice Daly took to the stage next with her performance of ‘Buttered Toast’ by Isabella Gilbert. Gilbert’s stunning script paired with Alice Daly’s committed performance made for a highlight of the night. Audiences were entertained with Daly’s dictation of a hilariously awkward first date, and charmed by her commitment to numerous comedic demands.

‘Anything’s Possible’ performed by Phoebe Taylor, written by Adele Shelley earned a wave of praise from the audience. Her story follows the chaotic life of a mother wiggling her way out of an inconvenient run-in with a police officer. Taylor pools humor and lively storytelling together to create one ever-relatable monologue.

The evening was halted by a sweeping performance of ‘Hole’, written by Sarah Durickovic and performed by Melanie Madrigali. The profoundly emotional monologue featured a well-crafted representation of a woman suffering tragic loss and deep sorrow. Madrigali delivered an emotionally charged series of thoughts with utter devotion, despite the direction of the monologue being at first unclear.

Co-founder of Baggage Productions and esteemed actress Christina Costigan closed the program with ‘ICDHT’ written by Kate Rotherham. ‘ICDHT’ tells the story of a mother dealing with heartache through cold morning swims, as advised by her therapist. Her story is hilariously bold, inspiring, and gripping as she commits with total devotion to her character.

The annual Madwoman Monologues are particularly special for they are written by women and performed by women. Each monologue explores grief and loss, comedy, and the charm of small wins in the lives of everyday women. The production brings together communities of actresses, creatives, and audiences to appreciate female talent in writing and drama. Madwomen Monologues is a more than pleasant way to spend a low-key night in Melbourne CBD.

Book in now for one of the remaining session dates/times @ https://thebutterflyclub.com/show/madwomen-monologues

Remaining Shows
Wednesday 13 November 2024 7:00pm
Wednesday 13 November 2024 8:30pm
Thursday 14 November 2024 7:00pm
Thursday 14 November 2024 8:30pm
Friday 15 November 2024 7:00pm
Friday 15 November 2024 8:30pm
Saturday 16 November 2024 7:00pm
Saturday 16 November 2024 8:30pm

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.

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

St Judes Players Presents: A Hard God

13 November 2024 Rupa Mannan

A Hard God Rating

★★★★★

Click if you liked this article

The St Judes Players give a very honest and touching performance of Peter Kenna’s ‘A Hard God’. Set in the 1940s, the play meanders through the lives of three brothers: Dan, Paddy, and Martin. They hail from an Irish Australian Catholic family. It follows their struggles to reconcile their Catholic faith with the challenges of life.

Harry Dewar’s direction of his stellar cast takes the audience on a journey through social challenges for the Catholic family, from domestic violence and gambling to homosexuality. With an injection of comedy and passive aggression from Aggie (Dan’s wife) played by April Stuart the inspection of these heavier topics are tackled with lightness. Lindsay Dunn’s portrayal of Dan Cassidy was authentic as the solid character which his brothers, look for stability.

The three portray a very convincing sibling dynamic. Jamie Black portrays the shadows from Martin’s past with a sensitivity and depth. Chris Dewar plays the younger desperate brother Paddy as he avoids and runs from his aggressive gambling wife Sophie.

Monica the wife of Martin is played by Rebecca Gardner. Rebecca Gardner is on point as Monica, a woman staunch in her religious ideals imposing her views upon Aggie and the remaining brothers. A solid synergy between the family members had the audience giggling as the dynamic played out on stage with a fantastic set design.

There is a very sensitive and tender portrayal of Joe and Jack as they face the dilemma of their feelings for one another with the confusion of puberty and the backdrop of their Catholic faith. The pair draw in the audience to feel their agony as they stumble poorly through difficult conversations about their feelings for each other and the demise of their friendship. The contrast between the parallel stories was executed well with the contrasting lighting and sound.

This is an important, thought-provoking play about religion and family. The St Judes Player, under the direction of Harry Dewar, has done a fabulous job of bringing this play to life.

With closing weekend already upon us, so do not waste time…be sure to grab your tickets to one of the last few remaining sessions whilst you still can @ https://stjudesplayers.asn.au/bookings/

Remaining Sessions

Thursday, 14th November @ 7:30pm
Friday, 15th November @ 7:30pm
Saturday, 16th November @ 2pm

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.

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Failure: A Love Story by the Villanova Players

9 November 2024 Amanda Harrison

Failure: A Love Story by the Villanova Players Rating

★★★★★

Click if you liked this article

Failure: A Love Story is a Dramedy that also explores the use of music in the 1920s-themed Character-centric play. We follow ‘Mortimer Mortimer’ played by the delightful Lachlan Gregory Hugh, on his ill-fated courtship of no fewer than three women of the ‘Fail Family’ and the journey of his life until death. The story is delivered uniquely, where the characters take turns offering narrations in the third person, flitting in and out of the story.

The play competently and creatively incorporates the use of projections to help transport us to the very many various locations in the play. The Projections often provide us with unique family portraits, some hilariously photoshopped.

Other unique aspects of this production include using puppetry to bring to life a pet snake and the smooth vocals of Milton Scully, who plays a personified Gramophone. Although Milton excels vocally, they are raw on-stage with no backing track provided, which could have elevated the Jazz vibes of his performance. He still gives it his all, showing us masterful carrying of tune, pitch and tone.

Another odd aspect is the appearance of a dog played by Shane Fell, whose end-of-life euthanasia is played for laughs. This sounds shocking, but Shane’s bold choice and comedic performance make this a stand-out comedic moment.

The main stand-out performances belong to Lachlan Gregory Hugh and Sabrina Fu, who play Mortimer Mortimer and Nelly Fail, respectively. They bring vibrancy and energy to the stage, appearing confident and collected in their performances. Erin Hall and Sophie Morrison bring consistency and grounding to their performances as the other ‘fail’ sisters. Nathan Seng excels in his role, convincingly playing the shy and awkward adopted ‘fail’ brother.

All actors were well-spoken, projecting to the entirety of the theatre throughout. Nathan Seng has a great voice in the snippet of singing we get from his character, and the chorus singing moments sound great. Although once again backing tracks, and more upbeat dance choreography could have lifted the energy in these scenes to support the actors’ performances. We are delivered very clean and precise blocking throughout the performance, showing this cast could’ve competently handled more energetic or elaborate configurations.

This production was crafted with care and talent in the prop department, showcasing amazing handmade pieces. From a clockwork coffin to a Gramophone-themed megaphone, the props used were excellent. The lighting once again plays it safe, only being incorporated occasionally as a story-telling device, but all actors are well-lit. The pacing seemed to be the greatest difficulty in this production, with narrations often dragging and struggling to support the story in building to its climactic points of drama.

Unfortunately, this impedes some of the comedic timing at points and makes the third act, as we travel towards the ending, feel quite long. There is, at times, masking from the cast as they wait in limbo to jump in for their section of narration. However, the jokes that do land delight the audience and keep us invested in the journey of Mortimer Mortimer. Lachlan really does bring a great surge of vitality to the stage with his performance, and he should be commended.

Failure: A Love Story provides us with a cozy journey. It is funny while fated to tragedy and intimately explores a person’s journey through love. The cast should be commended on their successful performance and efforts.

With only two nights remaining, book your tickets to Failure: A Love Story @ https://www.villanovaplayers.com/coming-soon

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.

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

MARVELous The Show

7 November 2024 Rebecca Rose

MARVELous Rating

★★★★★

Click if you liked this article

If you’re a Marvel fan, you’ll want to get to the National Theatre in St Kilda this week. MARVELous has hit Melbourne for one week only.

But you don’t just have to be a Marvel fan to enjoy the evening of dancing, singing, acrobatics, stunts, and a variety of hilarious parodies that draw reference to a range of pop culture songs and movies outside of the Marvel franchise.

The audience were a-buzz on opening night, and lapped up the high energy, risqué performances (there is nudity, so keep the kids at home!).

Deadpool and his interaction with the audience kept everyone engaged throughout the show. And each of the individual parody skits were captivating and entertaining to watch.

The show definitely entertained the audience; a wonderful way to escape the real world for a couple of hours and have a good laugh and enjoy the spectacle on stage. There is a great mix of both Marvel-specifc and -non-specific pop culture references along the way to cater for a wide range of tastes.

There is some serious talent in the cast, with amazing dancing, vocals, and acrobatics on show.

The show was let down at times with some very slow, silent set changes, which disrupted the flow of the show and could have easily been filled with something as simple as some music, or even just some more character interaction time with the audience, which was in itself a great feature of the show in general.

Several technical issues with sound, lighting, and wardrobe unfortunately drew the attention away from the performances at times too, and it seemed that seating location played a big part in the sound issues too, with those seated towards the back of the audience having the most issues with hearing the cast members at all in the first half. Along with the technical issues, a bit more tightening up of the show in terms of transitions between sets and even the movements of cast within scenes would push the show into presenting as a much more professional category of shows that it deserves to be seen as.

MARVELous the show, really is quite a unique, entertaining, high-energy, and very clever concept. Hopefully, the technical glitches were just some opening-night cobwebs (ah the joys of live theatre!) in what was otherwise an incredibly fun, and extremely funny and enjoyable night out.

Make sure to keep the kids at home for this one, as it’s adults only (well, 15 plus) with lots of partial nudity and plenty of risqué moments.

Get in quick to see MARVELous at the National Theatre in St Kilda 6th – 10th November 2024. Book your tickets now before this marvellous show ends @ https://marveloustheshow.com.au/

Photographer: Ben DIngley

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.

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Connect Online