Thrive Theatre’s latest production is an absolute hoot. Directed by Susan O’Toole Cridland, The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery is a delightful play within a play that invites audiences into the chaotic opening night of Murder at Checkmate Manor, where anything that can go wrong, hilariously does.
Led by the determined Mrs Reece (Sandy Adsett), The Farndale Dramatic Society valiantly attempts to stage their murder mystery, despite countless mishaps. Her long-suffering cast includes the incorrigible Thelma (Izabela Wasilewska), the flustered Felicity (Lindi Milbourne], earnest Audrey (Claire Marchesi), the charismatic Gordon (Isaiah Harrison), together with their perpetually bewildered lighting and sound technician, the show quickly becomes a comedy of errors, plagued by collapsing sets, missing props, and forgotten lines. Yet, it’s precisely this relentless madness that results in the very best kind of chaotic nonsense.
From beginning to end, this production is laugh-out-loud funny. The cast and crew convincingly portrayed a carefully orchestrated disaster. The actors handle the dual realities with impressive comedic timing and genuine flair. Special mention must go to Isaiah Harrison, whose Inspector O’Reilly feels like the love child of Patrick Swayze and John Cleese. He would steal the show, except he couldn’t wrestle it away from the other actors.
It took balls for O’Toole Cridland to step out of her comfort zone and direct a farce, and there are certainly plenty of balls in this production. Thrive Theatre has boldly embraced farce, absurdism, musical theatre, and tennis in this production, with exceptional results.
The KSP theatre venue is delightfully nostalgic, with a relaxed atmosphere and convenient parking. One cannot fail to mention the generous cheese platters, which can be ordered upon booking.
With everything going on in the world, this joyful, light-hearted production feels exactly right—comforting, uplifting, and genuinely entertaining. It’s like chicken soup (and a cheese platter) for the soul.
It became clear walking into the Tea Tree Players Theatre that this is a well-supported community theatre company. This quaint little theatre came to fruition when a dedicated group, led by Diane and the late Robert Lamerton, ventured to establish the first live theatre within the City of Tea Tree Gully.
In 1977, this resulted in the construction of a stage, curtain, and wood-panelled wall, marking the official beginning of Tea Tree Players’ theatrical journey. Over the years, the stage has been enlarged, a new front curtain installed, the audio and lighting box repositioned, new seating fitted, and a foyer area constructed, amongst other continuous improvements, making viewing a production at this sweet little theatre a real treat.
Doctor in the House, written by Richard Gordon and Ted Willis is a classic British zany comedy based on Richard Gordon’s novel that sees the fictitious St Swithin’s medical students Tony, Simon and John balance the demands of medical school with the antics of their manic social life consisting of much frivolity, drinking and partying hard!
Kyle McCarthy plays the lovable John Evans, a somewhat dedicated student who clearly enjoys the lifestyle that college life offers. McCarthy is believable in the role bringing a warmth and likeability to his portrayal of this character. Clinton Nitschke, a seasoned performer, brought a wonderful sense of innocence and naivety to his characterisation of Simon Sparrow, a dedicated student who walked a comically slippery slope between studious dedication and drunken debauchery – a fun, credible and convincing interpretation.
Rebecca Mason’s embodiment of the sassy and seductive Vera complimented the predominantly male cast, while Charlie Klose made the audience belly laugh with her hilarious performance within the performance of a play written by Tony, one of the med students. Mike Phillips as Bromley, Barry Hill OAM as Sir Lancelot Spratt, Emily Sharland as Janet and Kate Readon as the matronly Matron completed a well-rehearsed cast expertly directed by Brian Godfrey. The set and costuming were fabulous, with only subtle changes made throughout the play to depict time jumps, which was all that was needed.
Standout performance credit must go to Ben Proeve, who confidently, convincingly, and professionally portrayed Tony Grimsdyke, a medical student who clearly influences the foolishness and creates hilarious moments, breaking the fourth wall without breaking character. Proeve was perfectly cast as this cheeky character and carried much of this production, acting in part as both the storytelling narrator and fun-loving med student.
Congratulations to the director, cast and crew of Doctor in the House – a good, fun production performed by a polished cast.
Melbourne Comic Jeremy Dooley brings his debut show Daddy Cool to Richmond for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
In an attic on Bridge Road, an intimate crowd gathers for Dooley’s stand up show. The lights are dim and the atmosphere is relaxed for this evening’s show.
Warming up the crowd is Canadian Richard Meneses who cracks jokes about being a backpacker, having left Canada to find himself. It’s a funny set that packs in a lot of laughs in a short time. Having cut his teeth on the Open Mic circuit Richard delivers a great set and performance that is memorable.
Lightly jogging onto the stage is the main act Jeremy Dooley, whose jokes are relatable and delivered perfectly with each punchline landing. He invites the audience to participate, which creates some very funny moments and makes for some great banter.
Being that this is a debut show, one could be mistaken for thinking Dooley has done the act before. He is comfortable being on stage, laughter comes easily, and he’s relaxed.
Dooley presents an hour of great storytelling, with some laugh-out-loud moments that captivate the audience. As the show winds up, Dooley has given the audience a solid hour of laughter and endearing moments that make for a fantastic show.
The Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir Rating
★★★★★
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“Try connection, try love, try understanding: it will fill your hearts with joy and change your life!” This plea from the heart of Morris Stuart, Artistic Director of the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir (CAAWC), could be the catchcry of this unique ensemble. The values of connection, love and understanding underpin the choir’s history and allowed two seemingly disparate cultures to find a common ground in singing. German Lutherans arrived in Hermannsburg/Ntaria, NT, in 1877 bringing hymns of faith. They collaborated with Western Arrarnta people to the translate the hymns into Western Arrarnta language. The old musical form from overseas merged with the old language of the interior, and both were preserved in a new form by four generations of Western Arrarnta women, some of whom are singing in the choir today.
The significance of this preservation, particularly for a threatened Aboriginal language, is revealed in Naina Sen’s documentary “The Songkeepers” (2017), available on SBS, which followed the CAAWC’s 2015 journey to Germany to sing sometimes forgotten hymns to the churches that originally sent them, in the languages of Western Arrarnta and Pitjantjatjara 140 years later.
The CAAWC performed at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Sunday 23rd March to a very supportive audience. The choir of 25 members (including four men) have a very distinct sound due to the thick, guttural, nasal quality that is the preferred vocal timbre of Aboriginal musicians. The hymn arrangements from the time of Bach to early Romantic period take on a new life with this tonal quality and use of Central Australian Aboriginal languages. Every song was infused with joy and there was an artlessness about the performance that engaged me in its honesty.
Most of the sacred songs were Lutheran hymns with lyrics translated into Western Arrarnta or Pitjantjatjara. With Aboriginal languages increasingly endangered, this choir and its members are living history. To be able to sing for us in their first language is a privilege that has had to be fought for. It is a continuing conversation about culture and language preservation that the choir invites us to have. Artistic Director, Morris Stuart, reminded us that Areyonga/Utju’s 50 years of bilingual education program in the NT had to be fought for, even to the point of involving the Human Right’s Commission.
I was particularly interested the two sacred songs in the repertoire that were original compositions. One was written in 1921 by Western Arrarnta elders, Moses Tjalkapurta and Johannes Ntjalka in the style of a traditional ceremonial chant (3- line chant) with modern harmonic elements. Some of the choir members are their descendants.
The other original song was “Godanya” written by Carolyn Windy, her niece Petrina Windy (both choir members) and Adelaidean Holly Webb. It celebrates the Holy Trinity – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To me this song was the highlight of the evening. The influence of hymn was there in its strophic form and diatonic harmony. However, the synergy of words and melody was remarkably seamless and the simple homophonic texture gradually grew into a wall of sound, unified and balanced, with no unnecessary movement. There was a power in its compositional simplicity that moved me. The choir was particularly of one voice in this song – my guess is that it must be one of their favourites – like one person breathing. In a later conversation with Morris Stuart, he agreed that it is the choir’s “tour de force”. It is more original songs like this that I look forward to hearing in the future.
Apart from the early Romantic style hymns and original sacred songs, we were treated to a Bach Chorale conducted by teacher, linguist and author, David Roennfeldt, as well as two German rounds with Western Arrarnta lyrics by Lily Roennfeldt.
There was also a short set of three more familiar songs which were beautifully supported by collborative pianist, Marten Visser. The audience were taught Western Arrarnta words to Kumbayah and invited to sing along. Waltzing Matilda showcased the choir’s storytelling ability and humour. But the most memorable was “We Are Australian”, sung in Western Arrarnta language. We were invited to simultaneously sing the last chorus in English and the connection between choir and audience was palpable. We rose to our feet to give a heartfelt standing ovation.
For me, the word that sums up the CAAWC and this performance is connection. At one point, Stuart asked for the house lights to come up so they could see who they were singing to. They waved to us as they exited the stage singing, and we waved back, our hearts filled with joy, and then went out to meet them in person in the foyer.
The Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir is made up of members of six remote community choirs from Ntaria, Areyonga, Titjikala, Mutitjulu, Docker River and Mission Block, Alice Springs. This tour is produced by Margot Teele from Andrew Kay and Associates Pty Ltd and includes Nuriootpa, Womadelaide, Bunbury, Perth, Canberra, Melbourne, Brunswick, Sydney and Bateman’s Bay.
