This Month
Sarah Blasko had long dismissed ‘Twelfth Night’ – then she scored it
Composing a soundtrack for the Shakespearean comedy seemed an unlikely job for this most serious of singer-songwriters, but music proved to be the food of love.
- Michael Bailey
This theatre show uses playful puppets to send a sober message
An inner-city tornado blows Sunday dinner off the table, and a shark swims through a living room, as this Belgian production makes an affecting circus of global warming.
- Michael Bailey
September
Sydney’s blockbuster ‘cinema theatre’ is back
The team behind Australian theatrical smash hit The Picture Of Dorian Gray is back with another innovative take on a gothic classic.
- Michael Bailey
June
Kerr Neilson-backed theatre shines on debut
Review: Bell Shakespeare’s first full production in the new theatre bankrolled by the Rich Lister, Romeo & Juliet, made clever use of the state-of-the-art space.
- Michael Bailey
March
Adelaide’s ‘Mad March’ of arts defies spending crunch
The city’s long-held strategy of concentrating most of its performing arts festivals in one month appears to have paid off.
- Michael Bailey
This Macbeth is grim but gripping
Bell Shakespeare’s new take on Macbeth, now at the Sydney Opera House, takes the Bard’s most despairing work and mostly turns it into dynamite.
- Michael Bailey
February
The Mirror by Gravity & Other Myths review: reflection of possibility
Calling your contemporary circus troupe Gravity and Other Myths would be audacious, were these Adelaide-based performers not so thrillingly able to live up to the name.
- Michael Bailey
January
A snow show that will melt even the most cynical heart
Three decades after it was first created, Slava’s Snowshow remains a beguiling and often spectacular theatre surprise.
- Michael Bailey
September 2022
Marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s ‘greatest hits’
Bell Shakespeare is marking the 400th anniversary of one of the last millennium’s most influential books.
- Michael Bailey
April 2022
Harry Potter play sells more than 1 million tickets
A long run for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is just one part of Michael Cassel’s ambitious post-pandemic plan.
- Michael Bailey
March 2022
Watershed: The Death Of Dr Duncan is a tearjerking triumph
This Adelaide Festival-commissioned oratorio tells of a very local injustice, with a plea against repeating it that will resonate everywhere.
- Michael Bailey
October 2021
Come From Away review: a welcome rock of optimism
A musical about how the people of Gander, Newfoundland responded to the 7,000 strangers flown there after the 9/11 attacks holds lessons for our recovery from the COVID crisis.
- Michael Bailey
March 2021
A German Life review: uncomfortable cause for self-reflection
Robyn Nevin plays Goebbels’ secretary Brunhilde Pomsel in a way that, awkwardly, most of us can relate to.
- Michael Bailey
The Boy Who Talked To Dogs review: a tail-wagging triumph
The remarkable Limerick-to-Nimbin story of ‘dog whisperer’ Martin McKenna is on stage for the first time at Adelaide Festival.
- Michael Bailey
November 2019
Power play: the Packers hit the stage for the first time
Tommy Murphy's latest play, 'Packer & Sons', explores the power shifts within the patriarchy that's loomed large over Australia's media landscape.
- Michael Bailey
June 2019
The chat that turned into a Broadway showstopper
A chat between a female pilot and songwriters became a showstopper about how 38 planes were diverted to a small Canadian town on 9/11.
- Clare Morgan
April 2019
A 3½-hour investment in 'The Lehman Trilogy' pays off handsomely
It takes about 210 minutes to chronicle Lehman Brothers' flourishing and ultimate doom, but the dexterity of this stagecraft makes it feel like half that.
- Peter Marks
