Professional Theatre

Sydney Opera House presents
Hugh Hughes in
STORY OF A RABBIT

A SMASH HIT AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE AND LONDON’S BARBICAN

It’s not often that one gets to shake the hand of the actor in a play before the play has started, even rarer that one gets to do it as they climb the stairs to the theatre, but this is precisely what happened at the Playhouse in the Sydney Opera House when I went to see Hugh Hughes’ one man (plus musical assistant Aled Williams) show, Story of a Rabbit. 

Like one cannot feel true sadness without having experienced happiness, so too can we not understand the true loneliness of Lotte (Cate Blanchett) without having experienced its opposite.  Gross und Klein, the Sydney Theatre Company’s last play of this year’s season, is structured as ten separate scenes that do just that, that show Lotte interacting with a world peopled with others who she struggles to connect with.  There’s her search for her one true love, Paul (Robert Menzies), her encounters with a nanotechnician-cum-guitarist (Josh McConville), and a Man in a Parka (Chris Ryan), among many others.

We chat to producers David Venn and Jess Benney of Stage Masters about the return season of 13 - A New Musical.

 Melbournian theatre people, I say this as one of you-it is your patriotic duty to see this show. It is seldom that I find, before the show has even got in full swing,  a large geeky smile spreading across my face and staying there well after curtain call. The same can be said for many of the other attendees. Of course if you wish to keep it there I suggest bypassing Housewarming: A musical on this double bill.

Versatile leading man David Harris will please theatre fans with his new release At This Stage, featuring more than a dozen classic favourites from the world of musicals.

The licentious anti-hero we, for the most part, cannot help being drawn to, Don Giovanni, stalks and weaves his ominous spell once again on the stage of the State Theatre. Opera Australia’s very successful Don Giovanni by Mozart has been resurrected with Teddy Tahu Rhodes storming his way magnificently through this demanding operatic role. It is a captivating performance, passionate, well acted and sung with control and finesse.

The day we premiered Ray Lawler’s groundbreaking play in 1955 marked the beginning of modern Australian drama. This story of shattered illusions has been revived many times since, but never with such imagination and heart as in Neil Armfield’s new production.