Observer

OBSERVER: A Beautiful Noise

Thursday, October 9, 2025

A live phone call to the iconic American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond was a wonderful highlight of the launch of the musical A Beautiful Noise at the Princess Theatre.A Beautiful Noise is the successful Broadway musical based on Diamond’s life which will open in Melbourne in August next year. The musical has an interesting structure with…

Observer

OBSERVER: The Ship

Loosely based on a novella by Stefan Zweig, The Ship relates the story of a reclusive passenger haunted by memories of the past.Under the direction of Fini Liu, the tale is related in a manner that combines theatrical forms and languages.An Ariel like narrator sets the scene with a folded paper boat and a bowl…

Observer

OBSERVER: The Wedding

After sell-out shows earlier this year at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Andy Balloch’s hilarious one-man show The Wedding had a short season at Trades Hall as part of the Fringe Festival.As guests at a wedding reception for the gay couple Tony and David, the audience are entertained by the master of ceremonies as well…

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OBSERVER: The Worm

Online dating can often be a nightmare and just how nightmarish yet funny it can be was the focus of The Worm which played at the Motley Bauhaus as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.A single woman tells us of her experiences dating online and looking for a mate, soul or otherwise. Stage left a…

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OBSERVER: Hemlines

Hemlines is three women Elenor, Flossy, Doris living a life of eternity in their sewing room, only seeing the outside world through the eye of a needle.This production by Moon Bureau has a lot – painted faces, Irish jigs, songs, fabric and storytelling.Amelia Gilday has directed a unique contribution to the Melbourne Fringe Festival.The cast,…

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OBSERVER: Titus Andronicus

Th’Unguarded Duncan and Theatre Works invite audiences to the Australian premiere season of Titus Andronicus being presented from November 13-22 at Theatre Works, St Kilda.Described as ‘a surreal telling of Shakespeare’s most violent play’, this season features international artist and Prague Shakespeare Company Associate Director Josh Morrison in the titular role.Titus Andronicus is the tale…

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OBSERVER: Theatre Etiquette

A quietness descends as the lights fade. The audience settles in anticipation of what’s to come. There is the ubiquitous ‘welcome to country’ along with a reminder to turn off one’s mobile phone.But many people still observe this overture as something to be ignored, something that doesn’t apply to them, as something that’s an imposition…

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OBSERVER: No Season

Experimental work is, by its very nature, risky. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t, sometimes the experiment can be a mix of both success and failure.A new piece exploring gender and transitioning, No Seasons by Oliver Ayres, falls in the last camp as moments of beautiful stillness contrast with frustrating moments of obscure imagery.Upon entering…

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OBSERVER: Down The Back Of The Couch

Liz Skitch becomes a latter-day Pam Ayres in her Fringe Festival routine, Down the Back of the Couch.The poems that form the core of her performance have a comic quality in their depiction of the mundane in life with associated imagery that is amusing.But Skitch takes things a little further with emotional reflections on cancer…

Observer

OBSERVER: Cosi Fan Tutte

Melbourne Opera presents Mozart’s comedy Cosi Fan Tutte, in a new production by Suzanne Chaundy from October 30 – November 9 at the Athenaeum Theatre 2, Collins St, Melbourne.Featuring some of Mozart’s most beautiful ensembles and arias, Cosi Fan Tutte is an enjoyable comedy in which two men test their girlfriends’ fidelity and infidelity.The Melbourne…