Observer

OBSERVER: The Orchard

Friday, August 8, 2025

The Pony Cam troupe make no pretence about trying to revive or perform a classic even though The Orchard is based on Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard.Indeed, they endeavour to eschew character, plot and narrative and dive into the themes and tone of Chekov’s original in a form of experimental and improvised theatre that could well…

Observer

OBSERVER: Ms Julie Gabler: Trapped

In a premiere at TheatreWorks’ Explosives Factory venue, Kathleen Mary Fallon produced Ms Julie Gabler: Trapped.While being an ambitious well-intentioned work seeking to explore jealousy, race, power and gender the play, unfortunately, failed to deliver and thus disappointed.The play revolved around three actors who were vying for parts in a production of Shakespeare’s Othello.Robert was…

Observer

OBSERVER: Yong

In a wonderful piece of youth theatre written for ages 10 to 13, Monkey Baa Theatre Company put on a moving production of Yong at the The Show Room, Melbourne Arts Centre.The play was a depiction of the mostly untold story of Chinese immigration to Australia and their role in the Victorian gold rush of…

Observer

OBSERVER: A Day With James Joyce’s Ulysses

Thursday, August 7, 2025

Bloomsday in Melbourne’s Dr Steve Carey and Associate Professor Frances Devlin-Glass present A Day With James Joyce’s Ulysses on Sunday, August 24 from 10am – 4.30pm at 3ZZZ, 309 Albert St, Brunswick.Ulysses was published in Paris on James Joyce’s 40th birthday, February 2, 1922.This interactive course, a mix of presentation and discussion of text, assumes…

Observer

OBSERVER: We Will Rock You

The opening announcement boomed: “The time has come to rock!” And PLOS Musical Productions sure did rock Frankston with their splendid show We Will Rock You at the Frankston Arts Centre.We Will Rock You is set 300 years in the dystopian future when Planet Earth has been renamed the iPlanet, controlled by the Globalsoft Corporation…

Observer

OBSERVER: Florrie From Fitzroy

The Dunolly Gilbert and Sullivan Society presents Florrie from Fitzroy on Saturday, August 16 at 2.00pm in the Fitzroy Town Hall Reading Room.The show celebrates the 150th birthday of Florrie Forde, said to be one of the most famous musical hall stars of the early Edwardian era. Florrie was born in Gertrude St, Fitzroy, on…

Observer

OBSERVER: Limitless

Arts Project Australia has launched Limitless, a major new annual commissioning series supporting large-scale, ambitious works by neurodivergent artists and artists with intellectual disability.Limitless offers a platform for APA artists to explore their practice entirely on their own terms.It marks an opportunity to develop their most expansive and ambitious works to date.The series represents a…

Observer

OBSERVER: Miss Julie

Reimagining a classic play like Miss Julie for the contemporary stage carries with it inordinate challenges, not the least of which are the assumptions and tropes associated with a piece credited as being a touchstone of the emerging style of naturalism back in 1888.Writer and director Harry Haynes has us in a modern Greek restaurant…

Observer

OBSERVER: Local Theatre Report

ShowsThe Basin Theatre Company: Educating Rita (by Willy Russell) Until August 17 at The Basin Theatre, Doongalla Rd., The Basin. Director: Sharon Maine. Bookings: thebasintheatre.auThe 1812 Theatre: Home, I’m Darling (by Laura Wade) Until August 30 at 3 Rose St., Upper Ferntree Gully. Director: Amy Calvert. Bookings: 1812theatre.com.auBeaumaris Theatre: The Witches (based on the book…

Observer

OBSERVER: What’s Yours?

Fertility and friendship are twin forces in Keziah Warner’s new play, What’s Yours. Friends since university, Lia (CarissaLee) and Jo (Christina O’Neill) are polarised in their stance on having children.Jo wants independence. Lia yearns for a child. The fact that they have betrayed each other over the attention of Simon (Kevin Hofbauer) who was Jo’s…