A Thousand Words

8 stars out of 10 - shows this weekend, and next! Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/DAVIB Querencia: A place where one feels safe, at home, and draws strength—a place where you can be your most authentic self. – A beautiful word to describe the second home of every thespian. Everyone carries an invisible backpack. Filled with past experiences, emotions, dreams, pain, challenges and successes. Some days it feels too heavy to bear. On those days, who will you ask to help carry the load?”  Querencia Calling  explores the role of friendship in shaping not only who we are, but who we want to be. Relationships inevitably change over time, and this play introduces us to 5 friends whose connection spans from their university days to their current “mid-life” and examines the bonds that can remain strong even after life and distance get in the way.  Querencia Calling  marks Sharyn Henderson’s first venture into writing a full-length play. While the script is strong, there ar...

Photo Credit: Maggie Morris 7.5 out of 10 stars - If you're a fan of Greek mythology this is for you! If not, this is also for you... Tickets available at : https://www.trybooking.com/CXJIL This is a Greek tragedy. There is no happy ending. And the team at the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild have ensured this! In recent years, we have surrendered to the phenomenon that is SIX the Musical, retelling the story of Henry VIII’s six wives. Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad is of similar nature, retelling the story of the poem, “The Odyssey” from Odysseus’ wife, Penelope’s point of view, along with twelve of her maids, asking ‘What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?’ Director Kristin Telfer remarks that The Penelopiad has been one of her dream projects for a long time, and the final product witnessed today is testament to the care and respect she has for the author’s work. There are a handful of artistic choices throughout this production where t...

8.5 out of 10 stars -- Zest Theatre Group is a not-so-hidden gem that more patrons need to experience ~ 2 weekends only! Tickets available:  https://www.trybooking.com/DAOXO/ Everybody knows   Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . In recent years, Adelaide theatre groups have harnessed their imaginations and produced it for the stage and their local audiences. The latest to do so is Zest Theatre Group with mother-daughter director duo Natalie and Aria Stevenson. Together, they have created a truly magical experience for all ages to enjoy. Vocal Coach Susie Lush has brought out the vocal confidence in the cast: principals and ensemble inclusive, to give their optimal performance despite not having the elevated feel of a live band. Leila Britton’s choreography is on pointe, crisp and full of energy! This musical has many movement styles inspired by the various characters, and each one is simply brilliant to witness – from Russian ballet to the Queen of Pop, to Germa...

Photo credit: Matt Ralph 7.5 out of 10 stars: A solid fun-filled outing! TICKETS AVAILABLE:  https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1334918 Merrily We Roll Along begins in the present and moves backwards, tracing the lives of wealthy, jaded composer Franklin Shepard and his two estranged friends through each milestone of their personal and professional lives (good and bad). It is not surprising that The G&S Society of SA deliver a successful production full of talent and future stars. Matt Smith (Director), Matthew Rumley (MD), and Lucy Newman (Choreographer) have built a stellar version of Sondheim's semi-autobiography. Nicholas Munday plays the adulterous role of Franklin Shepard with the appropriate classiness expected and portrays the reverse-character development with a drive that ensures Shepard can do what we wants, when he wants. Munday’s relationships onstage with his co-stars are comical in the right moments, as well as sweet or dramatic in their appropriate places...

3.5 out of 5 stars Tickets available: https://www.trybooking.com/CZZEY The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following Lady Windermere's Fan , A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband . It is a farcical comedy based in the 1890’s depicting the tangled affairs of two young men about town who lead double lives to evade unwanted social obligations, satirizing the conventions and manners of Victorian society. Many a theatre company, varying between community through professional have attempted Wilde’s drawing-room plays, and the latest rendition is currently in season by The Strathalbyn Players. The Chapel Theatre in Strathalbyn is a cozy, intimate theatre with a true community vibe, complete with 8 stackable chairs surrounding rectangle tables, encouraging discussion among audience members prior to the show and during intervals. Having a closed curtain prior to the show, between each Act, and after the show prev...

4.5 stars out of 5 stars! THREE WEEKENDS - DON'T DELAY:  https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1333154 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS! Hills Musical Company’s production of Little Women is one that will be remembered for a long time. Little Women tells the story of the March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, who navigate childhood, love, and family in 19 th -century America. Book by Allan Knee, Music by Jason Howland & Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. Co-Directors Vanessa Redmond and Tammy Shields, along with MD Dylan Rufus and Choreographer Ashleigh Rathjen have collectively envisioned and created an immensely tight production that while is a drama by nature, acknowledges the many comical moments with respect and dignity. Being a musical that didn’t needed major choreographed music numbers, the moments that were needed, particularly in the early moments were tight, crisp and highly energetic – contrasting to the elegant dance moves when the girls are off the ball. Similarly, Rufus’...

4.5 stars out of 5 stars TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE:  https://marion.online.red61.com.au/event/318:771/ Performances until Saturday 10th May What better way to experience community theatre on a crisp Friday evening than at the Domain Theatre, discovering Galleon Theatre Group’s latest production, Wrong Turn at Lungfish. A powerful cast of 4 have come together to present a 2-Act drama written by Garry Marshall & Lowell Ganz, taking the audience on an emotional roller coaster for a couple of hours. While this production can easily be described as a 2-hander with an additional 2 minor characters, each actor was equal in their character development and their knowledge and understanding of the text, story and their character arc. Wrong Turn at Lungfish is the story of Peter Ravenswaal, a blind, bitter and widowed college professor, and his encounter with Anita, a saucy, street wise young woman who volunteers to read to him in the hospital. He's a widower facing death alone, she's t...

  4 out of 5 stars - 2 SHOWS REMAINING - TODAY! Tickets:  https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1348486 I took the opportunity before the lights dimmed to educate myself across the Tuck Everlasting universe, and I quickly became invested in the story. 11-year-old Winnie Foster yearns for a life of adventure beyond her white picket fence when she stumbles upon the Tuck family and their secret to everlasting youth and faces the extraordinary choice of returning to her ordinary life or continue with the Tucks on their infinite journey. Westminster School produces a musical every 2 years, and after Mamma Mia in 2023, I needed to come back. The work itself first, the musical is based on the children’s classic by Natalie Babbitt. Music by Chris Miller and Lyrics by Nathan Tysen, while libretto by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle. I love the music – the folk-like tone through many of the songs is fun and different to many other musicals currently doing the rotations. Similarly, th...

4.5 out of 5 stars - 2 weekends remaining Tickets available @  https://nltc.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/142225 Billy Elliot was a musical I knew by title only. It’s about a boy that has a love for ballet. Therefore, I went along to NLTC’s production with no idea what I was to experience, and a 3-hour experience it was… tap numbers everywhere; OTT dance numbers featuring clothes; perfect consistent accents throughout; and a very distracting (in a good way) six-year-old… audiences will have to come back a second time to see everything they missed after watching Finn the whole time. Billy Elliot is a coming-of-age musical revolving around Billy Elliot, a motherless British boy who begins taking ballet lessons. The story of his personal struggle and fulfilment is balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the 1984–1985 miners' strike. Billy St. John, MD, undertook the task in teaching music to dancers and succeeded with great success and much ...

  3.14159... no... 3.5 out of 5 stars Tickets available:  https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1339997 The Theory of Relativity is a musical with music and lyrics by Neil Bartram, and a book by Brian Hill. The show introduces a compelling array of characters experiencing the joys and heartbreaks, the liaisons and losses, the inevitability and the wonder of human connection. The choice of musical for this new, independent group to perform, allowing everyone to showcase their singing and acting talents was a good choice, with all the production elements purposefully simple, maximising the on-stage talent, giving them the space and opportunities to give their all. The minimal movement that there was, was choreographed was received well, although could be tightened to become spectacular in its exact timing. Production Team members Jax Brooks, Darcie Yelland, Oliver Hallett and Alicia Hancock all brought their personalities and specialisations to the floor, drawing inspir...

ONLY PERFORMANCE: Thursday 20th March 2025, 7pm My final 2025 Adelaide Fringe experience was in Salisbury, experiencing Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes at the Twelve25 Youth Centre, performed by the Salisbury Youth Performing Arts Group. This show was selected to be part of my 2025 Adelaide Fringe experience, purely from the title! One strange and dark year, Halloween came early on Oct. 24, three hours after midnight. This was the exact time Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow show arrived in Green Town. James Nightshade and William Halloway left their beds to watch the train pull in, but no one was manning it or the cars behind. Yet, the calliope's siren song beckoned all with impossible dreams and youth regained. Initially lured by its promises, the boys soon discover the diabolical truth about the carnival. Behind the mirror mazes and spooky characters, including the Illustrated Man and Mr. Dark, the cost of wishes can be nightmares. Only Jim, Will, and Wi...