Tag Archives: Anthea Williams

Theatre

NATIONAL THEATRE OF PARRAMATTA PRESENTS ‘THE THINGS I COULD NEVER TELL STEVEN’

 

From 5th to 14th November, Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta will return to the stage to present ‘The Things I Could Never Tell Steven’.

The production is directed by Anthea Williams (Flight Paths, Winyanboga Yurringa Since Ali Died) and written by Jye Bryant (Captain Moonlite, Sempre Libera, The Velveteen Rabbit) a prime example of western sydney talent, and leader of a new generation of Australian music theatre.

‘Bringing ‘The Things I Could Never Tell Steven’ to life is celebrated actress and music theatre star, best known for her portrayal of Glinda in the original West End production of Wicked, Helen Dallimore, powerhouse vocalist and actor Adam J Rennie (The Rocky Horror Show, Big Fish, Love Never Dies), award-winning vocal sensation Elenoa Rokobaro (High School Musical, Hairspray, Legally Blonde) and two-time Green Room Award winner Ian Stenlake (Mama Mia, They’re playing our song, Oklahoma) with music Director Ben Kiehne. Continue reading NATIONAL THEATRE OF PARRAMATTA PRESENTS ‘THE THINGS I COULD NEVER TELL STEVEN’ →

Sydney Festival 2019, Theatre

SINCE ALI DIED. SOME EXPERIENCES UNITE US

SINCE ALI DIED – Image Credit: Robert Catto

On waves of enjoyment the highly entertained audience responds and relates to Omar Musa during his show SINCE ALI DIED.  His gift as a performer is to put people at ease, to allow an audience a space in which to understand and empathise and to feel comfortable to respectfully disagree if required.  But if we have all been down to the servo on a hot day or done a bomb off the 3 metre board, each of us who meet in this space have arrived by different paths.  His path is what he shares in his exciting and engaging show, a crafted show with the power to gently educate without rancour or aggro.

Using poetry, first and third person storytelling and songs Musa will give an insight into growing up as a brown boy in Queanbeyan … his poetic homage to the river absolutely delightful.   Lyrical and warm yet beautifully expressed with a sadness for its loss of greatness.  For, this is a boy who understands greatness.  His idol is a black man who speaks his mind, who speaks of achieving and who was once lyrical and floating.  It’s an honest love as Musa bookends his work  in a Styxian boat speaking to The Greatest. Continue reading SINCE ALI DIED. SOME EXPERIENCES UNITE US →

Theatre

THE HUMANS: ENSEMBLE CAST OF EXCELLENCE

Production Photography: Clare Hawley

They are a rowdy lot, the Blake family, as they meet for Thanksgiving dinner on the small stage at the Old Fitz Theatre.  They know how to fill a room with their lightly weaponized bonhomie, the jabs and pokes of long acquaintance and the love, the centrepiece of their dinner table, the love.   With an ensemble cast of excellence THE HUMANS from MopHead Productions, in association with Red Line Productions, is a bright, high energy affair for sure but I yearned for the dark, the mystic, the bog and the mist of this Irish bred clan.  For me, it is that which gives body to the purely narrative in this Pulitzer nominated, Tony winning, script by Stephen Karam.

Brigid is hosting the celebration this Thanksgiving.  She and boyfriend, Richard, have moved into an apartment in the run down Chinatown area of Manhattan.  The fact that these pair are without the benefit of marriage is merely one of the issues that concern her parents Deirdre and Erik who arrive from Scranton with ‘Momo’, Erik’s dementia suffering mother.

Joining them is Aimee, their other daughter, a lawyer who gives every indication of being very unwell.  Through the parents’ eyes we will see what is lost when the children move away from family, religion and working class moralities.  And during the course of the evening, this family under pressure will become more unstable and distant from each other despite the evident boisterousness and verve of their well-practiced interactions. Continue reading THE HUMANS: ENSEMBLE CAST OF EXCELLENCE →