Tag Archives: Suzanne Millar

Theatre

DRESDEN AT KXT: NOT WHAT ONE MIGHT EXPECT

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This image: Yalin Ozucelik and Renee-Lim.  Photo: Jasmin Simmons 
Featured image: Jeremy Waters as Richard.  Photo: Clare Hawley

One protagonist, Richard Wagner, is obviously received and revered but for some in the audience, the other name, Adolf Hitler, is part of living memory.  My mum remembers the chaos and the Movietone newsreels of the time and several people of my acquaintance have family who were caught up in the holocaust of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.  So, a play that puts this odium on stage in front of you … a gay heart, a Jewish soul, a gypsy heritage might quake to see.  However, DRESDEN, playing at the Kings Cross Theatre, is not to be feared.

Playwright Justin Fleming has created a warm text that for most of its 80 minutes floats with a balance of emotion and intellect before delivering the challenge of a hard landing  question to take away with you.  Here there is density without heaviness and entertainment without escapism allied with a rigorous interrogation of the profundity and complexities of power in great art.  And love, or the lack thereof. Continue reading DRESDEN AT KXT: NOT WHAT ONE MIGHT EXPECT →

Interviews, Theatre

DRESDEN – A NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK. INTERVIEW WITH WRITER JUSTIN FLEMING

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With his easy laugh and infectious enthusiasm, it was such a pleasure to chat with renowned playwright, Justin Fleming, on the phone from Brisbane.  He will be in Sydney soon for the opening of his new play DRESDEN, another production with long-time collaborator Suzanne Millar. Fleming and Millar have collaborated on six productions but this will be the first at KXT Bakehouse.

1838: Richard Wagner writes Rienzi. Seventy years later, a 17-year-old Adolf Hitler witnesses the composer’s extraordinary first opera in performance - and is struck dumb. For Wagner, it was one of the greatest creative acts known to us.

For Hitler, it set in motion the greatest wave of human destruction we have ever seen. For both, the city of Dresden is their stage.

Justin Fleming’s explosive new play puts passion and power under the microscope through the lens of history and our own horrifying hindsight.

I began by sharing something in common .,. Continue reading DRESDEN – A NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK. INTERVIEW WITH WRITER JUSTIN FLEMING →

Coming Soon/Previews, Theatre

bAKEHOUSE THEATRE COMPANY:WHAT’S AT KXT 2018

Image:http://ymtdesigns.wixsite.com/ymtdesigns
Banner photo credit : Natasha Narula

Since its launch as an exciting new theatre space in 2015, KXT – Kings Cross Theatre has been renowned for showcasing new, risky and exceptional theatre. In 2018, the dynamic theatre company behind the programming for KXT, bAKEHOUSE, will continue their commitment to presenting works driven by diversity, gender equity and exciting collaboration.

2018 is KXT’s year of theatre for change. The season has been carefully curated to showcase some of the city’s most accomplished independent theatre makers while also featuring the work of our most promising directors. It includes five world-premieres, nine Australian premieres, five new works from Australian writers, and the development of new works by nine writers. bAKEHOUSE continues its radical community engagement with two major social justice programs developed from community collaborations working in partnership with two NGOs.

Continue reading bAKEHOUSE THEATRE COMPANY:WHAT’S AT KXT 2018 →

Aussie Drama, Theatre

THE LADEN TABLE : A BIG ISSUE PLAY @ THE INTIMATE KINGS X THEATRE

Dinner is waiting. Come with an open heart and mind to the resplendent, heavily laden table. This production by bAKEHOUSE Theatre company is superb, beautifully crafted, written and acted by a largish, strong cast of twelve and is sensitively directed by Suzanne Millar.

Be warned, this production is quite intense and divisive and features explosive inter-generational and racist remarks and quarrels.

THE LADEN TABLE is set in Sydney, right now, and is extremely timely, making us question our own faiths, principles and beliefs. From ‘both sides’ we  hear a plea for understanding. Continue reading THE LADEN TABLE : A BIG ISSUE PLAY @ THE INTIMATE KINGS X THEATRE →