2026: Saplings - Australian Theatre for Young People

 

 

Saplings by Hannah Belanszky.  Australian Theatre for Young People at The Q, Queanbeyan, Saturday, 22 August 2026, 2pm & 7:30pm

Reviewed by Frank McKone
August 22, 7:30pm

Creative & Production Team
Yuwaalaray Playwright / Writer: Hannah Belanszky
Kalkadoon Director: Abbie-lee Lewis
Associate Director & Producer: Ryan Whitworth-Jones
Dramaturg: Jane FitzGerald; Co-Set & Costume Designer: Angela Doherty; Co-Set & Lighting Designer: Morgan Moroney
Composer & Sound Designer: Michael Weir; Fight Director: Tim Dashwood

Production Manager: Harry Dowling / Abbey Pace
Stage Manager: Milly Grindrod; Producer: Hayden Tonazzi
Workshop Facilitator: George Kemp

Cast (2026 National Tour):
Talijah Blackman-Corowa
Maliyan Blair
Sam Harmon
Danny Howard


Yani wants to go to the Easter Show, Kai wants a sense of home, Shanika wants her Mum back, and Lachlan… well, he just wants his bowl of noodles. But when the justice system is all that stands between these young people and what they want, it raises an important question: how do young people grow when the system keeps cutting them down? This poetic, personal and unexpected production will leave you asking who’s really to blame.
https://www.atyp.com.au/productions/saplings 

Main Youth Characters:
Yani: A young person who simply wants to experience and have fun at the Easter Show.
Lachlan: A teenager out on bail who is hungry and fixated on getting a simple bowl of noodles.
Shanika: A young girl dealing with the pain of missing her mother.
Kai: A character feeling profoundly lost and isolated by the world around them

___________________________________________________________________________________

I must be honest and admit that, at age 85 and needing hearing aids, RAP is not my thing.  Not because of what may be said, but because last night I could understand only an occasional word with everything being so rapidly spoken throughout the play.  

According to ATYP, “Four talented young actors take on multiple roles in this poetic, personal, and unexpected production”, but I can find no record of which actors played which of the four main characters.  I could understand ‘Shanika’ and, I think, ‘Lachlan’, but I think it was Kai, whose loud angry voice until the very last scene, was almost completely incomprehensible to me.

On the other hand, I could see and feel the frustrations of these children, apparently of a dysfunctional family, taking what they saw as opportunities, being jailed for petty thefts without help from self-interested lawyers – until their sister realises she must simply find her own way; while one brother finds symbolic purpose, particularly as a First Nations person, in working for growing native Australian trees and flowers; and finally coming together with his deeply angry brother, forming a sensible brotherhood in that very last scene.

I see the production as an original form, almost of dance-drama – where movement choreography, and sound through voice and recordings, is used to create the characters, and the meaning of the situation is played out in action.

For Canberrans and Queanbeyanites, I am reminded of the Canberra Dance Theatre and the work of Stephanie Burridge in the 1990s, in my feature article for The Canberra Times at https://frankmckone2.blogspot.com/1998/03/1998-feature-article-on-stephanie.html about her show Journey.

Australian Theatre for Young People has a long history of taking an original approach, exemplified once again to our benefit in Saplings.

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, adapted for stage

 

 

 

 SPOILER ALERT

 The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins & Dreamworks Film, adapted by Rachel Wagstaff & Duncan Abel.

Mockingbird Theatre at Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra, August 5 – 22 2026

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Aug 15

Cast
Rachel Watson – Morgan HeathWilliams; Tom Watson – Robert Weardon
Scott Hipwell – Timothy Cusack; Megan Hipwell – Susie Todd
Kamal Abdic – Ankush Singh Khanchi
Detective Inspector Gaskill – Paul Sweeney
Anna Watson – Sabrina Fu

Production Team
Director/Designer – Chris Baldock
Assistant Director – Dale Rheynolds
Stage Manager and Tech Operator – Aoife McFoley
Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Chris Baldock
Projections and Video Design – Chris Baldock
Sound and Music Design – Chris Baldock
Costumes and Props – Chris Baldock, Dale Rheynolds and the cast
Intimacy Consultant – Steph Evans


The purpose of the best theatre is never merely to entertain, but, in doing so, it is to engage us in better understanding of ourselves, individually and as members of society.

The seemingly ironically named Mockingbird Theatre’s choice of the theme of domestic violence is vindicated this very morning as I write, by John Hanscombe’s The Echidna article, Sunday August 16 2026, in The Canberra Times: “A number that shames us all”.

“So far this year – and this number will in all likelihood be out of date by the time you read it – 30 women have been killed, according to the Counting Dead Women Australia register, too often by men known to them.  Partners, husbands, sons.”

Chris Baldock’s directing and design of this stage adaptation of the Paula Hawkins novel, and the quality of realism he achieves with his excellent team of actors, makes this production of The Girl on the Train essential viewing.  Only the very ending scene is questionable, as I see it, from a drama point of view.

The original novel raises a question of its scientific veracity, and a source such as the University of Warsaw : Tetiana Grebeniuk. Narrative Unreliability in Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train as a Strategy of Reader Immersion supports the science and says about reading the novel – 
“Attention is focused on two components of reader gratification as manifest in Hawkins’ novel: intellectual satisfaction due to the solution of the murder mystery (temporal immersion), as well as satisfaction resulting from the protagonist’s psychic recovery and revenge (emotional immersion)”.

https://www.researchgate.net/4050_Tetiana_Grebeniuk

Morgan Heath Williams is remarkable in creating an entirely realistic characterisation of that protagonist, Rachel Watson, described in Google AI as exhibiting – 

Reality invalidation: The antagonist exploits Rachel's self-doubt and drinking habits to make her believe she caused her own blackouts and violent behavior.

Self-gaslighting: Victims under prolonged abuse often internalize blame, convincing themselves their own perceptions are entirely untrustworthy.

Coercive control: The dynamic isolates the victim emotionally, creating total reliance on the abuser's version of events.

That antagonist is Tom Watson, played eerily by Robert Wearden as the least likely to be the murderer until finally found out by his ex-wife Rachel’s determination to find the truth.

The search for the truth makes the play something like a Sophocles tragedy – mythical but essential for understanding why such things happen.  On this point, in the ending scene, when Tom takes the child, his child, onto the railway track, I – and my wife – felt the tragedy would have reached its ultimate awfulness if the child had not been retrieved just in time, and had been killed by the train with him, in what could be seen as Tom’s suicide.

Of course, it was still not exactly a happy ending, if you imagine that baby growing up; but that ending softened, perhaps weakened, the dramatic effect – compared, I think, with the numbers reported in John Hanscombe’s article.

For example, Rosie Batty’s story, of her husband’s killing of their son Luke, and his threatening and then being killed by police, and her becoming a prominent domestic violence campaigner and being named the 2015 Australian of the Year, takes us from fiction to fact.  And gives Mockingbird’s The Girl on the Train all the justification it needs for its presentation today.

Not to be missed – and hopefully for an extended season or even tour, considering that a strength of the production is its in-the-round intimacy for a necessarily quite small audience.  Less is more, I suggest.

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: The Winter's Tale - Mill Theatre

 

 

The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare.  The Mill Theatre, Dairy Road, Canberra. August 5-15 2026 inc. previews.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Opening night August 12

Cast

Aleksis Andreitchenko: Hermione and Perdita
Dakota Paull: Cleomenes, Archidamus, and Shepherd
Jarrah Palethorpe: Polixenes; Jennifer Noveski: Emilia and Mariner
Joanna Tollis: Camillo and Officer; Max Wilson: Leontes
Tabby Silberman: Paulina and Mamillius
Nick Parr: Antigonus and Florizel
Phoebe Chua: Female & Non-Binary Contingency Actor
Chipz Jin: Contingency Actor

Production Team

Director: Heidi Silberman; Production Designer: Tania Jobson
Production Stage Manager: Steph Evans
Lighting Designer: Will Smith; Sound Designer: Lexi Sekuless
Technical Directors and Mentors: Ezekiel Chalmers, Andrew Snell and Tim Sekuless
Assistant Production Designer: Chris Jobson; Verse Nurse: Lexi Sekuless
Photographer: Daniel Abroguena
Producer: Lexi Sekuless Productions

Major Sponsor: Sidestage
Front of House: Heidi Silberman and Lexi Sekuless


Energy and enthusiasm are the life blood of theatre.  The Mill Theatre tonight was bursting out all over.  Does it matter that not every Shakespearen syllable is reverently enunciated?  Not a jot, in this expressionist style, telling us this weird Ancient Greeky myth about a baby found by a shepherdess who turns out to be a king’s daughter.

Not quite the Oedipus Rex story, but certainly about familial relationships going astray – with love in a happy ending, despite some family violence on the way.  Just the thing for modern times, and The Mill presentation of “its first-ever Youth Production, created for emerging actors aged 18-25.  More than a training opportunity, this is a fully realised Mill Theatre production, created to the same professional standards and production values as every show in our mainstage season.”

From this production, full of action, very loud noises off (effectively ‘on’ in the tiny Mill Theatre), fast and forceful speaking and tyrannical decision-making (some seriously reminding me of President Trump), you might think Will wrote this as a young actor challenging social expectations, perhaps just like today’s cast, full of instant emotional reactions.

I’m not unhappy with director Heidi Silberman’s take on the play – often seeming like a satirical comedy version of the myth, rather than taking it too seriously.  And yet I have to admit that when Bell Shakespeare put it on in 2014 (see https://frankmckone2.blogspot.com/search?q=Winter%27s+Tale+2014), I was equally impressed with seeing the play as magical and sad, set in a children’s nursery.

In fact Shakespeare wrote The Winter’s Tale in 1610, in his mid-forties, and produced it at The Globe in 1611, in the period scholars call his “late romantic”, making it a metaphorical play, picked up again in The Tempest, about power in society.

In the end, this youthful energy in The Mill production achieves Shakespeare’s end – that it is only love that holds us together.  And you feel that love is there among this young team of actors – surely the message we all need to appreciate in theatre.

A new Mill Theatre original – well worth watching.

©Frank McKone, Canberra

 

 

 

 

2026: Middle Raged - A Musical Meltdown by Queenie van de Zandt and Tiffany Noack

 

 

Middle Raged – A Musical Meldown by Queenie van de Zandt and Tiffany Noack
Canbera Theatre Centre – The Playhouse.  July 9, 10 7pm; July 11, 3pm 2026

Reviewed by Frank McKone, July 9

The Cast
Queenie van de Zandt; Valerie Bader 
Carita Farrer Spencer; Zuleika Khan

The Creatives
Co-Writers & Producers: Queenie van de Zandt and Tiffany Noack
Director: Priscilla Jackman
Musical Director: Robyn Womersley
Choreographer: Sally Dashwood
Set & Costume Designer: Isabel Hudson
Additional material and musical numbers: Laura Murphy

With an all-female live band, the performance weaves together skits, poetry, monologues, and iconic songs from artists like Missy Higgins, Sia, P!nk, and Tim Minchin.

This is a terrifically well written, well played and well sung highly amusing presentation, derived from a large number of interviews with women experiencing menopause.

In addition to being thoroughly engaging and entertaining, it is seriously educational, not only for young women to learn what to expect, usually in their fifties, but to encourage those in the throes of hot flushes, emotional turmoil, and often depression to know that there is a life for them, often of greater freedom from conventional strictures, in their later lives: demonstrated by these very women on stage.  

Grandmothers are very often essential for holding families together.

Taking a comic approach, with claps and cheers at many of the songs and dance routines, enhances the depth and sense of importance of the issues women face, not only from the changes in bodily functions, but even more from the failure of men to treat women with respect and proper recognition of what women go through – and what they do for everybody else.

Definitely not to be missed – by women and girls, and as much by men and boys.  

I am biassed on this last point, having had to take female hormone to reduce the chance of my prostate cancer growing back again.  For women, menopause means an imbalance of and a degree of loss of the female hormone against the male hormone, testosterone.  

In men, the testosterone is the energy source for growing prostate cancer.  Female hormone treatment – a monthly injection – causes me to experience the same ‘hot flushes’ that menopausal women experience; and I may need to continue – on a three monthly injection basis – for the rest of my life.

However, as Middle Raged concludes, life goes on – so I am still writing reviews at my ripe old age of 85.  

And after tonight I understand so much more from these four women: making me – I mean this very seriously – a more respectful man.

Middle Raged – A Musical Meltdown is creative, real-life theatre at it best.

 ©Frank McKone, Canberra

 

 

 

2026: Ensemble Theatre: The Dapto Chaser & The Roommate

 

 

The Dapto Chaser by Mary Rachel Brown (Australia) June 29 – July 25 2026
Directed by Anna Houston

The Roommate by Jen Silverman (USA) June 19 – July 25 2026
Directed by Lee Lewis

Ensemble Theatre, Sydney.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
July 4th

What a tremendous Saturday afternoon at the Ensemble!  The Dapto Chaser at 1:30pm; The Roommate at 4:30pm.  And Kirribilli for dinner.  Was the 300 kms drive each way worth it?  More than, so say I!

As a one-time actor myself (never anywhere near any of these performers), I found one scene in each play especially exhilarating to watch.  

I have acted dead, but never as dead as Peter Carroll.  You have to breathe shallow and move not a muscle – even the little finger stretched out to the beer can.  For ten minutes, at least.  Carroll is a master artist, aged 82 and not missing a beat on stage, as the father betting his family’s life away on Dapto’s famous dog racing circuit.

Lucy Bell is as well-known, playing Sharon – letting out a room in quiet Iowa to what turns out to be a nefarious lodger from the Bronx.  Her near final scene, in flimsy sexy black, dancing the death of her proper regular lifestyle, is absolutely stunning to watch – the funniest sequence I’ve seen in a long-time.  I’ve been laughed at on stage, but.....

Mia Farrow played this role on Broadway, the New York Times writing “Crackles with energy”, which is exactly the right description for Lucy Bell at the Ensemble.

Each play definitely belongs to its national culture.  

The Dapto Chaser

I bet Pauline Hanson will want us all to behave, and especially speak, like Mary Rachel Brown’s traditional (loud and white) Australians, gambling all away for the dream of ripping off the owner of the dog-racing business, who is ripping off the gamblers at every turn.
That’s Australia, for you.

And in the end, as the cost of the father’s funeral is more than the two sons can afford, as they continue their father’s obsession, the circuit owner buys their only greyhound, Boy Named Susan, which has proved to be the fastest dog – not for the promised $14,000, but only $10,000: just enough for the funeral.

In her writer’s note, Mary Rachel Brown hopes “this work also contributes to the discourse on generational poverty and the pervasiveness of gambling in our culture.”  This, in the end, is the true purpose of presenting the play, showing how the fractious relationships between father, elder and younger sons, now motherless in a failed marrage, are created by the obsession with gambling.

The play was written from the author’s documentary research in the real Dapto, on the coast south of Sydney, in 2011 – before the current spread of social media on the internet, and the misuse of the online platforms to make the business of betting the new form of entertainment among young people – making fortunes for the platform owners, and which at least should be illegal to be advertised.

The Roommate

AI sums up the situation quite simply:
Sharon: A recently divorced, anxious empty-nester in her 50s. She is a somewhat sheltered housewife living in Iowa City who takes in a roommate to help pay the bills.
Robyn: A 50-something, former entrepreneur and scam artist from the Bronx. She is a pot-smoking, vegan lesbian who relocates to Iowa looking for a fresh start and a place to hide her secrets. 

This is America, talking in the correct accents – even down to Sharon really being from Illinois.  As an outsider, I found it fascinating to see how Belinda Bromilow created a personality which matched her actually suburban New York accent, rather than the Bronx where she had illegally made her money.  That suited her decision to leave for country, but not too country, Iowa, when she knew she had gone as far as she could in the scam business – which then fascinates Sharon.

Lucy Bell has the mannerisms down to every instant switch of direction, searching for how to be appreciated, in a recognisable American style.  But once again, as in the Australian play, the author is seeking social change.  Jen Silverman says:

“Though the play is often discussed as a comedy, for me, it has its roots in that heart-deep loneliness, and in the hunger unleashed by finally feeling communion with someone else.

“It’s rare to see exciting, provocative, complicated, morally ambiguous portraits of older women onstage or on screen. There’s something so sanitized about the images we receive of women who are, say, over thirty-five – and that image doesn’t actually mesh with the 50 and 60 and 70 year old women I know, who are hilarious and complex and fascinating. I wanted to write a play that gave two female characters the same due that older male characters receive much more often, and I’ve loved seeing how theatres across the world have risen with enthusiasm to this challenge, and the incredible actors who have stepped forward to hold these characters. I’m grateful to Ensemble Theatre for giving this story a home.”

Loneliness, and how to survive financially, is the crucial social issue here.  I’m grateful to Ensemble for an afternoon of great humour and warmth of concern for better understanding – and I look forward to political action for a better future.

The Dapto Chaser:

Playwright: Mary Rachel Brown; Director: Anna Houston
Cast:
Peter Carroll as Errol Sinclair: The stubborn, ailing, and domineering patriarch who is a former dog-racing stalwart.
Justin Rosniak as Cess Sinclair: Errol’s eldest son, an active dog-racing trainer who deals with financial desperation and emotional volatility.
André de Vanny as Jimmy Sinclair: Errol’s younger, more timid son who operates the electric hare at the track and longs to escape the family business.
Marco Chiappi as Arnold Denny (or Denny): Errol’s wealthy rival and a smooth, oily greyhound owner who enjoys manipulating the struggling Sinclairs.
Set & Costume Designer: Simone Romaniuk
Lighting Designer: Matt Cox; Composer and Sound Designer: Madeleine Picard
Video Designer: Aron Murray; Fight Director: Scott Witt
Stage Manager: Christopher Starnawski
Assistant Stagre Manage: Bella Wellstead; Costume Supervisor: Lily Mateljan

The Roommate:

Playwright: Jen Silverman; Director: Lee Lewis
Assistant Director: Jules Billington
Cast:
Lucy Bell as Sharon; Belinda Bromilow as Robyn
Set & Costume Designer: Simone Romaniuk
Lighting Designer: Matt Cox; Composer & Sound Designer: Madeleine Picard
Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley; Voice of Sharon's Son: Jeremy Waters
Stage Manager: Jen Jackson: Assistant Stage Manager: Maddison Craven
Costume Supervisor: Lily Mateljan

 ©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Caligula by Albert Camus

 

 

Caligula by Albert Camus.  Performative Theatre Company at The Hub, Causeway Hall, Kingston, Canberra.  July 1 – 4, 2026.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
July 1

Written by Albert Camus
Directed by Isaiah Prichard
Set Design: Kathleen Kershaw
Cast: Mischa Rippon (Caligula), Tash Lyall (Caesonia), Amy Gottschalk (Cherea) with Alex Ellwood, Dan Fonn, Tigerlily Gledhill, Anabelle Hansen, Tom Neil, Sam Odgers, Paris Sharkie, Robert Weardon.

If you really want to understand how a youthful ancient Roman dictatorial emperor understood his freedom to have absolute power – which you might apply to a few political leaders today – this excellent production of Camus' play, written during World War 2, will have you shaking your head in wonder.

Mischa Rippon’s performance of the title role is remarkable for creating a philosophical intellectual, emotionally bound up in his search for the essential truth that the universe is not rational (or is simply random, as we might say today), and therefore he can love or kill anyone at whim.

Camus’s play does not bring in the modern discussion of what may have been the cause of the real Caligula’s erratic behaviour, such  as epileptic psychosis (he suffered “falling sickness” as a child), but it places the surrounding senators in impossible positions, because he actually does have autocratic power.  The cast, whether roles are played by women or men, very successfully create for us the growing horror, knowing in the end there is no way out except for them to kill him – as they did in real history.

The success of the presentation is suggested by the name of this new company: Performative.  It means that the set design, the use of a weird array of costumes, and the choreographed movement style, and the manner of speaking means we are aware we are being told a story, not just of these individuals, but about us, if we just think about how others or even we ourselves apply our power to, or experience the power of others.

And we even, at times, find ourselves feeling sorry for Mischa’s Caligula.  As the women realise, he is too young to take on such a responsibility, or to understand empathy in relationships.  I’m not sure, if you compare his Caligula with his character in L’Etranger whether Camus would have expected this, but I think Mischa’s variety of moods, as well his capacity to make clear the abstract philosophy of this Caligula is a great strength of Performative Theatre’s production.

It’s good to see another Canberra company taking on such worthwhile theatre.

 

Mischa Rippon as Caligula, with Alex Ellwood.                                                     Photo supplied

 ©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Off The Cuff - Shortis & Simpson

 

 

 Off The Cuff – Shortis & Simpson at Smith’s Alternative, Canberra, June 21 2026

Reviewed by Frank McKone

John Shortis and Moya Simpson, since their first appearance in the one-time School of Arts Cafe in Queanbeyan as the Shortis & Curlies in June 1996, have created themselves into an original work of art in their own right.  They write and sing songs with a built-in sense of humour – often satirical of social and political norms, yet always under-pinned by warmth of humanity.

The full house today, perhaps entirely of mature members of our community, was a measure of the warmth of feeling in response to Moya and John beyond mere enjoyment of their show – with our appreciation of their particular place in our lives.

My reviews over all these 30 years are available at www.frankmckone2.blogspot.com, and here at the Critics’ Circle blogspot since 2010.  Though Off The Cuff will not be their final show, with at least more political satire planned for later this year and a 100th Year celebration of the opening of Old Parliament House in 2027, the show today is a kind of wander through their personal stories from Moya’s teenage years in London and John’s professional beginnings, writing children’s songs for the ABC.

Each song has a story behind it.  Waterloo Sunset is a reminder of the days when Moya had to catch the train from Waterloo Station to Yorkshire for teacher training – almost sentimental.  But then John cannot stop himself writing a Theme Song for today’s show, even though the wandering has no theme.

Moya responds with a combination of Whiter Shade of Pale and Streets of London, taking her to Piano Man – that is John himself.

It is the interplay between the two of them, not just as a team of two performers but as a married couple, full of banter and laughter, which we all feel part of.

The range of songs - from I’m Not Afraid / I’m A Green Pea to parodies of politicians – like President Trump who, in his first time in office, according his tweet, met the Prince of Whales (who is now, of course, King Charles III, at least in England, or King Charles I of Australia) – is constantly surprising.  I count 17 songs in Act One and 13 in Act Two.

Perhaps the one we laughed about most was the famous quote from the newly arising Tony Abbott, which they had used for the title of their song and a whole show in 2013 – The Suppository of Wisdom.

On the other hand, Moya presented songs of many other singers who had been important to her, such as oldies like As Time Goes By, Blue Moon and Autumn Leaves.  Without being sentimental, love is the force in all John and Moya’s work.

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: The Good Boy Game by Patrick Vermillion

 

 

The Good Boy Game by Patrick Vermillion USA).  Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre – Drama, Q the locals. June 18-20  2026

Reviewed by Frank McKone
June 20

Creatives & Production Team
Writer: Patrick Vermillion    Director: Caitlin Baker

Cast & Characters
Alastair McKenzie as James; Giuliana Baggoley as Mary-Beth
Bruce Hardie as Sam; Elaine Noon as Judith

Running time: 100 minutes without interval

Audience advice:
Contains coarse language, references to sex, misogyny, violence, murder and other mature themes.
Also contains simulated physical and gun violence, explores mature/taboo themes and contains loud noises and flashing lights.

Recommended for ages 16+ 



The Good Boy Game is Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus Complex theory made explicit.  

In Sophocles’ original play, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother without knowing they were his parents.  In Vermillion’s play, taking Freud’s misinterpretation of the ancient Greek myth literally, 16-year-old James knowingly kills his father, and “marries” his mother (though not finally including incestuous sexual intercourse).

Set in modern America, the actors need to express highly complex emotional details, rapidly changing as the characters each rationalise their attitudes.  The intention behind every character’s words creates a change in direction in the other’s response.  All done at rapid pace in quite short scenes on each of the three settings, with the quick changes headlined on the upstage projection screen – the family dining room, the attic and the counsellor’s rooms.

This set design is simple, but very effective in keeping the drama moving.

All four actors, in action and in argument, drew our attention tightly to follow a highly complex examination of this young man’s avowed intention to kill as many people as he could, because of his hatred – of society, where he saw himself as being on the outer.

“How do good boys become dangerous men?”, is the central question, and asks, can an approach using reward points offered for good behaviour, with losses for bad, and ‘priced’ – just as we do with money – change the boys’ behaviour for the better?

The play’s answer is ‘No’, despite Giuliana Baggoley’s remarkable efforts as James’ mother.  Her role in the story is crucial to our understanding of toxic masculinity, online radicalization, and the manosphere, in light of the far too common ‘mass shootings’ in America; and Giuliana as an actor is crucial to the success of the drama.

Elaine Noon as the psychological counsellor Judith, who offers the points system, was precise in her professionalism in that role – absolutely believable to us.

Bruce Hardie as husband and father Sam, clear in his mind as a ‘progressive’ but conflicted in practice, and finally attacking his son, played the role very well to the point where his issues and responses could not fail to bring our own experiences to mind.

And then the awfulness of Alastair McKenzie’s James, especially in the final scene with his mother, was terrifying to watch.

But this is the point of presenting this drama – that we have to accept the truth of the motivations for killing, so basic to so many men.

Freud’s invention of the idea that ‘hysterical’ women who claimed to have been sexually attacked by their fathers had really brought that upon themselves – the Oedipus Complex – was a convenient lie which Vermillion exposes in Mary-Beth’s relationship with her son James.

It’s an important play – even though the conclusion is not promising.  I can only hope that this production of The Good Boy Game can have an extended run and travel further afield as it deserves.

 

 

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Travelling North by David Williamson

 

 

Travelling North by David Williamson.  Canberra REP at Canberra REP Theatre, June 11 – 27 2026

Reviewed by Frank McKone
June 13

Creatives
Directed by Cate Clelland
Set Design: Cate Clelland
Costume Design: Clare Middleton, Darcy Abrahams, Cate Clelland
Lighting Design: Craig Muller; Sound Design: Nev Pye
Properties: Brenton Warren

Cast
Frances – Danielle Spiller; Frank – Pat Gallagher
Sophie – Margeaux Arundel-Williams; Helen – Matilda Millar-Carton
Joan – Stephanie van Lieshout; Freddy Wicks – Steven Kennedy
Saul Morgenstein – Adrian Breen
Wedding Celebrant – Kumar Kartikey Gupta
Gallery Attendant – Grace Cassidy

Though, from my past experience in companies similar to REP, I fully appreciate the effort that has gone into this presentation of Travelling North, with its thirty-three very short scenes.

Because Cate Clelland has chosen to darken the stage and move often large pieces of furniture on and off between almost all scenes, nearly half of our time in the audience is taken up in scene changes.  

Though this may seem a cheap joke, half-way through Act I the word “pedestrian” came to mind – referring to all the walking on and off; and meaning the effect as a theatrical experience, as opposed to, say, “engaging”.

I therefore cannot recommend REP’s production of Travelling North.

On the other hand, I did review the touring production done by Christine Harris and HIT Productions, presented in Canberra at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in 2008.

I wrote then that Bruce Myles’ “direction suits this small-scale venue, bringing out qualities of character and personal relationships more successfully than I remember from early productions on larger stages where Williamson's one-liners were funny but less engaging.”

How did he do it?   Canberra REP’s stage is not exactly large, and could have used a design like this:

An AI search is informative: 
For the 2008 national touring production of David Williamson’s Travelling North—produced by HIT Productions and directed by Bruce Myles—the creative team faced a unique challenge. The play’s "filmic" structure demands rapid movement across dozens of short scenes. Furthermore, as a 14-week national tour, the set had to be physically adaptable enough to pack down and fit into 33 different metropolitan, regional, and remote venues across Australia.

To solve this, set designer Shaun Gurton and lighting designer Glenn Hughes devised a highly functional, smart, and minimalist staging environment, The Set Design Minimalist Framework: 

Shaun Gurton opted for an elegant, understated, and functional design. Rather than trying to construct multiple realistic rooms, the stage relied on clean lines and abstract spacing.

Portable Architecture: Because it was built for rigorous regional touring, the physical structures were lightweight and easily transportable. The design used simple multi-purpose spatial markers (like steps, platforms, or sparse furniture) that could easily adjust to fit varying stage sizes across Australia.

Thematic Focus: By stripping away heavy clutter, the design purposefully shifted the entire audience focus onto the spiky dialogue and personal interactions [and] avoided heavy, traditional physical set tracking or long curtain pauses. Scenes dissolved into one another with actors carrying small props or altering their positioning smoothly.(My emphasis).

The action of the play is mostly limited to three locations [with] Frank and Frances' holiday getaway positioned at stage right.

The result for HIT in 2008 was, in my review: “The audience's sustained applause on opening night expressed our appreciation not only for the skills of the director and actors but, I think, for a production which brought the best out of Williamson.  Very satisfying.”

I honestly could not write the same conclusion about the performance I saw on Saturday.

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan

 

 

The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan.  Chaika Theatre at ACT Hub, Kingston, Canberra

June 12 - 27 2026
Reviewed by Frank McKone
June 12

Creatives

Creatives
Director: Tony Knight
Asst Director & Costume: Ylaria Rogers
Design: Michael Sparks
Artworks: Leigh Penton & Kerry Wode/Lillian Vickery & John Vickery
Light & Stage Management: Disa Swifte
Sound: Neville Pye; Composition: Paris Scharkie
Properties & Medical Consultant: Yanina Clifton
Intimacy Consultant: Jill Young

Cast
Hester – Jenna Roberts; Mrs Elton – Kate Blackhurst; Miller - Karen Vickery
Philip – Jack Shanahan; Ann – Meaghan Stewart
Sir William Collyer – Michael Sparks; Freddie Page – Sol Mason
Jackie Jackson – Blue Hyslop



Terence Rattigan’s 1950s’ play is about what it means to love someone, what it means to be loved by someone, and what it means when love fades, and life seems to no longer have any purpose.

These are the experiences of the central character: a woman, Hester, a demanding role played  with sensitivity and fine detail by Jenna Roberts, through all the vicissitudes from self-loathing to hope.

As the two men in her life, the staid successful Judge Sir William Collyer and the one-time military test pilot, adventurous Freddie Page – Michael Sparks and Sol Mason respectively – match Roberts’ acting skill, providing strength and balance in the drama’s through-line to Hester’s achievement of true independence.

And, all the other characters in her milieu – other tenants in the block of flats where Hester lives, the unit cleaning-woman, a down-graded medic, and Freddie’s air force friend – establish their status and position as they relate to her, influencing how she progresses from near suicide to taking up her artistic work in a positive frame of mind.

This Chaika production of The Deep Blue Sea is very successful first because of the quality of the directing.  Tony Knight has clearly understood the need for the style appropriate for the period and situation that Rattigan has written into the script – almost as if it were a Noel Coward witty comedy as the play begins, which then mutates into serious reality.

In addition, playing at The ACT Hub, with the audience grouped at each end, and the sitting room setting across the space between them, allows us to feel as if we are almost in the room with the characters – reminding me of that other famous intimate theatre, Ensemble Theatre in Sydney.

The careful mimimal use of external sound – the quiet piano – and lighting underdone – but just right – reinforced the sense of quality theatre on the principle of less is more.

Finally, the choice of a play about love and marriage difficulties from a time before today’s social media disaster is an important contribution to recognising the value of real-time person to person life – in a time now when youth suicide is on the increase.

A production not to be missed.

At https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_Blue_Sea_(play), for further thinking about the significance of Rattigan’s theme, his personal history suggests he intended the implications of Hester’s story should apply to any love experience, not only male-female.  The important issue, it seems to me, is that we all should do our bit to support others through their natural emotional turmoils when their hopes are unfulfilled.  That’s another kind of love.


©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: The Sapphires

 

 

The Sapphires.  Queensland Theatre Company at Canberra Theatre Centre, The Playhouse, May 30 to June 7, 2026
2 hours and 10 minutes, including interval

Reviewed by Frank McKone
May 31

Creatives
Writer Tony Briggs; Director Wesley Enoch
Musical Director Nathaniel Andrew; Choreographer Yolande Brown
Set and Costume Designer Richard Roberts; 
Lighting Designer Ben Hughes; Video Designer Craig Wilkinson
Sound Designer and Sound System Designer Isaac Ogilvie
Assistant Director Chenoa Deemal; Fight Choreographer NJ Price
Intimacy Coordinator Andrea Moor; Vocal Coach Naomi Andrew
Stage Manager Yanni Dubler; Assistant Stage Manager Lialize du Plessis
Stage Management Secondment Tara Kenn

Cast
Dave Lovelace - Jack Bannister; Cynthia McCrae - Ruby Henaway
Robby - Cameron Leonard; Kay McCrae - Aurora Liddle-Christie
Jimmy/Dance Captain - Garret Lyon; Julie McCrae - Tehya Makani
Joe - Chris Nguyen; Gail McCrae - Taeg Twist

Band
Bass - Eli Badger; Drums - Dimple Bani; Keys - James Feagai

Full Program at https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/CTC_The_Sapphires_program.pdf 

The Sapphires is a truly iconic Australian theatrical wonder; and this production coming from Meanjin, Queensland, is wonderful.

In its way, it’s equivalent to Alan Seymour’s The One Day of the Year (1960), which I remember well for its contentious view that enjoying playing two-up in the pub was completely inappropriate considering the immorality of sending Australian (or anyone’s) soldiers to war.  As theatre it was strong, despite objections – and now it is iconic in the proper sense.

Sending  young Indigenous women, in 1968, to entertain Australian soldiers, sent completely inappropriately to battle in Vietnam, was worse than playing two-up, with the same intention to make warfare acceptable.

Turning this venture into a musical, on stage in 2004, and as a movie (2012) written and directed by First Nations men was a brilliant move – as significant as The One Day of the Year for its critical view, and even more entertaining.

The stage show (Melbourne Theatre Company) was directed by Wesley Enoch, and written by Tony Briggs; the movie was directed by Wayne Blair and written by Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs.  

Today’s 2026 Queensland Theatre Company production, again directed by Wesley Enoch, has the standing of a commemoration of a first nations tradition, in recognition of the first women stage actors, 
Deborah Mailman, Rachael Maza, Ursula Yovich and Lisa Flanagan; 
the movie actors, 
Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell;  
and now 
Ruby Henaway, Aurora Liddle-Christie, Tehya Makani and Taeg Twist.

And do these women sing, and dance, and play out their family differences – and tremendous togetherness – not just with gusto, but with clarity of characterisation that brings out the truth of their situation, while indeed succeeding in the dream of professional recognition – no longer “unseen” as women, nor as Indigenous.

They perform, too, in a closely knit team with Jack Bannister, Cameron Leonard, Garret Lyon, and Chris Nguyen who bring to life the white Australian and black American, and local Vietnamese aspects of the war.

And all perform brilliantly with a live band, and quality sound – and not forgetting quality costuming – which make this valued musical a thoroughly satisfying joy to behold.

Definitely Not To Be Missed.


©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff

 

 

 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff.  Ensemble Theatre, Sydney May 1 – June 2026.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
May 30

Creatives

Writer: Helene Hanff; Adapted for the stage by James Roose-Evans
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Movement Director: Julia Robertson; Set & Costume Designer: Nick Fry
Lighting Designer: Matt Cox; 
Composer & Sound Designer: Madeleine Picard
Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley
Stage Manager: Lauren Tulloh; Assistant Stage Manager: Bella Wellstead
Costume Supervisor: Judy Tanner


Cast

Helen Hanff - Blazey Best
Megan Wells / Maxine Stuart - Katie Fitchett
Cecily Farr / Mrs Todd - Angela Mahlatjie
Bill Humphries - Brian Meegan
Frank Doel - Erik Thomson

84 Charing Cross Road, adapted for stage from Helen Hanff’s memoir, is an intriguing play, and ultimately sad as the final letter tells of Frank Doel’s unexpected death.  In the intimacy of the Ensemble, where we can see each other all around the acting space, it’s almost like family as Blazey Best opens the envelope and begins to read – but it’s not from Frank himself, as it has always been for so many years.  

Just when it seems, at last, Helen may have the money to go to England to visit the bookshop and actually meet Frank.

Blazey Best’s creation of the character of the real Helen Hanff, always a risky acting task, is exactly right, except on one point.  Helen was interviewed at the time the story was launched as a movie. 

The important point is that Best has captured Helen’s mannerisms, her way of speaking, but has exaggerated her New York accent, giving her a high-pitched sharp tone of voice, which I often found made her words difficult to follow – while making the character sometimes quite unattractive.  The real Helen, at least when she was older, had a moderated and more rounded sounding NY voice.

YouTube·ThamesTv·6 Oct 2025

Maybe the harshness in Best’s presentation is right early in the play, but should be moderated as Helen ages.  I think, in comparison, that Erik Thomson as Frank achieved that kind change over time very well, with a bit more than necessary of a toff English accent when still young, making his antique book-selling a ‘thing’; but settling in to a confident corporate manager’s smooth speaking; and later becoming older – and badly affected by illness, like the ’flu, showing a touch of roughness in an ageing voice.

The design of the staging of the letters being read out as they were being “written” at Helen’s writing desk in New York and in the office at 84 Charing Cross Road in London, appearing as together simultaneously, is highly successful in creating the sense of personal connection that Helen and Frank developed in real life at a physical distance.

This design also then needed fine detail by the movement director to create the complex set of relationships in the London office instantly parallel with the details of Helen’s activities and emotional actions and reactions in sending and receiving.

The timing – as in comedy – has to be precise to a fine degree; and all the actors in this tight group got it right, becoming  fascinating to watch at every moment.  They never missed.

Which is a reason in itself for the play being Not to be Missed.

And then there’s the real reason for seeing this story of the 1950s, 60s and even later, the time before email, social media and AI – when we wrote letters.  And when we expressed our feelings for each other.

I was there, growing into adulthood alongside Helen Hanff, and I thank Blazey, Erik, Brian, Katie and Angela, and the whole Ensemble team for showing me the way. 

 

 ©Frank McKone, Canberra

 

2026: SHELTERING - Bangarra Dance Theatre

 

 

Sheltering – Bangarra Dance Theatre.  Canberra Theatre Centre, May 23, 26, 27, 2026

https://www.bangarra.com.au/news/2026-national-tour-sheltering/ 

Reviewed by Frank McKone
May 23



Sheltering is a major theatrical work of Indigenous Australian culture.

To place the importance of this work into context, if you see a top-class production of, say, Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O’Neill, you understand it is an expression of truth in American culture; as the Verdi opera La forza del destino is in Italian culture; or as Shakespeare’s The Tempest is in English culture.

Though you may not be American, Italian or English, such works cross cultural boundaries because they take us emotionally into experiencing universal truths which reflect our lives.  

Though, like me, you may not be an Indigenous Australian, the emotional impact of this three-part work is palpable, from the story of the people’s origin on Country – of hope and growth in Keeping Grounded – in dance form; through, on film in Brown Boys, the being “challenged by insecurities of longing and perceptions imposed on brown boys within family and social settings” in modern times; and finally in the dance work Sheoak, which symbolises the people’s “enduring cultural responsibilities” and “resilience through their enduring presence, and their scars remind us of survival and adaptation just as our ancestors did”.

Sheltering is a major work of theatre art in dance, movie, and held together by a powerful music and sound track, such that the strength of feelings of hope, of tragedy, and of elation when the whole community works in cultural harmony, left me shaken.  

And in a state of wonder at the originality of the presentation, especially of the choreography and dance skills, and the audio originating from the score created by David Duboo Page,  of a kind beyond any expectation even of ‘modern dance’.  

Frances Rings, of Wirangu and Mirning heritage, has taken up the tradition of Bangarra, from the Nunukul family of the Page brothers – Russell, David and long-time artistic director Stephen, and made a new work further establishing Australian Aboriginal culture, some 70,000 years old, in its rightful place, right now.

This work is surely one to be performed around the world.  

Ngunnawal Country
Canberra Theatre Centre
23 - 27 May 2026

Gadigal Country
Sydney Opera House
3 - 13 June 2026

Wurundjeri Country
Arts Centre Melbourne
18 - 27 June 2026

Meanjin
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
9 - 18 July 2026

Credits
Artistic Director - Frances Rings
    ____________________

SHEOAK

Choreographers:     Frances Rings
    The Dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre
Composer:     David Page (dec.)
Set Designer:     Jacob Nash
Costume Designer:    Jennifer Irwin
Lighting Designer:     Karen Norris

KEEPING GROUNDED

Choreographers:     Glory Tuohy-Daniell
    The Dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre

Composer:     Brendon Boney
Set Designer:     Shana O'Brien
Costume Designer:     Clair Parker
Lighting Designer:     Karen Norris
Rigging Consultant:     Katie McDonagh
Creative Mentors:     Jacob Nash, Matt Cornell

BROWN BOYS

Choreographer:     Daniel Mateo
Directors:     Cass Mortimer Eipper,     Daniel Mateo
Composer:     Leon Rodgers
Set and Costume Design:     Elizabeth Gadsby
Director of Photography:     Liam Brennan
Producer:     Michaela Le

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike

 

 

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang (USA).  Mockingbird Theatre Company at Belconnen Arts Centre, May 13-23 2026.  140 mins including 15 mins interval.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
May 15

Setting: Bucks County, Pennsylvania USA.  The year is 2013.

Cast:

Vanya – Chris Baldock; Sonia – Tracy Noble; Masha – Helen McFarlane
Spike – Darcy Worthy; Nina – Lily Welling: Cassandra – India Kazakoff

Production Team:
Director – Steph Evans; Asst Director – Gabrielle Purcell
Stage Manager – Gabrielle Purcell & Steph Evans
Set Design and Realisation – Chris Baldock, with Steph Evans and Gabrielle Purcell
Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Steph Evans
Sound Design – Gabrielle Purcell
Costumes & Props – Chris Baldock, Steph Evans and Cast
Intimacy Director – Steph Evans
Photography – Zac Bridgman

Mockingbird’s presentation of this 21st Century highly American vision of how Anton Chekov’s late 19th Century Russian characters can make us laugh – and worry about the future – now as then, is like drinking a whole bottle of sparkling wine – superficially bubbly to start with, and a satisfying vintage by the end.

This success is because Chris Baldock has the imagination, the taste, and takes every care as the best winemakers do, working with a small, remarkably well-blended team to make sure every little detail is exactly right – from the Pennsylvania accents, to the extraordinary facial expressions by one who is speaking and everyone else in response, to the choreography, and the instant changes of attitudes and emotions.

This makes top-class comedy from Baldock himself as Vanya, the family elder (since their parents have ‘passed’); trying to live peacefully with his adopted sister Sonia, seeking more in life than just housekeeping; in massive contrast with his true sister Masha, actress in the extreme.  

Not only does Masha turn the household topsy-turvy by bringing in the amazingly beautiful sexy young man Spike, who then brings in the equally beautiful sexy young woman Nina; but it is Masha who owns the house and pays for her siblings’ living costs, since her acting roles provided the money – until now as she is growing old, but doesn’t want to face playing grandmother in the next movie.

Then, taking us way back referentially from Chekov to ancient Greek theatre (is it Sophocles?) the weekly house-cleaner is Cassandra, who predicts the future but is not treated well by the Gods.  The role is farcical, and just what is needed to make ‘normal’ life impossible – and awfully funny.

The style of acting all this is very much over-the-top, as you may imagine.  You have to see the show to see it done – and everyone of these actors are at the professional standard the play requires.

Even to the point in the final scene when they achieve the seriousness of the absurdity of our lives to open our eyes.  We may still be laughing while we applaud such great acting.  Only afterwards we may start worrying about our own futures in post-2020s.  It’s a great vintage at the end of the bottle; but we have to think about the effects of drinking so much all at once.

Another imbibement from Mockingbird not to be missed.

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco

 

 

 

 Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco.  

Daramalan Theatre Company at Daramalan College  April 18 - 25, 2026
By arrangement with ORiGiN Theatrical, on behalf of Samuel French.
Bookings:
https://events.humanitix.com/rhinoceros-cnbc99wn 

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 18

Directed by Joe Woodward.  Translated by Derek Prouse

OUTSTANDING THEATRE IN EDUCATION

If there’s one lesson to be taken seriously, in a world of instant communication, it has to be about the problem of going along with the crowd.  Australia is ahead of the international pack by restricting the dangers of AI, of ‘influencers’, and the bubble-power of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and YouTube, to those of us who are at least 16 years old.

“As of 10 December 2025, age-restricted social media platforms need to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under the age of 16 from creating or keeping an account.”
https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions 

Going to see live theatre, or even better taking part in performing a play like Rhinoceros, is the key to young people, their parents – in fact anyone – coming to grips with the issue of too much social conformity.  

French playwright Eugene Ionesco saw what happened when so many in his country collaborated with Nazism during World War II.  Though that was an extreme case, by the 1950s he wanted to alert people that this kind of thing can happen again -- long before what happened in 2003, when Mark Zuckerberg and Harvard University dorm room friends (all male) created "Facemash," an internet site that allowed users to rate the attractiveness of students, launched as Facebook in February 2004.  Within 24 hours, over 1,000 Harvard students signed up. By June 2004, it had expanded to over 30 universities.

The professional standing of the 19 teaching staff creatives and crew shines through this production of Rhinoceros, using humour and emphasising the satire, in a highly choreographed style involving – and so training in the practice of theatre, and educating through Ionesco’s writing – a student cast of 19, with a student backstage crew of 18.

Set up as the Daramalan Theatre Company, managed by Drama teacher Joe Woodward as director/designer, Rhinoceros represents top quality youth theatre production.

Very highly recommended for audiences young, older and even as old as octogenarians like me, because in a lively entertaining manner it raises those serious questions about individuality and social responsibility which we all must take on board, as parents and children, and simply as members of our local and national community.

The season is limited, naturally, to this coming week through to a special matinee at 1:00pm on ANZAC Day, next Saturday, April 25th.

Not to be missed.

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Constellations by Nick Payne

 

 

Constellations by Nick Payne (UK).  Free Rain Theatre at The Hub, Kingston, Canberra, April 16-25, 2026.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 17

Cast

Marianne – Lucy Goleby        Roland – James O”Connell

The best way to describe Constellations, as I see it, is to think of a classical-style piece of music for two instruments.  I’m thinking,  as an  example, of the arrangement for piano and violin of "Softly awakes my heart": from Samson and Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Each instrument plays themes and variations of those themes, together in concert, so that though you hear and recognise the core of the themes being repeated, the music develops and maintains our interest as each of the piano and violin play different variations of their own, and the relationship between the two changes along with the interplay of each variation.

I think of Roland as the piano, which is never merely an accompaniment but a player with the violin, Marianne.  The core theme of the piano is Roland as a bee-keeper maintaining the consistency of social structure in the hives and producing honey; while for Marianne it is the wonder of the universe working so differently at the macro and micro levels, which raises the ultimate ‘if’ question – could each replay of a theme be in a different parallel universe?

This makes the play, for me, a kind of music of words, and silences, and even at one time of gestures – or a kind of poetic theatre – rather than a drama with a through-line and obvious plot.

It’s an original approach, which unexpectedly creates moments of laughter, of concern, sometimes of anger, and warmth of one-ness between the two – characters, or instruments – in a play of personalties for whom we feel empathy and with whom we can identify.

Lucy Goleby and James O’Connell play like the best of violinists and pianists, and I marvel at their dexterity as each shift in scene comes upon them.

Supporting their success is a small constellation of creatives:

Director: Kelly Somes
Stage Managers: Sue Gore and Liz Phillips
Asst Stage Manager: Lucia Morabito
Set Concept and Design: Kelly Somes and Cate Clelland
Set Realisation: Cate Clelland and Ron Abrahams
Sound Design: Neville Pye and Kelly Somes
Lighting Design: Aisan Bavinton
Lighting Consultants: Bronwyn Pringle, Craig Muller, Felix Tiornton
Lighting and Sound Operaters: Sue Gore and Liz Phillips

Acknowledgement: “Over the Sea” by Elizabeth Sarah Stringer
More available about the author online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellations_(play)

Very well worth the experience.

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Thom Pain by Will Eno

 

 

Thom Pain (based on nothing) by Will Eno.  Mill Theatre, Dairy Road, Canberra, April 16 – 25, 2026 

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 16

Cast
Thom Pain: Joey Minogue

Production Team
Playwright: Will Eno
Director and Mentor: Maddie Lee
Production Assistant and Acting Coach: Mark Lee
Stage Manager: Bea Grant

Co-Producers: Joey Minogue and Lexi Sekuless



In an ironic view of life, Thom Pain presents himself as a magician who can never succeed to make magic because what happens to any of us is at random chance.  The greater irony that I find is that the performer of the character succeeds very well in creating the magic of theatre.

Though theatre is an illusion, seeming to make fiction real, the success of creating an entertainment which is essentially philosophically cynical, undermines that very cynicism, because the experience we have in the theatre remains positive and memorable – it is the very magic which can be achieved by good directing and excellent acting.

Making good theatre is not an illusion, but emotional reality.

And then the question of the purpose of the play gets even more complicated.  If Will Eno meant to be cynical about trying to succeed in life, how does he live with the success of his own writing?

Or does this mean that I should be cynical about Will Eno’s intention?  Is the implied reference in his character’s name to the 18th Century Thomas Payne, who wrote The Age of Reason, a denial of the value of rational thought?

Or should I praise Will Eno for being an empiricist skeptic?

No matter how you take the meaning of the play, it is another great example of the thoughtful choice of theatre presented by Lexi Sekuless and Mill Theatre.  Suitable for grinding at The Mill, you might say.

The performance by Joey Minogue of the continual switching back and forth between the internal mental state of the Thom Pain character and his direct relationship with the audience, very much like a stand-up comedian, is fascinating to watch, to react to and even to take part in.

It’s a demanding solo performance, demanding from us great respect.

 
©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

 

 Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.  Bell Shakespeare at Canberra Theatre Centre, The Playhouse April 10 -18 2026
Duration: 2 hour and 35 minutes, includinginterval

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 11 – Opening Night

By William Shakespeare
Director & Set Designer: Peter Evans
Associate Director: Jessica Tovey
Costume Designer: Simone Romaniuk
Lighting Designer: Amelia Lever-Davidson
Composer & Sound Designer: Madeleine Picard
Fight and Movement Director: Tim Dashwood
Voice Director: Jack Starkey-Gill
Draftsperson: Dallas Winspear
Intimacy Coordinator: Caroline Kaspar
Associate Dramaturg: Jeremi Campese

Cast:
Cassius – Leon Ford; Portia – Jules Billington; Casca – Peter Carroll
Julius Caesar – Septimus Caton; Metellus – Ray Chong Nee
Decius – James Lugton; Calphurnia – Ava Madon
Cinna – Ruby Maishman; Mark Antony – Mark Leonard Winter
Brutus – Brigid Zengeni; 
Understudy – Olivia Ayoub; Understudy – Oliver Crawford




“It’s been more than 450 years since a monarch ruled in Rome. But now, in the senate and the streets, the forum and the marketplace, the word ‘king’ is being whispered again.”

“Betrayal and chaos rock the republic as Rome teeters on the brink of collapse.”
https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/julius-caesar 

It’s been 237 years since a monarch ruled in America.  But now, in protest demonstrations across the nation, the word ‘king’ is being called out again.  It’s not unreasonable, I think, to say that Trump’s USA “teeters on the brink of collapse.”

So a kind of up-market corporate modern dress, and women playing forceful roles in social change, makes for an appropriate approach to interpreting William Shakespeare’s play where, in the original production (426 years ago) – in Elizabethan Costumes as Status Symbols –  London Johns explains:

“The aim of many modern costume designers is to create a sense of realism. Plays set in a particular location and era require actors to dress in a way that communicates their characters’ time period and culture.

Elizabethan costumes were created with different goals. Instead of conveying their characters’ positions in history, costumes were primarily intended to communicate their characters’ rank in a social hierarchy. 

The anachronism of Elizabethan costumes was a product of a society obsessed with visual markers of social status, where rank determined what kind of clothes people could and could not wear.”
https://yalehistoricalreview.ghost.io/the-hatch-and-brood-of-time-18 

In fact, to re-emphasise her power, Queen Elizabeth I imposed rigid rules about costume, both by day and on stage.

Peter Evans has clearly appreciated why Shakespeare chose to stage the attempt and failure of Julius Caesar to take on absolute power as emperor, while Elizabeth had only recently succeeded (with the help of bad weather) in destroying the Spanish Armada of a challenging despot in 1588, Philip II (Felipe II), a member of the European Habsburg dynasty, who ruled a global empire that included Spain, the Netherlands, and parts of Italy and the Americas, from 1556 to 1598.

Philip was called el Prudente, but if his Armada had succeeded, he would have restored Catholicism in England; and what would have happened to Elizabeth and the Tudors’ Church of England could be anybody’s guess.

What will Donald Trump’s future be, as he ignores Constitutional restraints on the power of a President?

That’s the why?  Now for the wherefore of Bell Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
 
The directing and the performances are top class – among the best of Peter Evans work.  Beginning as a group of actors about to tell us a story, with a prologue including recognition of the First Nations people who have performed their stories where Canberra Theatre stands for many more thousands of years than the 2000 since Julius Caesar was murdered, we are set up in the right relationship with a modern company presenting us with Shakespeare’s play.

This allows us to accept changes to the playscript that bring out modern issues, especially the role of women as equals in status and political power as men.  Brutus is not only played by a woman actor, but is a female character, married to her wife, Portia.

At first it took me a little while to accept, because Shakespeare had men whose names, from the Latin, end in ‘us’; while his women had names ending in ‘a’.  

The change does an odd thing: the irony of the sound and meaning of his name – Brutus – when he is quite the opposite of a brute (so unlike the determined Cassius, and up-himself Caesar) is re-emphasised when she is clearly so in love with Portia, who tries so hard to keep her out of trouble, saying “You’ve ungently, Brutus, stole from my bed”, and they kiss passionately as she still decides she has to go, saying to her justifiably anxious wife:  “And by and by thy bosom shall partake the secrets of my heart”.  All played with great depth of feeling by Brigid Zengeni and Jules Billington.

When Caesar says as he is stabbed “Et tu, Brute!”, he really is astounded.

And then there’s Cassius, played so powerfully by Leon Ford as a man angered in the extreme by this self-flattering manipulative Caesar (who had to remind me, of course, of Donald Trump) not just because of the lie that his taking more power is good for Rome, but because of how Caesar looks down on him as a lower class of person.

Ford, beyond other Cassius’s, takes us into his conflicted mind, so angry that the moral concern against killing has to be overcome, but so worried about his sister and whether she will be alright if she takes on killing Caesar.  

In original history, which Shakespeare kept to, Cassius was married to Brutus’ sister Junia Tertia, but in Bell Shakespeare Brutus’s feelings for her ‘brother’ Cassius are stronger than ever.

Even Shakespeare had a problem with the play fading away in the second half, drowning a bit too much in the details of the battle at Philippi.  But here, in Bell Shakespeare Modern, we feel for and understand why Cassius and Brutus finally commit suicide – because they have failed themselves as much as having failed Rome.

Not to be missed – one of Bell Shakespeare’s best.  And I have to say the revival of Peter Carroll as Casca is just wonderful for the warmth of his comedy (for us) despite his confusion (for Casca).

And also make it clear that everyone in this complicated cast got everything right.

Photo: Brett Boardman

 ©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Oedipus the King - Greek Theatre Now

 

 

Oedipus the King by Sophocles.  Greek Theatre Now at Burbidge Amphitheatre, Australian National Botanic Gardens, April 2-6 2026.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 4

Cast & Creatives
Director/Producer: Michael J. Smith

Oedipus: Andrew Mackenzie; Jocasta: Kate Blackhurst
Creon: Owen Maycock
Ensemble/Other Roles: George Belibassakis, Roslyn Hull, Liam O’Connor, Louisa O’Brien, Jade Boyle, and Marcus Mele

Masks/Props: Ben Smith Whatley; Costumes: Priya Pandya
Classics Adviser: Elizabeth Minchin; Graphics: Emilio Park
Photography: Fuyao Liu

Since the Company is called Greek Theatre Now, I must answer the question: What makes this production as relevant today as when Sophocles presented it to the people of Athens as the tragedy Oedipus the King (original Greek title Οιδίπους τύραννος, most commonly known as Oedipus Rex) probably “in the first half of the decade 430–420 BCE”.

That’s 430 + 2000 + 26 = 2456 years ago.

The plague, in Thebes in the play, described in Oedipus Rex “could reflect an actual historical event, [comparing] it with the plague of Athens, which was described by the historian Thucydides as occurring not long before the time that Sophocles’ work appeared”.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3310127 
(US National Library of Medicine National Center Biotechnology Information / PubMed Central)

Bust of Sophocles in the Colonnade of the Muses in the Achilleion, Corfu, Greece, July 2011. Photo courtesy Antonis A. Kousoulis.

Today’s population of the Australian Capital Territory is listed as 486,231 as of September 2025; Attica’s population, according to Ben Akrigg, (Population and economy in classical Athens. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019) may have been 400.000 
[ https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2020/2020.10.40 ]

So I imagine Sophocles writing Oedipus the King for his Attica city-state community, winning second prize at the Athenian dramatic festival of the Great Dionysia, just as our ACT city-state playwright Dylan Van Den Berg recently wrote Milk, about a young Palawa man and his connection to Country, which won the NSW Premiers Award and Canberra Critics’ Circle Award.  (Currency Press, 2023)

Just as Dylan shows us the emotional effects and truths about our failure to deal with the situation of Indigenous people, for whom we, as descendants of the 18th Century invaders, are a plague; Sophocles shows his community the truth about their belief in mythical prophecies, not just  about an actual plague (which today we would not expect them to know how to treat – a bit like Covid in 2020), but more about the nature of political power and ironic comeback when trying to predict the future, which I think we have seen in Prime Minister Albanese’s over-enthusiasm – though for the right reasons – for the failed referendum to give First Nations a voice in the Constitution.

In Sophocles’ play, when Oedipus’ actual parents, Thebes’ King Laius and Queen Jocasta, have him as a baby taken into the mountains to die, their employee gives him to a shepherd who takes pity on the baby, removes the ties holding his ankles together – which causes the swelling in the name “Swollen Feet” i.e. “Oedipus”, and passes him – for the right reasons – to be taken to another city-state, Corinth, where he is adopted by King Polybus and Queen Merope, and grows up believing them – wrongly – to be his parents.

The ironic point of the play is that the mythical prophecy, despite doubts about the gods and oracles’ pronouncements, turns out to be what happens.  Even more ironic is that Oedipus forthrightly – and correctly – insists on discovering all the actual facts, and in doing so causes his own downfall.

Whether Albanese faces his own downfall, we won’t know until the next federal election.  But Sophocles says, take care to stick to the truth, but even then you can never be sure what will happen.  Maybe there is something called Fate, unknowable like the gods of old.

So, to answer my question, this production is a prime example of excellent theatre, very successfully performed in a modern manner, in our own outdoor amphitheatre, which recreates the essential style – sometimes called “Presentational” – which makes it clear to us that we are watching an acted-out drama, rather than an ordinary slice of life, with an intention to raise crucial issues in our lives – like what does it mean to say this is true, or an innocent misunderstanding, or fake news (deliberately so or not).

If this isn’t relevant to our modern technological life, I don’t know what is!

This was achieved by all the actors in their movement, voice (spoken and sung) and costumes that represented the ancient Greek, all choreographed to use the amphitheatre space simply and effectively.

It took only a little while, as one got used to the styling, to find oneself shifting out of being in Canberra to appreciating how the Athenians so long ago would have been watching, listening carefully, reacting to the evolving tragic life of Oedipus and especially of his real mother, Jocasta, and left to wonder what our own fates might be.

The directing and performing really feels like an intelligent community theatre group working for our community.  Very highly recommended.  

On a lighter side, I was amused, and wondered how their prayers were answered, as on a day that had been cloud-covered since dawn, as the Chorus prayed for help from the Gods at the end of the play at 4pm, the clouds cleared and the afternoon sun shone through.

Photos: Peter Hislop

Andrew Mackenzie as Oedipus, Owen Maycock as Creon

Kate Blackhurst as Jocasta - mother and wife to Oedipus

The Chorus praying for help (just as the sun came out)

©Frank McKone, Canberra