Tag Archives: kxt on broadway

Review: Misery Loves Company (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), May 3 – 18, 2024
Playwright: Isabella Reid
Director: Mathew Lee
Cast: Lib Campbell, Clay Crighton, Lincoln Elliott, Paul Grabovac, Teale Howie, Mark Langham, Linda Nicholls-Gidley, Rachel Seeto, Annie Stafford, Michael Yore
Images by Clare Hawley

Theatre review
There has been a death in the Glynne family, and all the kin congregate to hold a vigil for the dearly departed. In Isabella Reid’s Misery Loves Company, we see everything go incredibly wrong, for an uproarious comedy, set in what should be the most sombre of times. With it being 1977 in Northern Ireland, and turbulence a permanent fixture during those years, perhaps chaos does make sense, even in moments of reverence and intimacy.

The jokes are plentiful, and indeed incessant, in Reid’s debut play. Misery Loves Company is full of mischief, with sharp dialogue and short scenes, that keep it a buoyant experience. Director Mathew Lee imbues a bold spontaneity, for a show that feels as fresh as it is amusing, consistently enjoyable with its resolute focus on delivering laughter. The cast of ten is strong in general, with a respectable amount of emphasis on chemistry between performers, that ensure we can all be swept up in the effervescent tomfoolery.

Production design by Ruby Jenkins is commendable for its sense of accuracy in terms of portraying a precise time and place, and also for a visual vibrancy that contributes to the humour of the piece. Lights by Tyler Fitzpatrick are deployed with an impressive eye for detail, notable for their ability to manufacture subtle but meaningful shifts in mood. Clare Hennessy’s music demonstrates an impressive sophistication, as it evokes cultural specificity and a gently melancholic nostalgia, for a presentation that for some, relates to a cherished tradition. We come from all corners, but where we converge on this land, is often in the sheer absurdity of living through together, each and every mercurial day.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.legittheatreco.com

Review: For The Love Of Paper (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Apr 5 – 20, 2024
Playwright: Almitra Mavalvala
Director: Kersherka Sivakumaran
Cast: Antony Makhlouf, Almitra Mavalvala, Joseph Raboy
Images by LSH Media

Theatre review
Amaliah and Kaveh are thick as thieves, best of friends living together. When Amaliah comes to the end of her tether trying to apply for visas to stay in Australia, Kaveh decides to marry her, even though he is gay, and the two are in no way romantically involved. For the Love of Paper by Almitra Mavalvala explores the nature of friendship, in terms of its evolution as conditions change, and as power dynamics become unbalanced. It also looks at the experiences of immigrants in search of greener pastures, but who are always caught between cultures.

There is a lot of ground to cover in the play, and even though meaningful and well observed, For the Love of Paper is much too detailed in its depictions of reality-based events. While the narrative is compelling, it is often a predictable one that requires less exposition than is being given. There is excellent humour in the piece, but direction by Kersherka Sivakumaran tends to be overly severe. Nonetheless, the show bears a distinct sense of authenticity, that makes it a worthwhile experience.

Set design by Paris Bell offers a rendering of familiar domesticity, effective at facilitating physical activity, if slightly busy visually. Costumes by Rita Naidu help to convey personality types with accuracy and immediacy. Jasmin Borsovsky’s lights are intricately conceived, to provide impressive variation to imagery and mood. Music by Mavalvala and Andre Sauzier is thoroughly enjoyable, however sound design is in general deficient, often leaving atmosphere cooler than appropriate.

Mavalvala performs the role of Amaliah with commendable vigour, while Antony Makhlouf is notable for bringing excellent nuance as Kaveh. Both are charming presences, with a lovely chemistry that always feels believable and endearing. Joseph Raboy plays innumerable supporting characters, consistently reliable for the levity he introduces so effortlessly.

Amaliah and Kaveh are making new lives on foreign lands, and like immigrants everywhere going through a process of transplantation, they discover quandaries full of unanticipated challenges. The luckier ones may feel a superficial welcome, but rarely is there sufficient support to truly thrive. Many will have to grapple with being in positions of disadvantage. It is incumbent upon birds of a feather to flock together, in order that we may uplift each other, in spaces where we continue to be regarded as second class.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.bcdtheatre.com | www.instagram.com/culture_shock_theatrical

Review: Mercury Poisoning (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Mar 15 – 30, 2024
Playwright: Madeleine Stedman
Director: Kim Hardwick
Cast: Violette Ayad, Shaw Cameron, Anna Clark, Melissa Jones, Shawnee Jones, Nikita Khromykh, , Tinashe Mangwana, Teodora Matovic, Brendan Miles, Jack Richardson, Charlotte Salusinszky, Sarah Jane Starr
Images by Clare Hawley

Theatre review
Madeleine Stedman’s Mercury Poisoning involves three women in the 1960s, inspired by true stories about their respective relationships with space travel. These lives never cross paths, but they are in some ways parallel, not only in aeronautical terms, but also with their fights against structural sexism, which proves a defining force. While well-conceived, more effort could be made for the narratives in Mercury Poisoning to intertwine, instead of having them completely segregated.

Direction by Kim Hardwick attempts to make up for that lack in coherence between the different threads, with creative use of visual compositions. There is a sincerity in her presentation that helps with our logical engagement with the piece, but a persistent coolness in temperament prevents us from investing sufficiently into the emotions being explored.

Set design by Meg Anderson and lights by Jimi Rawlings are effective in evoking outer space, but the imagery being produced is too relentlessly dark, which makes it a struggle for the production to lift in energy, especially noticeable in comedic scenes. Sound design by Rowan Yeomans and Jay Rae is however very strong, bringing to the storytelling, an enjoyable sense of theatricality.

Actors Violette Ayad, Shawnee Jones and Teodora Matovic play the main roles, all able to convey authenticity and vulnerability for these discussions about challenges faced by women at the workplace. A big roster of supporting cast members bring variety to the experience, admirable for the frequent rotation of characters they bring to the stage.

In Mercury Poisoning we see the ways in which power manifests, and how so much of our resources is  organised around concepts of deprivation. The three women are deterred from attaining what so many of their white male counterparts have achieved. Through their stories, we observe how a certain caste of society is determined to keep privileges to themselves, convinced that there is not enough for everyone. It is clear they know, that what makes them feel special about their own lives, can only come from the dispossession of others.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.instagram.com/snatchedtheatreco | www.whiteboxtheatre.com.au

Review: Grain In The Blood (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Feb 23 – Mar 9, 2024
Playwright: Rob Drummond
Director: Victor Kalka
Cast: Kim Clifton, Nick Curnow, Siobhan Lawless, Genevieve Muratore, Ciarán O’Riordan
Images by Clare Hawley

Theatre review
Isaac is allowed home for a short visit, where Autumn is in desperate need of her father’s help, even though the two had never met before. Rob Drummond’s Grain in the Blood is a story about atonement, taking place on a remote Scottish farm, where past sins cannot help but haunt its remaining inhabitants. There is of course an air of the macabre, but the play is also surprisingly humorous, within all the darkness being explored, about guilt and generational trauma.

Direction by Victor Kalka provides a commendable clarity for the entangled relationships being presented, but the show never quite feels dramatic enough to match the inherently baroque quality of Drummond’s writing. Kalka’s set design however is a delight, wonderfully evocative of a rustic countryside, yet unquestionably sophisticated with its manipulations of colours and textures.

Costumes by Lily Mateljan are convincingly rural, giving us an accurate sense of place and personalities. Lights by Jasmin Borsovszky are designed with a confident simplicity, memorable for the moments of folkloric atmosphere they engender. Madeleine Picard’s wonderful score is an excellent addition, if slightly too sparingly utilised, in a tale involving a great amount of repressed emotions.

Performances by the uneven cast of five are not always strong, but Kim Clifton impresses as young Autumn, bringing both ingenuity and authenticity to her interpretations of a challenging role. Also noteworthy is Siobhan Lawless whose Sophia establishes for our understanding of the story, a complicated mixture of love, bitterness and regret in all its heart-breaking familial dynamics.

Forgiveness can be hard, even when one’s own emancipation depends on it. We all want to be free, but it seems many have a tendency to be absorbed in grudges, unable to let go. It is understandable that we want retribution for those who have wronged us, but less easy is to perceive the punishment inflicted on ourselves, when we refuse to absolve and forget. Time will always run out, and we know that some things can be left until it becomes too late.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.virginiaplaintheatre.com

Review: Low Level Panic (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Feb 7 – 17, 2024
Playwright: Clare McIntyre
Director: Maike Strichow
Cast: Marigold Pazar, Charlotte De Wit, Megan Kennedy
Images by Georgia Jane Griffiths

Theatre review
Three young women share a home, each with a different relationship to their own bodies. Clare McIntyre’s Low Level Panic examines the often unstable nature of the self-image, in connection with the sociality of existing in a modern world. Characters in the play are concerned, consciously and subconsciously, with notions of gender inequality, sex and popular media, as they navigate the challenges of attaining a sense of assurance and confidence, for their physical selves.

McIntyre’s ideas are rendered with subtlety, using a gentle humour to explore these difficulties shared by most women. Direction by Maike Strichow is perhaps slightly too nebulous, in a style too naturalistic, making the show feel somewhat pedestrian and emotionally detached. Marigold Pazar, Charlotte De Wit and Megan Kennedy form a convincing cast, but are excessively lenient with the pertinent messages of the play.

A more pronounced theatricality is needed to fortify our engagement with the concepts and the enjoyment of the work. Lights by Lyndon Buckley are fortunately able to deliver some visual punctuation to sustain our attention. Set design by the aforementioned De Wit is also charming, in its winsome representation of a familiar scene.

We may be able to identify the reasons for our feelings of inadequacy, but changing those nefarious influences seems to require several lifetimes. What we can do every day, whilst finding ways to survive these unremarkable conditions, is to cultivate forms of resistance. Psychological fortification is hard work, but is absolutely necessary, for women to define our individual and private selves, so that we may be able to be at peace when it matters most, as we negotiate the relentless daily violence, of being told we are not enough.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.herproductions.com.au

Review: The Wind In The Willows (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Dec 8 – 23, 2023
Playwright: Alan Bennett (from the novel by Kenneth Grahame)
Director: James Raggatt
Cast: Georgia Blizzard, Michael Cecere, Miranda Daughtry, Michael Doris, Elyse Phelan, James Raggatt, Joseph Raggatt, Jack Richardson, Lachlan Stevenson, Harlee Timms, Ross Walker
Images by Brittany Santariga

Theatre review

In Alan Bennett’s adaptation of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, the reckless and irresponsible Toad steals a car, and finds himself imprisoned. It is unequivocal that there are life lessons he needs to learn, and luckily friends are on hand to guide and support. The whimsical work is written with great charm, involving anthropomorphised characters that give Grahame’s 1908 creation a sense of timelessness, able to dissolve psychological barriers and allow an old English tale to speak to wider audiences.

Direction for this staging is provided by James Raggatt, who brings a commensurately quirky approach to how the story is told. On a bare stage, Raggatt demonstrates considerable inventiveness, in his depictions of these deeply fanciful scenarios. There is admirable detail in performances by an accomplished cast, including Michael Doris who is simply delightful as Toad. Although not always cohesive or sufficiently focused, the show is consistently energetic, with a joyful quality that sustains our attention.

Costumes by Isabella Holder help with the ways in which we imagine these animal characters, but could afford to include more extravagance and eccentricity in building a visual style. Lights by Saint Clair are a dynamic element, intricately transforming imagery from scene to scene, guiding us through this realm of theatrical fantasy. Songs by Jeremy Sams are a valuable addition, but the absence of a more intentional sound design diminishes the impact, of all that is being so passionately rendered. 

People and stories can easily be forgotten with the passage of time, but the lessons left behind could very well linger until the very end. A wise man once said, “careful the things you say, children will listen.” There are important things to deduce from The Wind in the Willows, not just from what is being told, but also in how we gather, to listen to one another.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.facebook.com/stacksontheatre

Review: The Lives Of Eve (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Oct 27 – Nov 11, 2023
Playwright: Stephen Sewell
Director: Kim Hardwick
Cast: Annie Byron, Helen O’Connor, Louisa Panucci, Noel Hodda
Images by 

Theatre review
Eve is as terrible a wife as she is a psychoanalyst, yet has strangely been able to maintain both a marriage and a career for decades. Stephen Sewell’s The Lives of Eve is deeply mercurial and academic, inspired heavily by the work of psychiatrist Jacques Lacan (1901-1981). The characters are fanciful, never actually authentic in their manifestations, with narratives that struggle to resonate. Sewell’s real interest however is in Lacan’s writing, which he attempts to recontextualize and expound. For those unfamiliar with that obscure domain, there is a four-and-a-half-thousand word document  in the foyer to help one prepare for the show.

Direction by Kim Hardwick tries to introduce a sense of believability, especially in more pedestrian scenes, during which Eve is seen to be fighting alternately, with her patient and her husband. Depictions of Eve’s dysfunctions are persuasive, although coming to an understanding of her problems seems to require enthusiasm for and prior familiarity with the Lacan material, which is probably too arduous a proposition for most.

Atmosphere for the production however is calibrated beautifully. Hannah Yardley’s set design delivers a dose of surrealism, with an abundance of crimson Persian style rugs enveloping surfaces of the performance space. Lights by Martin Kinnane introduce nuance and intensity, as do sounds by Jessica Pizzinga, both intricately and sensitively rendered, to communicate with accuracy the increasingly passionate temperaments being explored.

Actor Helen O’Connor is convincing with her submergence into the immensely cerebral qualities of the titular role. We may not always comprehend what she is tasked to convey, but Eve certainly appears to be enthralled by her various crises. Other cast members are understandably less assured, considering the often bizarre ways their characters are made to speak and act.

Not every work of theatre is meant for everyone. Art should always encourage idiosyncrasy, particularity and peculiarity. The Lives of Eve emerges from somewhere that seems detached from many contemporary realities, thus reflecting our artistic landscape’s admirable capacity for diversity. Art that does not do enough to connect however, could have a fraught relationship with its audience, or worse, one characterised only by apathy and nonchalance.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.whiteboxtheatre.com.au

Review: Boom (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Oct 6 – 21, 2023
Playwright: Jean Tay
Director: Tiffany Wong
Cast: Melissa Gan, Tiang Lim, Josephine Lee, Natalie Low, Daniel MacKenzie, Gerwin Widjaja, Jordon Zhu
Images by Sherry Zheng

Theatre review

Tiong Boon is pushing his mother to sell their home, but his aspirations of moving up in life are met with resistance. Mdm Ong’s sentimental attachments to the old building are everything she treasures, if only the younger generations understand that it is not all about money. Meanwhile Jeremiah is having conversations with the ghost of Mr Chan, concerning the exhumation of his remains to make way for residential developments. All of this takes place in Singapore, where property investments are as much an obsession with the populace as they are in Australian cities. Jean Tay’s humorous yet lyrical 2009 play, Boom talks about land and place as entities beyond their commercial relevance, shifting focus from monetary to spiritual, in how we regard the notion of real estate. It is a discussion about home, heritage and custodianship, from an Eastern perspective, that complements beautifully, our own discussions about colonisation and First Nations rights on these terrains.

Staged with immense integrity by Tiffany Wong, whose direction of the piece unearths an authenticity that speaks not with exoticism, but with intimacy, even though its language and context are distinctly foreign. There is an exquisite pleasure in Boom‘s ability to fascinate with its culturally specific concepts, yet resonate on a level that feels universal. Set design by Aloma Barnes helps us interrogate the tensions between the natural and the built, in these meditations on our lived environments. Costumes by Rita Naidu offer quick ways to identify the personality types we encounter. Luna Ng’s lights take care to navigate sensitively between the many oscillating spaces, in geographic, temporal and emotional terms. Sam Cheng’s sounds and music imbue a richness to our sensorial experience of Boom, surreptitiously embellishing the atmosphere in ways to keep us attuned to the fluctuating dimensions of a wonderfully gripping work of theatre.

Actors Tiang Lim and Josephine Lee play the aforementioned mother and son respectively, with great passion and intensity, both conveying appropriate gravity for the stakes involved. Daniel MacKenzie as Jeremiah and Gerwin Widjaja as his apparitional friend, render an amusing relationship that tells the story with whimsy and surprising depth. Other players include Melissa Gan, Natalie Low and Jordon Zhu, all of whom demonstrate similar commitment and energy, for a compelling performance that is at once entertaining and poignant.

Mdm Ong tells everyone again and again, that she does not wish to leave her home, but her words go unheeded. We call it an economic imperative or simply pragmatism, and refuse to see people’s homes as anything more than their monetary value. We acquiesce to the notion that the highest bidder wins, and allow spaces to be taken over, even when the spaces carry meaning that far exceeds anything that can be quantified. Mdm Ong’s story reveals the emptiness of prevailing values, but money speaks loudest and we remain oblivious to an increasingly obscure matter of the human soul. 

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.slantedtheatre.com

Review: Human Activity (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Sep 15 – Oct 8, 2023
Playwright: Katie Pollock
Director: Suzanne Millar
Cast: Karina Bracken, Claudette Clarke, Josephine Gazard, Atharv Kolhatkar, Phillip Lye, Mason Phoumirath, Trishala Sharma, Katherine Shearer, Madhullikaa Singh, Teresa Tate Britten
Images by David Hooley

Theatre review
Martin Place represents the most vibrant of our city life in Sydney, with the usual hustle and bustle of a central business district demonstrating the apparent health of our economy. In 2014 however, a terrorist attack at the very heart of that precinct cast a gloom upon the nation, making us see an abhorrent side to what constitutes community on these lands. Katie Pollock’s Human Activity is only partially about that regretful incident. Even though the play is set around the very time and place of the siege, not every anecdote in the work relates directly to that disastrous moment.

Several narratives run through Human Activity, with a plethora of characters occupying our attention. Director Suzanne Millar manufactures a sense of harmony for the divergent stories, creating a production that feels a unified whole, whilst allowing its fragments to speak independently. Within this collaboration between Pollock and Millar, is a palpable tenderness that demonstrates respect and love for those we live amongst, so that we may expand ideas pertaining to communal identities, and begin to dismantle divisive notions of us and them.

Production design by Soham Apte depicts a rigorous realism, with a set and costumes that enable us to delve into the familiar sights and scenes of our urbanscape. Benjamin Brockman’s lights introduce a dulcet poeticism to soften the edges of the metropolis, guiding us to the compassionate heart of Human Activity. Sounds and music by Jessica Pizzinga are rendered with sensitivity, moving us to the familiar streets of our geographical and spiritual nucleus.

Memorable performances include actors Trishala Sharma and Katherine Shearer who bring valuable dramatic intensity to two women whose lives intersect, finding common ground where it had seemed completely unlikely. Atharv Kolhatkar and Teresa Tate Britten too are dynamic, as workers on ground zero, disturbed but needing to gather the wherewithal to soldier on.

In cities, we walk past one another, unable to connect in an environment overwhelming with its sheer volume of activity. Yet we know that it is in these concrete jungles, that we are able to thrive and flourish. This is where so many of us can discover our best manifestations, away from parochial and conservative situations determined to hold us back. The city may not suit every sensibility, but it is the most inclusive of our societies, where every person may feel equally an outsider, yet able to locate opportunities, for the possibility of making dreams happen.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.instagram.com/nautankitheatre

Review: Rhomboid (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Aug 25 – Sep 9, 2023
Playwright: Eric Jiang
Director: Sammy Jing
Cast: Richard Wu, Luke Visentin, Joseph Raboy
Images by Phil Erbacher

Theatre review

Xavier is young and queer, so it comes as no surprise, that he should choose to reject traditional definitions of love and relationships, even if he does feel very attracted to Sebastian. In Eric Jiang’s Rhomboid, we see the couple trying to come to terms with the nature of their connection, in ways that defy the strict parameters that usually dictate how we perceive matters of the heart. What the two feel for each other is real, in a world that often places false or arbitrary expectations, on how we regard romantic unions.

The unique whimsy of Jiang’s writing is thoroughly enchanting, with an inherently arresting theatricality that director Sammy Jing explores with admirable exuberance, for a show intent on saying something valuable, whilst finding ways to present itself in fresh and artistic ways. Rhomboid is wonderfully quirky with its humour, if slightly slow in pacing. There is a pureness in thought and purpose that really shines, for a work memorable for both its style and meaning.

Set design by Paris Bell is simple but attractive, although its construction could benefit from greater finesse. Lily Mateljan’s costumes are very much of the times, pleasingly colourful in their depictions of the contemporary queer man. Lights by Catherine Mai are experimental and considered, beautiful in the ways they gently coax our minds into surprisingly generous spaces. Christine Pan’s sound and music are thoroughly rendered, to ensure that the experience is a rich one.

Actor Richard Wu is extremely charming as Xavier, and marvellously compelling as he makes the case for new ways to understand love in the modern age. Luke Visentin is both funny and earnest as Sebastian, with an easy presence that allows the character to always be convincing. Playing the dual roles of Felix and Lachy, is Joseph Raboy who brings an excellent camp sensibility to the show, effervescent but measuredly so.

It is strange when queer people make straight choices, when we contort our beings to fit moulds that were always made to exclude. Rhomboid represents a joyful resistance of definitions and prescriptions, the ones that have failed us time and time again. Queer people understand freedom in a deep way. We understand that the possession and control of others, is the very antithesis of love. Watching Xavier and Sebastian making their own rules, one is reminded of the liberation that will always be worth fighting for.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.liminalproductions.au