In this radio review spot on Arts Weekly on Sat 19 Sept 2026, I talk to Producer, Nick Tolhurst, I talk about The Memory Mirror, new local play by Georgina Luck.
I then review The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, directed for this Melbourne season by Greg Carroll, with a cast that includes, Richard Piper, Kate Kendall, Peter Houghton, David Field, Ben Geurens and Eddie Orton.
See this if you’ve never seen a Pinter play. Click link above. 11 mins. KH
THEATRE
Written by Georgina Luck
At: Brunswick Mechanics’ Institute, Wed 9 to Sun 13 Sept 2026
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: *** (3)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll
present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, Sat 19 Oct 2026. KH
 |
| Gabriel Partington_Margot Knight_image supplied |
Daniel (Gabriel Partington), a paramedic, has avoided returning to the festival and the town for seven years after suffering a traumatic experience there which resulted in a memory gap. Now he has reluctantly returned, accompanied by his long-suffering colleague Myra (Anthea Davis), and new ambo recruit Pip (Christine Husband) whose perky, intuitive energy Daniel finds irritating.
The local festival provides plenty of eccentricity, including a memory competition, home-made cakes, candle stalls and Banjo (Don Bridges), the chippy MC, who quotes poetry while attempting to keep the increasingly unruly proceedings on track. Fat chance!
Partington brings genuine passion and emotional commitment to the overwrought Daniel as he confronts his past trauma. Jim Daly has an edge of danger as Mr. Monroe, the reigning memory champion, whose controlling behaviour towards his wife is uncomfortable to watch. Margot Knight is sympathetic as Mrs, Monroe who appears to have perfect recall — at least until her husband enters the room.
 |
| Margot Knight, Jim Daly, image supplied |
The narrative structure shifts from present to past, at times becoming confused. Dialogue is sometimes repetitive, reiterating ideas and memories rather than using repetition as a deliberate poetic or dramatic device, and some interactions also feel awkward and underdeveloped.
The loose, pale curtains upstage provide a screen for shadow puppetry, with the cockatoos Huggin and Mummin appearing to offer predictions, warnings or indications of truth and lies. The fantastical ‘memory mirror’ is also presented as a shadow image, but the projections are too blurry to have impact. It is also unclear what the cockatoos are predicting when they turn east or west.
There are intriguing ideas here about trauma, memory and the unreliability of recollection, but The Memory Mirror needs substantial editing and clarification to bring those ideas into sharper focus.
Cast
Gabriel Partington - Daniel
Don Bridges - Banjo
Margot Knight - Mrs Monroe
Jim Daly - Mr Monroe
Anthea Davis - Myra
Christine Husband- Pip
Creative Team
Director -Drew Tingwell
Puppetry- Scout McDonald
KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly 3MBS Sat5Sept2026
In this radio review spot on Arts Weekly on Sat 5 Sept 2026, I talk to Nick Tolhurst and Phillipa Edwards about GRIMM, by Shake & Stir Co, and then talk about the upcoming Festival of Puppetry 2026 at La Mama, 22-27 Sept.
Click the link above. It's approx 8 mins.
KATE
THEATRE
By Shake & Stir Theatre Co
Adapted by Nelle Lee and Daniel Evans from Grimm Fairy Tales
Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio until 12 Sept 2026
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: *** (3)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 5 Sept 2026. KH
Happily ever after? Not a snowflake’s hope in hell. Shake & Stir’s production, GRIMM, hauls Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, the Beast and other familiar fairy-tale characters kicking and screaming out of the sanitised Disney cupboard and dumps them into a dark, spooky and dangerous forest where the stories are considerably nastier.
Adapted by Nelle Lee and Daniel Evans from the gruesome Brothers Grimm tales, this is an adult fairy-tale mash-up, liberally seasoned with sex, violence, gore, expletives and a generous splash of theatrical mischief. The four performers career through multiple, mad storylines and characters. = Evans directs with energy, imagination, wry wit and naughtiness, keeping the action moving at a hectic pace.
Aljin Abella, Helen Cassidy, Nelle Lee and Henry Rollo are an impressively versatile quartet. Abella has fun as an outrageous Rumpelstiltskin, while Cassidy hurls herself into the grotesque Witch, and Lee’s bawdy Little Red Riding Hood is a feisty re-imagining of the character.
Rollo is wickedly camp as the Wolf and plays a genuinely villainous, violent and frightening Robber Bridegroom, a character never seen in Disney. He also plays live piano and delights the audience with his zesty cabaret tunes.
The most sympathetic character was the adorable fawn puppet that elicited quiet cooing and laughs from the audience, followed by gasps of horror at the fawn’s near-death experience.
 |
| Grimm-Aljin Abella, Nelle Lee - image Parethesy |
There is plenty to enjoy here, but GRIMM sometimes feel cluttered. The interwoven narratives become increasingly convoluted, with familiar tales dissected, reassembled and cross-pollinated until the story loses focus and becomes confusing. The production veers between genuinely dark material, broad pantomime and cabaret-style comedy, although the stylistic shifts are not always successful.
At its best, GRIMM reminds us that the original Grimm’s fairy tales were never saccharine. The final scene – a sort of remix – tries a little too hard to deliver the “moral of this story”: that little girls are still not safe walking dark paths at night. It’s true, but this was a just a bit too preachy.
GRIMM is an energetic, visually extravagant and entertaining romp through the dark forest where things do not always live happily ever after.
Cast
Aljin Abella
Helen Cassidy
Nelle Lee
Henry Rollo
Creative Team
Adapted by – Nelle Lee and Daniel Evans from Grimm Fairy Tales
Daniel Evans – Director
Josh McIntosh – Set Design
Trent Suidgeest – Lighting Design
Paul McCann – Costume Design
Dan Venz – Choreographer
NJ Price – Fight Direction
