Redemption Room, 4 March 2021 ***1/2

 

THEATRE VIRTUAL

By Secret Theatre

Online via Zoom

February 26 - March 13, 2021. Various times (See AED dates)

Tickets via Eventbrite

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on 4 March 2021

Stars:***1/2

You can’t escape the Dark Entity in Redemption Room, a wild, hilarious and, by the end, scary live and interactive theatre experience.

 

This is fun, immersive, online theatre created and directed by Richard Crawford for UK company, Secret Theatre.

 

Rex Shakespeare (probably not his real name) is an effusive game show host who introduces guest ‘celebrities’, all of whom have been disgraced in different ways, and want to atone, apologise or seek redemption for their transgressions.

 

These dislikeable narcissists join the show from their homes to reveal their worst fears and their past sins. Then we, the audience, judge them by voting in a Zoom poll.

 

Harry Bevoor, a disgraced UK MP accused of sexual harassment, loves hunting wild animals. Addison Black is drug cheat Olympian (New York), Marlon Williams a comedian (Sydney), Wendy Tai (Hong Kong) ‘danced on the grave of Donald Trump’, and Aziz Khan (Mumbai), is a DJ hounded for ‘ghosting’ his lovers.

 

A sixth contestant, Izzy, is chosen from the audience – or so it seems.

 

The audience participates by commenting in the Zoom Chat, and their snide remarks make the show even more entertaining.

 

But, when Wendy faces her greatest fear, a séance with a ouija board, a dark entity enters the narrative, and the celebs face real and violent judgement. Does anyone received redemption or is vengeance ours?

 

I laughed and squealed throughout the hour, but it got scary in the last minutes, particularly when the Dark Entity said my name!  My NAME!

 

Redemption Room is a hoot! Get a cuppa and log on for a wacky ride!

 

by Kate Herbert

 

NB: There is a 2020 movie called Host that has a similar structure and plot. Not sure which came first.

Redemption Room, Media Release only 27 Feb 2021

 You may be interested in this online performance. I'll post a review of it soon after I see it. The words below are not mine but are from the Media Release.

Check the times. It is a 24 hour clock. I made that mistake!  KH

SECRET THEATRE PROJECTS, PRESENT REDEMPTION ROOM 

A WORLD PREMIERE, IMMERSIVE, ONLINE THRILLER EXPERIENCE

MEDIA RELEASE, SYDNEY 12 January 2021: “You will be judge and executioner, but when an evil virus infiltrates the proceedings, how far will you go?”  

 

Redemption Room is a new live and interactive online experience where audiences from anywhere in the world get to judge six disgraced celebrities as they seek redemption for their societal crimes. The production format takes a thrilling twist after an evil entity is awakened into the proceedings. Who will survive? Who will get their redemption? You will decide. 

 

“The world is locked down... but Redemption Room looks to connect the globe and bring us all together for a wicked experience!” BBC LONDON 

 

The show will go live simultaneously across the world in a Zoom studio featuring contestants from six countries; Australia, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and the USA, where the celebrities are located.

As the studio audience in the online experience, you will vote on how far the contestant’s fears are pushed. But be warned, every-night audiences will be judging the proceedings and one audience member will be asked to compete with the celebrities. So as an attendee you can vote, you can judge and you can contact the celebrities directly to influence what happens. 

So who is Australia’s secret contestant? How will they fare against the contestants from all over the world? You can go to the Secret Theatre website and connect with the celebrities straight away and talk to them about their journey. 

Turn off the lights, light a candle and be prepared for the unexpected. Those with paranormal fears please prepare accordingly. If Ouija boards are to your taste, there will be a moment when you can get involved. But be warned, by wearing black you can summon demons…

There will be various screening times for Australia from February 26 until March 13, including a special midnight (AEDT) show on Saturday 27th February. 

Secret Theatre are pioneers in global immersive events and have produced shows in seven cities across the globe. The production is created and directed by Richard Crawford, who has been Artistic Director of Secret Theatre for over 10 years with many immersive credits to his name. He was responsible for directing the highly-acclaimed immersive Edward Scissorhands in New York, the immersive Fight Club in London and Hong Kong, and the immersive Dusk till Dawn in Singapore.

The experience can be viewed on any device that supports Zoom. 

For more information visit secrettheatres.com and for tickets see Eventbrite.

VIDEO - https://youtu.be/E3TGKQ4dFxQ 

@Secret_Theatre 

Suitable dates to AED (Melbourne, Sydney)

Feb 28 Sunday 05.30 - 06.30 

Mar 2 Tuesday 22.00 - 23.00

Mar 3 Wednesday 11.00 - 12.00 

Mar 6 Saturday 05.30 - 06.30

Mar 9 Tuesday 22.00 - 23.00

Mar 10 Wednesday 11.00 - 12.00

Mar 13 Saturday 19.00 - 20.00 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Feb 23 2019 ****1/2 (Review of 2019 opening)

THEATRE

Story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, script by Jack Thorne
At Princess Theatre, Melbourne, reviewed on Feb 23, 2019
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****1/2

 

2021 season begins on 25 February 2021.

 
NB: Because Cursed Child is about to re-open after closing for Covid in 2020, I am re-posting this review was from the opening of the Melbourne season of Feb 23, 2019  There are cast changes this 2021 season. 

 

This review was NOT published in Herald Sun in 2019. KH

Sean Rees-Wemyss & William McKenna 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a sparkling, visual feast filled with tasty, Hogwarts  treats for the Potter aficionado.

 

The excitable and very vocal crowd cheers and gasps at the remarkable, jaw-dropping special effects of John Tiffany’s production that combines magical illusion, black theatre puppetry, startling appearances and disappearances, and whirling choreographic scenes - oh, and familiar characters as well as new ones.

 

Tiffany keeps the action swift and vivacious in Parts One and Two that are an endurance test of over five hours for the audience - but nobody seems to mind.

 

Based on an original new story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, this new play, written by Jack Thorne, which hurls us back into the world of Hogwarts when Harry (Gareth Reeves) and Ginny’s (Lucy Goleby) son Albus (Sean Rees-Wemyss) begins his less than stellar school years at Hogwarts Academy. 

 

A cunning twist is that Albus's best friend is the goofy and incompetent Scorpius Malfoy (William McKenna), son of Draco, Harry’s childhood nemesis.

 

The signs at the theatre say, ‘Keep the secrets’, so this we will do. You will not hear anything of the cursed child, the changing fate of young Albus, Scorpius, Harry and his cronies, Ron Weasley (Gyrton Grantley) and Hermione (Paula Arundell) or the current headmistress Professor McGonagall (Debra Lawrance). 

 

If you loved the Potter books and movies, this is a must-see for you. There are working magic wands, magical creatures, moving staircases, terrifying dementors, villains and heroes, battles for life and death, broken familial relationships and all your favourite characters.

 

The heroes of this production are the invisible people who manipulate human bodies, puppets, staircases, wands and other paraphernalia to create this fantastic world before our eyes.

 

As Scorpius, McKenna delights the crowd from start to finish, and Rees-Wemyss, as Albus, is a suitably disenchanted, rebellious teenager.

 

Appearances by  Severus Snape (David Ross Patterson), Professor Dumbledore (George Henare), Lily and James Potter, Dolores Umbridge (Hannah Waterman), and a delicious bathroom cameo from Moaning Myrtle (Gillian Cosgriff) send the crowd into paroxysms of delight.

 

Occasionally, some dialogue feels a bit cheesy and uncomfortable, a few characters are a bit shouty and lacking vocal control, and the story is extremely convoluted.

 

But, ultimately, there is plenty of spectacle to keep the audience cheering and clapping as we witness the continuation of the fight between good and evil that is at the heart of the Harry Potter series. Everyone goes home tired and happy.

 

by Kate Herbert

Come From Away, 13 July 2019 ***** (REVIEW of 2019 season)

 MUSICAL THEATRE 

Book, Music & Lyrics by David Hein & Irene Sankoff

Comedy Theatre, until Oct 27, 2019 

Reviewer: Kate Herbert (reviewed at preview performance on Sat 13 July 2019)

Stars: ***** (5) 

I am posting my 2019 review of this sensational production as it has now opened again in Melbourne. I have no information about any cast changes for this 2021 season. 

It runs uitl 14 March 2021 at Comedy Theatre. KH

This review was NOT published in Herald Sun in 2019.

Melbourne Cast of Come From Away-photo Jeff Busby

Come From Away is a remarkable, exhilarating and joyous celebration of the human spirit at its best, and the audience leapt to its feet in a standing ovation at the finale. This show is a rare creature you should not miss.

On September 11 2001, 38 planes were diverted to a tiny town in Newfoundland, Canada, almost 7,000 passengers were met with warmth and open-hearted generosity.

On that dark day, the 10,000 residents of Gander and neighbouring towns gave shelter, solace and a warm hearth to complete strangers displaced by the events of 9-11. These people shared their lives. Remember sharing?

In their electrifying and outstanding musical, writers, David Hein and Irene Sankoff, condense 16,000 stories from real interviews into a narrative set over five days, with dozens of quirky characters portrayed by an exceptional ensemble of twelve.

Hein and Sankoff weave an uplifting and compelling tale, about the passengers who start in a state of panic, despair and ignorance, and the extraordinary residents of Gander who rally to make them welcome. As news filters through from New York, these strangers commune and a new, short-term community takes shape.

With Christopher Ashley’s deft direction, actors transform into multiple characters with only the change of a jacket and an accent. On a stage sparsely decorated with wooden chairs and slender tree trunks, they transport us from claustrophobic plane to crowded sleeping quarters or a rowdy pub.

Ashley sets a vivacious pace that never tires the audience, but keeps us energised and on the edge of our seats, because we care about these people.

We wait anxiously for news of Hannah’s (Sharriese Hamilton) fireman son in New York, Captain Beverly Bass’s (Zoe Gertz) pilot friend, wonder if this odd couple (Nathan Carter, Katrina Retallick) will get together, and will the gay partners, Kevin and Kevin (Doug Hansell, Nicholas Brown), split up?

With precision and style, Hein and Sankoff thread dialogue amongst the spirited, witty lyrics and complex, choral harmonies of their songs, to inform story, characters and relationships.

The signature tune, Welcome to the Rock, provides a stirring anthem about Newfoundland that is reminiscent of a Les Miz chorus, while the rousing Celtic, folk-rock score, featuring a live band (fiddle, guitar, bass, bodhran, accordion), supports the ebullient performers.

City slickers and foreigners start to realise they won’t be robbed or killed in this gentle, surprisingly tolerant, isolated island, although some of Muslim faith are carefully screened.

Come From Away has an unlikely story for a musical, but it works and its celebratory story renews one’s faith in humanity. I’d wanted to watch it all over again immediately it finished. If you see nothing else this year, see this. It’s worth it.

By Kate Herbert

COME_FROM-AWAY-Zoe Gertz - pic Jeff Busby

COME_FROM-_AWAY_Nathan Carter Katrina Retallick -pic Jeff Busby

Cast in 2019

Zoe Gertz - Captain Beverly Bass

Richard Piper - Mayor of Gander (and other characters)

Sharriese Hamilton- (Hannah)

Doug Hansell – Kevin T

Nicholas Brown - Kevin

Kolby Kindle –Bob

Emma Powell - Beulah

Katrina Retallick – Diane

Kellie Rode-  Bonnie

Sarah Harrision -Janice

Nathan Carter – Nick

Simon Maiden – Oz, Rabbi

Director - Christopher Ashley

Musical Staging -Kelly Devine

Musical Director -Luke Hunter

Musical Supervisor -Ian Eisendrath

 

UnMute - Improvisation on Zoom (UK) 20 Nov, 2020 ****

IMPROVISATION ON ZOOM 

On ZOOM on 20 November 2020

https://www.facebook.com/events/401589581206275/  

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:****

 This review published only on this Blog. KH

L-R: Luke Sorba & Pippa Evans in UnMute

 

In UnMute, close up on the zoom screen, we see two improvisers minds in a whirl as they conjure character, place and dialogue in a split second. It is a joy to behold!

 

Improvisors, Luke Sorba and Pippa Evans (Oliver Award winner), create a series of Zoom calls between two people. Off-screen, Paz, the ‘Voice of Reason’, feeds them characters and locations taken from audience suggestions in Chat and calls ‘Unmute” to start each new scene.

 

The first scene features Adam (Luke), a bookseller who calls Helen (Pippa) who is working in a sweatshop making leather trousers and is terrified she will be caught chatting on Zoom. She hilariously uses the Zoom screen to show her tiny fingers that help with the fine stitching.

 

In the second call, Helen (Pippa) then calls her social worker, Rupert (Luke), to discuss her current employment in the sweatshop. However, his incompetent advice and obviously dodgy duplicating of her passport, all lead to him admitting he is not a social worker but a former casino worker who was furloughed and retrained during the pandemic.

 

Rupert, (Luke) then speaks to an anxious woman is Picadilly Circus as she stands by the statue of Eros. and they reveal they are a couple and their conversation escalates into an argument about their marriage and his demands on her.

 

This same supercilious wife (Pippa) then talks to her unbearably over-confident, smug yoga teacher, Marco and they get mired in murky existential psychobabble. The improvisers minds create some riotous dialogue including him naming his yoga poses after types of pasta e.g. the Fettuccini. She then teases him with sexual innuendo about the Downward Dog.

 

The yoga teacher (Luke) in Hampstead calls a Scandi Noir detective, Lisbeth, (Pippa) in Stockholm to search for a missing person – his yoga student. She speaks in cryptic, odd English in an accent that is a collision of Swedish and Welsh, using strange and indirect allusions.

 

Finally, Lisbeth, the Scandi detective, calls Adam, the bookseller (Luke), to order books on dream interpretation. Her strange English expression and mad dreams and imagery prompt him to write his own book and her asks her to help him.

 

UnMute is a hoot to watch as the two improvisers, with great ease, weave a web of interconnected stories and finally make sense of this improvised world of characters

 

 

by Kate Herbert

Pulp Playhouse Reunion 7 Nov, 2020 ***1/2

IMPROVISATION THEATRE

Produced by Pulp Playhouse hosted by BATS Improv 

Date: 7 Nov 2020 via ZOOM 

Reviewer: Kate Herbert 

Stars: ***1/2

This review published only on this blog. KH

Top L-R: Regina Saisi, Rafe Chase, Joshua Raoul Brody; Lower L-R: O-lan Jones, Mike McShane, Brian Lohmann 

 

On 7 November 2020, BAT Improv hosted a reunion show by members of Pulp Playhouse, an inspired and inspiring company of improvisers who explore genres in their storytelling.

 

The company’s first show was 23 April 1988 in San Francisco. and the members changed over the years. The shows I saw in the 90s featured Paul Killam, Diane Rachel, Barbara Scott, Regina Saisi and others.

 

This online show boasts improvisers from San Francisco and Los Angeles: Regina Saisi (director of the show), Rafe Chase, O-lan Jones, Brian Lohmann and Mike McShane, with music by the incomparable Joshua Raoul Brody.

 

On the Zoom screen, we see the improvisers narrate stories and play characters alone in their homes, some against virtual backgrounds, as they tell crime fiction stories in the style of pulp novels. Each is a discrete narrative introduced by a pre-determined character who asks for a story title from the audience who post their title ideas in the Zoom Chat.

 

In Story One, Regina Saisi, as narrator, Eleanor Hillary Shackleton III, is in a snowstorm surrounded by her huskies. She tells the story of The Wild River in which Cynthia meets Ralph, a gentleman who slips into a river. She saves him with her poetry and, perhaps more practically, with a makeshift canoe that tumbles over a waterfall.

 

The narrator of Story Two is Brian Lohmann playing Arlo Fisk, former – or is failed – FBI agent, now FBI archivist, who welcomes us to FBI: Inside! from the FBI Archives library (a black and white, virtual background).  Fisk, a character Lohmann created for early Pulp shows, narrates the story One Bullet, an exciting story told by a dull man. Lohmann’s characterisation of the dour FBI officer, Fisk, is awkward, rigid and hilariously earnest.

 

‘Crime is bad. Nobody likes it!’, says Fisk dryly.

 

In One Bullet, Mike McShane as Herman Kitter, a man of influence, is confronted outside his barber shop by a man and woman with nude photographs that could ruin him. Lohmann, as Fisk, says about Kitter, ‘He had a susceptible kidney’.

 

Story Three is narrated by Rafe on his character’s 30^th anniversary with his ventriloquist dummy bride. He tells his bride a story about a woman (Regina Saisi) alone in a cabin who meet and befriends Sasquatch (McShane) outside her lonely cabin. This becomes a love story as eccentric as that of the narrator and his dummy bride.

 

O-lan Jones as Roliimpsia Queen of the World, the laid back and petulant warrior princess, narrates The Swedish Fish, a story about Princess Volartua (Regina) whose herald finds in Sweden a poetic Fish (Brian) that can sing a beautiful, Swedish Fish song.

 

The final story is by Mike McShane as elderly Peepers Keeperbaum, a former child star living in a retirement home. In his crusty aged voice, McShane narrates the clever and witty Clara Bow and the Model T, about a meeting between Clara Bow, pert, silent movie actress with a squeaky piping voice, and Henry Ford, inventor and captain of industry.

 

The expertise and ease of these versatile and masterly improvisers creates narratives and characters that inspire and entertain. Let’s hope for more reunions shows.

 

by Kate Herbert

Love Letters to Melbourne, 6 Nov 2020 ***1/2

 

CABARET / BURLESQUE

By Finucane & Smith

Zoom on Thurs 5 Nov 2020 at 7pm

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***1/2

 This review published only on this blog. KH

This online version of Love Letters to Melbourne by Finucane & Smith, is a cornucopia of diverse performers streaming to us directly from their living rooms, bedrooms and even a bathtub.

 

It comes to us via Zoom – with all the expected zoomy technical problems that crashes the streaming just after interval. (Maybe it came back online, but I gave up trying after 10 minutes.)

 

Rachel Lewindon plays pre-show piano while we peer at other guests – in their Zoom windows – lounging, sipping wine or wandering off waiting for the show to start.

 

Our host, the inimitable Moira Finucane, steps on screen and greets almost the entire audience of 100+. She glitters in lame, pouting her scarlet lips as she talks about Melbourne deserved this love after being locked down for 100 days.

 

Shirley Cattunar, a woman in her 80s, sings Stand By Me from her couch, unaccompanied.

 

To the song, One Night in Heaven, and watched by a gaping Molly Bashful, Maude Davey pulls strawberries from her bosom under her strapless black taffeta gown.

 

In his Sydney studio and wearing glittery boots and a belt of stuffed toys, Paul Cordeiro performed a dizzy disco dance.

 

Next, Caroline Lee tells an erotic suburban poolside story featuring zucchinis, nipples and Derek’s glistening shaft, that was inspired by Lockdown and is interrupted at a crucial moment by a Zoom drop out!!

 

Meanwhile, Maude Davey almost upstages Lee, as Davey dressed for her next spot wearing red, thigh high boots and shimmering black veil obscuring her face and moving to Am I Blue.

 

Mama Alto sings Memories (Streisand) unaccompanied, then Finucane returns as the Milk Queen, in her bath, wearing white bikini and pearls, grimacing and writhing in litres of milk.

 

After a short interval, Die Roten Punkte, Otto and Astrid, perform from their bedroom Second Best Friend (Ooh ah!), “Time to wake up to tickle all the corners.” This is their love letter to Melbourne.

 

The Zoom failed on Otto and Astrid’s last, lip-smacking, screen-kissing farewell and we were left marvelling at the impact of Zoom in our lives as artists and wondering what came next in the Love Letters.

 

By Kate Herbert

 

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