Theatre: As You Like It

by William Shakespeare
Director Roger Hodgman
Set and costume designer Christina Smith
Lighting designer Matt Scott
Composer/Sound designer Ash Gibson Greig
Featuring Brendan Hanson, Luke Hewitt, Brett Dowson, Andy Fraser, Brendan Hanson, Caitlin Beresford-Ord, Geoff Kelso, Nick Maclaine, Greg McNeill, Jovana Miletic, Cecilia Peters, Igor Sas, Grace Smibert, James Sweeny and Steve Turner
Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre
Until June 1 

Jovana Miletic and James Sweeney (pic Gary Marsh)

In As You Like It, Shakespeare’s masterpiece of wit and wisdom, the message is clear. What matters is freedom and love, and a play dedicated to them both must, as its beautiful epilogue demands, be forgiven its faults.
Roger Hodgman’s carefree production for Black Swan is a deserving beneficiary of this boon. If its tempo is a little uneven, and if some of its set pieces topple over into silliness (you might not find either the case), these problems are more than compensated by its fealty to the spirit of the play, and the audacity of its staging.
 
Link here to the complete review in The West Australian. And here's an admirable (though far less complimentary) piece from Humphrey Bower. The whole "boy plays girl plays boy" thing is as circular as it is fascinating. It's a nice conundrum for a director to decide when to get off the carousel; Hodgman doesn't stay on it long, and I was happy to dismount with him.  

Theatre: Henry V

By William Shakespeare

Propeller

Directed by Edward Hall

Designed by Michael Pavelka

His Majesty’s Theatre

Until February 25

I’ll keep this brief. This is the best Henry V I’m ever likely to see; Propeller give the story of the Hero King of Agincourt an adrenal, turbo-charged energy that would be nigh-on impossible to improve on. In return, nothing in Shakespeare or elsewhere is better suited to the company’s rambunctious, open style; I’d love to see them do Macbeth or, especially, Julius Caesar, but if I had to choose, this is the play for them.

Theatre: Julius Caesar

By William Shakespeare
Bell Shakespeare

Director Peter Evans

Dramaturg Kate Mulvany

Designer Anna Cordingley

Lighting designer Paul Jackson

Composer Kelly Ryall

Featuring Alex Menglet, Colin Moody, Daniel Frederiksen, Kate Mulvany, Benedict Hardie, James Wardlaw, Gareth Reeves, Keith Agius, Katie-Jean Harding, Rebecca Bower   

Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre

Until August 20

Kate Mulvany

The soldier-politician Julius Caesar should not be king of Rome. He’s past his prime, deaf in one ear, epileptic, superstitious and sentimental. In any case, Rome doesn’t have a king.

Trouble is, after decades of explosive imperial expansion and a brutal civil war, it could really use one.

A hard core of the Roman elite still clings to the old republican political model, but out on the street that’s a tired and outdated concept. It’s an untenable mix, and that can only mean blood.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian 

Theatre: Titus Andronicus

William Shakespeare

Her Infinite Variety Ensemble

Directed by Jenny De Reuck

Designed by Sarah Duyvestan

Featuring Nicola Bartlett, Helen Doig, Tiffany Barton, Angelique Malcolm, Natalie Ryan-Brand, Olivia Hogan, Shirley Van Sanden, Mikala Westall, Emma Jermy, Sarah Courtis, Claire Munday and Rhoda Lopez  

Subiaco Arts Centre Studio

Until May 21

The William Shakespeare of the early 1590s was a young man in a big hurry. He’d had some success with a couple of comedies and histories but aimed for a stake in the prestige market for tragedies, which was dominated by Thomas Kyd and the firebrand Christopher Marlowe.

His first foray into tragedy was Titus Andronicus, a messy, ill-formed piece of Ovidian and Senecan bloodbathery that wanted for nothing in energy, for all it lacked in artistic merit. Think of the Saw movie franchise.

So now, 350-odd years later, we’ve got an all-female Titus Andronicus produced by a mono-gender (its description) theatre company aiming to redress the imbalance in male/female opportunities in the acting profession.

That’s a noble enough intention. I just wish it had chosen a more likely vehicle in which to make its debut.