All posts tagged: #melbournetheatre

Review: May Contain Traces of Reading

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Imagine a stand-up comedy show where the star doesn’t utter a single word. You could be excused for being apprehensive in anticipation of a badly executed mime, but this show is more ‘giant palm cards’ than Marcel Marceau, laced with a touch of Mr Bean. It’s an interesting navigation of Robert Mitchell’s checklist of comedy prowess through the unspoken word. The beauty of this style of show is the lack of of awkward silences, remedied by Mitchell’s arsenal of Dad jokes kept up his sleeve (or in his carefully pre-prepared folder). Supported by a sassy sidekick of the digital variety, this show is warm, expressive and performed like a well-oiled machine, and unique in that heckling is highly encouraged during the performance – if only so Robert can make excellent use of his rather large pre-prepared folder chock-full of ‘sick comedian burns’. The show fell a little short for me after a long day of reading at work, but is relatively family friendly and has definite appeal for the deaf community. “May Contain Traces of …

Fish… not just another 4-letter word

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We were lucky enough to be invited along to check out Fish, on it’s sold out opening night at the popular Melba Spiegeltent in Collingwood, and despite what the name may imply, this latest piece from the team at the Rollercoaster Theatre Company actually had little to do with, well… fish. Instead the theme focused on another four-letter word – fear. Not the kind of ‘clown under the bed’, ‘monsters in the closet fear’, – the real, everyday, average person fears. Things like spiders, car horns, terrorists, overzealous romantic pursuits from management, getting sick again… etc. All of these topics were tackled by the talented cast in a slightly quirky, off beat performance which was a mix of sketch, song and dance – and included a hilarious yet humanising parody of Donald Trump. All in all, the show was quite magical, with lots of laughs despite the heavy content covered. A little political, a little wonderful – and real shame it wraps up after only 3 nights. A little about Rollercoaster Theatre Company Rollercoaster is made …

Review: RENT

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Last night I climbed the stairs to the Athenaeum 2 theatre to check out the Federation University student performance of RENT. Don’t judge, but for someone who adores musical theatre, I’d never seen this iconic show, so it was fairly safe to say that, I was pretty excited to be seeing it for the first time. Most people are familiar with the premise of RENT. Set in the late 1980’s, in the colorful Alphabet City precinct of New York’s bohemian East Village, a group of struggling, penniless artists live, love and try to survive. Ahead of its time, RENT looks at the fear, horror and loss associated with the AIDS epidemic of the time, and lightheartedly tackles topics like sexuality, drug addiction, homelessness and corporate greed. Performed in a relatively intimate space, the set was super funky, with the audience members sitting right up close to the action, allowing the cast to interact with them on a more personal level. The cast was nothing short of brilliant, each performer perfectly matched to their character, and …