Melbourne Observer Magazine

■ The Monash One-Act Play Festival will be presented next year from February 25 –27 at the Unicorn Theatre, Lechte Rd., Mount Waverley. Interested playwrights and participants are invited to contact: moapfestival@peridot.com.au ■ Torquay Theatre Troupe: The Kitchen Sink (by Tom Wells) Until November 20 at the Shoestring Playhouse at The MAC, 77 Beach Road, Torquay. Director: Michael Baker. Bookings: trybooking.com.au Enquiries 52616111 ■ BATS Theatre Company: The Full Monty November 18 – 21 at the Cranbourne Community Theatre, Brunt St. (Cranbourne Secondary College). Director: Mihelle Zintschenko. Bookings: www.batstheatre.org.au ■ Warrandyte Theatre Company: Visitors (by Barney Norris) (Live and streamed) November 19 – December 4 at 8.00pm at the Warrandyte Mechanics Institute Hall, Cnr. Yarra and Mitchell Sts., Warrandyte. Bookings: www.warrandytehallarts.asn.au ■ Malvern Theatre Company: The Flick (by Annie Baker) November 19 – December 4 at 29a Burke Rd., Malvern. Director: Helen Ellis. Bookings: www.malverntheatre. com.au 1300 131 552 ■ Heidelberg Theatre Company: Three Little Words (by Joanna Murray-Smith) November 26 – December 9 at 36 Turnham Ave., Rosanna. Director: Tim Scott. www.htc.org.au ■ Theatrical: Little Women the Broadway Musical November 19 – 28 at Chapel off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St., Prahran. Director: Ange Phillips; Musical Director: Ashley Meliki Shoup, Ass’t. Director: Karen Shnider; Executive Producer: Andrew Gyopar. Bookings: https://theatrical.com.au/littlewomen/ ■ Wonthaggi Theatrical Group: Dimboola (by Jack Hibberd) November 20 – 28 at The Shed, State Coal Mine, Garden St., Wonthaggi. Director: Wayne Moloney. Bookings: www.wtg.org.au ■ Essendon Theatre Company: Death of a Salesman (by Arthur Miller) November 25 –December 4 at 9 Bradshaw Street, Essendon (Entry off Buckley St). Directors: Directed by Michele Haywood and Nicola Taylor. Bookings: www.essendontheatrecompany. com.au ■ Heidelberg Theatre Company: Three Little Words (by Joanna Murray-Smith) November 25 – December 9 at the Heidelberg Theatre, 36 Turnham Ave., Rosanna. Director: Tim Scott. Bookings: www.htc.org.au ■ Playhouse Players: Around the World in 80 Days (by Jules Verne, adapted for stage by Mark Brown) December 1 – 4 at 7.30pm at the Clayton Theatre, Clayton Community Centre, 9-15 Cooke St., Clayton. Director: Graeme McCoubrie. Tickets: $25/$28. Bookings: www.trybooking.com/BQIMV ■ LOTS Theatre: Legends of the Skies (scripts by Alison Knight, Neil Follett, Geri Colson and Steve Morris) December 3 – 4 at 8.00pm, December 5 at 5.30pm at the Aviation Museum, 12 First St., Moorabbin Airport. Artistic Director: Maggie Morrison. Tickets: $20. Bookings: https://www.trybooking. com/BUYAX ■ Melbourne French Theatre: La Candidate December 7 – 11 at Library at the Dock, Second floor performance space, 107 Victoria Harbour Promenade, Docklands. Director: Donald McManus; Producer: Michael Bula. Bookings: melbournefrenchtheatre.org.au ■ Peridot Theatre: Hypnosis (by David Tristram) January 28 – February 12 at the Unicorn Theatre, Mt Waverley Secondary College, Lechte Rd., Mt Waverley. Director: Pip LeBlond. Bookings: www.peridot.com.au

Auditions

■ Playhouse Players: Director required for a one-act play to be presented in the delayed 20th National Playwright Competition. Please contact Graeme McCoubrie for further details. ■ Mordialloc Theatre Company: The Kitchen Sink (by Tom Wells) November 16 at 7.00pm at the MTC Lockup Factory 8/417419 Warrigal Rd., Cheltenham. Director: Rod Hulme. Audition appointment: rod@hulme.email Phone: 0418 117 772. ● ● ● ● ● Continued in column, at right

Observer Observer Melbourne Melbourne

Published statewide weekly in the Melbourne Observer and all editions of The Local Paper. Phone: 1800 231 311. Email: editor@MelbourneObserver.com.au WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021

LEGENDS OF THE SKIES

■ LOTS Theatre Inc. opens with their first live event in 25 months to present Legends of the Skies Series 9 on December 3 and 4 at 8pm and December 5 at 5.30pm at the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin Airport.

Under the artistic direction of Maggie Morrison and produced by Jim Williams, writers of the aviation-themed performance segments include Alison Knight, Geri Colson, Neil Follett and Steve Morris.

Cast members who will take patrons through two world wars "and some wonderful eccentricities" are Abigail Arculus, David Dodd,

Harrison Ewart Dart, Kerry Hollier, Jessie Inglis, Taj Jepson, Sam Johnson, Briony Jones, Alison Knight, Darina Mendan, Barbara Mendelson, Colin Prosser, Tim Semmens,

Lana Stojanovic and Marj Winslade.

Victoria’sCOVID safe restrictions will apply re seating and vaccination

There will be separated, numbered seating rows A - G (1-5). Limited seating requires early booking.

Dates and Times: December 3 - 4 at 8pm, December 5 at 5.30pm

Venue: Aviation Museum, 12 First St., Moorabbin Airport.

Tickets: $20

Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/ BUYAX

- Cheryl Threadgold

● ● ● ● ● Jessie Inglis and Timothy Semmens

rehearse The Wizard of the Void, a play by Geri Colson about a young man who built his plane in his Brighton loungeroom.

Shakespeare at St Kilda

■ Melbourne Shakespeare Company returns to the St Kilda Botanical Gardens for their fifth season at the Rose Garden with their original musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s farce The Comedy of Errors from December 3-19.

“Our shows combine all of the things audiences love about Shakespeare in the Summertime,” explained Artistic Director Jennifer Sarah Dean (The Globe, Moulin Rouge! The Mu-

sical)

“We give Shakespeare a young, fresh twist including all of your favourite contemporary music combined with exciting choreography, audience insteaction, beautiful costumes and all set in one of the most idyllic venues in Melbourne the Rose Garden in St Kilda.”

Direction is by Ben Adams (Pop-up Globe) with original choreography from John Reed (West Side Story, Merrily We Roll Along) and musical direction from Benjamin Colley (Shrek!,

Romeo and Juliet).

Melbourne Shakespeare Company is environmentally responsible, using only recycled, reclaimed and reused materials to create their productions.

Costumes are from Aislinn Naughton (Frozen, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and set by Hayley James (As You Like It, The

Winter’s Tale).

The Comedy of Errors is family friendly and audiences are encouraged to bring a picnic to enjoy in the sunshine. Seating is provided at the venue and protective sun wear is recommended for matinee performances.

Performance Details:

Dates and Times: December 3-19 at 7pm, 3pm weekend matinees (no performances on Mondays)

Duration: 90 minutes

Venue: Rose Garden, St Kilda Botanical Gardens

Tickets are now available at melbourneshakespeare.com

- Cheryl Threadgold

● ● ● ● ● Comedy of Errors

Exhibition at Gasworks

■ The iconic Gasworks Arts Park in Albert Park is the ideal venue for artist Bruce Hargrave's tenth major solo exhibition, titled

Pics 'n Spokes.

Located in the Angela Robarts-Bird Gallery, the Pics 'n Spokes exhibition presents local landscapes in watercolors.

As well as scenes of Albert Park and bayside areas, cycling enthusiast Bruce has also included paintings of bicycles, as per the exhibition title.

Bruce says painting in watercolor leads the artist to see the many wonderful things that surround us. "Each painting is always an adventure and most rewarding for the effort."

Pics 'n Spokes Exhibition: Until December 5, from 9.30am - 4pm daily.

Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham St., Albert Park.

Admission: Free

Enquiries: 0400 414 547.

- Cheryl Threadgold

● ● ● ● ● Lindy Cameron ■ Lockdowns and pandemics can’t keep a good group like Sisters In Crime down.

Right through the last 18 months this Melbourne-based support group for female writers of crime fiction has been staging online events, writing competitions and helping members get their books published.

Coming up at 8pm on Saturday, November 27, 8pm, is the 28 th Scarlet Awards Night, presented by actor Catherine McClements, and hosted by crime fiction expert, Sue Turnbull.

After talking about her life in crime with Sue, Catherine will announce the winners of the prestigious Stiletto award for female crime writers.

On screen, at different stages, will be all available 23 shortlisted authors, Professor Christina Lee, who will present the judges’ report, and Dr Carolyn Beasley from Swinburne University, which sponsors the first prize.

The event is free but you can support Sisters in Crime and the work it does for Australian women crime writers by making a $10 donation and going into the draw for one of three $300 packs of crime books, kindly donated by publishers.

Meanwhile, in keeping with the crime fiction theme, Mornington Peninsula author Lindy Cameron has just released her new book called Who Sleuthed It?

A self-confessed animal tragic, Lindy is commissioning editor and publisher of this collection of 19 short stories from Australia, Ireland, the UK and the USA, where animals help solve the crimes (and sometimes talk).

Lindy reminds us of all the animals that have helped humans solve mysteries, from Timmy the dog in Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books, to The Cat Who mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun.

Sounds like a great idea for the Christmas stocking of an animal loving bibliophile.

To join the 28 th Scarlet Stiletto Awards, visit www.sistersincrime.org.au and for details of Who Sleuthed It? visit

www.clandestinepress.net Julie Houghton

● ● ● ● ● From column, at left

Auditions

■ Williamstown Little Theatre: The Importance of Being Earnest (by Oscar Wilde) November 20 at 1.00pm, November 21 at 12noon at 2 Albert St., Williamstown. Director: Ellis Ebell. Audition Bookings: ellis@pagebell.com ■ Brighton Theatre Company: Chancers (by Robert Massey) November 21 and 22 at 7.30pm at the Brighton Arts and Cultural Centre, Cnr. Wilson and Carpenter Sts., Brighton. Director: Peter Newling. Audition bookings: www.brightontheatrecompany.com.au ■ Peridot Theatre: I Ought to be in Pictures (by Neil Simon) November 28 at 1.00pm, November 29 at 7.00pm at the Unicorn Theatre, Mt Waverley Secondary College, Lechte Rd., Mt Waverley. Director: Michelle Swann. Audition enquiries: michelleswann65@gmail.com ■ The 1812 Theatre: The History Boys (by Alan Bennett) November 27 and 28 at 9.30am at 3 Rose Street, Upper Ferntree Gully. Director: Dexter Bourke. Audition appointment and enquiries: 0411287043 or dexterb7251@gmail.com ■ Essendon Theatre Company: Rumors (by Neil Simon) November 30 from 7.00pm, December 5 from 1.30pm at Bradshaw St. Community Hall, Bradshaw St. (off Buckley St.). Make an audition appointment and download form from www.essendontheatre company.com.au) ■ Monash One Act Play Festival: February 25 – 27 at the Unicorn Theatre, Mt Waverley Secondary College, Lechte Rd., Mt Waverley.

- Cheryl Threadgold

■ Details of Death and the Discotheque were published in last week’s edition.

Thye production has been postponed as a dancer tested positive to COVID. The cast is in isolation for seven days.

A Chiara

■ Set in the Calabrian town of Gioia Tauro, A Chiara is a coming-of-age story centred on 15-year-old Chiara Guerrasio (Swamy Rotolo).

Preparations are underway to celebrate the 18th birthday of her sister Giulia (Grecia Rotolo).

Typical teenagers, Chiara, Giulia and their cousins take selfies, gossip and get ready for the party.

At the party, we watch snapshots of the close-knit, extended Guerrasio family singing and dancing to Italian pop and Ed Sheeran music.

Through it all, Chiara floats, carefree and happy, if a little envious of her older sister.

Later that night, the Guerrasio car is blown up, and Chiara’s father Claudio (Claudio Rotolo) flees.

The following morning, she confronts her mother (Carmela Fumo) about her father’s sudden disappearance. "A girl is better off if she doesn't know things,” she tells her.

The TV news reveals Claudio as a fugitive wanted by the law in connection to his membership as a 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafiosi criminal syndicate.

More secrets and lies are exposed as Chiara, Alice-like, begins to unravel in this looking-glass world she has stumbled into.

Chiara discovers a hidden bunker underneath the house.

When she tries to get answers from Giulia she is told to shut up.

Chiara then embarks on a quest with dogged determination to find her father and the answers to her questions about the family.

A Chiara is an impressive film.

Director Jonas Carpignano creates an other-worldly quality to this thriller where parts slowly assemble entirely from Chiara’s resolute gaze.

It all leads to a final reckoning, a loss of innocence and a momentous decision.

Now screening at Palace Cinemas.

- Review by Kathryn Keeble

At Frankston

■ Frankston Arts Centre is the venue for Christmas with Silvie Paladino, being presented on Saturday, December 4 at 7.30pm.

The 55-piece Melbourne Opera Orchestra conducted by Maestro Raymond Lawrence and 60-member chorus will join Silvie in this festive concert featuring Carols and Christmas songs.

Presented by the Melbourne Creative Music Company, this event was previously advertised for an earlier date and rescheduled due to pandemic restrictions.

Performance Date and Time: December 4 at 7.30pm. Venue: Frankston Arts Centre Duration: Two hours (incl. interval). Bookings: https://artscentre.frankston.vic. gov.au/Whats-On/Events-directory/Christmas-with-Silvie-Paladino

- Cheryl Threadgold

Arts House

■ Arts House re-opens on December 1 with four short works created by some of Melbourne’s leading companies and artists.

Sink by Simona Castricum and Carla Zimbler, Entity presented by Back to Back Theatre, Soap Bubbles and the Forces Which Mould Them by Brian Lipson and Love Me (Bar) Tender by Stage Mon can be seen until December 4 at the North

Melbourne Town Hall.

Season: December 1-4. Times: Various – starting from 5.15pm. Location Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne. Tickets Free to $20 and $10 BLAKTIX for First Nations. Bookings artshouse.com.au or 9322 3720. - Cheryl Threadgold Talk is cheap, gossip is priceless

Launch for Theatre Works

■ After nearly two years of lockdowns, cancellations, funding cuts, and uncertainty, St Kilda'sTheatre Works is moving forward into 2022.

This year's Launch, running from 7pm at the new Explosives Factory, is a hybrid livestreamed and in-person event.

With the in-person event already fully booked out, the wider arts community is encouraged to join the festivities online when live-streamed from 7.30pm.

Located around the corner from the Acland St venue, the Explosives Factory is a versatile workshop and development space complete with accommodation, bathroom, and kitchen facilities.

This setting will house new programs and act as a year-round rehearsal spot to partnering artists.

During Festivals it will be activated as a versatile 60 seat performance venue and, if needed, also provide a smaller and more intimate space for works less suited to the Theatre Works main space. And yes, it was an actual explosives factory in its past life.

Theatre Works has long existed to support emerging, established, local, national, and international artists.

This new growth of the organisation, as they move into their 41st year, highlights how they have prevailed for over four decades - acting as a vital springboard for hundreds of thousands of artists and arts makers in that time. "We want to be there from the start and be an integral part of the evolution of the artist and the

development of their work,” highlights Theatre Works Executive Director Dianne Toulson. From January, 2022 Theatre Works will host five festivals in the first three months of the year;

Mullet Festival, Midsumma, First Stories, Radi-

cal Acts Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival welcome audiences to the venues with a mix of reprogrammed work, First People led stories, and Victorian Arts Calendar favourites. Following throughout the year, the organisation will support the creation of a vast array of works with new development and inhouse programming including (but not limited to) Associate Artists, She Writes, a Deakin University Partnership, Little Legends and Regional Arts Development and Accommodation Residencies. Access and inclusion is also a constant driving force behind the creative programming and audience development focus at Theatre Works. They are in a frequent process of reassessing the venue (highlighted by their 20/21 Glasshouse), programming, and approach to embrace neuro-atypical audiences, people living with disability, mental illness, financial or social disadvantage. This also includes women, young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, LGBTQIA+ and other community members. November 28 at 7pm (online from 7.30pm) Livestream available via

www.theatreworks.org.au/2022-season-launch www.theatreworks.org.au - Cheryl Threadgold

The Candidate at Docklands

■ Melbourne French Theatre presents The Candidate (La Candidate - Panique Au Ministère 2) from September 7 - 11 at Library at the Dock, Second Floor Performance Space, 107 Victoria Harbour Promenade, Docklands.

Written by Jean Franco and Guillaume Mélanie, the comedy tells of an irreverent Minister for Youth and Sport deciding to run for President of France without any warning to her staff.

The Candidate is directed by Donald McManus and produced by Michael (Michel)

Bula.

Melbourne French Theatre (Le Théâtre

Français de Melbourne) was founded in 1977 by Michael Bula and David Gorrie and is a nonprofit incorporated association, registered charity and tax deductible gift recipient under the patronage of the French Ambassador to Aus-

tralia.

Presenting one to two plays annually (in May and sometimes September) and touring schools across Victoria throughout the school year, the company aims to serve as a window of French theatrical literature and performance and to cross-fertilise Australian and French-speaking cultures though theatre.

Performance Dates: September 7 (preview dress rehearsal $25 only), 8, 9, 10, 11 at 8pm; September 10, 11 at 2.30pm.

Venue: Library at the Dock, Second floor Performance Space, 107 Victoria Harbour Promenade, Docklands. A new state of the art theatre.

Bookings and performance times:

www.melbournefrenchtheatre.org.au

- Cheryl Threadgold

Little Women The Musical

■ New Melbourne theatre company Theatrical presents its inaugural production Little Women the Broadway Musical from November 19-28 at Chapel off Chapel, Prahran.

The show experienced three lockdowns due to the virus pandemic, but admirably persevered to present this show fresh out of the latest lockdown.

A team of more than50 volunteers has worked hard during the lockdown periods to stage this show. Personal sheds became set building workshops, costume designers created the period costumes from their living rooms, cast members learned the show via Zoom with the help of blocking software, and outdoor rehearsals were conducted in public parks when restrictions eased.

Little Women the Broadway Musical is an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's book, telling the story of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March as they navigate the journey from girlhood to womanhood in Civil War America. The key protagonist, Jo, is an inspiring author whose fierce determination to rise above the expectations of women in 1860s America drives the story.

Little Women explores themes of sisterhood, women’s lives, and female endeavour in all its many guises. The musical adaptation, with a book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and music by Jason Howland, was originally staged on Broadway in 2004.

Executive Producer Andrew Gyopar says, “It’s been a monumental effort to get the show to this point. But Melbourne is a creative city and we’re determined to play our part in bringing theatre back to Melbourne audiences as soon as we can.

“Little Women is a story that transcends generations, with its inspiring story of ambition and perseverance. So, it only seemed right for us to bring that kind of drive and perseverance to our approach as a team in bringing this incredible production to life".

Performance Dates: November 19 - 28. Times: November 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27 at 7.30pm; November 20, 21, 27, 28 at 2pm. Venue: Chapel off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St., Prahran Tickets: $50-$55. Bookings: theatrical.com.au ■ Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021) is this year’s winner for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival receiving the prestigious Golden Bear Award.

This art film, directed by Radu Jude, the contemporary and provocative Romanian filmmaker provides Jude the opportunity to reflect on Bucharest society during COVID19 to discuss relevant issues that Romanian society are dealing with.

The work is provocative, often confronting, satirical and humorous. It depicts Romanian society as dystopian. The imaginary society we experience in the film is surreal, bizarre, and very frightening.

It presents in triptych form contemporary Romanian society. In Part One we are introduced to the private erotic sexual world of Emi and her husband who discovered their love making had been uploaded onto the internet.

Understandably, Emi is very distressed and the rest of this first part of the film we find her wandering around the seedy streets of Bucharest.

Emi is on the phone to her husband constantly, dreading the possible consequence that she may lose her job as a teacher in an exclusive school.

The second part is a pseudo-documentary in the form of a movie montage, which puts together visual images which are intended to relate the history of Romania.

The montage intermingles the “documentary” with various grotesque and profane sexual images that makes the observer cringe and demean Romanians.

In the third part Emi must confront the parents of her students, the parents are presented as both judge and jury as to whether or not she is to be dismissed from her duties because of an uploaded sex tape neither she nor her husband had uploaded.

She argues her case brilliantly and the drama here is heightened as we hear from parents variously expressing at times their prejudicial views, their empathy, and their disagreements with either Emi or other parent’s perspectives.

Jude provides us with three different endings. You will need to be open minded and ready for an uncomfortable self-examination of your own prejudices.

In cinemas November 25. Cinema Nova,

Classic Cinema, Lido Cinema, Palace Pentridge, Pivotonian Cinema. - Review by Mary Downie

Well Bless

■ Theatre Works in Acland Street, St Kilda welcomes the dark satirical comedy WellBless to the stage from December 2 - 11.

Written by Debra Thomas and Ella Roth Barton, WellBless contains spectacle, pole dance, and an in-depth introduction to vaginal steaming while examining the parasitic world of wellness and the flaws in our medical system that allow this trillion-dollar industry to thrive.

At her in-person Soul Convergence, Juniper is ready to unveil her cure-all Miracle Tonic. Packaged as the elixir to ageing, cancer, and even COVID-19, this marvel promises to restore body and soul.

But as millions of Instagram followers flock to the convention there’s a slight glitch; Instafamous cancer-patient Maha (who stopped chemotherapy to follow Juniper’s wellness program) dies onsite.

With Juniper’s world set to unravel, she solicits advice from her team of ‘experts’. Together, they go to extreme lengths to hide the truth from her followers and she might just get away with it - except that journalist Mindy Flores is asking way too many questions.

Directed by Kellie Tori, WellBless will be performed by Ella Roth Barton, Debra Tho-

mas, Emily Joy, Joseph Lai, Andrea Mendez

and Lauren Steiner, with dramaturgy by Saffron Benner. Sound Design by James Cole, Lighting Design by Camille Bortz, Set Design by Kellie Tori, Costume Design by Ella Roth Barton and Debra Thomas and Costume Construction by Laura de Iongh

Performance Details: December 2 - 11 at 7.30pm. Venue: Theatre Works: 14 Acland St., St Kilda. www.theatreworks.org.au

- Cheryl Threadgold