Kaleidoscope Recs: five bits of theatre that aren’t afraid to go big
Richard Hilliar is a person who believes you should go to the theatre to see capital T THEATRE. If you could stay home and find the same thing on Netflix, you should stay home and watch the same thing on Netflix. Here are his recommendations for upcoming productions in Sydney that should show you something a little bit different (click titles for tix):
Sex Magick
Sex Magick uses every tool in the theatrical box. Lighting, sound, projection and movement are all spun together to create a show that is both hugely funny whilst also striving for the divine, and something greater than ourselves. Written by Nicholas Brown, it explores queerness, masculinity and South Asian-Australian identity from sport to spirituality. It’s an explosion of love and colour with its heart woven into its sleeve and you need to see it to believe it.
Sex Magick plays at the SBW Stables Theatre now until 25 March.
The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?
This is a classic American play written by Edward Albee. The set is typical. The characters are recognisable. So far, so blah. But then it turns out the play is about an architect falling in love with a goat. His wife’s reaction is apoplectic. His son reacts…surprisingly. If theatre is set in a natural space, it should be dealing with an unnatural problem. This show is a wonderful example of the extreme exploding onto the mundane. It’s so good I wish I wrote it myself.
The Goat plays at the Roslyn Packer Theatre now until 1 April.
Fighting
Theatre, at its core, is a tool for empathy and inspiring us to alter and enhance our perspectives. I’ve worked with writer Xavier Coy previously, so I know that Fighting (examining the experience of living with the much misunderstood and widely maligned condition of bipolar in a darkly comic way) will be very personal and hugely honest. It’s the kind of “theatre education” we all need.
Fighting plays at Kings Cross Theatre on Broadway from 14 April - 29 April.
Metropolis
This piece is AMBITIOUS and we need to celebrate that more in our industry. Based on the film and novel of the same name (by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou respectively), this version celebrates what was “left on the cutting room floor”. An uber-industrial future threatened with simmering revolution and manipulated by a malevolent gynoid? And it’s a musical? And it’s DEVISED (by the wonderful team at Little Eggs)? I’m very keen to see what they make of it.
Metropolis plays at the Hayes Theatre Co from 21 April.
APOCKA-WOCKA-LOCKALYPSE
Most climate pieces are currently about what happens before the collapse. This one is about what happens after. Performed by muppets. Who sing. It takes the audience on a bit of a rollercoaster (spoiler alert, it gets a bit dark) and there hasn’t been another show like it, to my knowledge. I’m very proud of it.
Apocka-wocka-lockalypse plays at Meraki Arts Bar from 16 March - 1 April.
This Kaleidoscope Recs was generously donated by Richard.
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