NEED AN OPINION?
HERE’S OURS
Essay: I wrote a play about vagina dentata and all I got was empathy for men
Erica wakes up every morning wanting nothing more than to tell the best stories she can. She’s written a play about women who grow teeth in their vaginas, called The Hero Leaves One Tooth. Read her essay about the process here.
Essay: procrastination, perfectionism and Jojo Zhou’s Porpoise Pool
Charlotte is a reforming perfectionist and an excellent procrastinator. Porpoise Pool played at Belvoir’s downstairs theatre about a month ago, and Charlotte’s only managed to write about it (and the process of reviewing) now. Read the full essay here.
Essay: the Northman’s He-Witch is the Drag Queen of the Gods
Robin puts the “imp” in “imposter syndrome”. They like a bit of cross-dressing here and there, and so does The Northman’s He-Witch. Read Robin’s essay about both of those things here.
Essay: ancient magic
Robin puts the “imp” in “imposter syndrome”. They’re also obsessed with fantasy, Celtic culture and the way it echoes into modern fantasy. Read their essay about it here.
Essay: it’s getting better, right?
Jacob is a friend of Dorothy. He’s written a play about growing up queer that opens this week at KXT on Broadway. Read his essay about the joys and tragedies of growing up queer here!
Essay: go and write a play about it
Alex’s ex told them to go and write a play about their breakup. Come Again, a play written by Alex, opens this week at KXT on Broadway. You can read about their ability to spitefully follow throwaway comments as instructions here.
Essay: when you’ve got ovaries, every choice is a public debate
Lana hates when people ask her “when” she’s going to have kids. She had a weird dream about being stuck in an elevator with her ex, and turned it into a play called Expiration Date. Read her essay about writing and staging it here!
Essay: Belvoir’s Into the Woods demonstrates musical theatre’s constant dilemma
Charlotte is on a mission to intellectualise musical theatre. Belvoir’s new version of Into the Woods is smart and exciting, but ultimately not confident enough in its vision to create something new. Read Charlotte’s review/essay about it here.
Essay: on performing the oldest profession
Maddy is a sex worker of many kinds and a musical theatre performer of many other kinds. Sometimes she’s even performed as a sex worker in a musical, and she’s sick of the harmful way sex work is shown on the stage, screen and elsewhere. Read her essay about it here.
Essay: Nobody Special knows how to be alone
MKA theatre brought their show for one audient to KXT on Broadway’s Vault in January. Charlotte the theatre critic doesn’t know how to be alone, or how to write about anything without inserting themselves into the narrative. This is an essay about Charlotte’s experience of Nobody Special, the show, and not being special, the life.
Essay: the art of dwelling, or retro gaming and the sickness of nostalgia
Martha is a loser nerd who’s always trying to feel like she’s 16 again. Read her essay on retro gaming, downloading and redownloading, and nostalgia here.
Essay: the newest production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is shocking but it’s not surprising
Maddy is an Australian musical theatre performer who’s shocked, but not surprised, about the atrocities in the production of Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat that’s currently touring Australia. Read her full essay on the role of actors and institutions in it’s making here.
Essay: Grand Theft Theatre, or a reflection on reflections
Martha loves mirrors, has complicated feelings about theatre, and went to see Pony Cam’s Grand Theft Theatre at Melbourne Fringe. Read her essay about all those things here.
To Sever or to Sweat: workplace drama in the age of prestige TV
Matt delivers parcels better (and more often) than he delivers verses of poetry. Read his essay about two wildly different TV workplaces here.