State Theatre Company Season 2014

A few weeks back – I've been distracted and/or lazy; take your pick – the hard copy of the State Theatre Company 2014 season showed up in my mailbox today; so, as I've done a couple of times in the past (in 2011 and 2013 at least), I've put down my thoughts on what Geordie Brookman and his team are bringing us next year.

Oh, and this is only the regular season shows; for everything including the State Ed and touring shows, see the official site here.

Pacific Rim

I'm not sure which was the first piece of promo material I saw for Pacific Rim – I have a feeling it was a huge poster at the Piccadilly cinema which showed the head of the Jaeger¹ 'Gypsy Danger' – but it certainly got me interested enough to look further into it. When I found out what it was about – human-operated giant robot-like mecha fighting giant monsters – I was keen to know more; when I read it was to be directed by Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, I decided to put it on my 'to-see' list.

Homemade Fusion

"HOMEMADE FUSION is a series of musical snapshots from the imaginations of Michael Kooman (music) and Christopher Dimond (lyrics). Each snapshot attempts to make sense of an increasingly senseless world by examining the paradox of modern times. At once dangerously cynical and desperately romantic, it is a tale of love, loss, and candy bars."

I can't really come up with a better description of the show than they one they provide - so I'm not going to try.

On paper this show certainly had a lot going for it; the musical director is Aaron Nash, who in the last few years has made a name for himself with his Tom Waits tribute show New Coat of Paint (a great show I saw in 2012), the highly acclaimed Tears on My Pillow shows and – demonstrating his breadth – composing music for the multi-award-winning University of Adelaide Theatre Guild production of The Pillowman.

Then you add the performers – Brady Lloyd, Claire McEvoy, Rachel Rai and David Salter, four hugely talented young people with well-earned reputations in the Adelaide musical theatre community; I've seen all of them before and have been impressed every time.

Recent events

It's been a while since I've posted, mostly because there hasn't been all that much of significance going on – and also because I haven't had a great deal of time on my hands. But I've got a extra-long weekend (Thursday was Anzac Day and I took a day of annual leave Friday to give me four straight days off) so I can at least put pen to paper¹ and mention a few things.

A very long festival season

So, I've survived another Fringesanity. And, given that the Fringe proper is now a week longer – taking the total time to just over four weeks (since it begins on a Friday and ends on a Sunday) – as well as the fact that that the weekend before the now-extended Fringe began I went to Melbourne, it's been quite a challenge.

Melbourne

Melbourne was great; we – Miriam and I – went primarily to see the stage production of War Horse (which, while not as great as I'd hoped, was stil worth seeing because of the awesome horse puppetry) and also saw Melbourne Theatre Company's production of Constellations, which was excellent. Then there was the cabaret: the Butterfly Club¹ gala at the Town Hall (which Miriam got tickets to by helping crowdsource their move to a new location) and after party at the club itself one night and a Tom Dickins (one half of The Jane Austen Argument) solo show another.