Acting
![Three actors in orange hi-vis clothes with a huge oval backdrop showing clouds, stand behind a mass of complicated poles.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MBT_Scott-Price-Sarah-Mainwaring-Bron-Batten_c-Jeff-Busby1.jpg?w=310)
Theatre review: Multiple Bad Things, Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse
Back to Back's latest production presents another layered look at the intersectional experience of people with a disability.
![Ghosts. A young woman in a white dress stands on stage in a dark and gloomy house set with a blue/purple light behind where through the window. There is a lonely chair and piles of books near her.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Ghosts-Production-Image-11.jpg?w=310)
Theatre review: Ghosts, Theatre Works
A new iteration of Ibsen's work retains the core, but moves the action from Norway to the Australian outback.
![RISING: A group of three First Peoples and a Caucasian man performing in a rock band with an arch of stage lights behind them. Two are playing guitars, the lead singer is standing on a packing case and one is waving drum sticks.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/BNNB-Rising-Low-Res-38-e1717390017165.jpg?w=310)
Performance reviews: RISING Festival, first weekend
RISING Festival is now off and running. Here is ArtsHub's round-up of the performing arts offerings on the first weekend.
![Ink by New Theatre. Six people are lined up on a dark stage holding identical copies of The Sun newspaper in front of themselves, obscuring their faces.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/2024-NEW-Ink-14031.jpg?w=310)
Theatre review: Ink, New Theatre
New Theatre makes a good fist of James Graham’s play about Rupert Murdoch’s first forays into Fleet Street.Â
![‘Club Vegas: The Spectacle’. Photo: Supplied. A group of six performers on stage in extravagant purple body suit and feather on top of their heads on the stage with spotlights on them.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/phi_2319-e1717130711902.jpeg?w=310)
Performance review: Club Vegas: The Spectacle, Athenaeum
All the ritz and glitz of Vegas in this variety show.
![A dramatically lit photograph of the cast members from the 2024 Australian production of 'Sunset Boulevard', shown in the decaying Hollywood mansion of faded star Norma Desmond.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/SUNSET-BOULEVARD-AUSTRALIA-2024-Sarah-Brightman-Tim-Draxl-PIC-CREDIT-DANIEL-BOUD1.jpg?w=310)
Musical review: Sunset Boulevard, Princess Theatre
A woefully miscast Sarah Brightman derails this production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, which also features some baffling directorial choices.
![Ride the Cyclone. On a dark stage a group of young school uniform clad people group around a young man who has a green halo around him. Surrounding all of them is a circular ladder like piece of design.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Justin-Grey-and-the-cast-of-RideTheCyclone-PHOTO-PrudenceUpton1-e1716943237432.jpg?w=310)
Musical review: Ride the Cyclone, Hayes Theatre
A Canadian hit musical makes its Australian debut.
![](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Winter-Holidays-2024-Landscape-1200-x-750-px-1.jpg?w=381&h=230&crop=1)
Australian Theatre for Young People
Winter Holiday Workshops
ATYP Winter holiday workshops encourage and engage young people from Kindergarten to Year 12 in a safe and inspiring environment.
![the Odd Couple. On a stage set of a New York apartment in the 1960s four white actors stand centre stage. On the left is a man in a brown jacket side on, addressing the others. Next to him is a fastidious man in a blue suit and red tie, holding something covered in a tea towel. Next is a blonde woman with a yellow, pink and white sleeveless dress and finally a woman with short dark hair and a yellow and green sleeveless dress. She is also facing in to the others.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Shane-Jacobson-Todd-McKenney-Lucy-Durack-Penny-McNamee-in-The-Odd-Couple-c-Pia-Johnson.jpg?w=310)
Theatre review: The Odd Couple, Comedy Theatre
Decades later, Neil Simon's play still feels sharp and relatable.
![Ulster American. Three actors on a stage set of a loft type apartment. A woman in a short sleeved lilac jumper sits downstage. Behind her centre stage is a bearded man all in black with a baseball cap backwards and an Oscar in his outstretched hand; he is shouting. A third balding man with glasses stands on the right behind a tan leather couch clasping his hands and watching the man in the centre.](https://www.artshub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Ulster-American-0031.jpg?w=310)
Theatre review: Ulster American, Ensemble Theatre
Feminism, #MeToo, toxic masculinity, the Northern Irish ‘Troubles’ and the theatre itself are dissected in this provocative work.