The shows that resonated for me this year were overwhelmingly new (or rebooted) Australian works, with a strong leaning towards First Nations stories, absurdist humour and the tackling of big issues.
Here are my best and worst of the year – and a few very honourable mentions.
Best: Troy
An ancient story of a city taken, a bloody war, of humanity’s unending capacity for brutality, violence, deception – and the tragedy of Cassandra, a woman cursed to know the future and see disaster looming with nobody paying her any heed.
Directed by Ian Michael, Australian playwright Tom Wright’s interpretation of this legendary story from Greek mythology brought home the true horror of Cassandra’s curse – and its contemporary relevance.
With white sand continuously falling from the heavens like a divine hourglass, costumes of gilt armour, draped and pleated fabric, an amphitheatre of white stone and rubble that echoed both the ancient Greek stages of spectacle and a flattened Gaza, of a bombed Ukraine, with across-the-board brilliant performances – the production felt both ancient and immediate, sounding a call to listen to those who speak out against the horrors of war.
ArtsHub: Troy review: a mythical marvel at the Malthouse
The worst: MJ The Musical
I was a little uncomfortable going to the opening of MJ The Musical in Melbourne in September, given the numerous allegations of child abuse that surround the musical’s famed subject.
I found myself googling ‘can you separate art from the artist’ before reasoning, in the end, that the subject being dead meant there was no financial benefit to him – and so I went.
ArtsHub: Can we separate art from the artist?
From a production standpoint, the show was incredible. As a child of the 80s, my nostalgia buttons were mashed hard, and as you’d expect from a big-ticket musical, it was slick and dazzling.
But as I stepped out of the theatre, some sense of not-quite-rightness descended.
The story covers the preparations for the Dangerous tour in the early 90s – just before allegations of Jackson’s abuse of children emerged, linking the (well-known and acknowledged) financial and emotional abuse Jackson suffered at the hands of his stage-managing father with those soon-to-surface allegations. The MJ we’re presented with is very clearly a casualty of money-grubbing nasty people (and the vile media), all of whom are out to exploit him.
For a musical that purports to focus on the artistry of Michael Jackson, framing him as a victim felt unpleasantly manipulative.
ArtsHub: Musical review: MJ The Musical, Sydney Lyric Theatre
Honourable mentions
Carly Sheppard, one half of all-women, all First Nations theatre collective A Daylight Connection, absolutely ate up the stage in The Blok, staged at the Northcote Town Hall as part of Melbourne Fringe this year.
The play, co-written and starring Sheppard, was totally crackers – an end-of-days post-apocalyptic absurdist story about an ego-driven artist with a creative block, who is visited by God – who appears as a middle-aged Aboriginal woman – to help her pass her monumental literal and metaphorical poo.
Meow Meow’s The Red Shoes, by Australian cabaret artist Meow Meow, directed by Kate Champion, was another jaw-to-the-floor ripper. As I wrote after seeing the show in November, it was ‘artful and absurd, a thought-provoking and wildly entertaining romp – a true cabaret masterclass from one of the absolute best in the biz’.
ArtsHub: Meow Meow’s Red Shoes review: a cabaret masterclass
Masculinity, national identity and satire
I loved the restaging of Brodie Murray’s Soul of Possum, directed by Beng Oh – a reframing of first contact between British colonisers and First Nations people. The sensitively directed and excellently acted dual-perspective narrative made me think deeply about the stories which build our nation, the stories we tell our children, and – particularly in Victoria, on the eve of the passing of the nation’s first Treaty with First Nations people – the valuable lessons all Australians can learn from the cultural strength and resilience of First Nations people.
The restaging of Emmanuelle Mattina’s hilarious satire Trophy Boys offered a brilliant commentary on privilege and power that has lost none of its bite. Starring an all-woman and non-binary cast, the play follows four private school boys in the hour before their debate against their sister school, where they will argue in the affirmative that ‘feminism has failed women’.
ArtsHub: Trophy Boys review: boys will be boys on tour
A final couple of honourable mentions go to Vidya Makan’s new satirical musical about contemporary Australian identity, The Lucky Country, staged as part of Melbourne Fringe, and Emilie Collyer’s Super at Red Stitch, another satire about cult of celebrity, consumerism and superhero tropes.
ArtsHub: Super review & Lucky Country review
