Presented at Quilt Room, Trades Hall as part of Melbourne Fringe 2022 from Thursday the 6th to Sunday the 9th of October. Over the course of Yumi Umiumare career they have continued to define their performance sensibilities as both steeped in the ancientness of Butoh and Physical Theatre- as much as being obsessed with the absurd.  With a title like “Still Wanna Be A Rabbit” this show was never going to be any different. Its loose narrative- cartoonishly centred upon the mad plight of a scientist on the brink of a genetic breakthrough.  This breakthrough- to create half human, half ..read more

Presented at The Butterfly Club as part of Melbourne Fringe 2022, from Monday the 3rd to Sunday the 9th of October. Scold’s Bridle- was a draconian implement used to torture, degrade and silence women. Akin to something from the dark ages- it is from this metaphoric title, that this contemporary performance begins. With Frankly holding court as the lone performer in the blistering one-woman cabaret- across the shows 50-minute run time, we walk a tightrope between humour and darkness. Ultimately, the performance details the many ways that within society, women are still not only considered “o ..read more

For a certain generation, the music of Alanis Morissette is forever etched into a collective angst filled consciousness, and in Jagged Little Pill the memory of such music comes flooding back in giddy waves.  Introduced first to the all- American Healy family by Mary Jane Healy (played by Natalie Bassingthwaighte)- recording their annual Christmas message. From here the layers- of this upon the surface- seemingly perfect family, begin to unravel. Soon we are introduced to the inner machinations of each character- the turmoil of the children coming of age verses-as an example Mar ..read more

Moria Finucane aside from a national treasure, possesses a rare gift that many others could only dream of holding in their own hands. It’s an ability to draw audiences in, holding them captive until the very last moments of a performance, and in Rapture: Bathtub Edition, we are once again reminded of this. Powerful, enigmatic and speaking directly to the times we live in, despite being an online performance, the sense of intimacy is here still very much present. Like many of Finucane’s work, this mini version of the Rapture deals head on with issues of climate change, harking back to F ..read more

“The world has changed. There’s no fresh water and machines have taken all the jobs.”- this is Hydra, the latest work by award the winning Melbourne collective Double Water Sign and written by Rachel Perks and directed by Bridget Balodis. You may be familiar with the work of this company through previous productions Ground Control (2016) and Moral Panic (2018), like previous works, Hydra is nothing if not challenging.  It seemed poetic that on the rescheduled opening night of this new dystopian fantasy set sometime in the future, the rain wo ..read more

It’s been over a year since I last wrote a dance review, even longer since I myself was on stage, and while I detest writing in the first person, as both a performance artist and critic, I could think of a non-more deserving show to bring myself out of an ‘early retirement’. I was first introduced to the work of Rawcus during the course of 2017, when the company presented Song For A Weary Throat at Theatre Works in St Kilda. And while it might have been a long time between then and now, in this newfound world Rawcus in the company’s latest work continue to inspire. The choreograph ..read more

A mesmerising convergence of contemporary Indonesian dance and physical storytelling, The Seen and Unseen is adapted by Indonesian artist Kamila Andini from her internationally acclaimed film of the same name. Tantri and Tantra are twins born under the full moon. Inseparable in life, the line between reality and the dream world begins to blur as one life ebbs away and the other must begin anew. The Melbourne Critique spoke with director Kamila Andini, about this exciting project. Kamila, I have spent some time in Indonesia as a performer, so I know the form and beauty of Indonesian dan ..read more

Daddy is a performance that dazzles as it simultaneously balances upon a razor-sharp edge of wit and heartbreak. In a manner that few performers ever manage to fully realise, Daddy is a deft portrayal of personal reflection, dripping with social antidotes. At its peak, this performance is an exercise in vulnerability and wearing one’s heart on their sleeve. The humour is sharp, and the tragedy cuts through the smoky air of the performance space – an experience which is altogether endearing to the point of leaving audiences short of breath and with hearts having jumped into mo ..read more

After six years as a critic, and having seen what would be thousands of shows, it is rare that I should walk out at interval. But for this – the first show I will see in 2020 – that is precisely what happened. Perhaps a deft show in terms of its puppetry, War Horse has little in the way of other strings that it can pull. War is something that should never be glorified, yet War Horse does exactly that.  Its heavily reliance on an “us verses them” mentality is the first alarm bell that sounded. It is a one-sided portrayal of war, with little to no mention of the causalities experienced b ..read more