John Shand Posts

August 16, 2024 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Old Fitz Theatre, August 7 8/10 Playwright Gary Owen takes Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, pulls it up by the roots, poaches the characters in the story’s juice, and relocates it to an apple orchard in 1982 Thatcherite Wales. Unlike the Ensemble’s concurrent Uncle Vanya, Owen’s play is more “inspired by”…

August 12, 2024 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Ensemble Theatre, July 31 9.5/10 Until now, an “adaptation” of a classic tended to be a synonym for a bastardization. Usually translated from another language, these classics come to us more in the image of the adaptor than the originator: high art rendered low by inferior intellect and artistry. Yet…

August 5, 2024 / Features - Archive

John Waters doesn’t believe in ghosts, yet he’s been seeing one most nights for the last four months. That’s because the veteran of Australian screens, theatres and concert stages is starring in the dramatisation of Susan Hill’s spooky novel, The Woman in Black, the titular character of which is a…