Flinders University Performing Arts Society. Holden Street Theatres. 9 Jul 2025
The numeric significance attached to milestone birthdays seem as fluid as gender identities—there’s no certainty that the numeric denotation corresponds with anything in particular. Rites of passage once attached to such numbers seem to have blended, or have they?
Jesse Chugg has written and directed a clever theatrical exploration of the zeitgeist of teen-dom here and now. Of course, such spirit will likely change with the generation, but Mary’s 18th – a play about a party effectively captures all things “same as it ever was” as well as those that aren’t, when it comes to teens morphing into young adulthood.
Prior to commenting further, I do need to get something out of the way. I’m not a fan of shows starting late. However, if reasonable explanation is given, such can be forgiven. I’m sure I’m not alone here. But twenty minutes with no explanation? Perhaps the fact Ensemble Swing, Jazmyn Stevens, was announced as playing the title role had something to do with it. There. Whinge over. Stevens did a magnificent job!
Director/Playwright notes offer great insight into the creative process behind Mary’s 18th. A first draft completed only months after Chugg’s 18th birthday—she is now, I think 22—was read by a group of actors aged 14-18 at Chris Iley and Simone Avramidis’s wonderful Goodwood Theatres as precursor to further development.
“The 18year old characters were read by real 18-year-olds, the 16-year-olds the same.” While appreciating this early work was flawed, Chugg recognized “something about it, something raw, that young people connected with.”
And this is where the works’ strength lies. No, many of the issues aren’t new. Parties during the mid-70s (my mid-teens) were riddled with various substances, too much alcohol, sexual tension, matters of gender (yes, LGBTQIA+ existed but wasn’t as publicly acknowledged,) relationship dramas and heartache. However, Chugg’s writing is so wonderfully honest that we are afforded great insight into how these things are being dealt with now.
Mary has few friends. Then along comes Malcolm (Noah Montgomery) who Mary met after school, under somewhat fraught conditions suggested and revisited during the narrative by the creation of a tree by the cast. Malcolm is a sensitive, articulate soul adrift in school culture that, let’s face it, remains tough for young men like him. Mary, alone and all too frequently victimized, reaches out, and a friendship develops to the point where Malcolm and a few others are invited to Mary’s 18th. Penelope, Malcolm’s precocious sixteen-year-old sister, invites herself and proves to be something of a catalyst for the party getting out of hand! Not an unreasonable premise! There’s tension between Penny’s new boyfriend Corey (Brandon Calmiano), a sulky sixteen-year-old perhaps “punching above his weight,” and nineteen-year-old Dylan (Dylan Chomel), who, it turns out, has his own issues with the girl he ‘likes,’ Abigail (Eva Wilde). Hockey girls, Bennett (Ash Wood), Kacie (Kate Wooding), fraught with relationship undercurrents, and Jamie (Rachelle Launer) arrive, with the latter immediately “on the same page, in the same book” as the immensely likeable, irrepressible Declan (Jalen Berry).
Kudos to Stevens and Montgomery for their great portrayal of, as playwright Jesse Chugg puts it, “…two characters only shortly acquainted…tether to each other as the world tries to tear them apart.” Similarly, Kameron and Chomel play that forbidden, uncomfortable space between an underage girl and hormone charged young man. Wilde and Chomel are commendably strong in an emotionally charged scene.
Chugg’s script cleverly interweaves strands of comedy into the often dark fabric of the play’s themes: Winnie and Melanie’s account of how an injury was sustained in the mosh is hilarious, while Declan and Jaime’s relationship and Mary’s character arc make for some great comedic moments.
I was impressed by how effectively this largely inexperienced cast filled numerous roles as the party spiralled into that “who are these people?” zone. Great work.
The driving ‘tonally ferocious’ score by self-proclaimed queen of the Adelaide music scene, Will Everest underscored and punctuated the action very effectively and lent itself very well to the ambiance of a party spiralling into that dreaded place where no one is even thinking of the fallout when the parents come home.
No-one is credited with set design which is a shame because the simple use of a couch, bathtub, toilet, and small dining table and chairs, cleverly captures the vibe of house party degenerating into a house-wrecking party. However, occasionally the non-linear narrative structure proved a little cumbersome when it came to set changes.
Josh Manoa’s lighting works well, Oona Stephen’s props serve effectively, and Jules Moylan and Magnus Carpenter’s costume designs work a treat!
Where Mary’s 18th – a play about a party is not slick, it is truthful. Where it lacks a little polish, it is passionately raw. And where, occasionally, actors fall into call and response verbal table tennis—"you say a line, then I say mine”—the writing is crisp enough to make up for it.
If you’re looking for insight into contemporary late teen life, or you’re brave enough to recognise and reconnect with your own teen experience, or you want to enjoy “a brilliant group of energetic performers…debut a piece with casting so true to its source…”, Mary’s 18th – a play about a party is well worth it!
John Doherty
When: 9 to 12 Jul
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: Closed
State Theatre Company of SA co-pro with MTC. Her Majesty’s Theatre. 11 Jul 2025
What an unlikely concept for a rollicking piece of comical song and dance - the story of a girl with a rare genetic ageing disorder and an horrible family.
Kimberly Akimbo is an American creation with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori. It was written in 2021 but it is set in New Jersey in 1999. From 2022, it took Broadway by storm and was immediately smothered in awards.
How lucky are we to ride the antipodean crest of this delectable sweet and salty theatrical confection. Even when it feels sad, it feels good. It is one of those shows in which one simply loses track of time and place and one exists entirely in its own finely-wrought reality.
There is not much to criticise unless one considers the stingy length of its season. It gets just two weeks before heading off to Melbourne whence it is a STC/MTC co-pro.
Its sets and costumes are made in SA and its performers and makers are from both worlds with some seriously good new local talents: Allycia Angeles and Alana Iannace, both from the Elder Conservatorium’s magnificent Music Theatre stable, along with fellow alumni, Darcy Wain who is a really dazzling emerging triple threat.
Wain carries the show in many ways, playing Seth, the gooby goodie teen who befriends Kimberley at her new school. The evolution of their relationship is a symphony of awkward tenderness and Wain plays through those emotions as on a Stradivarius. The audience falls in love with him. It’s a tough call for him, really, insofar as he is playing against a blazing star of the Australian musical theatre in Marina Prior, she, in mid-life, fearlessly and artfully playing a troubled 16-year-old with an accelerated aging condition. She establishes credibility with impeccable body work and the cleverly in-betweener nature of her costume from Ailsa Paterson’s designs. All the costumes reflect sensitively the characters within them with Christie Wheelan-Browne winning laughs in the most over-the-top pregnant belly. She delivers a nice comic presence, too, and a nasty one. It is love-hate until she sings, at which point it is love.
Naturally, this being a musical, the voices are a high point and also the harmonies which the chorus of four school chums—Jacob Rozario with cutie-pie Marty Alix and the girls, Angeles and Iannace—execute to a tee.
Nathan O’Keefe, a trusted and familiar player on the Adelaide stage, comes up trumps with an exhaustingly amusing addled dad song, performed in the car to his daughter and her new friend Seth. It brings the house down, as do some of the big numbers, although ironically, the music in the end of the day is unmemorable.
Unlike those performing it.
Here comes a musicals character into which Casey Donovan can really sink those sparkling teeth and that big, ballsy voice. She plays dodgy Aunt Debra, the ultimate nefarious bad influence maverick of the family. Donovan clearly relishes the role and is quite a treat to watch.
Indeed, so are they all. Director Mitchell Butel has elicited a well-defined sense of personality from each of the chorus players as well as the leads.
He’s been a popular STC artistic director/performer, eminent on many levels, and he leaves us on a high.
Of course, Kimberly is doomed from the start, but she is not going out without living life to the full. Thus, are there sad songs and teen angst along the way. There are myriad messages woven into this very complex plot. And also, roller skating, just for the full American cultural gestalt.
Jonathon Oxlade rarely puts a foot wrong in the set design department and here, with a literally moveable feast of locker rooms, library, bedrooms and even snowstorms, he maintains the excellence.
What with Matt Scott’s perceptive lighting and Amy Campbell’s lively choreography, what more could one wish of a really pro show? Sound, of course. And here, returning to the fore as musical director, comes our beloved Kym Purling. Hence, the creamy orchestration.
The whole of Adelaide’s arts world seemed to be packed into Her Majesty's for the opening night of Kimberley Akimbo. And, through the foyers as they streamed out to the winter’s night could be heard most prominently the words “what fun”.
What fun, indeed.
Samela Harris
When: 11to 19 Jul
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: statetheatrecompany.com.au
Presented in association with Botanic Gardens & State Herbarium. 2 Jul 2025
Winters nights are when we should hibernate in our heated homes with a hearty meal and a Netflix binge, right? Wrong! Night Visions, created and curated especially for Adelaide’s wonderful annual Illuminate Adelaide, is an excellent reason to rug up and walk the paths of our stunning Adelaide Botanic Gardens.
I arrived promptly for the preview on Tuesday July 2nd at 6:50 for a 7:00 start and, greeted by friendly gatekeeping staff, wandered with eager anticipation along the main concourse with the rest of the well spread-out crowd toward the entrance to sheer wonder.
Rounding the corner, I was taken aback by an enormous, bearded face peering down at me with what appeared to be great benevolence. The first of Craig Walsh’s monumental projections anthropomorphizing ancient trees and embodying the spirit of First Nations people, this was an extraordinary introduction to a mesmerizing light show! A series of similarly remarkable renderings, including some featuring the gardens main pond, Kainka Wirra, dating back to 1868, led us along the dark path.
An intriguing tunnel opened into an extravaganza of haze and otherworldly lights and sounds juxtaposed with an elegant Edwardian fountain evoking, for me, an interstellar rave! I was transfixed as sheets of coloured light lit the haze and stood immersed in the experience for about ten minutes!
After a brief stroll I found myself on Murdoch Avenue, that wonderful boulevard of Moreton Bay Figs that has been there forever! Already imbued with mysticism, these ancient trees have been transformed into an even more whimsical, ethereal place, the lights and sound all the more extraordinary with aromas of botanical life all around- it’s easy to lose oneself.
Passing through a tunnel of light, the Schomburgk Pavillion and Café Fibonacci came into view, well placed on the route with donuts, coffee, pizzas, alcoholic beverages, fries with an array of condiments and other delights, a welcome sight on a cold night.
Fuelled by delicious fries with parmesan and chilli oil, I headed for the magnificent Bicentennial Conservatory- arguably the most breathtaking installation of all. I simply had to keep stopping to take it all in and couldn’t understand the rush of some to get through! The moments in the Conservatory must be savoured! My senses utterly satiated, I wandered out and found myself observing an extraordinary phenomenon like a primeval sunrise accompanied by music that could have been a soundtrack for entering Valhalla!
Unfortunately, a young guy with an American accent couldn’t seem to resist commenting loudly and cynically about every change of state. Resisting the urge to “clock him one” as my dear departed granddad would have said, I shifted vantage points to take it all in- a real treat toward the end of the journey.
Kudos to Night Visions Creative Directors Rachael Azzopardi & Lee Cumberlidge, Associate Creative Director Chris Petridis, the extraordinarily talented artists Robin Fox, Craig Walsh, Amelia Kosminsky, Jayden Sutherland and Elisha Umuhuri who created this immersive light and soundscape. Jethro Woodward, Composer & Sound Designer, you are a superstar!
A treat for the senses, Night Visions is an enchanting, immersive experience for everyone! However, given the cost-of-living crisis, $45.00 per ticket and $14.00 for fries is likely to preclude many young families attending, a great shame as everyone should have access to this magical experience! Perhaps the State Government could pitch in! Getting to Adelaide Oval on regular Adelaide Metro and Footy Express bus, train and tram services are FREE throughout the 2025 footy season. Surely entrance to Night Visions could be subsidized in a similar way!
Night Visions Go, see it!
John Doherty
When: 2 to 20 Jul
Where: Adelaide Botanic Gardens
Bookings: illuminateadelaide.com
Cabaret Festival. Dunstan Playhouse. 21 Jul 2025
I love seeing young people confidently performing in the spotlight, owning the stage as if they've been doing it since they were born. Yet, as I left the Dunstan Playhouse filled with joy, I also felt frustrated and angry.
Class of Cabaret 2025, presented by the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and centrED at Adelaide Festival Centre, was a spectacular showcase of talent, colour, story, and soul. Eight of the sixteen young performers from this year’s cohort took to the stage in the 5pm show I attended—if even one of them doesn’t become a household name, then we as a state have failed them. Spectacularly.
Each student wrote and performed their own material (let’s just sit with that for a moment—wrote and performed—mentored by cabaret dynamos Millicent Sarre and Mark Oates, musically directed by Ciara Ferguson, and steered capably by director Brock Roberts and vocal coach Rosie Hosking.
After a rousing opening with Proud, by Heather Small (arrangement by MD Ciara Ferguson), “Seb” took us on a rollicking, hilarious excursion into the Australian Italian reverence for food that included a cannoli-flavoured rewrite of Proud Mary that made me laugh and followed it with My Way, sang his way—bold, cheeky, and wonderfully sincere.
Then there was Charlotte’s sharing of her existential crisis of having her birthday land on Christmas Day—a delicate, bittersweet slice of cabaret wrapped in tinsel and delivered with poise.
Angel’s sass-meets-soul treatise on parental boundaries, complete with original lyrics and a soaring presence injected a distinctly youthfully rebellious tone with a significant afternote: yes, she loves you—but she needs space. And possibly a national tour.
Dynamic Canadian Australian, Jack arrived with a big bang and his superb take on his “own myopic metaphysical view” of the world, nihilism, Trump and everything! Proclaiming himself “an absurdist” because he “forges his meaning from nonsense” he belted through Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life with infectious fervour. And he was funny! Very, very funny!
The set up for Gracie’s “autobiographical account of growing up with a sole father parent from age 9” began with examining a book entitled “Girlhood 101,” citing everything from body image, diet, menstruation and friendships as predictable speedhumps—that her bald forty-year-old English father would need to deal with! Her account of bra shopping with Dad was hilarious! Gracie’s dénouement defining family was deeply moving. My, what a voice!
The room’s temperature shifted with Ceridwen’s deeply personal, poetic climate crisis anthem, a call to action beyond the rhetoric by a very powerful presence on stage. Ceridwen’s generation has heard enough from Boomers and Gen Xers. Message received!
Ethan then gave us a slow, honest unpacking of masculinity through his own lived lens. This young person found a safe space, as so many kids do, in theatre and, in describing his experience, questions societal values around narrow notions of masculinity. Ethan’s stunning, honest rendition of Cyndy Lauper’s True Colours brought the audience and his fellow performers to tears.
Just when we thought we’d never laugh again, Ella arrived! This young performer oozes presence and pizzazz, qualities rare to find in one so young. Yet Ella’s clever scripting of her experience of learning to drive, complete with a hilarious account of negotiating the infamous Brittania roundabout, became a clever and effective metaphor for her tendency to overthink, revealing vulnerability not far below her confidence and sass. Ella’s rendition of I Will Survive was goosebump-inducing to say the least. This kid can sing!
As I mentioned, the show opened with Heather Small’s Proud and closed with the student-written anthem Euphoria.” I defy anyone to sit through these two numbers and not feel something stir in their chest.
Now. To pivot. Here’s the kicker—and where I swap my theatre glasses for my cranky taxpayer hat. These kids—these electrifying, stage ready, self-aware young performers—will likely have to leave South Australia to find work in their chosen field. Why? Because for all the shiny brochures branding us the “Festival State,” we remain a part-time patron of the arts.
Minister for the Arts Andrea Michaels recently announced $80 million for the Arts over ten years. $8 million a year across the whole sector. I’m all for a good footy match, basketball game, or car race but when even the Minister herself acknowledges the arts contribute over $1.8 billion annually to our economy, you’ve got to ask, where’s the logic?
Talent is here. Passion is here. Stories are ready to be told. The career pathways? Long-term investment? Still coming soon... maybe.
Class of Cabaret continues to be one of the most vital, exhilarating, heartwarming events on our arts calendar. And I’ll be there, in the foyer cheering but wondering why the kids have to go to Melbourne or London to become who they already are.
Bravo, Class of Cabaret 2025. You are the reason we keep the lights on.
John Doherty
When: Closed
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: Closed
Solus Productions. Holden Street Theatres. 26 Jun 2025
It is a one-hander which has been performed by some of the country’s most celebrated actors - a play which has been seen as “a poignant and poetic satire”.
It is clearly a tough challenge, here undertaken by two of the state’s most cerebral thespians, Marc Clement under Tony Knight’s direction.
They present it as a salute to the late Australian playwright Jack Hibberd, he of the classic play Dimboola. Hibberd was deemed a great progressive of the late 70s and a writer who elevated the larrikin spirit of Australians.
Here he is depicting an old rogue called Monk O’Neill who has retreated to a comfy humpy in the donga where he is gasping his last in a realm of memories and fantasies. Think Joyce with a nod to Beckett.
The play is Monk's stream of consciousness expressed in a torrent of definitively Australian vernacular.
He’s not a nice old man. He is repugnant.
As depicted by Clement, he is so husky as to be at times unintelligible.
He is horny, arrogant and noisily breathless.
It is an exhausting-to-watch performance of coughing towards the grave. He has a lot to say on the way, a lifetime of urges and grudges and reflections on a better life and personal brutality.
Once he was cultured and urbane. Fine dining belongs in his past. But now he is a vegetarian sucking on home-grown tomatoes. His dentures drool at the thought of good food, he says. You can't extract sunshine from a cucumber, he postulates. There is wit and lyricism as well as vulgarity in his rapid-fire ponderings.
His pointless days are defined by the ironic demands of the alarm clock plus moods of the sun. And, comically, the perversity of prostate peeing. He is very open about his bodily functions, but the pee scenes bring the much-needed relief - of laughter.
For this critic, who is ancient enough to have known two actual Australian recluses, the depicted psychopathology of Monk O’Neill rings true to type. Indeed, Hibberd was a medic as well as a playwright. Displaced and dying lost souls were not so rare.
But whether this work is still one to celebrate, one is unsure. Marc Clements is an actor of expert nuance, a master of emotional subtlety, and one feels this epic grotesquerie is not meant for him, however much the role may have been championed by leading actors of the past. He’s good. His athleticism is good, his droll vignettes at the shack window are amusing, his depiction of loathsome heartlessness truly makes one turn away… but the hoarseness of his gasping verbosity is an exhausting soundscape in itself.
One gives eleven out of ten to Knight for always keeping the respectful candle burning on the serious side of theatre culture and, indeed, this work has been performed all over the world, including in translation. One concludes that, of yore, such sick old recluses were international everymen of sorts.
It is to be noted that there is an extensive glossary of translated Ockerisms with the program for this production which claims to have been “updated". And one moots that its old misogyny and disjointed desperations have enough threads of dramatic influence to fill a thesis making it thus good grist for students.
One notes also that the set of corrugated iron, rocks, flags, blown leaves and dead gardens is a piece de resistance of design. It is a rich and busy eyeful. And, the atmospheric overtones of mortality’s day and night are expertly wrought by Richard Parkhill’s perceptive lighting. There are fine production values all round. And, blessedly, the theatre is not cold so the audience has physical comfort in the arms of this rather discomforting piece of period Australiana.
Samela Harris
When: 26 Jun to 8 Jul
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com.au