Critics' choice theatre shows in Melbourne

Bernie Dieter and her band of legendary misfits are descending upon Melbourne once again, to deliver a whole month of debaucherous fun and frivolity. Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett, starring the legendary queen of Weimar punk described as an "electrifying cross between Lady Gaga, Marlene Dietrich and Frank-N-Futer in sequins", will take over North Melbourne's historic Meat Market from April 3 to May 11. Audiences can expect riotous original songs, immense vocal talent and a jaw-dropping line-up of contortionists, sword swallowers, fire breathers and aerialists. For more info and to secure your tickets, head to the website. Read on for our five-star review of Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett from the 2022 Melbourne Fringe Festival. *** It’s easy to see why Dieter’s award-winning show has garnered such esteem since touching down in Australia earlier this year. Less than two minutes in and our M.C., Bernie has thrown off her tartan dress to reveal glittery tights and feather-tipped shoulder pads. Soon after, she’s straddling an audience member and enlisting the help of two others – lovingly named ‘Shaven Haven’ and ‘Silver Fox’ – to carry her back to the stage in the splits. The fourth wall is not so much brought down, as elegantly side-stepped by her sky-high stiletto heel. All the while, Bernie’s quick-wit and dirty mouth find comedic beats in the unlikeliest – or, as it were, the most unwilling – of audience members. "Tonight is about letting loose, letting go, and getting a...

We on the affirmative team contend that taking a high school debating tournament, making feminism the topic of discussion and turning it all into a play is a recipe for a fascinating night of theatre.  This will be the fourth year in a row that Trophy Boys has played to local audiences, following sold-out seasons at La Mama in 2022, fortyfivedownstairs in 2023 and Arts Centre Melbourne in 2024. This time around, the dark drag extravaganza is playing once again at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Fairfax Studio from August 12-24. Tickets range from $30-60 and you can get yours here. Read on for Time Out Sydney's five-star take on the 2024 Sydney run of Trophy Boys. *** If you had asked me what I thought the next canonical Australian text would be before I watched Trophy Boys, I certainly wouldn’t have pegged a play that features a sign boldly emblazoned with the words “Feminism has failed women” set against a backdrop of portraits of “powerful women leaders”. (Jacinda Ardern, Rosa Parks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Malala Youzafi and Grace Tame are accounted for, to name a few.) And yet, with this hilariously profound production, Trophy Boys proves that a provocative and unexpected approach can pay off handsomely.  We are introduced to a gang of four private school boys from the fictional Saint Imperium College as they strut into a classroom with the kind of boisterous raucousness that can only come from teenage boys. However, these aren’t your average young men – this queer black comedy...