Sarah Corridon

Bernhardt/Hamlet tells the story of revered actor Sarah Bernhardt, who made history in 1899 when she became the first woman to play Hamlet on stage. In Melbourne Theatre Company’s current production, Sarah Bernhardt is embodied by Helpmann Award-winning actor, Kate Mulvany, who knows a thing or two about tackling Shakespeare’s biggest parts – in 2017 she played Richard III to numerous standing ovations. Undoubtedly, Melbourne Theatre Company’s new artistic director, Anne-Louise Sarks,has endured similar pressures to Bernhardt throughout her career; the kind where menquestion a woman’s ability to do the exact same task as their male counterparts. US playwright Theresa Rebeck’s 2018 play tackles this thinking and champions a woman who refuses to be hemmed in by the stale conventions of her time. Perhaps that’s why Sarks chose this backstage comedy as her big debut as artistic director. She’s taken a big swing here – on a play that requires an in-depth knowledge of theatre history to fully comprehend – and landed on a harmless, often joyous, but ultimately underwhelming night at the theatre. The first act is slow, grinding through rehearsal scenes of the play within a play. It’s a tried and tested trope, which theatre-makers seem to adore. Who wouldn’t like to peer backstage and eavesdrop on those rehearsal room conversations? Kate Mulvany rises to Bernhardt’s dizzying heights as the era’s most famous actress and breathes oxygen into some otherwise weary scenes. Diehard fans of

Come From Away premiered to a packed Comedy Theatre on opening night. The little Canadian musical with a big heart has crossed multiple continents since its debut in 2013, and now it's back for a second run in Melbourne. The premise of Come From Away centres around human kindness in the wake of disaster. The general synopsis is based on the true events of September 11, 2001, when 38 planes, carrying approximately 7,000 “plane people” were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland and the local population sprang into action to accommodate their guests. It’s a slightly unusual footing for a musical – about ordinary people living in a distant, rocky outpost in the easternmost province of Canada on the day the rest of the world came to town. Perhaps the show’s greatest strength is its cast of ordinary people, as opposed to the shiny-bodied show people we are accustomed to seeing on stage. In fact, Come From Away showcases the kind of genuine diversity you might encounter on a busy city bus. People from all walks, talks and ages; each with a unique story to tell. There’s no shortage of talent in this production. If I were seeing it somewhere in North American in the immediate years proceeding 9/11, I’m sure I would have been blown away. The events of September 11, 2001 changed our world, undeniably. However, our incessant obsession with rehashing this catastrophic event – and other American phenomena – needs to be questioned in contemporary Australia in 2022. Have there not been other trag

Bushfires are embedded in our collective Australian psyche. We remember the day Melbourne’s sky turned sepia (and then a dirty Yarra-river brown) in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires. We remember the smell of acrid air, filled with smog and ash as fires burned through rural and regional Victoria. Some of us remember Ash Wednesday, or at least, we think we remember it. We hold onto these narratives in metropolitan Melbourne like they somehow belong to us. As if – by mere proximity to the cascading tragedy – we own a share of the pain.  Fiona Spitzkowsky's play The View from Up Here reminds us city folk that we understand very little about bushfire. It puts the reality of this increasing phenomenon centre stage and deftly explains how – unless you've sifted through the rubble of your incarcerated home or sheltered in a shallow pool of water waiting for the front of a firestorm to pass – you’ll never grasp the extent of this tragedy. There are some beautiful moments in Spitzkowsky's script that gnaw at your insides in the show’s many pregnant pauses.  Director Julian Dibley-Hall concentrates his efforts on the environment beyond the set and does an excellent job at summoning the audience into this world. Eva (played with steely confidence by Chanella Macri) is always on her way (off-stage) to the creek. The neighbours, now gone, are just over the hill. The animals that survived the fire skirt the perimeter of the burnt property, tangling their pelts in the mangled barb-wi