From a year of big musicals, several Shakespeares, a respectable collection of straight plays, some great sets such as the ones for Bell Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Street Theatre's The Chain Bridge and Canberra Repertory's The Crucible – and the appearance of a "pop-up" theatre in Civic Square where one night Sophocles warred with Christmas carols – here are some of 2015's most memorable shows.
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1. Of Mice and Men
Directed by Iain Sinclair for Sydney company Sport for Jove, this was a darkly magical reading of John Steinbeck's story. The precarious nature of Lennie and George's journey was shown unsentimentally as the play unwound among the lives of Depression-era farm workers. The inevitable tragedy was firmly in place. Actors Andrew Henry (Lennie) and Anthony Gooley (George) caught both the beauty and the dangers of the central relationship and a strong cast supported them utterly. The barn spaces where the workers live, eat and sleep were created by set designer Michael Hankins and lighting designer Sian James-Holland with a deep texture of lighting and surface and a heartbreaking golden glow. The care taken by director Sinclair with the unfolding of the characters and the general ensemble was meticulous and moving.
2. Black Diggers
Tom Wright's play tells the stories of Indigenous men who served in World War I despite the Australian government's inability to properly recognise them or officially allow anyone Indigenous to enlist. But clearly some did, often getting around officialdom with persistence and a larrikin disdain for rules. A large cast played out the patterns of enlistment, the reality of the war and the difficulties for those who returned. The setting and performers were sometimes deceptively casual but the theme of racism was bitingly explored. Wesley Enoch directed for the Queensland Theatre Company, bringing out the importance of the stories for post-1788 history with a mix of humour, ironies and important truths.
3. Betrayal
Harold Pinter's Betrayal was given a penetrating dust-up by the State Theatre Company of South Australia with Geordie Brookman directing. This is one of Pinter's excursions into the lives and loves and liaisons of the English middle class. The story of an affair was given a repressed and desperate tone by a tight ensemble of players. It gained a disturbing edge from Geoff Cobham's ominous set where the changes were masked by an enclosing costume rack and a thunderous rumbling sound effect. It was a darkly funny production of a script where the story is told in reverse chronological order, broken up by Pinter's famous penchant for pauses. None of which the flu sufferers in a Canberra winter on opening night dared disturb, so well were those pauses sustained.
4. Mary Poppins
You'd be wrong if you expected Mary Poppins to be all spoonfuls of sugar. Free Rain's production under Stephen Colyer's brisk direction and with Ian McLean as musical director gave the show the required magic and the Canberra Theatre staff made sure Mary became airborne. Mary (Alinta Chidzey) was a magical governess who stood no nonsense and her relationship with chimney sweeper Bert (Shaun Rennie) was full of humour and an unsentimental mutual respect. Magical moments like Bert's introduction to the show and Bronwyn Sullivan's mysterious Bird Woman were given power and mystery while the big production numbers had all the necessary get up and go. Perfect theatre fare for children and their minders.
5. Company
Steven Sondheim shows are always a challenge but Everyman Theatre director Jordan Best and a sterling cast were up for the difficulties of this bittersweet examination of love and relationships in modern New York. Love in musicals is generally love resolved and happy ever after but this musical homes in on the doubts as Bobby (Jarrad West) faces his 35th birthday without a partner. Michael Sparks' minimalist set was dominated by window and picture frames that were used for the occasional frozen snapshot of apparent happiness. Best's taut production effectively rolled out the truths about Bobby and his friends. From panicking Amy (Laura Dawson) suddenly marriage-phobic on her wedding day to the sardonic ironies of Joanne (Karen Vickery), married but bored like the rich women in her key song The Ladies Who Lunch, this piece kept up a sharp pace and made it clear why Bobby might fear commitment. The show was stolen, however, by Will Huang and director Best as the couple whose marriage is expressed in slow karate moves and whose performances in this scene echoed not only the domestic cartoons of James Thurber but also the measured insanity of the Marx Brothers.
