Students in Create Performance have been taking advantage of all the great live Theatre performances that have been released on the internet during Covid19. As part of their learning, students have been watching performances and writing performance critiques so you at home can be inspired to watch these plays. Here are a selection of reviews from 8G and 7B:

Eve Dartnell’s review of The Globe Theatre’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’

“A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, / Whose misadventured piteous overthrows / Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.” The Globe Theatre put on a production which follows the story of two people from opposing worlds whose love and affection is destined to end in tragedy. The critically acclaimed play written by William Shakespeare in the early 16th century captures all aspects theatre lovers enjoy tragedy, violence, loyalty, individuals versus society and of course love. The play sends a powerful message on the extent people will go to follow these emotions, which leaves an everlasting impact on peoples view of the play.

The script is spoken in its original Elizabethan English. The cast executes the cues fairly well using facial gestures to help the audience understand more difficult lines. The script incorporates comedic humour which the actors effortlessly portray. The humour anecdotes help attract the audience attention while giving it a modern feel.

The iconic balcony is set in the back with large red marble pillars and a brown floor backdrop, which gives it a sense of the 16th century. The costumes, makeup and hair have a traditional style which allows correct mobility which works with the actor's different personality.

In conclusion, the play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, by The Globe Theatre incorporated multiple 16th-century styles. The sets format made the play run smoothly, and the actors performed all lines correctly which demonstrated the personalities of the different characters. I rate this performance a 4/5 and recommend it for theatre and Shakespeare fans.

Stuart Pagel’s review of ‘Shrek the Musical’ on Broadway

‘Shrek the Musical’ is based off the 1990 book by William Steig. In 2001, Dreamworks Animation made a movie based off the book called Shrek and three more movies to come in total bring in a gross of $3 billion USD. The movie franchise has had great success all that is left to do is to make a musical. In 2008 David Lindsay-Abaire had finished writing the script for the play and all that was left to do was to practise and perform the act that would get millions of people interested.

The musical went for 2 hours and went through Shrek's life and the pain he had to deal with living close to Lord Farquaad and the struggles of living alone. Throughout the play, many different fairy tale characters were introduced to us including, the 3 Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf and many more.

I thought they used the costumes and lighting very well as the costume must have been hard to move in and portrayed the characters very well. The set-up of the stage was the best as having lots of different scenes must have been very hard to pull off but it was done. One thing you have in a stinky swamp and next you are outside of the tower surrounded by fire. I find it amazing how they can pull that off so well.

My favourite character was Donkey as we was just a sassy as I could remember. His character from the original movie was a very hard one to pull off but the actor for him pulled it off and to the next level. Also another amazing actor was the actor for Fiona. She was always changing moods and mindsets for the different people and sets which is a very difficult tasks to pull off.

For ‘Shrek the Musical’ I give it 5 star rating and a must see for everybody.

Arri Thompson’s review of ‘Meeting Mozart’ at Sydney Opera House

I loved this performance, I rate this performance a 5/5! I would definitely watch this again. The actors were really interesting and I loved how they talked, they fit the characters very well and if I imagine the character from the performance I would think of them exactly like the actors.

The storyline was a bit different because the performance is made for 2-8 years old, what I think they are doing is just entertaining the kids and educating them about Mozart’s music. The show isn’t only entertaining for kids it is also entertaining for adults.

The use of the stage was good, even though there weren’t any props, it was still interesting. It was really good how they interacted with audience and the lights made it a little bit more interesting.

I loved how the actor for Mozart, Simon Tedeschi, and how he played the piano, it was one of my favourite parts, it matches perfectly with the other musicians who were playing the other instruments.

The actor and comedian Emily Taylor who played Constanza (Mozart’s wife) was excellent, I really like how she used a German accent and just moved around the stage, her singing was also really impressive.

I definitely recommend ‘Meeting Mozart’ for families.

Hudson Gosling’s review of National Theatre’s ‘Treasure Island’

I actually quite liked this play. I watched it because I read the book a long time ago and wanted to see what the play adaptation would look like. I think one of the best parts about the play was the lighting and the props. The lighting with the flashes when the soliloquys were perfect and out of those scenes the best was definitely in the fight scene on the deck when everyone suddenly froze and the girl told her thoughts on the scene. The humour in the play was, in my standards, very good and I found myself laughing at some of them (and I never laugh at movies or plays). The acting was good and conveyed a lot of emotion to the audience. My favourite character was Ben Gunn because he was the craziest person there (which is a good thing). I think that the stage design was amazing especially on the ship where they had the doll house configuration, but also the rigging which actually functioned and in one scene the girl did climb it. All in all I think this was a very good play and I recommend you watching it.

Archer Bradley’s review of ‘Shrek the Musical on Broadway

‘Shrek the Musical’ is based off the 2001 DreamWorks film ‘Shrek’, and is about an Ogre on a quest to get his swamp back to himself. He is assigned a task to rescue a princess from her castle for the Lord of Duloc, Lord Farquaad. The musical follows the same story as the film, however, with a longer run time than the film, so it is able to go in to scenes with more detail, most notably Shrek’s back story at the start of the musical. The story of Shrek takes a unique twist on the original knight in shining armour story by changing the brave and handsome knight with an Ogre. In some ways the musical gives off a message about beauty and how it’s not always about how you look on the outside but how you are on the inside. As Shrek said, “Ogres are like onions, they both have layers” and slowly throughout the musical, those layers are broken down to find a kind, warm-hearted Ogre. Throughout the musical, the funny and light-hearted moments still make you laugh and the sad and heart-touching scenes make you feel the emotions the characters are feeling. These feelings and emotions are well reflected through the songs that are sung during the show. ‘Shrek the Musical’ is a great show that still keeps true to story from the film, however introduces new music and singing into the mix, making it a great, entertaining show to watch with the family, and one that speaks to the real world problem of judging people by how they look, something that we still deal with today. 4.5/5

Beaumaris Secondary College

Belong. Believe. Become

Issue 7 · 18 May 2020

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