Two new works presented as a double feature provide somewhat of a highlight in the current Sydney Fringe Festival.
From the end of her first song, summoning the spirit of Holiday, spotlit and with exquisite poise, dramatic pause and phenomenal phrasing, there was a palpable feeling of the audience restraining a desire to leap to their feet in rapturous applause.
Initially the orchestra sounded great, if reserved, but fired and stoked the feels as the evening progressed and both parties fused.
LaPaglia is simply outstanding as a salesman bartering down his own price. Believable, present, committed – every indignity is expertly handled, never demonstrated but achingly and authentically realised.
The staging is spectacular, and this production has somehow managed to add additional layers of texture and style into the design that refreshes the experience.
Noises Off is well written, and one of the most well-known, and surely one of the most testing of all farces, and this cast and crew, under this director, nails it!
The Dismissal charts the full-of-hope, robust rise and rise of the Gough Whitlam led Labor Government from 1972, to its rambunctious demise on November 11, 1975.