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.
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.
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.
There really isn’t a moment when we believe there is going to be a happy ending, but the incredible music keeps us sitting in the carriage as we careen perilously towards the inevitable train wreck of an ending.