The best of thespellofwakinghours (2010 – 2016)

Over the past seven years, I’ve had the pleasure and fortune to see over three-hundred-and-twenty productions in Sydney and interstate, across various mainstage, independent, and underground venues, by a variety of artists and companies with diverse resources, and the results contained within this blog speak for themselves.

As I write this, the future of this blog is uncertain – new adventures await, and I am putting it on hold until I can figure out the best way to continue it in the future. It will stay here as a record and a resource for theatre-makers and theatre-lovers alike.

Thank you to all the artists – mainstage and independent alike – who have invited me to your shows, who have taken the time out to share your thoughts and knowledge, and who have got in touch for one reason or another.

Sometimes you see a show that sticks with you for whatever reason hours, days, weeks, months – even years – later, and it is in honour of these shows that I have compiled the following list, celebrating the rich and wonderful hours of adventures I’ve spent in theatres over the past seven years. So, in a roughly chronological order, here are the brain-wormy experiences that comprise the spell of waking hours.

Best in Show

Twelfth Night – Bell Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Opera Australia

Rocket Boy – Dramac

As You Like It – Belvoir

Faustus – Bell Shakespeare

Julius Caesar – Bell Shakespeare

Food – Belvoir

Babyteeth – Belvoir

Peter Pan – Belvoir

The Bull, The Moon and the Coronet of Stars – Griffin

The Seagull – STCSA, Adelaide Festival

Henry V – Bell Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s Reservoir Dogs – Russall S. Beattie at The Vanguard

Children of the Sun – Sydney Theatre Company

Ukchuk-ga: Pansori Mother Courage – Sydney Festival

The Tempest – Bell Shakespeare

What Rhymes with Cars and Girls – MTC

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe

Golem – 1927, presented by STC

The Golden Age – STC

Fase, four movements to the music of Steve Reich – Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Sydney Festival

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Theatre for A New Audience

Honourable Mention

The Animals and Children Took To The Streets – 1927, Sydney Opera House

Candide – Opera Australia/Sydney Festival

The Duchess of Malfi – Bell Shakespeare

Angels in America – Belvoir

Summertime in the Garden of Eden – Sisters Grimm & Griffin Independent

Switzerland – Sydney Theatre Company

Jump for Jordan – Griffin Theatre Company

A Streetcar Named Desire – Young Vic (NTLive)

Manic Pixie Dream World – SUDS

Man of La Mancha – Squabbalogic

A View from the Bridge – Young Vic (NT Live)

Orlando – Sydney Theatre Company

Thomas Murray and the Upside Down River – Stone Soup & Griffin Independent

Disgraced; The Hanging – STC

Inner Voices – Don’t Look Away

The Literati – Bell Shakespeare & Griffin Theatre Company

Babes in the Woods – Don’t Look Away

Best New (Australian) Plays

Rocket Boy, Kendall Feaver

Food, Steve Rodgers

Babyteeth, Rita Kalnejais

The Bull, The Moon and the Coronet of Stars, Van Badham

Vere (Faith), John Doyle

Jump for Jordan, Donna Abela

Procne & Tereus, Saro Lusty-Cavallari

What Rhymes with Cars and Girls, Aidan Fennessy

Manic Pixie Dream World, Tansy Gardam

Skylab, Melodie Reynolds-Diarra (National Play Festival)

Thomas Murray and the Upside Down River, Reg Cribb

The Turquoise Elephant, Stephen Carleton

Picnic at Hanging Rock, Tom Wright, after Joan Lindsay

Dishonourable Mentions

The Seagull – Belvoir

Every Breath – Belvoir

Hedda Gabler – Belvoir

Tabac Rouge – Sydney Festival

She Only Barks at Night – Living Room Theatre

Jumpy – STC/MTC

Mother Courage and Her Children – Belvoir

The Blind Giant is Dancing – Belvoir

The Great Fire – Belvoir

Twelfth Night – Belvoir

Power Plays – STC

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – STC

Shakesproud

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Opera Australia, dir. Baz Luhrmann

Faustus – Bell Shakespeare, dir. Michael Gow

As You Like It – Belvoir, dir. Eamon Flack

Julius Caesar – Bell Shakespeare, dir. Peter Evans

Henry 4 – Bell Shakespeare, dir. John Bell and Damien Ryan

Henry V – Bell Shakespeare, dir. Damien Ryan

William Shakespeare’s Reservoir Dogs – The Vanguard, dir. Steven Hopley

All’s Well That Ends Well – Sport for Jove, dir. Damien Ryan

The Tempest – Bell Shakespeare, dir. John Bell

Hamlet – Montague Basement, dir. Saro Lusty-Cavallari

Love’s Labour’s Lost – Sport for Jove, dir. Damien Ryan

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Theatre for a New Audience (filmed), dir. Julie Taymor

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe (live web-stream), dir. Emma Rice

Antony & Cleopatra – Sport for Jove, dir. Damien Ryan

Other

Sarah Blasko – As Day Follows Night tour

They Will Have Their Way: The Songs of Tim & Neil Finn

Symphony in The Domain: Midsummer Shakespeare

Sarah Blasko – I Awake – Live at Sydney Opera House

Compassion: Songs with Orchestra – Lior & Nigel Westlake

Nils Frahm, Sydney Opera House (The Studio)

Sarah Blasko – Eternal Return (GRAPHIC Festival, 2015)