Last Monday, we took our girls and their cousins Anisha and Cara to see the Bell Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Sydney Opera House. What a treat!
The Opera House not only lives up to but exceeds the hype. This is one spectacular, brilliantly designed building, both inside and out. You can actually order your intermission drink online before the show, and it'll be waiting for you at the break.
The company gave the play a good Aussie spin--they added a frame narrative in which sister and brother firefighters are separated and presumed dead fighting a terrible bushfire. The sister, we see, has escaped and fellow survivors put on Twelfth Night to distract her from her brother's death. We won't tell you how it ends, but the play itself includes a riot of Australian references: jokes about the new Prime Minister and her hair-dresser partner, Aussie Redback Beer, Ned Kelly, a rendition of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" (great Aus rock anthem), and wonderful broad accents. This was all done with a 7-person cast, one female actor only. Very clever, extremely difficult, well-executed.
We're looking forward to seeing their King Lear in the autumn.
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