Shrek the Musical JR Presented by: Stage School Australia Book and Lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire Music: Jeanine Tesori Date Attended: 1 October 2026 Director: Georgia New Musical Director: Lucy Ross Choreographers: Grayson McBurney and Caity Bond Assistant Musical Director: Lauren Bull Costume Supervisor: Morgan McAleer Sound Operator: Derek Wilson Lighting Operator: Sev Harman Photography: By B'rit Creative "Do you know the muffin man...?" I have now seen Shrek the Musical enough times that I should probably be paying council rates in Duloc. Thankfully, Stage School Australia’s Shrek the Musical JR gives me a new cast of young performers to cheer for, wrapped up in a fast, colourful school holiday production. This is Stage School Australia’s third full-scale Brisbane production (and the third I’ve seen). Directed by Georgia New, the show flies by! It packs a lot of story, music, costumes, and fairytale creatures into its shortened junior runtime. Although I do quietly mourn a few of my favourite songs that have been sacrificed along the way… Harrison Slater plays a sweeter, gentler Shrek than many I’ve seen. I also love the decision to use green face paint rather than covering him with a heavy mask, leaving Harrison’s expressions visible throughout. His enunciation is excellent, and I applaud his attempt at the Scottish accent. Shrek doesn’t actually get a huge amount of solo singing in the junior version, but Harrison opens strongly with “Big Bright Beautiful World”. Also, shoutout for spending the better part of a week painted green. Theatre is so glamorous! Neil Marco II Aballe is an adorable Donkey, tackling one of the wordiest roles in the show and the sheer quantity of memorised dialogue valiantly. His enunciation stays strong through all that chatter, too. “Travel Song” captures the pair’s growing friendship (and the experience of being trapped on a road trip with someone who will not stop talking), while “Make a Move” lets Neil lead the company with full gospel-choir enthusiasm. The duet between Shrek and Fiona, “I Think I Got You Beat”, remains a thing of beauty (romance via competitive childhood trauma and bodily noises). What a courtship ritual! Esperanza Falconi has fun with Fiona’s two settings: pristine storybook princess and ball of aggression. One moment she’s all poised smile and perfect princess manners, and the next she’s ditched the whole facade because Fiona’s impatience or competitive streak has won. Essie carries that same split into her singing. “Morning Person” sits in a pretty, bright head voice, while the unhinged bridge of “I Know It’s Today” (“the waiting, the waiting…!”) lets her unleash a crazed belt. Across both, she has such a strong, assured musical theatre voice, and I really hope this is a path she keeps pursuing. Alongside Indiana Osborne and Chelsea Carman as Young and Teen Fiona, the three voices blend beautifully once the harmonies start stacking together in “I Know It’s Today”. Lucie Roy gets another of the production’s biggest vocal moments as Dragon in “Forever” amid enormous castle gates, glittering knights, and huge dragon wings. Excellent. More is more. I’d love to see gloves added to complete Roy’s Dragon costume and disguise the mechanics of manoeuvring the wings a little more, but the overall effect is suitably grand. Duloc is colourful and mildly terrifying, populated by cloned children maintaining the strained smiles (mostly) through “Welcome to Duloc”. The synchronised choreography is wonderfully rigid and cheerful. A few of the kids occasionally dissociate instead of grinning, which I assume is what happens after several days of rehearsals, performances, and being ordered to smile like a tiny citizen of a fascist theme park. Oskar Stam’s entire Lord Farquaad situation deserves appreciation, from the costume and physical comedy to the small matter of spending virtually the entire week performing on his knees. My knees hurt simply thinking about it! The costumes have plenty to look at, from the detailing on Fiona’s dress and wig to the endless parade of fairytale creature looks. “Story of My Life”, led by Eliza Cullerton as Pinocchio, gives those characters their first chance to spill across the stage together, each with their own personality. Eliza later transforms into the Pied Piper and leads a troupe of tap-dancing rats! “Freak Flag” brings the whole collection of oddballs together. Shoutout to Mina Brailov as Mama Bear and Gracie Ollerenshaw as the Wicked Witch in their lovely featured vocal moments. With such a large company, performers are continually rotated through the musical numbers rather than disappearing into the background for half the show. Grayson McBurney and Caity Bond’s choreography helps with that too, keeping the ensemble busy rather than letting every number dissolve into the same lines and formations. The spoken comedy doesn’t always receive the laughs it’s reaching for, and the accents occasionally take an international holiday between Scotland, America, and Australia. The leads’ clear dialogue helps enormously, particularly given how quickly this version races along and how little time the cast has to learn it. One detail I particularly enjoy is that the experience doesn’t begin and end with the curtain. Characters mingle with audiences before and after the show, with plenty of photo opportunities for kids. School holiday productions like this give young performers a concentrated taste of putting on a full musical: learning choreography, managing costume changes, developing characters, singing as an ensemble, and facing a live audience after an intense rehearsal period. And after all that, everyone still has enough left in the tank for an encore of “I’m a Believer!" Stage School Australia’s Shrek the Musical JR is bright, busy, and fuelled by a young company throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the swamp.

The Addams Family Young@Part Presented by: Second Star Youth Theatre Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice Music and Lyrics: Andrew Lippa Based on characters created by: Charles Addams Director and Musical Director: Lauren McNamara Choreographer: Isabella Maric Date attended: 3 October 2026 “That’s a good distance for romance.” Uncle Fester is talking about the moon. Naturally. The Addams Family Young@Part is packed with gloriously odd lines, and Second Star Youth Theatre’s young cast has a good feel for the comedy. A pause here, a look there, one perfectly dry response, and suddenly I’m cackling at children discussing torture, marriage, death, and the unbearable humiliation of having parents. That last one is what the story comes down to. Wednesday Addams has fallen in love with a normal boy and would very much like her family to behave themselves when his parents visit for dinner. Her parents proceed to do what parents do best: embarrass their child spectacularly. Led by director Lauren McNamara, this show's premise is particularly well suited to this age group - where the horror of your family being weird in front of someone you like probably rivals anything the Addamses keep in the basement! Sacha Fleming as Gomez Addams gets plenty of laughs with his accent, drawn-on moustache, and melodramatic delivery. He knows how to find the always find the joke without forcing it. “When You’re an Addams” quickly introduces both the family and the considerable talent spread through the company. Chloe Colesman as Morticia has suitably formidable presence, although perhaps her greatest threat is a high kick performed in those heels. Lethal! Her quieter tango moment with Gomez during “Live Before We Die” gives the pair a chance to step away for a softer scene together. Harper MacGregor gets an early chance to show off her lovely voice in Wednesday’s solo “Pulled”, a tricky number that she handles with impressive ease and no visible nerves. There’s plenty of strength in her sound, and she has just as much fun with Wednesday’s permanent exasperation outside the songs. Once the Beinekes arrive, Harper wears the growing frustration of realising that absolutely nobody is going to cooperate. Ronin Cooper-Jackson is completely adorable as Pugsley, whose main worry about Wednesday growing up is that she might stop torturing him and ruin all their sibling fun. Ronin gets a lovely vocal moment in “What If”, showing off a powerful, blossoming young voice with plenty of promise. Sacha’s own version of the song gives Gomez his turn to show off his rich voice too. In true Addams fashion, both characters are basically saying “I love you” in their own strange way. Harry Zappert is a particular highlight as Uncle Fester. His wig may leave him looking slightly more Voldemort than Addams on occasion (sorry, Harry), but his performance is so entertaining! There’s a gentleness to his singing, including a soft vibrato that suits Fester’s utterly sincere romantic ballad. With little glowing spherical props, the Moon Dancer (Victoria Rezende), and Harry singing earnestly about his celestial beloved, the number becomes one of the sweetest oddities in an already very odd musical. Leo Crowther is hilarious as Mal Beineke and gets some of my biggest laughs of the show. Isabel Notari-Markey as Alice Beineke acts peppy and sweet, while Nate McKenna as Lucas is simply trying to survive introducing his girlfriend to his parents. The fun is watching this supposedly normal family get dragged further and further into Addams territory. By “Crazier Than You”, both couples are embracing the hullabaloo, with Wednesday/Lucas, and Alice/Mal, all getting their turn to prove that “normal” was never going to last very long! Around them all, the Ancestors have plenty to do rather than becoming decorative ghosts parked at the back of the stage. Choreographer Isabella Maric gives them featured moments through almost every number, while “Full Disclosure” uses the whole company particularly well, with energetic choreography and group tableaux built around the long dinner table. Visually, the production keeps things gothic with red velvet curtains, projections, and that long, dark table. The costumes and wigs add to the characterisation: Morticia’s sleek silhouette, Gomez’s snappy suit, the pale Ancestors, and Fester’s very committed bald look. Also, one useful lesson for any young performer wearing a microphone: assume it is always on! We can hear you backstage darlings. That’s an easy technical habit to learn, though, and it hardly dents the fun of watching this company tackle such character-driven comedy. The jokes depend heavily on timing and delivery, and these young performers understand far more of that rhythm than I was expecting! Second Star Youth Theatre’s The Addams Family Young@Part is full of dry one-liners, odd family affection, strong young voices, enthusiastic dancers, and children discussing torture with alarming casualness. For a family this obsessed with death, they’re having a very good time.

Taking a Bite Out of Dracula: Inside Ghostlight Theatre’s Bloody New Production I recently had the opportunity to attend a rehearsal for Ghostlight Theatre Company’s Dracula. Reagan Warner, portraying the Count, already seemed entirely at ease embodying evil. He observed Van Helsing with a faintly amused, knowing expression, as if Dracula relished just how badly outmatched everyone else was. Warner's low Transylvanian accent added to the menace, complemented by the red eyes, dark features, and some truly wild eyebrow acting. This is not a tragic, glittery vampire lover. Ghostlight Theatre Company is bringing William McNulty’s stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Beenleigh Theatre for just four performances this October. Yasmin Elahi is producing and directing, while also handling set, costume, and lighting design. She is supported by a talented team: Tomm Burnett as Assistant Director, Dan Pohlmann as Fight Choreographer, Sarah Latter as Choreographer, Christina McMahon as Stage Manager, and Charlotte Horn in charge of SFX Makeup. This dedicated team has much to manage, including fight choreography, blood effects, prosthetic makeup, physical transformations, stunning set pieces, a complex soundscape, ballroom dancing, and even a performer on stilts. Which version of Dracula are we getting? For over a century, Dracula has been everything from a fanged monster and mysterious aristocrat to a seductive antihero, a children’s character who runs a hotel, a classic Halloween costume, and even... Nicolas Cage. Based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula follows the Count’s arrival in England and the gory consequences for those unfortunate enough to cross his path. As Lucy and Mina fall within his sights, Professor Van Helsing and his allies begin to work out exactly what they’re dealing with and how they might stop him. McNulty’s adaptation condenses Stoker’s sprawling epistolary novel into something more manageable for an evening at the theatre. This is probably wise. “We’d be here for 12 years if we tried to do the whole novel,” Warner says. Ghostlight chose this adaptation because of one important distinction. “Because it was the only one that we found that was classed as a horror and not a gothic romance,” Warner explains. “Part of the idea behind this particular production is to make it disturbing and macabre without adding too many of the romantic elements.” So anybody hoping Dracula and Mina might stare tragically into one another’s eyes while contemplating their forbidden eternal love may need to adjust their expectations. There is desire, Warner explains, but love is another matter. “He’s absolutely not capable of love in this one. Absolutely not.” Warner likens this Dracula more to Nosferatu. He’s predatory, grotesque, and ravenous, but there’s still plenty of personality beneath the fangs. I noticed that in the scene where Van Helsing first meets the Count. Warner shifted from a mysterious, almost amused host into something far more aggressive, while Andrew MacArthur’s Van Helsing held his ground firmly. MacArthur brings a calm authority to the scene, which only seems to encourage Dracula to provoke him harder. “There’s so much gravitas to that role that Andrew brings,” Warner says. In the other scene I watched, Harker and Van Helsing confronted Dracula with a crucifix. Instead of recoiling as expected, Dracula mocked them and kept pushing until the encounter turned physical. And it got loud and bloody very quickly. How do you play a vampire without making him sexy nowadays? “I get to eat so many people,” Warner told me, sounding very pleased with himself. “There’s quite a body count in this show. I pity the poor sucker who’s got to mop the stage afterwards.” Anyone who knows Reagan Warner will know that Dracula isn’t exactly a wild casting departure. He wears almost exclusively black, has long joked about sleeping in a coffin, and has been a fan of the macabre for most of his life. Actually playing Dracula, however, has required more than turning up in his usual wardrobe. “Horror is so difficult,” he says. “The preparation predominantly comes down to how the audience is going to perceive the show. I have to think about how the audience is going to experience it and make sure that it is being conveyed properly.” Much of Warner’s work has gone into Dracula’s voice. “We have discussed the accent at length,” he says. “I think that the accent is inherently a part of the character and his origin. It is probably something I spent the most time on.” Warner is a linguist and admits to being particular about accents. That same attention runs through the production, with the cast looking closely at regional voices, clothing, physicality, and the relationships between their characters. How to freak out an audience without touching them? Ghostlight’s horror plans aren’t confined to bites and blood. Warner says the production uses sensory details designed to unsettle an audience before they quite realise why. “It’s one of the rare shows that employs Theatre of Cruelty techniques,” he explains. “Things that play with the audience, make the audience feel uncomfortable subconsciously, things like scent and sound that you don’t realise is there until it stops, and special effects that will toy with the psychology of a person.” Yes indeed, scent. I sought further clarification but was advised to wait and see. Ghostlight’s soundscape combines classical music, layered voices, unsettling effects, and, naturally, bats. The familiar Toccata and Fugue appears, along with a nod to Swan Lake, which Warner points out plays at the beginning of the classic Bela Lugosi Dracula. “The atmospheric sound has been a big part of this and a big focus, and I think they’ve done a really good job so far.” Sound can tip into haunted-house territory if every entrance, scare, or suspicious moment comes with its own musical exclamation mark. From what I heard in rehearsal, Ghostlight avoids that. The sound designer was constantly tweaking cues, replaying sections, and layering sounds while scenes were being worked around them. Who is going to clean this up? The rehearsal I attended gave just as much attention to the physical aspects of the horror. At one point, Alynta Scott, who plays Lucy, was carefully working through the logistics and movement of a bite. Vampirism requires choreographic direction too. Nearby, Rhys Schwarten as Renfield rehearsed with Alex Andrews, who plays the Child. Having a child performer woven into scenes immediately makes the situation more intriguing and raises the stakes. Warner had only recently seen some of the blood effects when we spoke. “I just absolutely gasped.” Fake blood bags were on every table at rehearsal, waiting patiently for their chance to ruin somebody’s costume. Warner’s own costume includes a heavy, high-quality velvet cape that looks suitably extravagant and very fun to sweep around the stage in. The production isn’t holding back on practical effects either. There will be prosthetics, transformations, physical fights, gore effects, and one performer handling combat while on stilts. Who put this bloody thing together? Along with producing and directing, Yasmin Elahi has designed the set, costumes, and lighting, while the wider team tackles choreography, combat, makeup, effects, sound, and the puzzle of getting an ambitious horror production onto an independent theatre budget. The cast and creatives have been working from shared mood boards and visual references so they’re all inhabiting the same version of Stoker’s world. “We’ve really worked on the aesthetics,” Warner says. “We’ve done a lot of inter-relational work between the characters.” I’ve seen Ghostlight’s past four productions, so I’ve had a pretty good look at the sort of theatrical worlds this company likes building. Their production of The Exorcist remains one of the very few straight horror productions I’ve seen onstage, and I still think about it often. Horror has a different set of toys in a theatre than it does on screen. There’s no camera choosing exactly where you look, no edit to cut away at the right moment, and whatever awful thing is happening is usually only a few metres from your seat. This also happens to be one of several Dracula productions appearing on local stages this year. So, why should audiences make the trip to Beenleigh for this one? For Warner, part of the answer is simply how rarely we get to see horror onstage. “Horror is so seldom done on stage,” he says. “I can only really think of The Woman in Black off the top of my head, and this is adapting a very well-known classic specifically for the stage.” Warner is hardly new to performing either. After years of stage work across almost 100 productions, he arrives at Dracula with plenty of experience behind him, plus a lifelong affection for the character. He’s equally enthusiastic about the people doing it with him. “The cast are phenomenal,” he says. “I’ve worked with many of the cast before and can testify to their hard work and their ethic, and just how good they are to work with.” I only saw two scenes, but there was already plenty happening before the production had put all its teeth in. When I asked Warner to sum it all up, his answer was simple: “Ambitious.” He paused and added, “Dude, I hope it’s good.” With only four performances, audiences won’t have long to find out! Photography: Christopher Sharman Tickets available here: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1579528 Please note: This show contains strobe lighting, loud noises, horror themes, violence, blood and gore, simulated nudity and simulated firearms. Recommended for audiences aged 16+.

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< Back BALLET: Bespoke - Queensland Ballet 2 Oct 2026 Season: October 2nd - 17th, 2026 Title: Bespoke Presented By: Queensland Ballet Genre: Contemporary Ballet / Dance Synopsis: Queensland Ballet’s contemporary series returns with three world premiere works exploring identity, belonging, climate change and rebellion. Choreographers Claire Voss, Victor Zarallo and Paul Knobloch collaborate with composers and designers to create new works combining movement, music and design. Written By: Original works by Claire Voss, Victor Zarallo and Paul Knobloch Performance Dates: 2–17 October 2026 Performance Times: 2 October – 7:30pm 3 October – 1:30pm & 7:30pm 7 October – 6:30pm 8–9 October – 7:30pm 10 October – 1:30pm & 7:30pm 11 October – 1:30pm 15–16 October – 7:30pm 17 October – 1:30pm & 7:30pm Performance Location and Address: Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre, 406 Montague Road, West End QLD 4101 Ticket Costs: Adult $89 | Concession $76 | 30 & Under $72 | Child $45 | Group 6+ $76 | School Group $35 Ticket Link: Book Tickets – Queensland Ballet Warnings: Likely to contain strobe lighting, theatrical haze and smoke effects. Recommended Age: All ages Duration: 2 hours, including one 20-minute interval and one 25-minute interval. Creative Team: Claire Voss, Victor Zarallo & Paul Knobloch – Choreographers | Connor D’Netto, Brady Watkins & Matej Perunicic – Composers | Michelle Potts & Bethany Cordwell – Costume Designers | Anthony Lee & Matthew Allan – Lighting Designers Production Website: Queensland Ballet – Bespoke Other information: The season comprises three new works: Where the Water Once Was , What Remains and Between the Line . The 17 October 1:30pm performance includes an Auslan-interpreted post-performance Q&A. Previous Next

< Back THEATRE: Picnic at Hanging Rock - Act1 Theatre 2 Oct 2026 Season: October 2nd - 18th, 2026 Title: Picnic at Hanging Rock Presented By: Act 1 Theatre Genre: Drama / Mystery / Australian Gothic Synopsis: On Valentine’s Day 1900, three schoolgirls and their teacher mysteriously disappear during a picnic at Hanging Rock. Years later, the unanswered questions surrounding their disappearance continue to haunt those left behind in this atmospheric adaptation of the iconic Australian novel. Written By: Tom Wright, adapted from the novel by Joan Lindsay Performance Dates: 2–18 October 2026 Performance Times: Fridays & Saturdays – 7:30pm | Sundays – 2:00pm Performance Location and Address: Act 1 Theatre, 238 Gympie Road, Strathpine QLD 4500 Ticket Costs: Adult $30 | Concession $25 | Member $20 Ticket Link: Book Tickets – Humanitix Warnings: Mature themes and references to death and disappearance Duration: Approximately 90 minutes, no interval Production Website: Act 1 Theatre Previous Next