What Did She Think?

What: Crush When: 22 May - 2 June 2017 Where: The Owl and Cat Theatre Written by: Rob Young Directed by: Isobel Sommers Performed by: Mardi Edge, Seb Muirhead, and Fiona Scarlett Sound by: MBRYO Seb Muirhead and Mardi Edge Crush is the last show in The Owl and Cat Theatre's 'Storm In Cup' season. A fast paced comic drama, the choice is strong after a season of serious dramas and traumatic topics which, whilst important conversations for us to have, has at times been gruelling emotionally. As enjoyable as Crush is, it is a surprising inclusion to The Owl and Cat program given they pride themselves in only producing world premier plays. I say this because whilst it is true this script has been adapted for Melbourne ( Young resides in the UK), the play originally debuted in 2011 in Finsborough. It will be interesting to see if this is a change of direction for The Owl and Cat or just an aberation in their usual programming paradigm. It is a bit unfortunate

What: Dialogue In The Dark When: From 2 June 2017 Where: Harbour Town Shopping Plaza Dialogue in the Dark Dialogue In The Dark is a fabulous immersive experience which has been inspiring the world since 1998. Guide Dogs Australia has taken the initiative and has finally brought this 'edutainment' installation to Melbourne, making it's home Harbour Town . Dialogue In The Dark is a permanent exhibition and I guarantee you will want to go again and again and bring all your friends and family too. Unlike such attractions as the Eureka Skydeck , Dialogue In The Dark is an immersive event which lasts approximately an hour and excites all your senses in a fun and thrilling adventure as you experience Melbourne as a blind person does. Entering the exhibition your sense of vision is completely taken away from you. Prepare to give up any light emitting devices such as phones or glowing watches (lockers are provided), and if like me you wear glasses prepare to take them

What: Happy Days At War When: 18 - 21 May 2017 Where: Northcote Town Hall Written by: Leah Milburn-Clark Directed and Performed by: Leah Milburn-Clark and Jay Peardon Choreographed by: Alexander Perrozzi Designed by: Nicola Stratman Leah Milburn-Clark Germany under Hitler was a tough time for anyone not pure blood Aryan, but we usually tend to only connect the persecution to the Jewish community. The truth is that Hitler wanted to cleanse society of any 'other' and the disabled fell squarely into that categorgy for him. Happy Days At Wa r, which is playing at Northcote Town Hall this week, explores how persecution looked from the perspective of a blind woman. Staged with an exquisite attention to detail in all aspects, Happy Days At War is a joy to watch even as your soul shrinks in despair at how easy it is to be a good person and do evil. It is easy to think of Hitler as evil, but it is a lot harder to understand the whole German community doing evil. This p

What: Int. When: 15 - 19 May 2017 Where: The Owl and Cat Theatre Devised by: Carolyn Dawes and Thomas Ian Doyle Directed by: Toby Price Performed by: Carolyn Dawes Carolyn Dawes Int . is the intriguing physical theatre piece which opened at The Owl and Cat Theatre in Richmond this week. It has a much shorter run than expected, having opened a week late, but it is one of the most artistically complete works presented there so far. Using the symbology of the characters created over the career of movie icon Bette Davis, Dawes explores the mania and futility of trying to measure up to what society wants in a woman. Caught on a treadmill of makeup, clothes, and accessories which are meant to illuminate a woman, instead each layer hides the real person underneath until she is no longer visible even to herself. There are references to many of Davis' movies, including the red dress which is iconic across her films - most particularly Jezebel . It is the movie All About Eve