Theatre

Review by Katrina Couzens of What the Perimenopause! presented by Delilah Rose and the All Stars

What an incredible finale to my Anywhere experience! What the Perimenopause! is full of energy, heart, glamour, and raw emotion. I laughed hard, I clapped hard, and I left with…

Review (Creative Futures): The Agent

Jamie Delmonte (Brad) and Meryn Cooper (Michelle Schrödinger) in The Agent (Image Credit: Creative Futures Photography).

The Agent had a successful world premiere at the 2026 Anywhere Festival. A fun demonstration of the talents of a local writer, director and cast, The Agent is a light-hearted mixture of physics, philosophy, property, and poo.

Review by Katrina Couzens of TWENTEE presented by Scrapped Collective

TWENTEE has the perfect premise for a psychological thriller: a young Tee, feeling isolated and lonely as she transitions from the structure of high school to the chaos of young…

Review (Creative Futures): The Bucket List

a line of people wearing red buckets on their heads, during Screech Arts’ latest show, The Bucket List.

The Screech Arts’ cast and creatives have transformed the bucket list idea into a memorable show that shares the personal bucket list priorities of each of the members of the cast, and features… buckets.

Review (Creative Futures): The Heartbreak Club

A group hug by the four female members of The Heartbreak Club, staged at The Paint Factory, during the 2026 Anywhere Festival (image credit: Creative Futures Photography).

Catherine Lawrence suggests that the Thundering Productions’ new work, The Heartbreak Club, makes for a fun evening out for a group of friends or Book Group members—describing the show as ‘a play that is light on the serious homicidal ideas, and heavy on the gentle comedy and healing.’

Review by Katrina Couzens of The Heartbreak Club presented by Thundering Productions

I love a good revenge story. I also love stories about female friendship. The Heartbreak Club is both, with a darkly delightful premise and mood somewhat reminiscent of Heathers. It…

Review (Creative Futures) All Smoke, No Script

Watching the detectives in 'All Smoke, No Script' at the 2026 Anywhere Festival (image credit Creative Futures Photography).

All Smoke, No Script is a long-form improv noir comedy piece of theatre, presented, starring, and co-created by Ben Spalding and Andrew Oxford. They are a great team, bringing their complementary skills in improvised/devised theatre, sound design, and composition to the work. And a great idea to draw in the support of fellow creatives, Remi Thiesfield (stage manager) and Riley Montesin (lighting designer and programmer).

Review by Katrina Couzens of Life of a Tradie Wife presented by Isabella’s Aerial & Circus

First, I walked into an industrial warehouse. Then, I walked into a bedroom. Life of a Tradie Wife is wonderfully grounded, with cutting observational writing and perfect set design. Looking…

Review (Creative Futures): Half Hour Hamlet

Picture: Swashbuckling fun in the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble's Half Hour Hamlet (Picture credit: Creative Futures Photography)

Catherine Lawrence absolutely loves the 2026 Anywhere Festival Moreton Bay Half Hour Hamlet, describing one of the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble’s ‘Shakespeare Shorts’ as ‘a show that absolutely delivers on its promise—and more.

Review by Katrina Couzens of Good Bad Cop presented by LaunchPad

If you’re a sufferer of worry dreams, the plight of John Doe, thrown into an absurdist nightmare when his interview to join the police force gets hijacked, might feel familiar.…

Review: Oedipus // End of Line

Armed with a skimmed Wikipedia article and an impromptu PowerPoint presentation from a drama teacher friend, I can’t say I entered Oedipus // End of Line with a font of…

Review by Katrina Couzens of How to Seduce Your Dragon by Improv Queensland

Review (Catherine Lawrence): PUSH

PUSH lives up to the promotion of being ‘Screech Arts at their boldest [… and is] frank, funny, and fearless.’ PUSH is a clever, insightful, and important piece of theatre. The show closes with Bradley’s challenge to the audience: ‘when life holds us back, we push […] The question is, will you push with us too?’ I hope that Screech Arts find future opportunities to bring this work to a wider audience, and to attract future advocates and supporters—whether on a more conventional inner-city stage, or back in the fabulous Paint Factory Anywhere Festival Hub.

Review (Blue Curtains Brisbane): Sportsball

Review by Meredith Walker Improv Queensland (formerly known as ImproMafia) loves a good rivalry; whether it be state vs state or suburb vs suburb, its Brisbane Comedy Festival outings have…

Review (Blue Curtains Brisbane): Theatre for Dummies: A Post-Apunkalyptic Play

Review by Meredith Walker Art is a language, we are told in the initial scene of Theatre for Dummies: A Post-Apunkalyptic Play, as part of a pacey monologue from its…

Review (Catherine Lawrence): Clutter

Image: Clutter, Image Credit Creative Futures Photography

Catherine Lawrence’s latest review recommends another Anywhere Festival Brisbane gem… “My latest hot tip for the 2025 Anywhere Festival is to make a beeline for the Raven Hotel to see…

Review (Catherine Lawrence): Primitives (staged reading)

Leah Fitzgerald-Quinn (Alice), co-staring with in Willem Whitfield in the Whitfield Studio 'Primitives.' Picture Credit Creative Futures Photography

Primitives is definitely more a preview than mere staged reading. Expect surreal moments, some dark humour, entrails… and a final twist that will give you plenty to talk about over a post-show beverage

Review: Eat Her Out

Eat Her Out is a two woman show, written by and starring Aoife Kissane and Georgia Thomas. The show is a humorous, barbed commentary on queer life under a cost…

Review: Stark Raven Mad

Stark Raven Mad took my family (three generations) on a fantastical poetry journey this morning, at On The Boards Theatre in Tingalpa.

Review: The Dire Theatre Company Radio Variety Hour

Yeronga’s Paint Factory offers a range of nooks and crannies, several of which are cleverly reimagined by exceptional performers and creatives during Brisbane’s Anywhere Festival. My 2024 Anywhere Festival hot…

Review: Cabarats, presented by Verum Arts

Just from its title, you can tell Cabarats doesn’t want to be taken seriously. Chock full of cheese puns and hammy noir/gangster pastiche dialogue, the show is a veritable charcuterie…

Review: Wait For It!

Review by Katrina Couzens It’s amazing how much you can laugh in just over an hour when you’re in the hands of three clowns (and a very timid broom). It’s…

Review: Somnium

Somnium is the perfect title for choreographer Kelsey Dell’s compelling new work, that is ‘inspired by states of dreaming and the imaginings of our unconscious minds.’ If you are looking…

Review: As Told By The Boys That Fed Me Apples

How better to tell the story of the 136,000 Australian horses sent to the First World War, than through the experiences of three of the ‘boys’ who fed apples to…

Review: Set Me On Fire

Set Me On Fire opened Wednesday night (24th July) at Backdock Arts in Fortitude Valley. It’s a heartfelt drama about the breakdown of a relationship, but a lack of detail…

The wait is over…

“Wait for It!” is the silly clown extravaganza you’ve been waiting for! Making its Anywhere Festival premiere “Wait for It” made its debut in the 2023 Freshblood Festival. The show…

Review: The Critical Last Chance Years, Vol. 3

Review by Katrina Couzens Late on Saturday night (20th July, 8pm), I took a bus out to Tingalpa, a suburb I didn’t know existed because, even though it is only…

Hysterical: Are you enough?

A hallmark of our show Hysterical is the audience journal entries that are used as inspiration for our performers. When Eleanor submitted hers for our show at the New Zealand…

Hysterical: How do you wear the labels painted on you?

For one night only on Sunday 4 August at 7.30 pm, Meanjin-based theatre collective Oh, Artemis! will reprise their acclaimed improvised theatre production, Hysterical, at The Paint Factory Yeronga. Hysterical follows the stories of three women at pivotal moments in their lives and explores…

The Human Centipede Parody Musical | Synergy Production Co & Anywhere Festival – Review by Darcie Rae

As soon as I saw the name of this production in the Anywhere Festival program, I knew I could not go past it. The infamous (surprisingly award-winning) 2009 horror film…

ART – Review by Kaylee Vera

The Tony, Olivier and Moliere Award winning play from the 1990’s, ART , is presented to an Australian audience for the first time during the 2023 Anywhere Festival. ART was…

The Reunion – Review by Rebecca Lynne

The night began slowly, with audiences greeting each other at their assigned tables and chatting as if we were all old high school friends. Each table was joined by a…

Queen and Friend: Choose Your Own Comedy Adventure – Review by Kristy Stanfield

Presented by Grimes Productions as a part of the 2023 Anywhere Festival, Queen and Friend is a show made up entirely on the spot with two expert story weavers and…

A Drop Too Many – Review by Catherine Lawrence

Created in response to the SEQ/Northern NSW floods and droughts, A Drop Too Many is a physical theatre work that highlights community strength in the presence of disaster—reminding audiences of the equal…

Review by Rebecca Lynne of “Servitude” Presented by Pigasus Productions

Pigasus Productions brings West End an easy-going afternoon of funny and familiar customer service stories.

Review by Rebecca Lynne of “Murder on the ‘Not-So’ Orient Express”, Presented by Mystify Events

Presented by Mystify Events, an event planning and entertainment group, Murder on the ‘Not-So’ Orient Express is a murder mystery set in an alternate 1920’s Brisbane. With heavy references to…

Review by Theatre Haus of ‘The Girl on the Moon’ presented by Aoife Kissane and Matias Nunez

Steeped in the magical city that is Brisbane, ‘The Girl on the Moon’ is the coming-of-age story that Brisbanites need.

Review by Elise Lawrence of Putting On The Mask, presented by Haus of Beaver Productions

Claire Fitzpatrick presented a moving one-woman performance exploring the wide-ranging emotional impacts of loss. Seated at a small table facing the audience, Fitzpatrick performed the rituals of getting ready in…

Review by Catherine Lawrence of Murder on the ‘Not-So’ Orient Express, presented by Mystify

Mystify’s ‘Murder on the ‘Not-So Orient Express’ promised to be an entertaining 80 minutes of mayhem, mystery, intrigue and entertainment—and certainly had all the hallmarks of popular interactive murder mysteries. A 1930s journey on a train, a body, a cast of apparent strangers (but are they?), and a mystery or two to be solved. But this particular mystery had a few too many twists, turns and revelations for a show that ran for 80+ minutes.

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