Henry Lawson Theatre: All Sorts Season 4 - Review by Corina Thompson

7 shows for the price of one, what a bargain!  I can honestly say that everyone who attended Saturday's afternoon performance of All Sorts 4 left with a big smile on their face, chatting about which one they liked the best.

Temporal Anomalies Division

opened with the Dr Who tardis music and dry ice coming out of the fridge, setting the tone for the witty quick-fire comments between Nicole Smith and Alexander Smith. The audience laughed at the confusion and the show was off to a great start.

As the Inner Voice mean girl scenario I V League is  immediately relatable. The  audience participation caused a lot of laughter. The mean Inner Voice played by Evelyn Ivory was truly a nasty piece of work with a chilling voice and great facial expressions. But the character that really stood out in my opinion was the silent, controlled Inner Voice played by Angela Pezzano. She was completely in character the whole time and her physical comedy was hilarious.

The Arrival opened with the entry of Christopher Pali from the back of the audience, blood on his face and clothes and looking very confused, with atmospheric background music adding to the drama. Saint Peter played by Lesh Satchithananda was totally over the top and quirky, with great facial expression and terrible jokes.

The Duel with Mitchell Rist and Michael Thompson (no relation) were hilarious as the 2 lawyers Walter and Warwick. They did not miss a beat in their oneupmanship war of words, and the climax of the play left the audience in stitches.

No Pudding on Tuesday is set in an aged care centre where geriatric superheroes live out the rest of their lives. They still feel like when they were in their prime, but unfortunately time has taken its toll and the usual problems that come with old age such as memory loss, deafness, incontinence and mobility issues are rampant. The humour comes from recognising that no matter how well you do in life, we all end up like this.

PR Nightmare sees classical literature villainesses faced with how to succeed in modern life. An overly enthusiastic PR girl, hilariously but annoyingly portrayed by Sonja Petrov, does not stand a chance of bringing the old hags into the 21st century, and I especially loved Bev Mooney's reactions to her fruitless efforts.

Three's a Crowd brought the show to a very successful close.

Christopher Pali did a wonderful job as the waiter, with his mannerisms and facial expressions causing much laughter as he opened the play.  Lesh Satchithananda proved that comedy is his forte with his portrayal of the lover, and Alexander Smith as the irate husband was suitably menacing. The final twist was a surprise and a clever ending to a wonderful afternoon of entertainment.

Finally, I would like to mention the people we don't see performing, without whom there would be no show. The set was minimal due to the number of short plays, but perfectly suitable and changed seamlessly between plays by the backstage crew led by Mike Rockfordt. The lighting and sound design and operation by Mark Prophet was flawless and the whole behind the scenes team worked really well to make All Sorts 4 a success. 

My final shout out goes to the directors along with Rhonda Hancock for the music I appreciated so much. I loved it all, it really backed up each story, from the Doctor Who music at the beginning, Viva La Vida at the end of The Arrival to the Cartoon Heroes song in No Puddings on Tuesday.

Well done to the Henry Lawson Theatre Company for supporting local writers and actors.