Switzerland Review by Rhys Tarling 23.8.2017 Patricia Highsmith, the famous American author of dozens of psychologically dark stories, one of which was adapted by Alfred Hitchcock and another was the acclaimed Carol, gets her own disturbing little story about facing the last days of her death, in the new Black Swan production Switzerland. For a Black Swan production it’s quiet and small, but, befitting a story centring on a famous author, the words are as rich and textured as any expensive set. For all of its 100 or so minutes, it’s a back-and-forth between two characters, Patricia Highsmith (Jenny Davis), … Continue reading REVIEW: Switzerland | BSSTC

Coma Land Review by Rhys Tarling 27.7.2017 Coma Land is a sweet if slight meditation on parental love and feeling like a freak. Will O’Mahony‘s play, more than any other Black Swan play I’ve ever seen, relies on its actors to do most of the heavy lifting; it’s a play with very few props and only one rotating stage – no ‘set’ to speak of here. It’s a gambit that pays off, in a way, because the cast is magnificent. Its over-reliance on quirky affection and humour and its murky plotting is…less than magnificent, though of course there is enjoyment … Continue reading REVIEW: Coma Land | Black Swan State Theatre Company

The Eisteddfod Review by Cicely Binford 24.6.2017 From the mind of playwright Lally Katz comes a piece about a pair of siblings who live in an isolated world of fiction and friction in The Eisteddfod. Under the direction of Black Swan State Theatre Associate Director Jeffrey Jay Fowler, Natalie Holmwood and Brendan Ewing live out the oddball fantasies of Gerture and Abalone in a dingy, forgotten room in some abandoned corner of the world. Gerture and Abalone’s parents were killed in a car crash when they were younger, leaving the two alone to fend for themselves in life. They developed agoraphobia … Continue reading REVIEW: The Eisteddfod | BSSTC