Recent ABR Arts reviews

Des Cowley reviews the 2017 Melbourne International Jazz Festival
Bronwyn Lea reviews Noises Off (Queensland Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company)
Andrew Fuhrmann reviews Macbeth (Melbourne Theatre Company)
Michael Halliwell reviews Hamlet (Glyndebourne Opera Festival)
Patrick McCaughey reviews Giacometti (Tate Modern)
Anwen Crawford reviews A Quiet Passion (Palace Films)

Hamlet at Glyndebourne

ABR Arts opera critic Michael Halliwell was present at Glyndebourne on 11 June for the world première of Brett Dean’s opera Hamlet – and his 2,000-word five star review was one of the first to be published anywhere. When ABR Editor Peter Rose – leading the ABR Shakespeare tour – caught up with him in London two days later, Michael Halliwell described the opening-night reception as the most enthusiastic and demonstrative he had ever witnessed at Glyndebourne. The ABR tour then moved to Glyndebourne for the third performance. Brett Dean and Canadian librettist Matthew Jocelyn met the group and spoke about the three-year gestation of this new opera. ABR Arts can report that an Australian season of Neil Armfield's production is likely in the near future. Let us hope that some of the principals accompany the production. Allan Clayton and Barbara Hannigan were superlative as Hamlet and Ophelia, but equally notable were Rod Gilfry (Claudius), Sarah Connolly (Gertrude), Kim Begley (Polonius), and the redoubtable John Tomlinson as the Ghost, the Gravedigger, and the First Player. It was an unforgettable night.

Matthew Jocelyn and Brett Dean (photograph by Sam Stephenson)