Culture Vulture

I feel a bit of a fraud at the moment, because I'm not actually the Glenquarry Goddess at the moment, we are taking a sabbatical in the city of Sydney ( for various social and work reasons, but don't worry we will return to GG central in the future) so in the meantime think of me more like the Sydney Siren!

One of the things we have really taken advantage of being in the thick of things is to take a subscription to the Sydney Theatre Company for 2016. We always used to come up and see plays now and then but for this year at least we are seeing about 75% of the entire season.

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of seeing King Charles III. I remember seeing the posters for this play when I was in London a couple of years ago but never got to see it there. I must say it was very enjoyable and though provoking. The basic premise is that QEII has "passed on" and Charles is now the king, but his first royal duty to sign a bill that is designed to limit the power of the press to invade people's privacy. Charles refuses and a constitutional crises ensues. The playwright has paid homage to Shakespeare in referencing some of his more famous characters such as Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet and large parts of the dialogue are in blank verse.

It also address the issue of celebrity with Kate and William ( you know who!) who are considered "better" for the throne given their popularity.

The whole scenario played out quite realistically  in the and I could imagine that something like this could very well happen in the future.

One thing I have observed is the audience demographic at all of the plays we have been to so far, and I ask.....


"Where are the young people?"

The audiences are predominantly middle aged men and women and the absence of younger people is quite obvious, I asked the Significant Other about this and we pondered why is this so?

Is it the cost?
Are young(er) people not interested in the theatre?
Are the plays not of relevance to them?
Can they not leave their technology for long enough to see a play?

Just a thought.