Limelight‘s hard-working team of reviewers ranged far and wide in 2022, producing more than 750 reviews of concerts, films, stage productions, classical music recordings and books.

We’ve run the numbers and here are the critiques our readers really clicked with – 12 reviews capturing some of the most extraordinary moments on Australian stages in 2022.

# 12: Light Shining in Buckinghamshire

Sometimes the pans are up there with the praising. Belvoir’s production of Caryl Churchill’s English Civil War drama was “a bewildering waste of time and talent”, according to Limelight reviewer Diana Simmonds in a two-and-a-half star review that praised the efforts of the cast (Angeline Penrith, Emily Goddard and Sandy Greenwood among them) while highlighting “tooth-achingly dull” passages of play that inspired some in the audience to bolt for the exits.

# 11: SIX The Musical

“Anyone who comes to this show after a steady diet of Tudor history books and documentaries may find themselves clutching at their pearls,” wrote Patricia Maunder in a four-star review of this sassy entertainment that plays fast and loose with the story of Henry VIII and his six queens.