GRIMM (Shake & Stir Theatre) – theatre review
If there’s one takeaway to be had from this review of Shake & Stir’s GRIMM,…
Shadow City (Natalie Conyer) – book review
Shadow City is Natalie Conyer’s follow up to her award winning debut Present Tense. Present Tense was set in South Africa and focussed on South African issues. In Shadow City, Conyer brings her Cape Town police detective Schalk Laurens to Sydney in search of a missing girl, allowing her to dig into more global concerns….
Jean Paul Gaultier: Fashion Freak Show (Brisbane Festival) – theatre review
Jean Paul Gaultier: Fashion Freak Show is presented by Brisbane Festival, Tourism and Events Queensland, Brisbane Economic Development Agency, South Bank Corporation in Association with TS3, RMG Productions, and Avex Entertainment, which is a list befitting a show of immense scale and entertainment. The ambitious work, which was first performed at the iconic Parisian cabaret…
A Horse Named Winx – movie review
A beautiful, heartfelt story about the greatest racehorse on the planet, A Horse Named Winx is an emotional ride (pun fully intended). Written and narrated by Andrew Rule, and directed and produced by Janine Hosking, it tells the tale of the record-breaking mare through the people that raced her. The retired champion won her last…
Eucalyptus (Brisbane Festival) – opera review
Eucalyptus, the fully realised new opera, made its premiere at Brisbane Festival in a co-production by Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Perth Festival and Opera Queensland. Based on Murray Bail’s fantastical, haunting 1998 novel of the same name and winner of the Miles Franklin Award, Eucalyptus was first performed in a concert version earlier this year…
New music round-up (for w/e 6 September 2024)
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 6 September 2024. Beyond Beyond Beyond, the fifth studio record by The Crane Wives, explores the mixture of fear, joy, and deep vulnerability that occurs when a person is on the cusp of changing the course of their life….
Iphigenia in Splott (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre) – theatre review
I saw Red Stitch’s Iphigenia in Splott three years ago and thought it was one of the finest productions I had seen. This return season serves to reinforce my original sentiment. What an ordeal! If Iphigenia in Splott is tough to watch because of the material it covers, just imagine what it would be like…
A Chorus Line (theatrical) – musical theatre review
The vicissitudes of show business are brought into sharp focus in theatrical’s production of A Chorus Line. Under the keen eye of formidable director Zach and his assistant choreographer Larry, 24 dancers audition for an upcoming Broadway production. Two dozen are soon whittled down to 17. That is when, in between the dancing, Zach asks…
GRIMM (Shake & Stir Theatre) – theatre review
If there’s one takeaway to be had from this review of Shake & Stir’s GRIMM, it’s this: parents, leave the kiddies at home; this one is not for them. Treat yourself to a night off and bring the girlfriends along instead. Officially, GRIMM is advertised for ages 14 and above, but it’s a show that…
Murder on the Nile (Genesian Theatre) – theatre review
On an Egyptian paddle steamer in the 1950s, heiress Kay Mostyn boards with her new husband Simon. Stalked by Simon’s ex-fiancée, and joined by a colourful cast of other passengers with dark motives, their honeymoon quickly becomes a nightmare, in this gripping murder mystery play from the Genesian Theatre Company. Death on the Nile is…
Thelma – movie review
Where have all the indies gone? The days when the likes of Steven Soderbergh or Hal Hartley were delivering idiosyncratic but exciting films seems a world away. With the rise of franchises and “sequel-itis”, a lot of American indie movies seem to have been squeezed out of cinema real estate. But occasionally one sneaks through,…
