Rhomboid, at fortyfivedownstairs – theatre review
What do you call a loving relationship that can’t readily be categorised? Rhomboid, according to…
The Spare Room (Victorian Opera), at The Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne – opera review
Helen Garner’s semi-autobiographical 2008 novel about the hell of offering a spare room to a good friend with stage four cancer resonated strongly. It collected a series of gongs, including Victorian and Queensland Premiers’ Literary Awards and the Barbara Jefferis Award. And now, following five years of work, composer Dr Jane Hammond and librettist Theresa…
Am I Who? x 2, at Meat Market (part of Melbourne Fringe Festival) – theatre review
Her life story has hardly been straightforward but, dare I say, that is what makes it compelling. I speak of Iranian immigrant Sahra Davoudi, who arrived in Melbourne at age 25 and had to learn English. In fact, the first words she mastered were “sorry” and “hey, how you goin’?” She tells us about a…
Rhomboid, at fortyfivedownstairs – theatre review
What do you call a loving relationship that can’t readily be categorised? Rhomboid, according to the central character in Eric Jiang’s humorous and poignant play of that name. A dictionary definition of the term is also apt in terms of what unfolds, for it refers to a lopsided diamond. Filipino Xavier (Ken Paolo) and Caucasian…
Gugu Dindi Gunyah. Many Rivers. One Home., at Ian Potter State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne – concert review
It was a stunning night of song and ceremony that will long remain with me for its richness and redolence. I speak of First Peoples’ stories woven into Country. Gugu Dindi Gunyah. Many Rivers. One Home. marked the opening of the newly refurbished Ian Potter State Theatre at Arts Centre Melbourne. That includes fresh, acoustically…
ELIZA (MTC), at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner – theatre review
Can artificial intelligence develop from an increasingly valuable tool for business and personal use to a destructive force that will wipe out the human race? Unfortunately, this question appears no longer to be purely in the realm of science fiction. It is increasingly being debated and speculated about. The doomsdayers are convinced the threat of…
Verity (MA) – 116 minutes – movie review
Sex sells and so it is with the fourth of Colleen Hoover’s novels to be turned into a film. The most recent before Verity was Reminders of Him, before that Regretting You and, first up, It Ends With Us. Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) is one of the best-selling authors on the planet, whose success is…
The Music of Elton (40 Years of MSO x Elton John), at Hamer Hall – concert review
Who doesn’t love Elton John’s expansive musical repertoire and who doesn’t appreciate the fine work of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra? Bringing the two together is akin to lighting a bonfire that is an instant drawcard. Genius, no less. You could rightly call this a celebratory concert because 40 years ago Elton John invited the MSO…
Koreaboo, at Beckett Theatre, at Malthouse Theatre – theatre review
Imagine being adopted at birth, not in your home country, but abroad, where the cultural difference is significant, and never feeling like you totally fit in. Imagine also that the search for your birth parents is far from easy and when you do finally make contact it is hardly the warm embrace you anticipated it…
The Turn of the Screw (Victorian Opera), at Palais Theatre – opera review
Unquestionably dark and haunting, Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw paints a devastating picture of distress and, possibly, madness. It concerns a governess appointed to look after two orphaned children on the strict condition that she never contact their guardian, an uncle too busy to take care of them. Apprehensive about taking on the…
Dead as a Dodo (Brisbane Powerhouse) – theatre review
The visually stunning puppet show Dead as a Dodo stays with you long after the curtain call. Presented as part of the Brisbane Festival, it displays the prodigious talents of Wakka Wakka puppet company, which is based in New York and Oslo. It’s the first time Wakka Wakka has presented its work in Australia, and…
