Dead as a Dodo (Brisbane Powerhouse) – theatre review
The visually stunning puppet show Dead as a Dodo stays with you long after the…
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…
Coyote vs. ACME (PG) – 103 minutes – movie review
Road Runner constantly outpacing and outsmarting Wile E. Coyote in classic Looney Tunes’ shorts was a memorable part of my childhood. Beep Beep was the only sound emanating from Road Runner, while Wile E. Coyote didn’t speak. It was left to the latter to be squashed, smashed, dropped and exploded, only to bounce back, time…
Triptych, at Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne – dance review
Integrated dance, light and sound at their mesmerising finest. That, in a nutshell, is Triptych. While the definition of the title refers to a work of art divided into three sections, there are – in fact – four works on show. They are described as an epilogue, acts 1 and 2 and a prologue. The…
The Eternally Hopeful, at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory – song cycle review
Sensitivity and soul permeate a fresh song cycle about life and its vicissitudes from first time writer and director Isabelle Davis, which strikes a chord. Emotionally resonant throughout, The Eternally Hopeful features four talented performers from their teens to their thirties who pour their hearts into the material. I speak of Jacqui Dwyer, billed as…
Lord of the Flies, at Theatre Works – theatre review
Are men savages? Does the battle for supremacy, for power and control, of man against man know no bounds? Is it in our DNA? The answer to all these questions is a resounding “yes” if Nobel Prize-winning English author William Golding’s iconic work Lord of the Flies is anything to go by. It was his…
