Heartbreak Hotel (Arts Centre Melbourne) – theatre review
Breaking up is hard to do. So it goes, as Karin McCracken and Simon Leary…
Hedwig And The Angry Inch (Athenaeum Theatre and Carriageworks) – musical theatre review
With a powerful rock score, the talent on display in the new Australian tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is phenomenal. With music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and a book by John Cameron Mitchell (JCM), the storyline is hardly conventional. The musical burst onto the scene off Broadway in 1998, before beginning a…
The Selkie Project (Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory) – theatre review
First up, a confession. I am not sure I really understood The Selkie Project. The whole thing felt experimental and somewhat repetitive, even though it only ran for one hour and 10 minutes. It is based around an ancient myth, whereby a seal-like creature removes her skin to take on human form and taste the…
Riviera Revenge – movie review
Francois Marsault (Andre Dussollier) is a former military man. Now aged 75, he lives life on his terms. Married to Annie (Sabine Azema) since she was 19, they have three grown up children. The eldest, Amaury (Gael Giraudeau), has followed his father into the armed forces. At a family gathering to mark his mother’s birthday,…
Dangerous Animals – movie review
Jaws (1975) meets Dead Calm (1989) on steroids in the new Australian psychological horror Dangerous Animals. Jai Courtney is positively chilling as Gold Coast charter boat operator Bruce Tucker. He specialises in taking tourists out to sea and dropping them into the ocean in a shark proof cage to watch the Apex predators up close…
Heartbreak Hotel (Arts Centre Melbourne) – theatre review
Breaking up is hard to do. So it goes, as Karin McCracken and Simon Leary put on a slick show unpacking her characters’ angst at trying to put behind a series of broken relationships. And, I assure you, she struggles big time to put the past in the past. It is all about the inability…
Circe’s Carnival of Vice (fortyfivedownstairs) – theatre review
Gender bending and a hallucinatory trip are the focus of Bloomsday in Melbourne’s playful, highly original work, Circe’s Carnival of Vice. Temptation and temerity make for compelling bedfellows in a colourful and creative piece drawn from episode 15 of Irish writer James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The book, considered one of the most important works of…
The Chronicles (Arts Centre Melbourne) – dance review
There is a reason that Stephanie Lake is my favourite choreographer. In short, she is eternally creative in the work she produces. Her striking visual aesthetic elevates the art form. Fluid body movement is just the starting point. Beyond that, the key is the combination of formations she can extract from her dancers. That, together…
The Wrong Gods (MTC and Belvoir Street Theatre) – theatre review
What is the price to be paid for progress? That is the conceit at the centre of the compelling drama with comedic undertones, The Wrong Gods. Nirmala (Nadie Kammallaweera) is a hard-nosed traditional Indian farmer who does what many generations before her have done. It is back-breaking work. She lives in a clearing in a…
Prison Island Melbourne (The District Docklands shopping centre) – activity review
Do you enjoy being challenged mentally and physically? Do you like playing games and solving puzzles? Are you fit, clear of mind and appreciate the stimulation of a team environment? Then this Australian first, Prison Island, is likely to be in your wheelhouse. With 94 “prisons” and nearly 3,000 “cells” in 18 countries, the immersive,…
Fat Pig (fortyfivedownstairs) – opera review
The conceit behind the Australian premiere of the darkly comedic chamber opera Fat Pig feels all too real. What is it like to be constantly judged for being an overweight (I am talking morbidly obese) woman? No matter that you are smart, witty and a good communicator, the one thing you can’t shy away from…
