A 16-year-old by the name of Levi Presley plunges to his death after leaping off the ledge of a tall casino hotel in Las Vegas, so an American voiceover tells us. That may appear to be the start of a horror story, but while the act and its repercussions most certainly are, The Lifespan of a…
One for the adrenaline junkies, Those Who Wish Me Dead combines daredevil firies and ruthless assassins. The movie starts with a bang – literally and figuratively – setting up audience expectations. Two killers – Jack and Patrick Blackwell (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult) – posing as utility operators, deliver an unforgettable message to a district…
It was such a delight to welcome back to the stage musical theatre royalty in Debra Byrne. It was the mid ‘80s when she appeared in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats and a decade later she followed that up with another star turn in the maestro’s Sunset Boulevard. So, it seems only fitting that she should reprise solo…
Honour is at stake in Verdi’s powerful opera Ernani, which features a surfeit of rich, rounded and redolent performances. The music is superb, rousing from the magnificent opening chorus number (with many more to follow), not to overlook a series of emotional arias. The first half, in particular, I found strikingly impactful. The action takes place…
Jonathan Biggins magnificently captures the essence of former Prime Minister and Treasurer Paul Keating in a 90-minute tour de force performance during which you dare not avert your eyes for a second. He is witty, acerbic and insightful as he parades around a maroon coloured set complete with paintings, clocks on the mantelpiece, a banker’s desk…
Two guys waxing eloquently about their shared experiences. That is the essence of The Twins, a play about friendship, redemption, loss and regret. It is set in a tin shed studio in Kangaroo Valley, NSW, over a single day towards the end of 2019. The pair chatting – comedian and actor Greg Fleet and documentary filmmaker and philanthropist…
Meet Carol and Daryl Pitts, aka Stephanie Marion Wood and Brendy Ford. They are a pair of wellness gurus who ply their craft each Wednesday afternoon at the Shady Pines Nursing Home for the elderly and infirm. The senior citizens are in for a real treat as Carol and Daryl – lovers of life and each other…
In JJ Winlove’s debut feature, June Again, a go-getting woman is gone. In her place is an empty shell. June Wilton (Noni Hazlehurst) has vascular dementia. She’s being well looked after in an appropriate facility, where the staff is kind and understanding. Her condition means she has visions of the past as if they were…
The opening night of Opera Australia’s spectacular staging of Verdi’s dramatic opera Aida was blighted by a major technical failure. The surtitles, which were to appear above the stage and translate the lyrics into English, were nowhere to be seen for the first 20 minutes or so. So, if you didn’t happen to know the story you…
What a sensational stage show for the littlies. There were toddlers and youngsters galore and excited parents and grandparents with them anticipating something special as the proverbial curtain was about to fall at the Athenaeum Theatre. And special is just what they got. The 45-minute piece is a faithful adaptation of four of author Eric Carle’s stories,…
