Being a teenager … trying to make your way in the world … can be challenging and scary. So it is in 2008 for this group of seven Year 12 students at high achieving Stockport Grammar. Stockport is a town near Manchester, where playwright Simon Stephens grew up. Punk Rock was inspired by his own…
A gripping psychological thriller, Job pits a patient against a psychiatrist in a battle of wits and wills. Jane (Jessica Clarke), who is a content moderator in Big Tech, is on paid sick leave following a mental breakdown. Video recorded of the incident went viral, but now she is desperate to get back to work….
Five years in the making, Australia 3D: The Wild Continent presents a stunning showcase of this country’s flora and fauna. What we see is so striking that, I venture to suggest, anyone viewing it in Australia will be captivated by the plethora of natural wonders in our backyard. As to those who witness the documentary…
For someone who unashamedly struggles with Shakespeare (I never studied the Bard at school and find his language challenging), I was invested in Othello. I should add that my practice is never to read anything about a play before I see it. The reason – it must speak to me on its own merits. So,…
Slick and oh so cleverly acted and staged, this enticing parody of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie is riotously funny. Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of the 1915 novel by Scottish author John Buchan, brings slapstick humour to the mystery crime thriller and it works brilliantly. It is August 1935 and 47-year-old Richard Hannay (Ian Stenlake) lives…
With significant political, religious and cultural conflict in the world today, a reworking of a well-worn story about war seems particularly pertinent. The Trojan War, fought around the 12th century BCE, between the early Greeks and the people of Troy – now a part of Turkey – lasted a decade. It was, arguably, sparked when…
I can’t think of a play I have seen that I have detested more than the 40 minutes of garbled nonsense I sat through before walking out of The Anarchy (1138-53). The title refers to a civil war in England and Normandy at that time, which resulted in a widespread breakdown of law and order….
Written by James Elazzi, the two protagonists at the heart of Son of Byblos – Lebanese Australian cousins – are living a lie. They are not comfortable in their own skin and are afraid to share the truth with their nearest and dearest. Claire (Anna Khaleeda Rasheed), 26, has just returned from Lebanon with big…
Musicals about serial killers may be thin on the ground because the subject matter is odious, but like Sweeney Todd, American Psycho: A Musical Thriller packs punch. Reflecting on the materialistic and unchecked male power, See You Sunday’s darkly comedic production is strikingly good. Conor Beaumont is a standout in the lead, bringing arrogance, entitlement…
In a bravura showing, Noni Hazlehurst delivers a world class performance as the ageing proprietor of a small, old-style, inner city Melbourne pub that she inherited from her father. No public bar. No Ladies’ Lounge. Just one room, something she describes as “never much of a place”. Metaphorically, it is last drinks for Rose Grey,…
