Tulip Fever is a melodramatic bodice-ripper set in Amsterdam in 1634. Tulips were highly prized and a source of great wealth. Playing out against this backdrop of an economic bubble is a more formulaic story of romance, deception and betrayal. Sophia (Alicia Vikander) has been raised in an orphanage. The pipe-smoking abbess (Judi Dench) seems to have…
Melodrama is amped up in Wonder Wheel, a period piece set in the hustle and bustle of Coney Island amusement park. Woody Allen has always had a special fondness for Coney Island. He set the childhood home of Annie Hall’s Alvy Singer under the clattering Cyclone roller coaster. Set in the 1950s, like so many of Allen’s…
Given the way they’re heralded around the world as an exciting and innovative physical theatre company, Circa is surely one of Queensland’s great cultural exports. And it’s always wonderful to have them perform to a home-town crowd. They will now be part of a multi-year partnership with QPAC, which begins with their show Humans, an…
High Fidelity is a musical of 2006, a famous Broadway flop (set in Brooklyn). It is based on the novel of 1995, by Nick Hornby (set in London), and the film of 2000, directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack (set in Chicago). It charts the growth of an emotionally stunted Rob (Toby Francis)….
Fleet Foxes return to Australia over New Years 2017-18, with national performances at the Falls Festival and a sideshow at Palais Theatre in Melbourne where they’ll be joined by Gordi. The visit follows their appearance as part of VividLIVE in May 2017. At VividLIVE, the band returned from a five-year hiatus for a series of performances at…
Damn time loops. Bill Murray got stuck in one in Groundhog Day and could escape it by surrendering to love. And Tom Cruise had a less pleasant loop in Edge of Tomorrow. He died every time during an alien invasion. Samantha (Zoey Deutch) faces the same problem in Before I Fall. A night out with…
In a solicitor’s rooms in Brisbane, baby-boomer siblings, Richard, Evonne and Kelly Whittaker are read their late father, Daniel’s will. Daniel has left his grieving children a substantial estate. Before they can collect their inheritance however, the three Whittakers are required to hand-deliver twelve letters to a list of apparent strangers. Each sibling has had…
Night Slows Down, is a new Australian play, by Phillip James Rouse. It is an ambitious play, with a flashback set of scenes interpolated into the forward action of the narrative, that attempts to illustrate the modern political world where the Nationalistic/Fascist tendencies of a government can lead to overwrought and misconceived expressions of power,…
If The Room isn’t the worst commercially released movie of all time, I don’t know what is. It’s badly acted and directed, and its script doesn’t make any sense. Against all expectations though, it has developed a cult following, with midnight screenings around the world selling out. Made for a reported US$6 million (of writer, director,…
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has fascinated and delighted readers for almost two centuries. In fact, it set a new standard for the holiday, inspiring the spirit of the traditional Victorian Christmas and beginning a host of customs that are still popular today. But while most readers are familiar with the beloved tale, few know the story…
