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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
Literature, history and inappropriate dealings between a teacher and student are at the core of this incendiary drama, which plays out over two decades. We begin in country Victoria in 2007, where Damon (Dion Mills) is an inspirational English teacher. He changed Chris’ (Will Lonsdale) life when he taught him. Now, Chris’ career path is…
So joyously silly, Drew Anthony Creative’s presentation of Monty Python’s Spamalot, lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is five-star gold. It is entertainment personified – witty, wild and wonderful. With book and lyrics by Eric Idle and music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, this frivolous fancy…
Danger, discomfort and tension are the hallmarks of a family gathering in Harold Pinter’s incendiary play The Homecoming. Set in the mid ‘60s in London, it concerns working class kin with proverbial skeletons in the closet. Patriarch Max, a former butcher, is nothing, if not somewhat unhinged – combative and confrontational. A widower with three…
So rich and raw, humorous and moving. This is a slice of life piece about a precious friendship forged between two girls at the age of 13 that carries them through to adulthood today, 22 years later. Isabella Yena plays Sam and Mich McCowage is Holly. The two “girls” meet at try outs for spots…
