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Hovering (Rhett Davis) – book review

Rhett Davis’s debut Hovering won the 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for best unpublished manuscript. This award has  a reputation over recent years of identifying quality emerging Australian writers. Past winners have included Jane Harper, Peggy Frew, Miles Allinson, Christian White and Maxine Beneba Clarke. So to say there is some expectation around this novel…

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The Northman – movie review

Director Robert Eggers previously gave us the supernatural stylings of 2015’s The Witch and 2019’s austere and claustrophobic The Lighthouse. Now, with The Northman, he gives us a violent, gory tale of revenge and morality set in 10th century Iceland that takes its cues from Shakespeare’s classic tale Hamlet. King Aurvandill War Raven (Ethan Hawke)…

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To Barbra With Love: An 80th Birthday Celebration (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) – concert review

Unquestionably one of the most talented singers on the planet (not to overlook her many other creative endeavours), it is hard to believe that Barbra Streisand turns 80 on 24th April. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and Live Nation thought it was only fitting that they put on a special tribute show to mark the occasion. They…

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SLAP. BANG. KISS. (MTC) – theatre review

They’re living in a totalitarian State, where Big Brother is everywhere. There’s a 6pm curfew that must be met. Drones hover overhead, tanks roam the streets and “peacekeepers” ensure the law is obeyed. But there is a great deal of discontent and anger at being “caged”. One 16-year-old, Immy Marcus (Tsungirai Wachenuka), who feels the pain of her mother,…

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Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone (Benjamin Stevenson) – book review

Australian crime author Benjamin Stevenson delivered a great debut in Greenlight and followed that up with the murder mystery Either Side of Midnight. Both featured the flawed, true crime podcaster Jack Quick and centred around “impossible” murders that he has to solve. As well as having a fascinating lead character, these were both well-constructed mystery…

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