What is always surprising about cults is that they consistently manage to attract seemingly intelligent people who leave their ordered lives to join bizarre communities run by petty tyrants with delusions of grandeur. What is sadly not surprising is that at the centre of cults there are often innocents, the children. There’s a few plot…
Having just sat through The World According to Dinosaurs, I am sorry to say I can’t really tell you much about the narrative, save for an extinction event. A big part of the reason is the verbiage in the work was frequently drowned out. Frankly, the sound mix was appalling. From the get-go, the narrator was swamped…
A Steady Rain (2007), by Keith Huff, is a cop show, a vivid law and order episode of a grimy underbelly intensity, looking at two Chicago men-in-blue, two schoolboy, neighbourhood friends, partnered to patrol their cities’ streets for the protection of their citizenry. It examines two men, two bonded ‘bros’, under the relentless pressure of…
From the award-winning team behind the acclaimed documentary Senna comes this moving portrait of singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse (14th September 1983 – 23rd July 2011). A pop star with soul, Winehouse’s rare musical ability made her a star while her chaotic personal life stole headlines. With rare interviews and never-before-seen archival footage, Amy takes us behind…
In Nerve, the title refers to a popular on-line social media game in which competitors are set challenges, a bit like an internet version of Fear Factor. The more dangerous the challenge, the more money a person can make, but if you fail to complete the challenge you get nothing. All of the challenges have…
A 110-minute set from James Blunt had the capacity crowd at Rod Laver Arena totally sold from the get go, as his distinctive tone rang out across the stadium. For a born entertainer who has been touring for the past year and three quarters, his passion and enthusiasm remain surprisingly fresh and infectious. That, in…
Book Club: The Next Chapter is a feel-good sequel to the 2018 film Book Club. It concerns the ongoing fate of the four women at the centre of the original as they undertake a special girls’ trip. Vivian (Jane Fonda), perpetually single, has just been asked for her hand in marriage by her long-term, suave…
Listening to the latest from Icelandic chanteuse Björk, can feel like stepping through the curtain to enter an audio/visual piece at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. At first it can feel jarring, disorienting as the music pulses with what may seem at times like several different pieces of electronic music at once, and…
Based on a true story, this is a dramatic recreation of a court case that took place in the French town of Saint Omer in 2016. Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda) is a young mother and Senegalese immigrant who is put on trial for having killed her fifteen months old daughter, supposedly to protect her from…
Creative – yes. Original – my word. Captivating – not so much. I struggled with Apologia, which is a reflection on language, interpretation and communication across boundaries. It is a piece for selective tastes. Apologia is a bold undertaking and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, I commend courageous theatre. The problem…
