Creator Julian Fellowes seems determined to squeeze every last drop out of the Downton Abbey saga. The popular television series set in the impressive titular stately rural mansion home of the wealthy Crawley clan finished its run in 2015, but Fellowes revived it with a stand-alone film (also titled Downton Abbey) in 2019 that brought…
Opera Australia’s Handa Opera Madama Butterfly sears with emotion. It is a splendid and spectacular offering, with surprises, against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. The story concerns a US navy lieutenant named Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton who takes advantage of a beguiling former Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, in Nagasaki. While she – nicknamed…
There is acting and then there is ACTING. Phillip Vandarploeug (Brendan Fraser) is an American actor who has lived in Japan for the past seven years. Thus far, his big claim to fame is playing a superhero in a toothpaste commercial. In other words, he is still looking for a meaty role and his funds…
Cirque Adrenaline is, as promised, breathtaking, and at times makes eye-boggling tributes to the versatility of the human body, mixed in with a laser light show and pounding music. All the acts were great, but there was one that stood out for me. Just when you think circus performers have reached the peak of dare-devilry,…
Testosterone flows in Walking Out. This coming-of-age tale involves a father and his son in beautiful American wilderness in the middle of winter. Based on the short story of the same name by acclaimed naturalist David Quammen, Walking Out tracks 14-year-old David’s (Josh Wiggins) annual visit to rural Montana. He’s there to visit his brooding,…
As a long-time fan of Kate Forsyth, I was thrilled to received an ARC of her new novel, Beauty in Thorns. This passionate and compassionate re-imagining of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale is centred on the Pre-Raphaelite artists and poets in England, and sweeps readers up into their lives, loves, losses, desires and dreams. This is how the…
David Lowery is a hard director to pin down. His versatility means he’s equally at home in a bleak crime drama (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints), a supernatural love story (A Ghost Story) or a family-friendly adventure (Pete’s Dragon). Now he brings us The Old Man and the Gun, a kind of family-friendly crime drama and…
The history of the cinema is littered by well-intentioned but ill-thought-out attempts to bring stage plays to the big screen. The inherent contradiction between the theatre – where dialogue is the focus – and the cinema – where the emphasis is on visuals – sometimes does both the play and the movie in question a…
Poignant and compelling, the Australian premiere of six-time Tony Award winner Dear Evan Hansen – about a socially anxious 17-year-old – is a theatrical triumph. Steven Levenson (who received the gong for Best Book) has injected warmth and humour into the slice of life drama that makes for an enthralling narrative. Powerful and resounding music…
A near death experience is revealed as an adventure story in MTC’s comedic drama Touching the Void, which kicks off its 2022 season. The vehicle is the wake in a Scottish pub for climber Joe (Joe Klocek). It is being orchestrated by his potty-mouthed sister Sarah (Lucy Durack). Attending are the two members of Joe’s party on the…
