From relatively humble beginnings in 1956, when only seven nations competed, the Eurovision Song Contest has grown into a juggernaut of entertainment. There’s a great sense of anticipation before each year’s fresh competition, as TV audiences burgeon. Some 160 million people from more than 150 countries were involved in voting for their favourite artist this…
American writer Edgar Allan Poe (19th January, 1809 – 7th October, 1849) cultivated mystery and the macabre. There is horror in his work. So, too, in the National Drama School’s What’s This?, devised by graduating actors, and focusing on mental health and torment. Six pieces, each featuring one of the six performers, were either derived…
La Boite Theatre’s final mainstage offering for 2024, Yoga Play, examines the superficial side of the wellness industry through a sharp, satirical lens. Presented in collaboration with Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta, Yoga Play is a comedy by Dipika Guha that explores themes of identity, authenticity, and consumer culture. Yoga Play centres on Joan, portrayed…
Like many of William Shakespeare’s history plays, Julius Caesar is more talk than action. That’s despite the violence at core of its exploration of power, warfare and human nature. In Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble’s production, the angry words of its politics are captured from the outset. Its players charge in line across the stage towards the…
Nearly 25 years after Gladiator, Ridley Scott has gone back to the well… and this time there are sharks in the Colosseum. In Gladiator II, Russell Crowe, who played Maximus in the original, is only seen in a couple of quick throwback scenes. But even with the focus squarely on his son, Lucius (Paul Mescal),…
Formed in 1978, The Cure quickly rose from the English post-punk scene to become one of the world’s most influential and beloved bands. Songs of a Lost World marks The Cure’s first album in 16 years, bringing fans a long-awaited continuation of their iconic work. It’s hard not to hype this release, especially given the…
Jo Nesbo’s 2020 book The Kingdom was a violent story centred around anti-hero Roy Opgard and the criminal machinations of Roy and his brother Carl in the small Norwegian town of Os. That book was marketed as a stand-alone crime thriller. And to some extent the story was wrapped up, tragically as expected, by the…
Quite some undertaking … to turn the iconic novel My Brilliant Career, about a young girl/woman who doesn’t fit in, who charts her own path in life, into a musical. She is a strong-willed feminist, ahead of her time. She is someone with a vivid imagination who doesn’t know exactly what she wants, but what…
There’s Always Tomorrow is a bittersweet story about a family of six. The film is set in Rome in the mid-1940s, after the Liberation. But the war has left misery in its aftermath. The primary focus is on wife, Delia (played by Paola Cortellesi, who has co-written and directs the film). She and her family…
A Peter Pan origin story, Peter and the Starcatcher is a slapstick pantomime fantasy, infused with music, dance and puppetry. So, it is a bit of a liquorice all sorts, which tickles the funny bone most when the cast ad libs, as Colin Lane and Pete Helliar are so adept at doing. Look out for…
