Fifty-eight people died and more than 520 were injured in the Las Vegas slaughter. Joanna Murray-Smith wrote her powerful and affecting one-man play American Song long before that tragedy unfolded. Unfortunately mass shootings in the land of the free have become all too common. American Song was commissioned in the US and first produced there last year…
Great energy, a strong score, big voices, creative staging and impressive lighting design distinguish Tommy circa 2022. The story still packs punch. Tommy has seen and experienced too much in his young life. His mum, Mrs Walker (Amy Lehpamer) and dad, Captain Walker (Matt Hetherington) were very much in love, when his dad was sent off to war,…
The “wow” factor is significant in The Great Moscow Circus Extreme, which introduces a number of a dare devil acts I’d never seen before in circus. There is much to savour, delight in and marvel at. From hilarious clowning, high flying aerialists and two-wheel tricksters to spectacular trampolining, pole heroics and springboard spectacle – it is all…
In this age of remakes, re-boots and re-imaginings, finding an original story on the big screen can be a hard ask. But if you find yourself craving something out-of-the-box; something that doesn’t feel like it’s been done a thousand times before, you should seek out Captain Fantastic. The writer and director of this road movie…
At 80 pages, Weasels in the Attic by Hiroko Oyamada (translated by David Boyd) is more a novella than a novel. But Oyamada manages to pack a punch into this brevity. The three connected stories that make up the novel explore issues of parenthood and responsibility from a Japanese perspective. In the first part of…
Set in Galway, Ireland between May 2016 and March 2019, Duck Duck Goose explores sexual assault and its impact. I refer to the effect on the accuser and the accused, along with friends and family. Jane Scully (Rachel Nutchey) meets Chris Quinn (Mitchell Holland) in the aftermath of a house party, where Chris got wasted. Jane alleges she…
Bold (to a point) and imaginative, writer and director Thomas Ian Doyle’s latest work Between the Sheets straddles the line between film and theatre. The contention is you don’t really need to “act” to appear on film, but theatre takes a lot more time and effort. Tristan Beckett (Jayden Popik) has signed a $32 million contract…
A self-proclaimed daydreamer, Vivienne Westwood came from humble beginnings in the north of England. She arrived in London at age 17 during the swinging sixties. Her life changed course dramatically when she met Sex Pistols’ manager and impresario Malcolm McLaren. Their Kings Road shop launched punk and revolutionised popular culture. Over the next 40 years…
Prince Hal (Timothee Chalamet) was never destined to become king of England. He was a playboy, drunkard and womaniser, and his tyrannical father Henry VI (Ben Mendelsohn) passed him over in the line of succession for his younger brother Thomas (Dean-Charles Chapman). But England at that time was a land in chaos, divided by years…
I generally enjoy a good crime caper, and I’m a fan of both Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick; so it’s a little disconcerting that I’m so conflicted about Mr Right. On the surface, this darkly comedic romp through New Orleans should be a crowd pleaser – after all, it’s a kind of Mr & Mrs…
