There’s only one word to describe award winner crime writer Chris Whitaker’s new novel All the Colours of the Dark: epic. It is an intimate epic, focussing on two characters from a small town in the United States. But the narrative ranges over forty years of their lives and the investigation into a series of…
Do the Irish know how to have good time and carry everyone in the vicinity along with them or what? Never truer words have been written. And so it is with a dynamic, world class, musical stage show in which Irish charm and soaring harmonies sit comfortably alongside soulful ballads. The Shamrock Tenors* consist of…
It has the look and feel of a silly student production. It marks the first fully written play and directorial debut of Oscar O’Brien. The concept – pinch the brilliance of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton and make it about ants. I kid you not. And the vast majority of the protagonists in the work…
Based on fact, but filling in the blanks with some licence, Detroit centres on the Detroit riots of 1967. The summer of that year was a pivotal moment in modern American history. The country was beset by growing political and social upheaval. The escalating US military engagement in Vietnam and decades of racial injustice and repression feulled the…
British singer Amy Winehouse found success through her songs and won numerous Grammy Awards in her brief career. She was a talented musician who succumbed to her demons and vices, and suffered from depression, addiction and even mental illness. She died from alcohol poisoning in 2011 at the height of her success. She was just…
This semi-autobiographical coming of age drama from Canadian filmmaker Anthony Shim explores the immigrant experience, the difficulty of fitting in and adjusting to a new culture and making friends with insight and empathy. The film is set in the 90s. Following the suicide of her soldier boyfriend, who suffered from schizophrenia, So-Young (Choi Seung-yoon, a…
David Campbell was born to play Bobby Darin, such is his command of the character and vocals in Dream Lover. He fits seamlessly into the highly demanding role, which requires a great deal of energy and non-stop movement. While the musical contains many numbers I was familiar with, it matters not. In Campbell’s hands –…
I’ve been a big fan of the Stella Hardy series (Good Money, Too Easy and now Shoot Through), and I will admit that the setting of this one appealed enormously – what with Stella returning to the family farm in the Wimmera (there’s something going on with lots of books being set in that part…
A modern day satire, which tears our notions of morality to shreds, The Beast is an at-times-hilarious rant on urban culture, an organic lifestyle and infidelity. Written by Eddie Perfect and featuring him and six other actors – Heidi Arena, Peter Houghton, Alison Bell, Rohan Nichol, Toby Truslove and Christie Whelan Browne – it was…
To Chiara is the brainchild of Jonas Carpignano and the third in his Calabrian trilogy. But you don’t need to have seen the other two to appreciate this latest instalment. We are in Gioia Tuara in Southern Italy with the Guerrasio clan. Chiara (Swamy Rotolo), 15, is the middle child of a close-knit family. Family…
