Powerful, distressing and humorous, The Father is MTC’s best production of the season. Andre (played by John Bell – founder of Bell Shakespeare) is 80 years of age. Constantly losing his watch is the least of his worries. Although he steadfastly refuses to acknowledge it, he can no longer look after himself. His daughter Anne (Anita Hegh) is…
Much like Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Australian director Claire McCarthy’s Ophelia concentrates on a relatively minor character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But unlike Stoppard’s absurdist play, this film is basically a re-telling of Hamlet from Ophelia’s perspective – with a few twists thrown in. McCarthy directs from Semi Chellas’ screenplay, adapting Lisa Klein’s…
In Swimming with Men, Rob Brydon stars as Eric Scott. Eric’s a middle-aged accountant suffering a mid-life crisis, who finds new meaning by joining an amateur men’s synchronised swimming team. His wife, Heather (Jane Horrocks), has just been elected as a local councillor and can’t understand why her husband is becoming increasing distant. The film…
9 to 5: The Musical is energetic, sassy and colourful. What isn’t lost in this bright and breezy production though is the underlying point of it all. To see it played out makes one wince, just as it should. Franklin Hart Jnr (Eddie Perfect) is the misogynistic and pompous CEO of Consolidated Industries. He rides rough shod…
Superb vocals and an engaging pop/rock score are the features of The Gathering, a mystery involving a young man who is seemingly forever on the run. His name is Tom (Joel Granger) and one day five years ago, he left behind his foster sister Kelly (Shannen Alyce Quan) and their parents and just walked away…
Irreverent, crude, witty, clever and lyrically and vocally adept, The Book of Mormon is an hilarious religious satire. It is a rolled gold hoot from start to finish. Not for naught did it win nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, a Grammy and four Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. It starts with a quick,…
Love and friendship are tested in the comedic drama This is Living. Hugh (Marcus McKenzie) and his partner Will (Wil King), both in their 30s, are taking a short break to Hepburn Springs to see in the New Year. It was costume designer Hugh’s idea and Will, who works in a theatre restaurant, couldn’t talk him out…
You know those books that pop up so often on your feeds that you begin to feel that the universe (and lots of very savvy literary publicists) would really like you to read them? This is how I came to read The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. Having heard many good things, and with Foley’s…
Javier Bardem seems like Spain’s equivalent of Hugh Jackman. Despite being an international superstar, he still finds time to appear in productions from his homeland. So after his recent appearance in the sci-fi epic Dune, it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that his next appearance is in a small Spanish film set in a…
Far-fetched but engaging, Kin is a tense “actioner” with a strong science fiction component. Fourteen-year-old Eli (Myles Truitt) lives in Detroit with his adoptive father Hal (Dennis Quaid), who keeps him on a tight leash. While exploring an abandoned building looking for scrap, Eli happens on the aftermath of an otherworldly shoot-out. In the debris,…
