Fantasy and science fiction novels often use an ongoing war as the central driving narrative force. In Premee Mohamed’s new book, The Siege of Burning Grass, two rival powers have been at war for years – the Varkal and the Med’ariz. Both forces are hungry for new territory, have absorbed smaller countries into their domains…
It was 9th October 2012 when Prime Minister Julia Gillard drew a line in the sand … when she refused to stay silent any longer. To that point she had effectively put up with personal attacks and insults from her political adversaries and the media. Those related to her spartan home environment, her looks, her choice of…
From Oscar winning filmmaker Kevin MacDonald (Touching The Void) comes High & Low. This revealing documentary charts the rise and fall of legendary iconoclastic fashion designer John Galliano; who has been acclaimed as one of the greatest designers of the twentieth century. Galliano rose to prominence in London in the 1980s during the New Wave…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 31 May 2024. “The night,” Arooj Aftab confesses, “is my biggest source of inspiration.” By trial or intuition, the GRAMMY® winning artist has come to understand that these still moments of cover uniquely enable healing, desire, shelter, love –…
Tom Holloway’s 100 Reasons for War (2015) has been updated to reflect present day conflict in Calamity Practice’s uproarious, disturbing production of the work. At one point, all eight actors that form the ensemble detail the multitude of unending fighting that has taken place since the Great War (WWI). It doesn’t make for pretty watching (not that…
Call it searching for creativity or a descent into madness. That is a matter of interpretation. Carpet and Sand is a fanciful re-telling of a trip that English theatre and film director Peter Brook took with a group of actors through the Sahara Desert in 1972. Among their number was Helen Mirren. According to the presentation in…
I’ve often commented to people that it is much more difficult to write a glowing review than something at the other end of the spectrum. This experience makes putting together a review of Ad Astra’s Merrily We Roll Along a daunting task for I fear I may have insufficient superlatives for the company’s first musical…
Garfield, the lazy, pizza- and lasagne-loving cat created by cartoonist Jim Davis 48 years ago has become part of pop culture. He has appeared in a daily comic strip published in some 2500 newspapers around the world and is the most syndicated comic strip in the world. He has also appeared in several books, animated…
– The Convert – Only in cinemas from 20 June 2024 We have 5 double in-season passes thanks to Kismet Movies. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE New Zealand in the 1830s is a Māori world, dominated by tribal wars. Seeking redemption from a dark past, lay preacher Thomas Munro (GUY PEARCE)…
Just what are people capable of? Can we exist in harmony? Is symbiosis even possible? Those questions are explored in the darkly comedic, at times disturbing, strikingly original theatrical work Multiple Bad Things. The actors are physically and mentally challenged, and diverse. They are in a warehouse trying to erect the skeleton of a house (I admire Anna…
