A prolific, iconic writer and feminist who lived life on her terms, Miles Franklin (14th October, 1879 – 19th September, 1954) is best known for her auspicious debut, My Brilliant Career. Her legacy lives on through her published works and with the announcement of the annual Miles Franklin Literary Award to a novel of literary…
While growing up, I was captivated by subversive stories in a classical cartoon segment known as Fractured Fairy Tales. That aired as part of the TV series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends. It turned familiar yarns about the likes of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and many others on their head. All these…
Nearly five decades ago, it was a close encounter with a UFO that resonated with audiences (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977). Five years on, it was all about helping a friendly alien return home (ET: the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982). Next, an alien invasion threatened the future of humanity (War of the Worlds, 2005). And…
Colony Korean director Yeon sang-ho (Train To Busan, 2016) returns to the zombie genre with the entertaining Colony. Here he replaces the train setting with the claustrophobic confines of a multi-storey business tower that houses a mix of retail and commercial spaces, and even a convention centre. Bitter scientist Seo Young-chui (Koo Kyo-hwan) unleashes a…
The Australian Ballet’s glorious retelling of the classic Shakespeare tragedy Romeo and Juliet is colourful, powerful and passionate. This is a step back in time to wealthy, medieval Verona, where rivalries explode and danger lurks. The innocence of first love is shattered through the antipathy of the Montagues and the Capulets. The interpretation we witness…
Joan of Arc – was she a saint or a sinner? She was an illiterate peasant girl who believed she was acting under divine guidance when she guided the French army to victory in 1429. What she did was, indeed, momentous. She effectively stymied an attempt by the English to conquer France during the Hundred Years’…
Katzenmusik is a German word that translates as caterwaul, the shrill howling or wailing noise of a cat. And this is a story about the slaughter of 85 moggies, the end result of exploitation by greedy landlords. It is a disturbing, darkly comedic yarn about social divide from British playwright Tom Fowler, revealed in extraordinary…
A supernatural horror thriller, Backrooms is a phenomenon that has grown through the internet. Co-writer and director of the film Kane Parsons was just 16 when he used open-source software to create what was initially intended as a visual effects test. The nine minute short The Backrooms (Found Footage) was uploaded to YouTube in 2022….
Austrian choreographer and performance artist Florentina Holzinger isn’t known for holding back. So it is when 24 naked women – young and old – take to the stage in A Year Without Summer. The show has been described as apocalyptic theatre and medical cabaret. It blends horror with pop music parody. Holzinger sets up the…
Magnificent, rich, rounded voices against the backdrop of musical excellence. Clarity of sound, stunning solos, delicious duets and rousing three-part harmonies. But wait. There is more. The six artistes that take to the stage at the Regent Theatre are all leading performers who have fronted the biggest musicals. I speak of The Phantom of the…
