Wicked: Part 1 is a grand spectacle. This extended musical – of which this 160-minute epic is only the first of two parts – looks magnificent on the big screen. Its colourful and captivating exterior underpins a dark side. It appears no expense has been spared to breathe life anew into the beloved stage musical,…
Michael Keaton is having a moment right now. After the much-hyped Beetlejuice Beetlejuice the veteran actor is back on our screens in the gentle dramedy Goodrich. In the hands of writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer (Home Again), Keaton gets the chance to display his talents without make-up and catch-phrases. Goodrich is an almost-Christmas movie. Even though no…
Warlords of Wyrdwood is the second book in RJ Barker’s Forsaken trilogy. It does what all good middle books do: broadens out the world that readers were given hints of in book 1 – Gods of the Wyrdwood – deepens and complicates the relationships between the main characters and antagonists and sets everything up for…
Fans of the ‘bard of Avon’ will be delighted by the New Theatre’s latest offering, Shakespeare In Love. This stage version of the 1998 motion picture is written by Lee Hall, based on the original screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. The story begins with Will Shakespeare suffering writers block as he tries to…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 15 November 2024. King Stingray are back with their highly anticipated sophomore album For The Dreams. The melodically rich second LP – as with their debut – is a joyous celebration of life and the planet on which we…
From relatively humble beginnings in 1956, when only seven nations competed, the Eurovision Song Contest has grown into a juggernaut of entertainment. There’s a great sense of anticipation before each year’s fresh competition, as TV audiences burgeon. Some 160 million people from more than 150 countries were involved in voting for their favourite artist this…
American writer Edgar Allan Poe (19th January, 1809 – 7th October, 1849) cultivated mystery and the macabre. There is horror in his work. So, too, in the National Drama School’s What’s This?, devised by graduating actors, and focusing on mental health and torment. Six pieces, each featuring one of the six performers, were either derived…
La Boite Theatre’s final mainstage offering for 2024, Yoga Play, examines the superficial side of the wellness industry through a sharp, satirical lens. Presented in collaboration with Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta, Yoga Play is a comedy by Dipika Guha that explores themes of identity, authenticity, and consumer culture. Yoga Play centres on Joan, portrayed…
Like many of William Shakespeare’s history plays, Julius Caesar is more talk than action. That’s despite the violence at core of its exploration of power, warfare and human nature. In Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble’s production, the angry words of its politics are captured from the outset. Its players charge in line across the stage towards the…
Nearly 25 years after Gladiator, Ridley Scott has gone back to the well… and this time there are sharks in the Colosseum. In Gladiator II, Russell Crowe, who played Maximus in the original, is only seen in a couple of quick throwback scenes. But even with the focus squarely on his son, Lucius (Paul Mescal),…
