In 1973, former Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs played women’s champion Billie Jean King in a spectacular tennis match – dubbed the Battle of the Sexes – at the Houston Astrodome. Riggs was also a serial tennis hustler, gambling addict and sexist braggart. It proved a landmark that ultimately had repercussions for the status of women’s tennis and…
– Bill & Ted Face the Music – Only in cinemas from 10 September 2020 We have 5 double in-season passes thanks to Madman. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE The stakes are higher than ever for the time-travelling exploits of William “Bill” S. Preston Esq. (Alex Winter) and Theodore “Ted” Logan…
I think I like adaptations rather than translations – especially from Russian and German. Turgid prose tends to translate to turgid prose. Daniel Evans is good at the adaptation business – Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Any More is a good example and this one bears his unique in-your-face style, with bad language, lots of smoking,…
It’s a small world after all in Downsizing. In the not-too-distant future, Norwegian scientist Dr Jorgen Asbjonsen (Rolf Lassgard) comes up with a radical solution for over-population. He and his colleagues have figured out a safe way to shrink people down to 12 centimetres, thus reducing their footprint on the world. Paul Safranek (Matt Damon),…
One of the most bizarre plays I have seen, The Amateurs is a tragicomedy from 2015 American Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison. This is its Australian premiere. While I can’t claim to have liked it, to say it is unusual is an understatement. A troupe of mismatched mediaeval players make their way across Europe in a…
Loneliness. Pain. Emotional connection. Desire. Sexual kinks. Consent. That is US writer Clare Barron’s Shhhh, which has its Australian premiere at Red Stitch Theatre. Bold, confronting and, on occasions, perplexing, it is a play that concerns itself with sexual assault, rape culture, mental and physical wellbeing, and the sisterhood. Playwright Shareen (Jessica Clarke), who suffers from a…
On John Marsden, by Alice Pung is the second book in Black Inc.’s Writers on Writers series, published in association with La Trobe University Press. In the series, prominent writers share their intimate reflections on the work of Australian authors who have inspired them. In doing so, they begin new conversations about writing and culture,…
The highly entertaining two-hour show could be called the soundtrack of the glorious Robyn Archer’s life. She, accompanied by a highly talented three-piece band – who also provide backing vocals – bring us largely a collection of little-known songs and a few poems. There are a few tunes she wrote and others that chart the path of…
The psychedelic rock train is really hard to slow down right now as West Coasters Froth have just delivered a sophomore album in Bleak that is another shining moment for the genre. There is only so much you can do with the fuzzy pop delivery but Froth hit the right groove and like clouds lifting…
Kate Morton is one of my favourite mainstream Australian writers; the type of books she writes – gothic-style mystery with old houses and buried secrets – are my favourite. There’s something incredibly romantic about big old houses, once-beautiful but now tangled old gardens, yellowing letters, haunting secrets, ghostly apparitions … they put me in a…
