Given the way they’re heralded around the world as an exciting and innovative physical theatre company, Circa is surely one of Queensland’s great cultural exports. And it’s always wonderful to have them perform to a home-town crowd. They will now be part of a multi-year partnership with QPAC, which begins with their show Humans, an…
A series of vignettes about what it is like being disabled and chronically ill, and the judgments others make, Have You Tried Yoga? is both illuminating and engaging. The star of the piece is also the creator and director, Rachel Edmonds; who makes her professional theatrical debut. Edmonds radiates warmth with her matter-of-fact style of storytelling….
Alex Miller has twice won Australia’s premier literary award, the Miles Franklin, for The Ancestor Game in 1993 and Journey to the Stone Country in 2003. His fifteenth novel A Brief Affair, shows how he has continued to develop his themes and concerns. It is a character study that asks deep questions about what we…
Movies about war are generally no picnic. When done well, they’re pretty much indelible (after all, people still talk about the opening sequence in Saving Private Ryan, a film that opened in 1998). Mel Gibson has had some experience in the genre as both an actor (in We Were Soldiers) and director (Braveheart); so while…
The kid who fell to Earth? In 2018 a small group of astronauts head off to live on Mars in an experimental colony known as East Texas. This space mission is the brainchild of Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman), a billionaire entrepreneur clearly modelled on Richard Branson, who is the CEO of Genesis Space Technologies. But…
It may be hard to believe that 22 years have gone by since Steven Spielberg directed Jurassic Park, which gave the T-Rex renewed sex appeal. Two further instalments followed in 1997 and 2001, before the dinosaurs went into hibernation. Now they are well and truly out there again. Two decades ago it was Dr John…
Canadian band Heat, describes itself as “post-punk” on its Facebook page and lists Sonic Youth and Oasis as influences, while those writing about the band compare them generously to Echo & the Bunnymen, The Jesus & Mary Chain, and Psychedelic Furs. That places the Heat sound firmly in the 80’s, which fits well with the…
Debra Oswald’s latest book The Family Doctor opens with the shocking death of a young family at the hands of their father and husband. This sounds a little like the set up of Jane Harper’s debut The Dry. But while Harper used this scenario to launch a mystery story, Oswald’s take is much more realistic….
A Dodgeball Named Desire is a clever, creative and involving hoot, contrasting the literary with the sporting. It is a decidedly fresh take on A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. First performed on Broadway in December 1947, that is the story of former Southern belle Blanche DuBois, whose personal circumstances have changed for the worse. An…
The wonderful observational documentary Pick of the Litter follows five cute puppies on their journey to become seeing eye dogs for the non-profit organization Guide Dogs For The Blind. Every year in America some 8,000 dogs enter into a rigorous training program to become seeing eye dogs, but less than 30% make the cut. The puppies…
