Littlies (several wearing angel wings) danced and clapped. They cheered and waved their arms about. Truth be told, so did their parents and grandparents. That is because The Australian Shakespeare Company really knows how to tap into audience sensibilities. Tinkerbell and the Dream Fairies, in the magnificent Ripponlea Gardens, is a treat for those after colour, movement,…
Okay, I admit I’ve been a bit slack. I really should have written something on the quirky Search Party before now. However, it’s thankfully still airing and available, so it’s not too late to dive in. Part of my hesitation over this show involves just how to describe it. It’s funny; but it’s not a…
Hugh Grant was once the affable if slightly awkward star of romantic comedies like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. But since Guy Ritchie cast him against type in a couple of his gritty thrillers, Grant has carved out a niche for himself in playing villainous types. He was great as the main…
Wrestling’s fake, right? It’s all stage-managed to draw the crowds. But it’s a very serious business for one family in Fighting with My Family. The Knights from Norwich in England are an odd bunch, and all of them wrestle. They’re Dad, “Rowdy” Ricky Knight (Nick Frost); mum Julia (Lena Headey); sons Roy (James Burrows) and…
There’s no honour among thieves in the heist movie King of Thieves. A group of senior citizens plan and execute the perfect robbery. But then they get greedy and distrustful of one another. Most of them are old and infirm men who should know better, but the lure of riches is overwhelming. They’re led by…
If you’re a Simpsons fan, you’ll find immense enjoyment in Mr Burns, a novel adaptation of the iconic cartoon legacy. Split into three acts, the production gives you almost two hours of snippets from the series, skits and even a superb a cappella song bracket. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world. Clearly the world is…
The Second Mother is a film about a set of social rules, which have been in place in Brazilian culture since colonial times and which continue to affect its emotional architecture to this very day. Val (Regina Case) is the kind of live-in housekeeper who takes her work seriously. She wears a crisp maid’s uniform…
A spectacular romp, a cavalcade of fun and a glittering array of talent await those venturing to Her Majesty’s Theatre to see the crack-a-jack, rolled gold hit that is Disney’s Aladdin, the musical. The genie has well and truly been let out of the bottle on this one. It is based upon the 1992 Academy…
Australian crime author Sulari Gentill is probably best known for her historical Roland Sinclair series. But as her 2018 Ned Kelly Award winning novel Crossing the Lines (also known as When She Wrote Him) showed, she is not above a little meta-textual playing around. In Crossing the Lines, a woman writes a crime novel in…
“My short films were made as student films in a very unprofessional and renegade manner, but I think that grounding helped,” says Australian filmmaker Ariel Kleiman about his debut feature film Partisan, which hits local cinemas on May 28. Partisan is a grim coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of a sinister cult run by…
