Australian author Hugh Mackay is very clear about his intentions in his latest book The Question of Love. The book’s subtitle is “Variations on a Theme” and even before the book opens, Mackay lets the reader know that the musical form of “variations on a theme” is his favourite and that this novel is his…
Inheritance of Secrets is a layered family drama of mysteries and long held loyalties, the origins of which were born from the necessities of survival during a time of war. Feeling as alone as she has ever been, Juliet is desperate to make contact with her troubled sister Lily. Lily always found it difficult to…
Night Slows Down, is a new Australian play, by Phillip James Rouse. It is an ambitious play, with a flashback set of scenes interpolated into the forward action of the narrative, that attempts to illustrate the modern political world where the Nationalistic/Fascist tendencies of a government can lead to overwrought and misconceived expressions of power,…
There have been a few films exploring the lives of genius mathematicians – from the Oscar winning A Beautiful Mind, a biopic about bipolar mathematician John Nash and his inner turmoil, through to The Imitation Game, a drama about Alan Turing, who helped crack Germany’s unbreakable Enigma Code thus turning the tide of WWII. Turing…
At age eight, Anna (Max McKenna) was writing brilliant, highly creative, if dark stories. She was a very bright little girl. Upon reflection, a decade on, she regards that as indicative of being a child prodigy. Her mother Renee (Nadine Garner) though had real concerns. When Anna was on a high, her energy and enthusiasm lit up a…
Stick five strangers together in a room for a week and see what comes out the other end. Are they themselves or acting out some fantasy to form a shield of protection or anonymity? If the latter, how long before the shield is lowered? Intolerance, disinterest and antagonism are par for the course in Malthouse’s…
A portent of doom hangs over Melbourne Opera’s production of Samson & Delilah. It is largely dark and foreboding (lighting design is by Harry Cope), a pointed reference to the story that underpins it. The tale is that of strong man Samson, whose strength is a gift from God. Enslaved Hebrews are praying for deliverance…
4 Minutes 12 Seconds is a British play, by James Fritz, written in 2013. This is the story of a mother, Di (Danielle King), with a husband, David (Jeremy Waters) and their son, Jack – who we never meet. The son has had a Facebook post that has gone viral. The content is not pleasant,…
The letter i is the square root of -1, which cannot occur; it is impossible, not because it doesn’t exist as much as because it makes no sense. It is a metaphor, perhaps for theatre, but even more so for experience of The Mathematics of Longing, a co-production between La Boite, The Farm and The…
Being identifiable as Jewish today is more fraught than at any time since the Holocaust. Since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, the growing tide of antisemitism has been relentless. That is why Ron Elisha’s thought-provoking work could not be more relevant or timely. Many words are spoken in Rootless Cosmopolitans, at the heart of which…
