Blood Bank is a new Australian play by a new writer Christopher Harley, at the Ensemble Theatre. It was part of the Ensemble Stages 2013 Spring Reading. It is set in the waiting room of a blood bank. Michael is waiting to donate blood to his very ill twin brother Justin, both played, well, by…
This is an endearing portrait of one of the world’s bravest young women. It is an insight into the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then-15-year-old (she turned 18…
Sexuality (some might call it perversion) appears to be a constant theme in young playwright Thomas Ian Doyle’s work, which is inevitably confronting. Fortunately, he has a ready outlet for it in the form of the theatre he and director Gabrielle Savrone operate, namely The Owl and Cat. Wash Room is set entirely in a…
It was inevitable that the runaway success of The Blacklist would spawn imitators. No doubt the attraction of having a ready-made “list” of episodes provided a “lightbulb moment” for many a producer. But where we never get to actually see Raymond Reddington’s “blacklist”, in Blindspot, the clues are literally laid out for you. In the…
The patience of Job would be a great asset when setting out to watch this slow moving martial arts film with a young female protagonist. Set in 9th century China (towards the end of the Tang Dynasty), Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi), a general’s daughter, is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the art…
My second Escape Room experience in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs was just as intriguing as the first I had back in June. I mentioned then that mind-bending activities like this are infectious and apropos of a glass of fine wine or a mouth-watering dessert, it is hard to stop at one.So, I was unashamedly excited to…
I thought that Skyfall was one of the best Bond movies of the past fifty years, so I was eagerly looking forward to the latest instalment in this long running franchise. After all, Skyfall director Sam Mendes was back at the helm. But Spectre was a little disappointing. At 148 minutes, it is over long…
I regularly whine about the quality – or lack of it – in Australian movies. Today is the turn of a ham-fisted family comedy. Caroline Morgan (Robyn Butler) is delighted when her sister, ‘stage mum’ Beth (Portia de Rossi), brings her precocious movie star daughter, Honey (Lucy Fry) home from LA for a visit, complete…
An inane American action horror comedy, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse [note: that’s the title, punctuation error included – Ed.] focuses upon three teenagers’ attempts to hold at bay a horde of zombies who have all but taken over their small town. The trio – Ben, Carter and Augie (played respectively by Tye Sheridan,…
The Greats: masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland is one of the most significant collections of European “old master” paintings ever seen in Australia. Part of the Sydney International Art Series 2015-2016, it’s now showing at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney. Spanning a period of 400 years from the Renaissance to Impressionism,…
