Passion, intellectual rigour and the Holocaust collide in Joanna Murray-Smith’s intense, high verbiage, sexually charged drama Berlin. Australian Tom (Michael Wahr) has just landed in the German capital, keen to get to know the real city, not the tourist offering. He’s directed to a small, hole in the wall bar, where he meets and is immediately drawn…
Sally Hepworth’s latest novel, The Mother’s Promise, should come with a “Tissues needed” warning. I cried. More than once. Chances are you will, too. Here’s the blurb: The bestselling author of The Secrets of Midwives delivers her most powerful novel yet. Alice and her daughter Zoe have been a team of two all their lives. With no family…
This feelgood family film is aimed primarily at preteen girls and it explores some universal themes and delivers some positive messages about friendship, teamwork, following your dreams and overcoming adversity. But the central narrative about the triumph of the underdog is somewhat cliched and bland. Going For Gold shares a number of similarities with Raising…
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from New York’s La Guardia Airport. A few minutes after take-off the plane was struck by a flock of geese, which disabled both engines. Veteran pilot Chesley Sullenberger (played here by Tom Hanks) was forced to make an emergency landing, bringing the plane, carrying 155…
Calendar Girls was a real hoot when it came out as a movie featuring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters in 2003. I wish I could say the same about the play I saw at the Athenaeum Theatre – but in all good conscience I can’t. Tim Firth adapted the script from his hit film, which…
The pre-show soundtrack of “Teenage Dirtbag” type songs seems to be an apt choice ahead of La Boite Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet reminding its audience of the youth at the core of this story of vulnerable teenagers infatuated in spite of their familial-tie expectations. We see it on stage also in the show’s performances and…
Here at The Blurb we usually concentrate on music when it comes to aural entertainment. It would however be remiss of us to ignore the fastest growing and possibly most exciting form of audio available – podcasts. For the uninitiated (and yes, I realise there probably aren’t many of you), podcasting is like radio without…
Do you want to see a damning indictment of and expose on Scientology, the work of L. Ron Hubbard and the church’s Chairman of the Board, David Miscavige? Then here you have it. Following Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, his investigation into sex abuse in the Catholic church, Academy Award-winning director…
Imagine what a dark place a world without music would be. That is the starting point for this bold, brassy and zany work, the brainchild of writer Brittanie Shipway, with original music from Jess Newman and Shipway. She straddles Nazi-era cabaret to a totalitarian regime with harsh dictates in 2043. Senser hits the right note figuratively and…
The opening scenes of 7500 are silent, showing airport security footage of a group of people about to board a commercial night flight from Berlin to Paris. Take note of who you are seeing. American pilot Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is tasked to transport eighty souls on what is a regular shuttle, the one hour…
