Set against the backdrop of The Troubles* in Northern Ireland, this searing debut play for Australian writer Grace Chapple tells of the personal fallout for a group of friends. With explosions heard at close quarters, events take place in Belfast, near the border, over three time frames. Besties Dierdre (Enya Daly) and Niamh (Ella Ferris)…
Zodiac mythology binds together 12 acts that are a fusion of circus, burlesque and dance in Oracle. It is the work of the team behind the award-winning Matador. Pulsating, toe-tapping, beats are the order of the day, along with a cavalcade of colourful and risqué costuming and athletic and acrobatic feats on and above the stage. Among…
Darkest Hour is a kind of backgrounder on Winston Churchill’s “never surrender” speech. It also touches on the flotilla dispatched to fetch the British troops from the beach at Dunkirk (as to which, see Dunkirk). But this showy biopic has too much emphasis on levity. Joe Wright (Atonement) directs from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten (The…
It is a cliché to say politics is a dirty game. Suffice to say, The Long Game takes that truism and overlays it with the glass ceiling. Just what do women do or need to do to get to the top and what have men done since time immemorial and gotten away with? I am…
Magnificent. Unquestionably, one of the most memorable shows you will ever see. Come From Away has retained all the humour, warmth and poignancy from when it first exploded onto the stage at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre in the middle of 2019. It has lost none of its ability to captivate an audience and hold each member spellbound. You laugh,…
Seriously Red is a cautionary tale about obsession, fandom, and discovering who you are. This Australian jukebox musical draws from the songbook of iconic singer Dolly Parton, and in style and look is something of a throwback to the 90s. The film is the brainchild of star and writer Krew Boylan (from TV series A…
After a somewhat bizarre and hardly convincing opening, set in the dark past, we get the back-story of how five troubled teens from the small US town in California became Power Rangers. Although hardly ground breaking, that component was quite involving as, arguably, were the moments they respectively found out they had super powers. Beyond…
Future Man could be considered an updated and filthier version of the 80’s ‘nerd’ movies that were ploughed through back in the day when a trip to the local video shop would set you up for the entire weekend. Yes, Generation X, you will see here nods to loads of your childhood video games and…
The history of the cinema is littered by well-intentioned but ill-thought-out attempts to bring stage plays to the big screen. The inherent contradiction between the theatre – where dialogue is the focus – and the cinema – where the emphasis is on visuals – sometimes does both the play and the movie in question a…
Perth’s Rabbit Island (a.k.a. Amber Fresh) is releasing her new album, Deep in The Big on 17 August. Ahead of that release, Rabbit Island will be appearing at five live shows in Melbourne over the next few weeks. Rabbit Island intend to take listeners somewhere beautiful and new with Deep in The Big. It’s the…
