Several years ago you would have never heard me go on and on about a violin player but K. Ishibashi (aka Kishi Bashi) changed all of that with his genre changing debut 151a (2012). String Quartet Live! features reimagined versions from not only 151a but last year’s Lighght, performed live by himself and an accompanying…
The conceit behind the Australian premiere of the darkly comedic chamber opera Fat Pig feels all too real. What is it like to be constantly judged for being an overweight (I am talking morbidly obese) woman? No matter that you are smart, witty and a good communicator, the one thing you can’t shy away from…
A microphone or two, a stool, a modern armchair, an elegant dark dress and that voice honed to perfection. This is the incomparable talent of Bernadette Robinson in The Show Goes On. Through 75 minutes, the indefatigable Robinson (Songs for Nobodies) showcases some of the finest female musical talents of the 20th century. She has…
Science fiction and fantasy writer Lavie Tidhar turns to the very real history of Israel in his latest novel, Maror. This is not the first time Tidhar has used Israel as a setting for his work. But his award-winning Central Station is set around a Tel Aviv spaceport, and the multiversal Unholy Land imagines a…
Cameron Mackintosh’s spectacular new production of Miss Saigon has stormed onto the Her Majesty’s Theatre stage, captivating an enthusiastic audience anew. It last played at the same theatre 16 years ago. Miss Saigon is a deeply emotional work, featuring soaring vocals and exemplary production values – sound, lighting, choreography and visual effects. Based on Giacomo Puccini’s 1904…
In JJ Winlove’s debut feature, June Again, a go-getting woman is gone. In her place is an empty shell. June Wilton (Noni Hazlehurst) has vascular dementia. She’s being well looked after in an appropriate facility, where the staff is kind and understanding. Her condition means she has visions of the past as if they were…
The superior and effective Australian-produced horror film Talk To Me taps into the trope of a group of teens playing around with the supernatural and facing some nasty consequences (like Ouija, for example) but gives the familiar ideas a freshness. At a party in a small South Australian town, a group of teens play games…
Depression and suicide are hardly topics to make light of. But humour proves to be a powerful weapon in building understanding of the challenges associated with mental health in Chemistry. This is one of a trilogy by American writer Jacob Marx Rice that he dubs his suicide comedies. It features a pair of bright twenty…
From The Hunger Games to Divergent, dystopian films aimed at tweens have made serious coin; so why wouldn’t producers keep pouring money into them? They follow a familiar storyline where youngsters are outcasts. And so to the latest incarnation, The Darkest Minds. Based on the popular YA novel by Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds starts…
The prequel to The Wizard of Oz is back to delight anew and delight it most certainly does in a dazzling display at Melbourne’s finest theatre – the grand Regent. This is top shelf entertainment in every way. I speak of the talent, the choreography, the staging, the lighting and the sound. We are in the…
