Survival is at stake when three young men find themselves lost in the middle of the ocean with no food and very little water and no way back to dry land. When they set off in Isaac’s 81-year-old grandfather’s small fishing boat, his grandad was with them, but now he is nowhere to be seen….
When British author E.J. James released his erotic romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey in 2011, it titillated an excited throng of readers. The frenzy returned four years later with the release of the Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Hollywood film, starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. The subject was, of course, the unusual relationship between a young…
The bawdy meets the bizarre in the Australian premiere of the tragicomic musical The Grinning Man, which is based on the 1869 Victor Hugo novel The Man Who Laughs. He is, of course, best known for Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. With music by Tim Phillips and Marc Teitler, lyrics by that pair, Carl Grose…
Talent. Who has it and who doesn’t? It is a word readily bandied about, but it is fair to say that talent gets down to the eye (and ear) of the beholder. That is the subject at the centre of this absurdist, slapstick musical, first performed Off-Broadway in 1992. It is a rollicking spoof of classic shows…
Magic Mike or Santa? Honestly, there are times you can’t tell the difference in this sexually promiscuous, irreverent Christmas revue that provides no shortage of fun. It upends everything you thought you knew about the festive season and keeps the laughs coming. A traditional Christmas carol behind curtains gives way to smut and innuendo, which the enthusiastic…
Inspired by the 2009 Dutch horror film The Human Centipede, Synergy Production Co. has given us a musical parody featuring the same characters. Like the movie, it concerns a deranged German surgeon – Dr Heiter – who kidnaps three tourists and conjoins them surgically, mouth to anus … I kid you not. Dr Heiter is renowned for…
Four disparate individuals enter a twilight zone. No, that’s not the starting point for a gag. In fact, far from it. Rather, it is the beginning of what could turn out to be a long journey back. Each of the quartet – strangers to one another – has attempted to take their own life by different methods…
The creator of and actors in Italian American Reconciliation, which premiered off Broadway in 1988, seem to have forgotten the adage “less is more”. Aldo (Josh Massarotti) is a larger than life character – a single Italian American – who hasn’t seen his best mate Huey (Dean Gunera) for a while, so he calls around…
Marriage is hard work. How often have you heard that? Well, the subject is given a working-over in American playwright Michael Weller’s drama Fifty Words. Adam (Daniel Schepisi) is an architect who works a long way from home. Jan (Katharine Innes) is a former dancer turned businesswoman. They have a love/hate relationship. Their child (who…
British author E.L. James’ novel Fifty Shades of Grey “struck” a chord around the world, just as Christian Grey loved to “lash” Anastasia Steele. Featuring bondage and sadomasochism, it was translated into more than 50 languages and has sold well over 100 million copies. Of course, further books followed and then a film series. The…
