Superbly acted and directed, the theatrics and dramatics in the richly intelligent Australian premiere of Incognito are compelling. The experience begins as you walk through the narrow passageway into the theatre. That’s when you notice a thin, taut, crisscrossed black rope along one wall and then liberally strewn throughout the theatre itself, dropping down to a…
Intrigue is the currency of merit in the intelligent, slow-moving drama, The Sense of an Ending. Tony Webster is semi-retired. The Internet and mobile phones are foreign to him. He potters around in his small shop which sells expensive second-hand cameras. Although long divorced from his lawyer wife, the pair remain on friendly speaking terms, especially…
A story within a story, set at the height of the Second World War, Their Finest has drama, pathos, humour and subtlety. With increasing numbers of men drafted to fight for their lives on the front line, bombs continued to drop relentlessly on London. Those left behind, made up predominantly of women, children and the…
Every now and then I watch a movie and afterwards I can’t decide whether it’s good or bad. iBoy is such a movie. I thought the initial idea was fascinating. The fact that Tom (Bill Milner – Broken), got a bullet through his head, while fleeing from robbers, and his iPhone (which he was using…
On their 6th album in a little over a decade, Kaiser Chiefs, the British indie rockers have turned in from their more political, guitar-driven garage rock in a decidedly poppy direction. Once you learn that leader Ricky Wilson was a celebrity judge on the British version of The Voice, the singer contest/reality show, and it’s…
Relatively Speaking, by Alan Ayckbourn, was his first big commercial hit, in1967. It had a cast that included Michael Hordern, Celia Johnson and introduced Richard Briers to the London West End. The play, originally called Meeting My Father, came out of the ‘revolutionary’ era of the English Swinging Sixties with all its entertainment taboo explorations…
A powerful, historically-based yarn about bigotry and politics, A United Kingdom tells of the rise of Botswana as an independent nation. Based upon fact, it also happens to be a rich and respectful love story. In 1947 Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo – Selma), a brilliant young African law student, met Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike –…
Well meaning, good-natured but saccharine sweet, Golden Years is a British comedy about oldies fighting back against society’s prejudice. It is too cute by half. Law-abiding retired couple, Arthur (Bernard Hill) and Martha Goode (Virginia McKenna) live a quiet life in suburbia, tending to their garden and socialising with friends. But fate, a pension crisis…
A richly layered, superbly written, intelligent script, powerhouse performances and highly creative set design are the hallmarks of MTC’s latest production. Skylight is mesmerising, taut and tense throughout, twisting one way and then the other, based upon the utterings of the characters, complete with liberal dollops of good humour. Helpmann Award-winner Dean Bryant returns to…
I went from thinking I was watching a badly acted telemovie to forming a genuine attachment to the British dork at the centre of this recreation of events that led to Eddie the Eagle soaring at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Inspired by truth, this is a feel-good story about Michael “Eddie” Edwards (Taron Egerton –…
