Oh my. What a breakout, beguiling, absurdist, slapstick comedy Masterclass is. It is a deliberately pointed slight at male arrogance and entitlement. A pretentious interviewer (Feidlim Cannon) conducts an at first fawning interview with a heralded esoteric playwright and director (Adrienne Truscott). Their dress sense and wigged and mustachioed personas are as outlandish as the interplay between the…
A dysfunctional family gathers for the first time in a decade two months after the passing of the three adult daughters’ mother. Suffice to say, the “girls” are not looking forward to the experience. In fact, they are approaching it with dread. They have been brought together by their father, Terry (Anthony Edward), who left his wife…
Will (Mina Asfour) and Katie (Laura Jackson) are millennial best friends who live together. Both single (Will is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and Katie is straight), each looking to find their perfect match. Most of the time they have fun together, which includes hosting a popular podcast – “Don’t Even Get Me Started” – where…
The feelgood film The Bank of Dave is based on the true story of Dave Fishwick; a businessman from Burnley, one of the most deprived towns in northern England. Dave became wealthy from running his own business selling vans to local customers, and he began loaning money to locals in need of support to help…
Having just sat through The World According to Dinosaurs, I am sorry to say I can’t really tell you much about the narrative, save for an extinction event. A big part of the reason is the verbiage in the work was frequently drowned out. Frankly, the sound mix was appalling. From the get-go, the narrator was swamped…
Nosferatu meets The Devil Wears Prada meets Analyze This! in Renfield. In the hands of director Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie), Renfield has a lot going for it, but also has a few bats loose in the belfry. The film cleverly takes a minor character from Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula – the count’s deranged…
Half a century on, the Rocky Horror Show remains a delightful, bizarre and engaging romp that encourages audience participation. Opening night of the 50th anniversary Melbourne production saw plenty of “shout outs” from enthusiastic patrons, acknowledged by narrator Myf Warhurst. With music, lyrics and book by Richard O’Brien, the musical is a tribute to the science fiction and…
Australian author Robert Gott is best known for two series of historical crime novels. The first of these features Richard Power, a bumbling Shakespearean actor during World War 2. His latest book Naked Ambition, is contemporary but features at its centre a similar deluded, self-aggrandizing character who seems determined to hoist himself by his own…
Today, deteriorating mental health is spoken about far more often than it used to be, which is a good thing, but what does it look like up close and personal? Based on her own experiences, Chelsea Plumley’s insightful work takes us there. 41-year-old Shelley (Petra Glieson) is quite a handful. She always has been. She has…
A couple of bumbling, small time crims luck out in the farcical comedy The Wrong Horse. I speak of best mates Noddy (Darren Mort) and Big Ears (Dom Phelan). Big Ears – who has a “wind” issue – is forever sponging off Noddy … dropping in at his place all hours of the day and night, drinking…
