Greed and lust are at the heart of Nobel Prize winning playwright Eugene O’Neill’s primordial tragedy, Desire Under the Elms; which takes plot elements and themes from Greek tragedy and adapts them to a rural New England setting in 1850. In his mid 70s, Ephraim Cabot (Darren Mort) returns to his remote farm with his third…
I fell in love with Fredrik Backman’s My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises, and now, I’ve just developed a crush on Britt-Marie Was Here. What is about his writing that gets me? I think it’s the way he taps into whimsy, delight, oddness and the sometimes elusive inner child. Here’s the blurb: For as long…
A feel good chicks’ flick that gravitated from irritating the bejesus out of me to seeing me shed a tear, The Meddler stars Susan Sarandon as a well-to-do widow with a lot of time of her hands. Her character is Marnie, a woman whose Italian-American husband passed away almost two years ago and left a…
An inspiring and uplifting documentary set in outback NSW, this is the story of a 130 strong children’s choir, which is renewed each year, thanks to the efforts of a local for whom this is a passion project. Every March Michelle Leonard steps into her car and heads west. Travelling more than 4,000 kilometres across…
Faith is put to the test in this tearjerker based upon a true story about a Christian family. It was Albert Einstein who said there are two ways to live your life – one as if nothing is a miracle and the other as though everything is. Many of us reach a crucial moment in…
The whole brash and bold Portokalos family is back for more of the larger than life hijinks in a world where everyone has a little bit of Greek in them. My Big Fat Greek Wedding, released in 2002, became the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time. Nia Vardalos wrote the screenplay for the film…
A heartfelt coming of age tale in 1950s Ireland and America, Brooklyn is a story of promise and choices. Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) plays Eilis, a shy, respectful, even taciturn young woman on the verge of full-blown adulthood who sets sail from small town Ireland to Brooklyn, New York. You see, opportunities are scarce in rural…
If you like books that warm your heart, make you cry and want to read it all over again, Our Song by Dani Atkins might just hit the spot. Here’s the blurb: This is the story of Ally and Charlotte, whose paths have intersected over the years though they’ve never really been close friends. Charlotte…
I am fast running out of superlatives with which to describe the choice of material, the interpretations and the staging of plays at the Owl and Cat Theatre. Gabrielle Savrone, a director and Thomas Ian Doyle, a playwright and director, took over the space in Swan Street, Richmond only 18 months ago. In that time…
Cathy Kelly is gifted at delivering feelgood fiction mixed with contemporary issues, making her a bestselling author many times over. I saved Between Sisters for when I needed something light, warm and easy to read, and for the most part that’s exactly what I got. Here’s the blurb: Cassie has spent her married life doing everything right…
