Arts

Jennifer Trijo, OzAsia and Fringe Festival performer, has created Someday – A Mindful Cabaret performance at artist collective space The Mill. Together with performers Amber Fibrosi and Jakub Gaudasinski, the trio perform soulful and uplifting songs as well as challenging ourselves to be the best that we can be. Early in the performance there is…

WA playwright Kate Mulvany’s adaptation of the classic Friedrich Schiller play Mary Stuart has come to Perth Festival and it’s ready to live up to the reputation of its predecessor. The two hour production focuses on the last days of Mary, Queen of Scots and explores her complex relationship with cousin Queen Elizabeth I of…

We were invited to a special media preview in The Garden of Unearthly Delights, celebrating 20 years as being part of the Adelaide Fringe. Director Scott Maidment introduced a few selected acts in the gorgeous Spiegeltent. First up was Mirko, direct from Berlin and part of the Blanc de Blanc Encore, with his newly developed…

Sydney Fringe kicks off in Sydney tonight with Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett. Coming direct from London’s West End, it promises to be a night of debauchery, laughs, and just the tonic we all need from the repressed times we have been living in. With Club Kabarett, you can expect breathtaking circus, gender-bending aerial trickery and…

An 80s-lover’s neon-filled fantasy, come to life! After selling out performances across Broadway and the UK, and lighting up the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne in 2021, The Wedding Singer brings its neon lights, flashy perms and dazzling choreography to The Arts Centre’s State Theatre – updating the already brilliant performance with spectacular new sets and…

A drag-filled cabaret circus themed around the theological Roman Catholic seven deadly sins? Sounds like a recipe for something raucous but distinctly left of centre, filled with innuendo and debauchery! ‘Sinsuality: Make It Reign’ brings all that and more, led by larger-than-life drag MC BarbieQ, driving the show forward all while offering insights into her…

Michael Shafar is a Jewish lawyer turned comedian who relates his cancer recovery in his stand up shows. We chatted ahead of his upcoming season at the Adelaide Fringe. How did your show go back at the Fringe – was it two years ago or last year? I mean it feels like it’s a decade…

Two men meet in a park; a seemingly innocuous Grindr hookup. Except, there’s a wide age gap, and an immediate tension between the two men. The younger Edden (Joseph Althouse) finds the original suggestion to meet pre-hookup amusing and wants to head to a nearby sauna, while Warren (Steve LeMarquand) awkwardly attempts to discreetly take…

Fringe World Festival is back in Perth despite the hardest of hard borders in WA but the local talent is shining, with Lisa Woodbrook‘s It’s Not Me, It’s Definitely You: Songs of Amy Winehouse & Lily Allen a fine example. As a supremely talented vocalist, Woodbrook’s show – as the title suggests – contains plenty of…

Described by Bangarra Director Stephen Page as “narrative dance theatre and contemporary ceremony”, Wudjang: Not the Past follows the journey of a young woman Nananhg (Jess Hitchcock) as she struggles to understand her cultural heritage while existing in a white system. When ancestral bones are discovered during excavation for a dam, one of the men,…

For Perth’s annual Fringe World festival, the delightfully ridiculous Shakespearean drinking game Booze & the Bard has returned for 2022 with two shows: their tried and true Macbeth, the Scotch Play and the brand new Twelfth Pint (or What You Spill). We caught the Saturday night showing of Macbeth on the 15th of January and happily…

Forming part of the 2022 Sydney Festival, A Chorus Line at Riverside Theatres in Parramatta delivers a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a dancer trying to forge a career on Broadway. Set on the stage of a theatre during auditions for a chorus line, the musical centres on the lives of seventeen hopefuls and…

Released in 1995, Jagged Little Pill was a cultural moment, packaging themes of angst, sexism, loneliness and self-discovery from the perspective of a young woman to over 30 million albums sold. 25 years later, the Broadway production takes us back to the anguish of the original text, albeit with an updated rap sheet. Designed as…

Celebrities and VIPs walked the black carpet for the opening night of Jagged Little Pill, the Grammy and Tony award winning Broadway musical, inspired by Alanis Morissette‘s ground-breaking album of the same name. Jagged Little Pill is playing at the Theatre Royal from December 2nd to 19th. Grab your tickets HERE

Put on your finest dress, button up your best tux and step into an extravagant world of glitz, glamour and romance at the Moulin Rouge! Based on Baz Luhrmann’s iconic 2001 film, it tells the story of an aspiring composer, Christian (Des Flanagan), who falls in love with Satine (Alinta Chidzey), a prominent cabaret actress and…

Daniel Muggleton leaps out onto the stage, both noticeable and memorable for his bright red tracksuit. A fine fashion choice? Probably not, but if you Google “tracksuit comedian”, he is on the top of the list. So, it’s perhaps a wise one. The venue (Gluttony‘s Piglet – not Adelaide’s Rhino Room where you’ll see him this Thursday)…

The centrepiece of the 2022 Adelaide Fringe is set to be Sky Song, combining aerial drones with music from First Nations artists. Running for 31 nights at the Adelaide Showgrounds, the event will combine state of the art technology from Celestial with traditional Indigenous music. Narrated by the iconic Archie Roach, a swarm of drones…

Millions around the world have already experienced Imagine Van Gogh – a reimagining of the way we immerse ourselves in the pieces of an adored artist, usually limited by the finite nature of their work. 3.5 million tickets have been sold in North America alone, and the concept is currently in Brisbane as it tours Australia…

Similar to how Jordan Peele, Robert Eggers, Jennifer Kent, and Ari Aster all secured their place in the annals of genre cinema with their debut offerings, Julia Docournau‘s bold cannibalistic horror effort Raw cemented the French filmmaker as a name to pay consistent attention to.  And just as those aforementioned auteurs all swung big with…

The AU Review film buffs have had their say, now it’s time for the Books Team to have theirs! If you’re considering spending Halloween buried in a book with the lights firmly on (no judgement here!), allow us to recommend a few spooky season reads! From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz On…

Spooky season is well and truly upon us, and the team here at The AU Review are firing up the popcorn maker and getting ready to enjoy our favourite scary movies. If you’re looking for some ideas for that horror marathon you’re planning this weekend, here’s a few films had us checking under our beds…

In recent times, seeing some of the world’s finest pieces of art in the flesh has been impossible. However, you can still travel to Japan (virtually), thanks to the ‘Japan Cultural Expo VIRTUAL PLATFORM’, a platform that will change how we experience the country’s fascinating art scene. This new platform is – as its name…

During COVID-19 the Actors & Entertainers Benevolent Fund of Queensland received an unprecedented number of calls for help, with requests for assistance increasing by 720% since March 2020. Despite being the most difficult year in the Fund’s 46 years history, the charity was able to meet each and every single request for assistance from people…

More than 40 Asian and Australian writers will come together for In Other Words, a new writing and ideas program from the OzAsia Festival team. Curated by Laura Kroetsch, Benjamin Law, and Roanna Gonsalves, the program will run from November 5th to 7th, with guests able to attend either in person at the Dunstan Playhouse…

The creator of the 2020 Olympic/Paralympic centrepiece is building stylish public toilets and looking at the city like a cat. With the Olympics and Paralympics proving a welcome distraction from the current issues impacting our daily lives right now, Kengo Kuma, is a man you should know. He’s the Japanese architectural icon behind the Japan…

Livestreaming from the Sydney Opera House on September 5th, Antidote 2021 promises an exciting and inspiring line-up of speakers for its fifth celebration of ideas, action, and change. Speakers including Elizabeth Kolbert, Benjamin Law, Ronnie Gorrie, Bri Lee, Rick Morton, Cathy Park Hong, and Scott Ludlam will cover a wide range of topics, from climate…

In the comfortably chic apartment “La Vie En Rose” cackles on the gramophone. “A life in pink”, as it translates. “Miss Nightingale” swishes through the sheer curtains to fix the crack in the record. Karla Hillam is Miss Nightingale and her voice and looks are perfect for the role. A shock of red hair falls…

The NSW Government have announced that the forthcoming Vivid Sydney has been rescheduled in the interest of community health and safety.  Originally planned between August 6th and 28th, Vivid is now set for celebration from 17th September through to October 9th, 2021. “We all want to see Sydney shine through the spectacular show of creativity…

Kicking off just as mask restrictions (hopefully!) ease in Brisbane next week, the Brisbane Comedy Festival has got a stellar line-up planned for its 2021 iteration. With so much to choose from, including legends such as Ross Noble, Akmal, Cal Wilson, and Jimeoin, as well as internet sensations Nat’s What I Reckon and Christian Hull,…

If you want an example of the transportive power of dance then you need to look no further than Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra. This documentary packs a lot into its slender 96-minute run time, by tracing the origins of this First Nations dance troupe. This film draws together many facets and stories including the…