What is Christmas like with your family? I can guarantee it’s not nearly as dysfunctional as the one depicted in Mary Rachel Brown’s new play, Silent Night. Chock-full of jokes and characters that have to be seen to be believed, this is a play that makes the final rush to the supermarket on Christmas Eve…
Circus Oz are mixing things up in their upcoming season by creating circus rock opera performance, The Strange and Spektakulär Lives of Otto & Astrid. Artist Director Rob Tannion has brought Otto & Astrid from the Berlin-based band Die Roten Punkte onboard to lead the instrumentals. The duo will perform alongside the evocative Circus Oz acrobats. A sneak peak…
No longer confined to the back streets of grungy inner-city suburbs, street art has really started to make it’s mark on Australia’s urban landscape. Among the artists who create these modern monoliths is Kiama-local Claire Foxton. Her realistic portraits, rendered in tremendous detail, pay homage to local heroes from across the country. Claire is one of…
Between February 9th and March 4th 2018 the Perth International Arts Festival invites audiences to see art in a different light, and revel in a smorgasbord of captivating cultural experiences, with something for everyone. 2018 marks Artistic Director Wendy Martin’s third year at the helm, as well as the Festival’s 65th Anniversary. To celebrate the…
Find out what happens when the legendary Sherlock Holmes comes up against a distinctly Australian series of crimes, in Sherlock Holmes: The Australian Casebook. Commissioned by Holmes super fan Christopher Sequiera, The Australian Casebook sees the world’s greatest detective and his stalwart friend and chronicler head down under. Writers range from historical crime fiction mavens…
The world is becoming increasingly complex and fast-paced. Many people are feeling out of touch with their spiritual sides and this can manifest itself in a series of mental and physical ailments. Intuitive is a book written by Craigh Wilson, an experienced medical and business intuitive who has spent decades working in an area that…
The National Library of Australia’s publishers have managed to turn back time with their latest book, Living The 1960s. In the book, Australian actress and comedian, Noeline Brown takes us all for a stroll down memory lane through an important decade in her life, and in the lives of her contemporaries. Living the 1960s is a fun slice…
Have you ever looked at a really pretty building and thought, ‘I wonder what that would look like as a dress?” Well, wonder no more my friend because Melbourne’s next generation of architects and designers are coming together to make your weird but wonderful day dreams come true. Gaining inspiration form famous landmarks around Melbourne,…
The 2017 Create NSW & Artspace NSW Visual Arts Fellowship winner has been announced as Claudia Nicholson. Starting in 1900, it is one of the nation’s oldest arts awards, and see’s the Sydney artist take home $30,000. Funding a self-directed program of professional development over two years, Nicholson will travel to Mexico and the USA…
The GFC hit 10 years ago, yet it’s wave still lingers on. In a post GFC world, wages are stagnant, jobs are threatened, house prices skyrocket and global warming’s dark cloud hangs in concert. 10 years on, we’re still asking questions; how did this happen? Can it happen again? And, if so, who’s best equipped…
Tess Holliday is a woman that knows all about obstacles. Standing at five-foot-five and wearing a size 26 in clothes, there was a time when if she’d told people she was an aspiring model their reactions would have been laughter and/or scorn. But these days she can thumb her nose at her detractors, because she…
It is rare these days that a complete collection of short stories can sustain a sense of breathless wonder throughout each and every piece included in its pages. In a modern age of mobile phones and social media, short stories present us with an interesting challenge. While they are short enough to cater to our…
The winning emerging artists from a range of creative disciplines for the Helpmann Academy competition have been announced. In its second round of competitive grants for 2017, a total of $46,000 has been awarded to support a total of sixteen projects. The projects include professional development opportunities such as international residencies, workshops, exhibitions, performances, film projects,…
To some people, “Atlantis” is a utopian city lost underneath a wall of water. For Lally Katz it’s a semi-autobiographical play about her mid-30s trip home to America as a newly-single girl. The results are like Bridget Jones played by Kathy Lette. With a panther thrown into the mix. Because you can. Katz is no…
It might be a few months before Sydneysiders will get their chance to see the new rendition of Mamma Mia! The Musical live on stage at the Capitol Theatre, but the cast are hard at work in the city rehearsing. That’s because before arriving in Sydney on February 11th, they’re kicking off their tour in…
This weekend Chippendale’s vibrant Kensington Street precinct will be hosting various works from a diverse group of artists, chefs, designers, filmmakers and photographers from Singapore. Singapore: Inside Out, a multi-sensory creative showcase which has seen enormous success in cities like New York and Tokyo, will be stretched across three days, kicking off tonight with a…
Ready for November? We can’t believe it’s that late in the year either – but thankfully, with Summer right around the corner, incredible entertainment can be found all over the country. Here’s just 7 such shows and events to get excited about this month…. Future Park (Sydney) Combining science and imagination to create a futuristic…
Sydney’s Art Gallery of NSW (from 27 Oct 2017 to 4 Mar 2018) is about to celebrate one of the most renowned photographers of the 20th century, an artist who understood the medium’s ability to alter perceptions and push boundaries. The comprehensive survey of Robert Mapplethorpe’s career, features more than 200 works, from still lifes…
Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson, the voices behind Guys We Fucked: The Anti-Slut Shaming Podcast, have travelled from the podcast to the page with F*cked: Being Sexually Explorative and Self-Confident in a World That’s Screwed. Put down the rom-com and stick the rosé back in the fridge because you don’t need a man, and Fisher…
80% of Indigenous souvenirs sold in this country are fake! Adding insult to this injury, much of this product is being manufactured overseas as part of a very damaging unregulated industry going on in Australia around the Fake Art trade of Indigenous art. Through the hard work of advocates like Nancy Bamaga, managing director of…
Christmas is coming early to the Eternity Playhouse with Darlinghurst Theatre Company set to host the world premiere of Silent Night. In the directorial hands of Glynn Nicholas and featuring some of Australia’s best comedic actors, we figured the rehearsal process has been an absolute riot. We asked cast members Amanda Bishop, Aaron Glenane, Michael…
Grace Under Pressure examines workplace and training within the health industry and presents a verbatim theatre project in which four performers recite transcripts from real interviews with healthcare professionals at varying stages of their careers. Created by David Williams and Paul Dwyer, in collaboration with the Sydney Arts and Health Collective, Grace Under Pressure presents…
How much do children perceive of the world around them? How do children cope with sadness? Hannah Cox and Caitlin West tackle these tricky questions in Tammy & Kite, a play about two sisters whose love for each other appears to be stronger than anything the world can throw at them. The performance opens with…
It is clichéd to say that a picture tells a thousand words. But there’s also some truth to this and one photographer who certainly knew and appreciated how an image could confound or shape one’s perception is Robert Mapplethorpe. He is the late artist, photographer and former muse to Patti Smith. The Perfect Medium is…
A true tale of mental illness told from the perspective of both the sufferer and the bewildered friend, Eyes Too Dry is a joint venture from Alice Chipkin and Jessica ‘Tava’ Tavassoli. Switching between Tava, a medical student slipping into a deep depression, and housemate Alice, losing herself in her friend’s darkening struggle, this graphic…
Taronga Zoo is shifting into a space of contemporary art, offering a wild lens into the relationship humans have with birds through an outdoor photo exhibition. QBE Muse @ Taronga is the stunning photographic work of artist and wildlife advocate, Leila Jemarks. Running from the 1st to 30th November 2017, the exhibition celebrates the 20th…
In the first half of the twentieth century, the Australian media began spreading tales of a huge, lightning fast species of snake that was seemingly taking lives at a rate of knots. Attaining a near mythical status, the nguman, or taipan, was all too real. The press demonised them, wary farmers hunted them, and desperate…
Bell Shakespeare Company’s latest production of The Merchant of Venice has a few high points. But overall Director Anne-Louise Sarks has played it pretty safe and as a result there’s nothing about this show that really stands out. Listed among Shakespeare’s comedies, The Merchant of Venice contains some of Shakespeare’s most well-known characters. First, there’s…
This year marks the 20th anniversary since the death of the legendary, Michael Hutchence. In this time, a lot of books and articles have been published about this enigmatic man. A new biography, Shine Like It Does, from journalist Toby Creswell, may not be the most necessary title, but his book is an intriguing one; with Creswell managing…
Hold on to your broomsticks because Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is coming to Australia! After sell-out seasons in London and New York, the smash-hit stage show is making its way to Melbourne. The two-part play will open in early 2019 and run exclusively at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre. “When we embarked on this journey,…
