There are traditional cabaret MC’s and then there is Reuben Kaye. With an outrageous dress style, enough glitter to drown a Pride Mach and dark eyelashes that make him look like Jeannie Little has had a stroke, Reuben has gone to way too much effort to not let everyone have a good time. He prances,…
I’ve never had a hero like Tamblyn Lord. Well, unless Ash Ketchum, the protagonist of the 1990s animated children’s television show Pokémon, counts. Lord’s latest theatrical exploration, ‘Call of The Ice’, chronicles the voyage he painstakingly took in January 2016 to recreate the journey of his childhood (and lifelong) hero Sir Douglas Mawson. Now, as…
Do you enjoy watching scantily clad men and woman perform tantalising tasks, whilst sashaying across a stage enclosed in the famed Speigeltent? Well do I have a treat for you, Blanc de Blanc has just landed in Melbourne! So come one come all to St Kilda’s Winter Garden where things are about to get just…
Skye’s mum has a new boyfriend. His name is Jason and they’re all moving to Port Flinders with him. But Jason is bad news, and Skye’s mum is in too deep, unable – or unwilling – to see the danger Skye and her little brother, walking animal fact factory Ben, are in. So Ben and…
Australian theatre is so male and white. Main stage subscriber theatre is irrelevant. Theatre is a boutique heritage industry. I have been having these conversations for years and to varying degrees these statements are true. But culture is not static, it grows and evolves and theatre is now transforming itself; driven by the artist that…
The latest artwork to be announced for Sydney’s Barangaroo precinct will be created by German artist Sabine Hornig. The installation- which will include large-scale semitransparent images of local Sydney plants- will be Barangaroo’s largest permanent public art piece to date. Commissioned by The Lendlease Art Advisory under the Barangaroo PublicArt and Cultural Plan, the piece,…
Buildings dressed in blood red lighting; hipsters running around a rocky, pitch-black industrial playground ducking in and out of old warehouses with a hot toddy in hand; inverted polly waffles cooked over campfires and handed out to shamelessly salivating foodies; a single helicopter performing impressive choreography over Hobart’s spectacular waterfront while being blasted by an…
Winter blues getting you down? Get yourself to Adelaide this August and be prepared for things to heat up as the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival celebrates its 20th year! With a mammoth program of exhibitions, arts and cultural events across the state you’re bound to find something that’ll light your fire. Running throughout…
For decades the human race has benefited from someone and they didn’t even know her name. She was known simply as “HeLa” to those in the know and it was a cell line that has been used extensively in research and lead to some major medical breakthroughs. The book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks…
By definition, revolt means to “take violent action against an established government or ruler”, so the fact it is in the title of the show holds great weight in the tellings of this story. This original work by Alice Birch explores the notion of what being a woman means in the 21st century, and how our…
Get yourself ready for an evening of belly laughs and deep concentration because absurdism is back, and it is better than ever! Tom Stoppard‘s groundbreaking 20th century absurdist play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and thanks to the National Theatre Live, you are able to see it fresh from its…
He is known for his energetic and spell-binding live performances, as well as amassing over 40 million album and DVD sales worldwide, and now the world’s leading pop classical artist, André Rieu, has announced his annual Maastricht concert will once again be beamed into cinemas across Australia in celebration of his 30th year in music….
Outstanding performances from four extremely talented Australian actors make Sunset Strip worthy of the (relatively small) price of admission. The Uncertainty Principle and Griffin Independent Theatre have delivered a beautiful piece of theatre. Just don’t expect sunshine and laughter. By a dried up lake somewhere in regional Australia is a once-thriving holiday town called Sunset…
Most people would be familiar with the story of Cyrano De Bergerac – doesn’t ring a bell? – perhaps you’re more familiar with the 1987 film adaptation Roxanne, with Steve Martin as the plays protagonist Cyrano. Written in 1897, the themes of Edmond Rostand’s play are as relevant today as when he wrote it. Questions…
It is the night we honour and celebrate Australia’s vibrant live performance industry, and recognise distinguished achievements within musical theatre, contemporary music, comedy, opera, classical music, theatre, ballet, dance and physical theatre, presentation for children, regional touring and cabaret. Live Performance Australia Chief Executive Evelyn Richardson said, “This year has been a remarkable year for live…
With a career spanning close to 30 years, Shepard Fairey is a veteran of world street art. In Sydney to talk as part of Vivid Idea’s Game Changers program as well as unveil a new mural work (his largest to date) and exhibition, he spoke of his early days building the now iconic Obey project…
According to the contestants on this year’s series of Masterchef, 30 minutes is not long enough to infuse a dish with the flavour punch the judges are looking for. But it’s more than enough time for the cast and crew of SLUT, on now at the Old Fitz theatre. This whirlwind of a play is…
A show five years in the making – Wireless is eerily eruptive, quietly volatile and infinite in a confined space. A slightly different experience every time, the show works on ambient technology bending to the will of the performers in this dance theatre conquest. Director and Choreographer Lisa Wilson explained the show is deeply rooted…
June is married to Leo, but she’s also having an affair with his twin brother Rob, and her personal trainer Hellmut. And a Catholic priest, John. Leo, meanwhile, is sleeping with Rob’s sister Michelle, his therapist Dr Shaw, as well as the family au pair Melissa. On top of all of this, June and Leo…
Put on your best ABBA outfits because Porpoise Spit’s most iconic export Muriel Heslop is back, and this time she’s singing! A new musical adaption of one of Australia’s most beloved films, Muriel’s Wedding, hits the stage this November and after a long and exhaustive search the new Muriel has been found! Newcomer Maggie Mckenna…
You can tell the moment that Tina Del Twist (Wes Snelling) lurches out onto stage, with a bottle clutched in her hand, knocking over several props along the way, that this is going to be a wild ride. Introducing her band, visible to only Tina, she reminisces about her recent “world tour”, which we suspect…
We often make breakthroughs when we reserve judgement and keep things like fear and prejudice at bay. Yet as humans the notion of embracing ambiguity can be a hard thing to swallow because the only certain things in life are death and taxes. Matt Whale is the founder and managing director of How To Impact,…
The Red Stitch Theatre is utterly beguiling. I’m not sure if it is the fact that they are staging a play set in the Victorian era, or the inviting smell of mulled wine that makes me want to talk like this, but one thing’s for sure, it’s fitting. Affectionately dubbed ‘The Red Shed’, Red Stitch…
If having Jai Courtney in the title role wasn’t enough to draw theatregoers in, let it be known that this modern-day reimagining of Shakespeare‘s Macbeth is like watching a Hollywood blockbuster come to life on stage. Right from the get-go, it’s as if we are immersed into the world of Mad Max with its rough guts…
An art memoir with a difference, A Forger’s Tale doesn’t trace the life and work of a celebrated artist, but that of Shaun Greenhalgh, one of Britain’s most infamous art forgers. A working class kid from England’s North West, whose backyard workshop was jokingly referred by police as “the northern annex of the British Museum,”…
Written from a prison cell, British art forger Shaun Greenhalgh‘s memoir A Forger’s Tale details his life and work , from the faux Victorian pot lids of his childhood to the Armana princess that led Scotland Yard to his door. Accompanying the book’s release, The AU Review’s Jodie B. Sloan had a chat with Shaun about…
Ahead of its season at St. Kilda’s Map 57 winter garden, we chat with Scott Maidment, the brains behind the wildly successful LIMBO and BLANC de BLANC productions. With both shows now worldwide events, Maidment brings us up to speed on where BLANC de BLANC is at. Firstly, a congratulations on the 600th performance of LIMBO. I’ve had the chance to see…
The emergence of participatory art with a desire to move viewers out of the role of passive observers into the role of co-creators has been evolving for decades in contemporary art and theatre practice and theory. In the 70’s, artist and activist Joseph Beuys created the term “Social Sculpture” to illustrate his idea of art’s…
I was a week late to the game on seeing this one, as I was overseas during opening week, and try as I might I couldn’t help watching as the glowing reviews went up one by one. I mean really, with the likes of Hayden Tee and Matthew Backer I knew Hayes was on another winner,…
Back in February I was privileged to interview Broadway star Sierra Boggess, and I remember getting off the phone feeling every chirpier than I normally am – and that’s a lot! I connected with her in many ways but one attribute of hers which really came through was her outlook on the world. She is…
