There’s potential for the material in Alice Fraser’s Empire tone the basis of many inspirational talking engagements (she’s actually done a TED talk, so maybe she’s already there), but a show that gives us depth and meaning weren’t so much funny but reflective. Fraser doesn’t shy away from the tricky and the thoughtful. Starting on…
There’s nothing quite like enjoying a late night comedy show on a weeknight and strolling the streets of Melbourne with fellow comedy goers. 3 Course Comedy enticed me by their title first and foremost, mostly because I’m a foodie and I love a good degustation. Plus, why not support up and coming comedians! Each night the line-up changes…
Heading to the bottom of The Victoria Hotel is a somewhat weird experience. You’re in this dark room, with all kinds of spookiness looking to burst out of you. But really all that bursts out is delightful Becky Lucas with a charm and wit that lights up the room. Lucas captures people’s attention for her…
There’s a brashness with Nick Cody. He seems like the friendliest person that you could meet your friend’s BBQ and just chat to about all manner of things. But at the other end, he seems like someone who could evaporate you with a flick of his pointy finger if you piss him off. This was…
SEX! Now that I’ve got your attention – imagine a darkened room, an empty stage, when suddenly a 27-year-old, self-described as the love child of Kurt Cobain and the Paddle Pop Lion, demonstrates his conception and birth using various props and an amply-placed curtain. The man is Grant Busé and it’s the intro into his…
Back by popular demand, Hidden Sydney – The Glittering Mile will return 25 May – 18 June 2017 as part of Vivid Sydney’s Kings Cross program. Hidden Sydney – an immersive cabaret experience celebrating Kings Cross in the 50s, 60s and 70s at the Nevada-the former Sydney brothel which boasted the biggest bed in the world….
Guy Montgomery has this interestingly crescendo-like style of stand-up in Let’s All Get In A Room Together. It’s certainly a set full of happiness and goofiness, free from any political doom and gloom that many other comedy shows are focusing on this festival, but he can certainly be set to go on a really good story which rises to…
It was just like any other Sunday evening as I sat in the audience of the Palms theatre at Melbourne’s Crown Casino. However, on this particular evening, two men were about to walk onstage, throw off their cloaks, and perform for a paying audience the ‘ancient art of genital origami.’ For those a bit slow…
Talk is a play that feels like Frontline version 2.0. It’s a satirical look at the modern state of journalism, a place that has seen many experienced reporters lose their jobs while amateurs and citizen journalists have risen up. This Sydney Theatre Company production is a searing indictment on the current media climate as it…
With a characteristically flamboyant style, Rhys Nicholson could be the best-dressed-in-show for the whole of the comedy festival. He has a theatrical sensibility to him, and subsequently can be the most melodramatic-in-show for the damn festival as well. As a result, Nicholson doesn’t keep a slow pace through his hour dubbed I’m Fine. Which is…
DeAnne Smith loves to poke fun. She pokes fun subtly. She pokes fun with as much full-on intensity too and there’s a bit of intriguing wit in there as well while we are at it. The title of her show, Post-Joke Era is a simple phrase which kind of encapsulates what is all shitty with society….
What happens when two masters of the unconscious meet at opposing ends of their careers? It’s an idea explored thoroughly by Hysteria, in which a near-death Sigmund Freud accepts a visit from a flashy young painter named Salvador Dali. In tribute to the genius of both men, Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s Hysteria is complex, thought-provoking and…
At the sudden reverberation of a thud-like sound, the State Theatre was pitch black. And so began Matthew Bourne‘s incomparable adaptation of Lord of the Flies. For those who have never read the book, seen the play or the movie, then this theatre experience will leave you feeling triumphant and proud, for what you will witness is…
White Rabbit Red Rabbit describes itself as “a lively, global sensation that no-one is allowed to talk about”. There are no rehearsals, no director, a different actor each night, and a script that waits in a sealed envelope on the stage. Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour has created a most intriguing theatrical experience, and it’s currently…
What can be said about an Aunty Donna show that is negative? Nothing much really. The troupe are truly at the top of their game after years and years of sketch shows and Youtube antics and they do it without any grand pomp or ceremony. The comedy from Zack, Mark and Broden genuinely glow on…
This June, The Museum of Everything will be heading to Australia for the very first time with a curated exhibition at Hobart’s MONA. The exhibition will feature over 1500 works of art from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, arranged across a series of themed spaces designed to take visitors on an informal journey through…
The National 2017: New Australian Art, the first exhibition in a six year partnership, is now underway at three of Sydney’s premier cultural institutions – The Art Gallery of NSW, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Presented concurrently across the three institutions, The National 2017 features work by emerging, mid-career and established Australian…
Today the curators of the 21st Biennale of Sydney have announced the first group of 21 artists who will take part in the 21st instalment of the leading contemporary art event in the Asia-Pacific region. The 21st Biennale of Sydney will be presented across 12 weeks in 2018, from Friday 16th March until Monday 11th…
A bundle of energy greets you with when you take your seat at Tessa Waters’ Fully Sik. High fives pumping music and a pillow fight start things off. You’d call it a little absurd if the only type of fare you’re used to in comedy theatre is someone telling jokes into the microphone. In reality,…
The Art Gallery of Ballarat hosted the Guirguis New Art Prize award ceremony recently, with Melbourne’s Yhonnie Scarce taking home the $20,000 prize for her work, The More Bones the Better. The installation, made up of six medical beakers, hand blown glass and tubing, the work has been described as haunting and delicate, a culmination…
Running over 10 days this May, the YIRRAMBOI First Nations Arts Festival aims to celebrate diversity within Aboriginal culture through 60 events encompassing dance, music, theatre, film, talks and visual arts in Melbourne. Highlights of the festival program include a citywide treasure hunt – Barring Yanabul – on May 13th, a traditional welcome ceremony for…
Melbourne’s Anna Scwartz Gallery is hosting the impressive 10th solo exhibition by local artist and sculptor, Emily Floyd. The exhibition, entitled Icelandic Puffins, opens on April 8th and runs until May 13th, showcases Floyd’s technique for hand carving – the individual puffins come next to Icelandic text identifying members of the financial elite. Of course,…
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival has hundreds of performers and shows worth seeing – that’s the most obvious statement of the most obvious of obvious-towns. There are a huge amount of great showcases throughout the festival too – one of them being The Comedy Zone, a showcase of fresh and amazing comedic talent from around…
Walking into Josie Long’s show was a strange experience. Thinking that I was late, Long was singing and doing her funky moves while singing into the microphone. It’s certainly a different way to start a show, and I liked it. I’d not like to have the heart attack thinking I was late though next time…
There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned girl’s night out, so when this show came onto my radar I had to rally up my bestie and make a night of it. The idea of this show is that each night, three different female comedians will take to the stage with Cath Styles as the MC. Now,…
I am no stranger to the man that is Joel Creasey and with a career as successful as his, you’re a downright nuffy if you haven’t heard of him! I saw his show at last year’s MICF and looooved it, but there is something about this year’s that is a whole other level. Yes, Creasey will…
Triple J Breakfast just isn’t the same without the dream team Matt and Alex. I really miss listening to their friendly banter and views on certain issues that overwhelm our society, so it was a no-brainer to head along to Matt Okine‘s one-man show and have a good ol’ catch up. Okine’s style of comedy is really…
Andy Zaltzman is a comedian who I knew little about prior to me seeing him. Weirdly, I knew him as the brother of Helen Zaltzman, a host on the very funny Answer Me This! podcast. But it was only when he was announced that I found out that he co-hosted a pretty hilarious podcast of his…
Titanic The Exhibition arrives in Sydney for the first time ever from 8 April at The Byron Kennedy Hall, The Entertainment Quarter. Experience the world’s largest and most comprehensive Titanic exhibition. Receive a real passengers boarding pass, come face to face with an actual iceberg, experience spectacular recreations and witness over 300 artefacts plus memorabilia…
It’s time to go through our monthly look at the best the art, theatre and cultural industries has to offer this upcoming month around Australia. We have a wide array of things to see, including comedy, spiritual journeys and reliving Whitney Houston movies… on stage! Go out and plan for these upcoming events for April…
