After another successful season in Sydney, the Melbourne Opera Australia season will be kicking off from the 4th May at the Art Centre Melbourne. One of the productions on offer is Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci, a double opera of interweaving tragedy and drama. We caught up with José Carbó ahead of the new season to discuss his dual…
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 Australia. We decided…
In his latest collection, Perth author John Kinsella creates a uniquely Australian text that drops the reader seamlessly into the turning points in the lives of men, women, and children. Old Growth offers twenty-seven short stories set in recognisable West Australian landscapes from suburban Perth to dusty bush terrains and empty rural pubs. Kinsella’s language…
This will be the best night out at the theatre you will ever experience. But be warned; no one is safe. If you’re not into audience participation then this show probably isn’t for you but I’m telling you now if you miss this show you will be sorry. Fresh from sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival…
I officially have a new hobby – seeing any National Theatre Live film that comes to Australia. This is a genius concept that has been going on for a number of years but this particular viewing was my first time. Imagine being able to see the best of British theatre at the cinemas?! Genius I tell…
There is nothing quite like seeing a contemporary ballet reflect the world in which we live in. For such a traditional dance form where discipline is paramount in the execution of movement, to see such fluidity and freedom amidst the dancers is refreshing and forward-thinking. The Australian Ballet‘s Artistic Director David McAllister says this triple…
CARMEN. Big block letters spell out the opera in fierce red against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour, an outline of a bull back to back with the lettering. Nothing takes away from the thrill of gazing upon the stage at Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour each year and seeing the cityscape stretch behind, but this…
There’s all manner of comedy at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, from theatre, to stand up to improv. We have already put together a bunch of great shows you go and see already. Some people like to go all out and either shock, deal with subjects that push the edge, or simply provide thought-provoking stuff…
Earlier this year it was announced that The Copyright Agency was to team up with remote publishing house Magabala Books, and the Australian Literary Educators Association to devise a series of specially created teaching resources for 15 Indigenous stories; which would then be made available to teachers via the Reading Australia website. These resources have…
Thanks to the National Trust, over 1000 events have been announced to showcase throughout the Australian Heritage Festival this year. The event, which is the larger and longest running festival celebrating Australia’s natural, historic Indigenous and multicultural heritage, is presenting yet another dynamic program of productions across its five week run from April 18th. Proudly supported…
VIVID Ideas has dropped its program for 2017, hosting over 200 events over 23 days and nights. Leading the charge is and exclusive festival appearance by American artist Shepard Fairey – best known for his Barack Obama HOPE campaign and his OBEY GIANT art project – at the Sydney Town Hall. Along with Fairey’s appearance as part of VIVID…
Seated inside The Parlour at The Royal Croquet Club on the final night of the Adelaide Fringe Festival, I witness a duo get decidedly dark about the fascinating and oftentimes all-consuming culture of social media. Honor and Patrick present CULL; it’s a show of strobes and online drinking challenges. A show of YouTube vloggers and…
Beginning in 1989, Chimerica brings us Joe Schofield, an American Photojournalist stationed in Beijing. Sitting in his hotel room during the Tiananmen protests, he manages to snap the all-famous photograph of Tank Man – a young student standing defiantly in the way of a line of tanks. Fast forward to 2012 and Joe, now back…
Oh yes, people! It’s that time of year again where Melbourne becomes a haven for the utterly hilarious and outrageous. We thought we’d help you out with five Aussie and international acts to see at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The programme is a cracking one but here’s our input to help make your decision…
It’s not every day you get to see a magician live on stage who has been mentored by the best in the world, Penn and Teller. Kevin Quantum, AKA Kevin McMahon, was a regular guy once, a scientist in fact, but in the mid-2000s, a popular reality TV show called Faking It saw him chosen to be trained in a…
Diary of a Wombat is an Australian classic. I doubt there’s an Aussie kid born after 2002 who hasn’t read the charming picture book, or had it read to them! The story follows a rather rotund and determined wombat called Mothball who causes all sorts of trouble for a couple of humans after she discovers that…
Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S Pinafore sailed into Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre this week to the sound of resounding applause. It was Melbourne Opera’s first time tackling G&S, and I was extremely intrigued to see how this comedic opera would play out on stage. For me there’s something so special about the Athenaeum Theatre, it allows for…
Lindy West was one of the highlights from this year’s All About Women festival at the Sydney Opera House. So it is unsurprising that this Guardian columnist and Jezebel blogger’s book, Shrill – Notes From A Loud Woman is funny, accomplished and excellent. West’s book is ultimately a hybrid between memoir, with personal anecdotes, and…
A new take on a theatrical classic makes this Calamity Jane a must-see. And the classic I’m referring to is not the musical – it’s the oft ridiculed theatrical style of ‘Broadway dinner theatre’. Everything bar the meal is here: interactions with the audience, contemporary references (insert Trump joke here), entrances and exits through the…
Jazz by the Bay, WA’s annual Jazz festival, has just announced the first of its scheduled acts, which will include several international acts for the first time in its 5-year history. The festival is a celebration for Jazz lovers from Perth and beyond, and also includes local food and wine experiences. This year, the event…
The Chemsex Monologues is a 2016 play written by British playwright Patrick Cash and performed by London Ensemble, Dragonflies Theatre. It is a confronting look at the anonymous underground world of gay sex parties in London. The narrator (Richard Watkins), sitting in a chair on a bare stage launches into graphic description of his night on drugs and…
It’s that time of the Fringe when you feel like you’ve seen all the big shows in the major hubs. There’s a week left, surely there’s more to the Fringe than the Garden. Now’s the time to venture further out to smaller venues such as Tandanya, Tuxedo Cat or the Producers. It’s upstairs at the…
Settle. Despite the misleading title of the show, Nick doesn’t actually set himself on fire. Looking past that slightly disappointing fact, what he does do is make you laugh. On Fire is the quintessential Aussie stand-up show. No-one is safe. Bogans, Hooligans, his mum – they all cop it in this show. And it’s funny….
Canadian YouTube star, comedian, actress and writer Lilly Singh, a.k.a iiSuperwomanii, will be hitting up Australia in a matter of months on a book tour, supporting the release of her upcoming debut book – How To Be A Bawse: A Guide to Surviving Conquering Life. Taking in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne before heading across the ditch to…
After huge success with its first ever Brisbane based run in 2016, the World Science Festival will once again host a series of events in the River City. Organised by the Queensland Museum Network, a selection of events at this year’s festival will celebrate the relationship between art and science. Traditionally recognised as two very…
The Australian Premiere of Big Fish is coming to Hayes Theatre Co from 18 April to 14 May 2017. Based on the celebrated novel by Daniel Wallace and the acclaimed film directed by Tim Burton, Big Fish centres on a travelling salesman whose larger-than-life stories thrill everyone around him. But their son Will, about to…
Bram Stoker’s gothic masterpiece Dracula is set to swoop the country and will visit Riverside Theatres in Parramatta from 1st to 4th April for a strictly limited season. Created and adapted by one of Australia’s leading contemporary theatre companies, shake & stir theatre co, this critically acclaimed adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror-classic is every…
When we think of an “Australian story” the ones that typically spring to mind are predominantly about the country, bush or the past. So what is a reader to do when they want something that reflects their own modern life in the Western suburbs of Sydney? Thankfully, Peter Polites has answered this in his debut…
There are some standout performances in White Box’s production of Blackrock, now playing at Sydney’s Seymour Centre, but they’re not enough to lift it to the heights this play deserves. At a time when violence against women remains high in our nation’s consciousness, we need plays like Nick Enright’s Blackrock to hit us where it…
Tonight’s instalment of ABC’s Q&A will be a little different from normal. For a start, regular host Tony Jones has been given the week off. Taking on hosting responsibilities in his place will be comedian Tom Ballard. This weeks Q&A will also be coming to you direct from the Adelaide Festival of the Arts. With…
