On Wednesday night Perth’s His Majesty’s Theatre stage was transformed into the ornate halls of the Vatican for the opening night of The Last Confession, presented here for the first time in Australia, with venerated British actor David Suchet (Poirot to so many) making his Australian stage debut as Cardinal Benelli. Set in 1978, The…
Satyagraha is the third opera of the Philip Glass Trilogy that the State Opera of South Australia has presented this week. Telling the story of Gandhi, it draws inspiration and fragments from the first two Operas. It has the repetitive melody of Einstein on the Beach but is more story based like Akhnaten. The play…
Larry Heath sat down with two-thirds of Australian comedian trio Axis of Awesome just before they hit the stage back in May 2014 at the YouTube Fan Fest. You can now listen to our full conversation here:
The Imperial War Museums (IWM) flagship location in London has spent the last year undergoing a transformation in anticipation of the centenary of the First World War (WWI). This past weekend, the transformed museum reopened to the public for the first time, featuring a major redevelopment of their Atrium, designed by Foster + Partners, two…
This week, the surviving members of iconic British Comedy troupe Monty Python bring their run of “reunion” shows in London to an end. Their first performances under the Python banner since 1980’s infamous Hollywood Bowl gig, their return to the stage was met with as much anticipation as it was trepidation – aren’t they too…
We all have our slight addictions, many of them relatively benign like coffee. For others like the protagonists of Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography, the most recent production in Perth Theatre Company’s 2014 season, they are more extreme and not without their consequences – whether it be his addiction to hardcore pornography on the Internet…
Vivid Sydney has once again proven that the arts are en vogue, with more than 1.43 million people – that’s more than the population of Adelaide – attending the 18 day light, music and ideas festival. The number breaks the record set in 2013 by 79 percent. On this news, NSW Deputy Premier and Minister…
RabbitHead is the latest production from Little y Theatre Co and Whatshesaid. Directed by Ian Sinclair RabbitHead is a darkly absurd Australian comedy and performative response to Barbara Baynton’s gothic novel The Chosen Vessel. It’s a strange work – full of oddities and quirks, and even now, a day or so later, I’m still not…
The paranormal has long captured the interests of writers, directors and actors alike. You can even go into bookshops and find whole shelves devoted to the genre. Werewolf Priest!: The Lamentable Ballad of Father Hank Grimby, the latest production from writer, director and producer Levon J Polinelli both continues this burgeoning genre, and successfully parodies…
Wish is the latest production from Perth Theatre Company, and the first in its new season. Adapted by Actor and Director Humphrey Bower from the Peter Goldsworthy novel of the same name, Wish is a charming yet challenging piece of theatre, which will perhaps leave a few unsuspecting patrons unsettled and uncomfortable. Wish is the…
Larry Heath sits down with Canadian comedians Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice (Kenny and Spenny) during Canadian Music Week in Toronto. They talk about their new touring show “Kenny vs Spenny vs Canada”, their broken relationship and their love and/or hatred of Australians. See More of our interview on The Iris – HERE – as…
Elephents, the latest brainchild from writer Jeffrey Jay Fowler, has all the hallmarks of a good soap opera; love triangles, dramatic deaths and even the odd elephant or two. It’s sort of like Neighbours or Home and Away, you know, if either were set in a dystopian world plagued by power cuts and where going…
the AU review sits down with Andrew Batt-Rawden, the man behind “New Wave: Sound” at the Seymour Centre during VIVID Sydney in June 2014. We find out what the event – now in its second year – is all about; a weekend of 100% Australian artists performing 100% Australian music. We learn about the highlights…
I met with Baz Luhrmann’s long time co-writer Craig Pearce at The Star in Sydney, as the cast and crew were feverishly preparing for the premiere of Strictly Ballroom – while the Lyric Theatre itself underwent a facelift in time for its glamorous debut. We headed into The Star’s new food court for lunch and…
After months of will they/won’t they speculation, the Monty Python team have confirmed that they will NOT be touring their hugely successful reunion shows outside of the UK. To give fans that were holding out hope one last chance to buy tickets, tickets to the 10th and final show on the 20th of July will…
The musical The King and I is returning to Australia, with a production fronted by an incredible cast including Lisa McCune, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Adrian Li Donni and Jenny Liu. We talk to the four of them about their roles, what it means for them to be performing in such an iconic musical, and we…
I met with Baz Luhrmann’s long time co-writer Craig Pearce at The Star in Sydney, as the cast and crew were feverishly preparing for the premiere of Strictly Ballroom – while the Lyric Theatre itself underwent a facelift in time for its glamorous debut. We headed into The Star’s new food court for lunch and…
You may have already read about some of my adventures earlier last week at the Hype Machine Party. I mentioned I snuck out during the set, and as it turns out, I actually ended up going to a SXSW comedy event for the first time, to catch “surprise” headliner Sinbad, in a showcase hosted by…
Isabella Rossellini steps onto the stage in front of a full house at Her Majesty’s Theatre to rousing applause. She is carrying a basket with two bunches of flowers, one of beautiful blooms and one of weed-like plants and explains how the blooms act like foreplay to the insects, which fertilise the flowers, whereas the…
The anticipation in the air was palpable as the Elder Hall filled with people waiting to hear John Waters speak for the Adelaide Festival. The stage is minimalist – a green floral arrangement on a white stand with red lighting at the rear. John enters the stage resplendent in a grey checked suit with his…
It’s not too often you get to say “well now that’s something I never thought I’d see”. I guess the last time was when Neutral Milk Hotel came to town, fulfilling many dreams of my high school years. And tonight was something of a similar feeling. Having never performed shows outside of North America before,…
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is up there as one of Shakespeare’s most oft performed plays. There have been countless as adaptations and reinterpretations over the years, but I’d imagine there are few as wonderfully strange and eclectic as Russian director Dmitry Krymov’s interpretation A Midsummer Night’s Dream (As You Like It). As clichéd as it…
Heroes and tyrants, Gods and Mortals, and ancient armies all clashed on stage on Sunday night. All of them brought to vivid life by one man, actor and co-writer Denis O’Hare, for the Australian premiere of the An Iliad. A captivating and engaging adaptation and reinterpretation of Homer’s Iliad by US collective Homer’s Coat, that…
Larry Heath sits down with Eamon Flack, the director of Once in Royal David’s City – Michael Gow’s new play which just premiered at the Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Performances run until 23rd March. We talk about the play, working with the amazing cast and more. More details: http://belvoir.com.au/productions/once-in-royal-davids-city/
Every two years, Melbourne’s much respected Circus Oz pitch their tent in Sydney, and while it might feel like just yesterday that the troupe were last here, that time has arrived once again, with Thursday night holding the opening night premiere of the newest Circus Oz production: Cranked Up. While Sydney Festival offers circus and…
Ahead of the premiere next week of LIMBO as part of Sydney Festival, I spoke to Danik Abishev about his role in the show described as a “dirty and dangerous circus-cabaret”. Danik, meanwhile, is described as an “aggressive hand balancer”. Find out what that means and more about the show in this interview! LIMBO looks…
Meet Bruce. He’s a “hero” cop, turned bestselling author, turned astronaut, turned time traveller. He’s also the titular star of Tim Watts’ and Wyatt Nixon-Lloyd’s new production Bruce. Oh and in case you hadn’t noticed already he’s a giant yellow foam block. Suffice to say this is a show like none other you will see…
Tea is commonly thought of as a sweet and calming beverage. We do not immediately associate it with salt, death, and the political upheaval in Kashmir, because we do not speak about it — but that is exactly what artist Alana Hunt is trying to change. “Cups of nun chai; a memorial” is a work…
‘Boy meets girl…’ – On the face of it, Trampoline is about just that – a boy (Matt) meeting a girl (Kelly) and falling in love. If only it was as simple as that. Matt is a compulsive dreamer, the lines between reality and his dreams are blurred, meaning most of his attempts to have…
Larry Heath sits down with half of Melbourne’s World’s End Press to talk about their debut self-titled album (Out October 4th) and much more…
