Set in a post apocalyptic wasteland in the not-too-distant future, The Big Dry leaves more questions than it attempts to answer. Firstly, it is a commentary on climate change and the dire options it potentially leaves our ancestors, but also is a discussion on the abilities of children if left to inherit the earth before…
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The nominees for the 16th Annual Helpmann Awards were announced this week and one production has already surged ahead – Matilda. The musical has garnered a staggering 13 nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The Roald Dahl adaptation earned nods in each of the Musical specific categories as well as getting recognition in…
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“Love is a bird that nobody can tame” sing Carmen. Nobody but director John Bell it seems, in the latest dramatic and colourful retelling of the popular opera. Right from the opening notes the music is familiar. The set is like that of a film, lending beautifully to the very film-like opera and bringing everything to…
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A modern day Broadway classic is reimagined by Australia’s rising theatre talent in The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy, now playing at Theatre Works in St Kilda. It is a perfect venue for the show, small, intimate and filled with dark corners for dark deeds. Telling a simple story set within the walls of…
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Disgraced – Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play is an enthralling experience for the audience lucky enough to find themselves in the Riverside Theatre of Parramatta. Director Sarah Goodes, along with designer Elizabeth Gadsby, expertly present the play and encapsulate audiences in a 90-minute sensation that stimulates thought, emotions, and further questions the notions of identity and belonging. Amir…
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You’ll be guaranteed to be singing the Cold Chisel classic after attending this production, but sadly the theatrical version doesn’t quite rise to the heights of its musical namesake. Written and produced by Aussie dramatist Wayne Tunks, Flame Trees is a story about the unforgiving nature of country towns. Past actions are not easily forgotten, as…
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The idea of a straight-up solo show is non existent to Sam Simmons. Strewn with all sorts of props on stage, Not A People Person is a show full of random thoughts and solo-sketches that make not laugh at any joke in particular but simply at the absurdity of it all. Simmons gets into a mode…
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This interview was so much more than your standard interview, and Barry Conrad is so much more than meets the eye. Here is a guy who has worked on fulfilling every part of his being and genuinely wants to leave his mark on the world. Not only is he undeniably talented, but he has a good…
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SWELL Sculpture Festival, the largest outdoor art exhibition in Queensland, has revealed the 55 artists that will be taking part in the 2016 event, held in September on the Gold Coast. Over a ten day period, Currumbin Beach will be transformed into a free outdoor gallery, featuring 50 works by both Australian and international artists….
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Hosted by the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts, in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, choreographers Stephanie Lake and Ross McCormack will present an intensely personal double-bill, in a brief run of shows from June 23rd to 25th. Deriving their work from a challenge set by Dancenorth artistic director Kevin Page, Lake and McCormack were asked to to…
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Lance Horne is a ridiculously talented multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, lyricist…everything. The Emmy award winner is on his way to Adelaide this weekend for an unforgettable show at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival – an opportunity to showcase his new album, First Things Last, not to mention some extra special surprises along the way. His one-night-only show in…
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Heather and Dave are expecting. Finding the perfect home for their growing family, they settle down to await the new arrival. But tragedy strikes and a grieving Heather finds no comfort in the new house they were so excited to share with their first born. The Paper House, the debut novel from Anna Spargo-Ryan, follows…
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On April 21st, musical innovator and icon Prince passed away at the age of 57. Since then the tributes have flown in, there have been covers of his songs posted, tribute concerts planned and memorials attended. Now the Blender Gallery in Paddington, NSW are staging their own tribute, showcasing their collection of photographs of the late…
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Street artistry sometimes straddles the line of either political, artful or a bunch of taggers making a building more ugly than it is, but the above mural from street artist Alex Lehours has made an impression on many walkers of the Sydney suburb of Sydney. The piece advertising the release of Deadpool on DVD, Blu-ray…
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As part of a joint venture between the Australian Greens party and Perth theatre group The Cutting Room Floor, WA Senator Scott Ludlam is taking over a home in suburbia, for a night of theatre from some of the city’s best and brightest upcoming artists. In Home Open: An Evening of Green, The Cutting Room…
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Heathers opened at the Sydney Opera House last Thursday night to standing ovation. Make sure you don’t miss one of your final chances to see one of the best new musicals to premiere in Australia in the past year. Still need more convincing? Here’s five very good reasons: 5. You loved the film If you worry…
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As we now get stuck into this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival, it’s pretty damn evident that Ali McGregor and Eddie Perfect are just getting started when it comes to rolling out a brilliantly curated program of performers over the next few weeks. Having Finucane & Smith back in Adelaide with their brand new production of The Birds is set…
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Filmmaker Gerry (Jeremy Waters) wants your children. More specifically, he wants to document the lives of five seven-year-old Australians, filming them for one day each year until they are 21. They are Roger (Jemwel Danao), Jessie (Chenoa Deemal), Susannah (Charlotte Hazzard), Zoe (Jody Kennedy) and Cameron (Taylor Wiese). We watch this unfold across two acts,…
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A new exhibit in East Hawthorne showcases the previously unseen watercolour paintings of Australian rock legend Jim Keays of The Masters Apprentices, best known for their 1970 hit single “Turn Up Your Radio.” Keays was lead vocalist, harmonica-player and guitarist of The Masters Apprentices, who released six records including Masterpiece from 1965 to their disbandment…
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He is a man of many words, but Artistic Director of the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) Paul Lightfoot is filled with incredible wisdom. Lightfoot kindly started his day with a Skype chat about the philosophies behind NDT, his journey with the company and the show he is bringing to our shores. You’ve had a beautiful journey with the NDT…
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Thanks to Zaya Altangerel for her help on this feature. Many wonder about the story of Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel, from the counterculture icons of the 60s to the tumultuous breakup right at the beginning of the 70s to their hugely-attended comeback concert in New York City’s Central Park. The duo have many stories…
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The Biennale of Sydney has announced that visitation to the 20th Biennale of Sydney: The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed, was the second highest on record. Curated by Artistic Director Dr. Stephanie Rosenthal, the 20th Biennale, which ran from 18 March – 5 June 2016, featured more than 200 works…
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For some, it wouldn’t have been the Adelaide Cabaret Festival without Rhonda Burchmore making an appearance throughout its run at some point. This year, audience members got more for their money, with the leggy Aussie icon returning to the stage alongside her ‘twin’, the irrepressible Trevor Ashley. Wrapping up their season in Adelaide at the Dunstan Playhouse…
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Oscar Wilde’s story of The Happy Prince reads much like a beautiful parable. Perhaps, this is why it seemed only appropriate to host the first ever musical tale of story in a church. Simon Chan, composer and artistic director at The Other Production Company, has translated Wilde’s beautiful story telling into equally beautiful music. Sharing the…
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Dita Von Teese is a name many will have heard about, but have not experienced in her full glitz and glamour. Associated with seduction, flawlessness and opulence, the American burlesque icon graced Adelaide’s Festival Theatre overnight to close out the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s official opening weekend – and our long weekend. An early announced headliner, Von…
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Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II is set for a radical makeover in a new production for Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre opening this July. Adapted by Australia’s Anthony Weigh, who is currently an Associate Artist at the renowned Donmar Warehouse Theatre in London, this Edward II speaks with a contemporary voice, referencing 21st century lust and politics. Unlike…
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There’s a sweet tenderness behind Hew Parham‘s popular clown character of Rudi. As the audience came to realise through the duration of Rudi’s The Rinse Cycle last night at the Festival Centre’s Artspace, Rudi is much more than a young clown put on stage to make us laugh. Those who were at the Cabaret Festival’s Variety Gala on…
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In The Block Universe time happens simultaneously, so just as you’re reading this interview every other moment in the history of Time is also happening exactly now. Scary huh? We sat down with Briallen Clarke, who stars in the premiere of this new Australian work, to talk about the play’s existential time concept. So… Could you…
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The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is officially GO, after a packed out Adelaide Festival Theatre enjoyed a night of entertainment at the festival’s annual gala performance overnight. The show gave the audience just a taste of what’s to come over the next few weeks of shows, with various local Australian and international artists treading the stage…
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The life and times story of an American woman experimenting with feminism in the 60s, 70s and 80s may not seem like it has much relevance on today’s Sydney stage. But in bringing Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles to life, the team at the New Theatre have successfully highlighted the very long way women still…
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