Arts and Theatre

The truth as we see it

News and reviews from those in the know

Review - Good Evening: The Sketches of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

December 09 2009 (91 days, 9 hours ago)

You have to be careful how you play – it’s always fun until somebody gets hurt. It’s the same with the classics. So it was when Pink sang the lines “Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?” at her recent concert. My wife held her breath, waiting for my reaction as Pink launched into a song I regard as sacrosanct. Would it be a tribute or an insult to the classic material?

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Review - Happy Days

By V.A.Sancz

November 11 2009 (119 days, 5 hours ago)

"Some find a dear fulfillment, some denial
But this I say
That he who best
enjoys each passing day
is truly blest"

Euripides - The Bacchae
405 BC
Penguin Classics p 224

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Your guide to the 2010 Sydney Festival

By The Editor

November 09 2009 (121 days, 4 hours ago)

Summer in Sydney wouldn’t be the same without the Sydney Festival. How could we party away balmy evenings, dance the blues away, sing to our hearts content and picnic under the stars with the rest of the city without the Sydney Festival?

We couldn’t. We wouldn’t. We’d be strapped to a fan moaning about the heat.

If it wasn't for the Sydney Festival, we’d simply melt if their line up didn’t get cooler and cooler each year. It’s practically the only thing between us and global warming!

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Review - References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Griffin Theatre Company

By V.A.Sancz

October 13 2009 (148 days, 9 hours ago)

There’s something about Latin-American literature that combines fantasy, poetry and humanity in a way that leaps across the chasm of disbelief – this parable of passion and the sensuality of loneliness is no exception. Jose Rivera’s light-hearted, poetic script is suited to the intimate Stables Theatre, dealing as it does with matters of tenderness and lust, the personal and political intertwining of our everyday choices. Natural and expressionistic, the cast are in tune with the world of the play, they demonstrate the nuances between styles of performance that include mask, song, and dream within a poised narrative framework.

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Review - Gethsemane, Company B

By V.A.Sancz

October 13 2009 (148 days, 10 hours ago)

David Hare is unflinching in this play; he stares down the moral vacuum of politics, media, art and education, incising his wit into the soft targets of decay and corruption in 21st Century Britain. With a superb ensemble cast and Australia’s most accomplished director at the helm, one anticipates a feast of the mind – although the result is more like a meal at one of those very expensive restaurants, it’s good, but not quite as much on the plate as you’d like.

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Review - Slava's Snowshow

By Naomi Crew

August 26 2009 (196 days, 8 hours ago)

Slava’s Snowshow is like a big wonderful dream, you’ll never want to wake up!

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Review - Get Gary

By Whickers

August 24 2009 (198 days, 5 hours ago)

Get Gary - just another gangster story?

I must admit, the most recent gangster stories I've seen have been on the small and big screen and usually starred that geezer actor Jason Statham...so I eagerly looked forward to watching the new black comedy play, Get Gary, showing at Newtown Theatre.

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Review - Traces

By Amanda Buchel

August 21 2009 (201 days, 10 hours ago)

Something about watching five extremely fit 20 somethings backflip, somersault, get thrown in the air, skate board and giant hula hoop for an hour an half, can make you question your own vigour. But Montreal's Les 7 Doigts de la Main perform their show Traces with a gusto that will move the audience in a direction other than the gym.

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Review - Once and For All We're Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up and Listen

By Lauren Crew

August 18 2009 (204 days, 6 hours ago)

‘Once and For All We're Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up and Listen’ might be world’s longest title for a play, but it certainly is commanding. As is the play itself, which is performed by 13 very engaging Belgian teenagers. Director Alexander Devriendt confronts a mostly adult audience with the envy of youth and the possibility and potential that is about to unfold both on and offstage.

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Review - Rock, Paper, Scissors

By Sara Carkagis

August 10 2009 (212 days, 8 hours ago)

How do you transform a small theatre in the bottom of a Woolloomooloo pub into a remote Scottish lighthouse, complete with crashing waves, cloudy skies and the cries of thousands of puffins? It's easy, if you're Director Leland Kean. The answer is as old as time itself – use the power of storytelling.

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Review - God of Carnage, Melbourne Theatre Company

By Peter Apcar

October 09 2009 (152 days, 9 hours ago)

What happens when eleven year old Ferdinand whacks his playmate Bruno with a stick in a neighbourhood park and knocks his front two teeth out? Is it just pure innocence and part of kids growing up or simply a case of backyard bullying? It is important for parents to set the right example for their kids. Do we see ourselves through the eyes of our children and want the next generation to be a breed of our missing childhood, for better or worse?

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Review - Rockabye, Melbourne Theatre Company

By Peter Apcar

August 21 2009 (201 days, 6 hours ago)

In the world of fashion from the bling bling era there seems to be a new phase emerging in Botoxland and that is to kidnap a child from a third world nation and place it in an environment it is not familiar with under the guise of opportunism.

Or is it merely the present norm of celebrity persona to display such souls as trophies hanging off the forearms as fashion accessories? However noble this act may seem, the featherbrains of the likes of the Hilton femme fatale and The Material Girl, make this procedure not much different to our stolen generation.

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Ricky Maynard: exhibition review

By Ruby Star

June 15 2009 (268 days, 10 hours ago)

The curation of this exhibition felt disjointed and as a result I felt disconnected to the images and felt it hard to really absorb the content.
Rated 2 and half a stars

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World Press Photo Exhibition

By Jade Lloyd

May 26 2009 (288 days, 2 hours ago)

We really do live in the luckiest country on the planet. Sometimes it takes weather darker than a Tim Burton movie and a photo exhibition to smash the point home. The World Press Photo exhibition rolls around the globe showcasing the best photojournalism. It is an annual measure of humanity, from the stunning highs to the absolutely horrific lows captured in close up glory....or gore as the case may be.

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Shane Warne - The Musical

By Stuart Randall

May 20 2009 (294 days, 2 hours ago)

Over the course of 2 and a half hours I saw a giant dancing cigarette out to corrupt Bindi Irwin, a fat man in luminous Playboy pants and Ricky Ponting as the Devil. Just a run of the mill Sunday afternoon at the Enmore.

Let me start with a disclaimer. I am a cricket tragic. Play the game, watch the game, and obsess about the game. Shane Warne has always been a player who thrilled me, despite his many flaws, and it’s these flaws that are the backbone of this riotous show.

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Wicked the Musical

By Anthony Halstead

May 18 2009 (296 days, 8 hours ago)

I was fortunate enough to see Wicked the Musical at the Gershwin Theatre off Broadway in New York in January 2008. We were seated in the dress circle close to the back of the theatre but you can imagine how hard it is to get decent seats on Broadway for tourists unless you want to pay big bucks. Fortunately, we had a fantastic view of the stage set which was well detailed and drew you in to the world of Oz.

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Jerry Springer the Musical

By Anonymous

May 18 2009 (296 days, 11 hours ago)

Jerry Springer the Opera promised much and delivered in part an entertaining but at some times confusing production. The plot of the performance contained as many far fetched random tangents and deviations as the tv show which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. The show was littered with snide jokes, bad language and classic american trailer trash stereotypes which were well received by the receptive audience who on cue were ready to respond to the "jerry jerry" chant.

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