Steve Valentine, screen star and world champion magician (appearing in The Illusionists, Wizards of Waverly Place, Crossing Jordan and even Spider-Man 3) will lead the international ensemble of Hook’s Neverland, which will run at Sydney Opera House in January 2027. Valentine will be joined by first-mate, Smee, (Norwegian contortionist Captain Frodo whose previous credits include…
A Room with A View, adapted by Grace Chapple and currently performing at Belvoir St Theatre, is one of the best book-to-stage adaptations I’ve ever seen. E. M. Forster’s original 1908 novel tells the story of Lucy Honeychurch (Nathalie Morris), whose travels through Italy provide her with a glimpse of independence and subsequently lead her…
There has been a lot of discourse lately about the demise of critical thinking. With the dominance of AI, the proliferation of misinformation online – which is then fed to us by AI and a carefully constructed web of destructive algorithms – it can be difficult to know where to turn. Curious at the Sydney…
We are used to seeing unlikely friendships on screen. Think The Odd Couple. Bert and Ernie. You get the point. The Unfriend draws on this tradition and adds a culture clash involving an unexpected, and at times unwelcome, houseguest with some darkly funny results. Under Simon Phillips’ (STC’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) direction, this…
Tinker Tales! is a chaotic physical theatre production hailing from Dutch company, Plan d-. Performed by Andreas Denk (who also handles the script, choreography, and set design), Ali Shafiee, and Chérif Zaouali, the show is incredibly unique and engaging for kids aged six and older. The premise is simple, a group of builders are determined…
Yes, Sir! is the most disarmingly honest hour of the Melbourne Fringe. I’ve been to my fair share of Fringe shows over the years, but I can’t remember any previous time an icebreaker involved the audience being handed a blindfold on the way in. That’s the level of commitment Yes, Sir! demands from you before…
Melbourne’s CBD has just gotten a whole lot spicier and magical with the reopening of Spiegel Haus Melbourne for its second season, just in time for Melbourne Fringe Festival. Following a successful debut season, which saw shows like Blanc de Blanc Encore and Maho Magic Bar stun audiences with an array of entertainment, they now present a…
Acclaimed UK theatre company Forced Entertainment brings Table Top Shakespeare to the Sydney Opera House. The premise of the performances involves a narrator who retells one of Shakespeare’s plays using various items found around the home. Think of it as CliffsNotes with condiments. The Studio space at the Sydney Opera House contains a rectangular table…
Triptych at the Sydney Opera House is a celebration of movement and light, told through three short works: Prologue, Unfolding and Epilogue. Artistic Director and choreographer Lewis Major comments that the three pieces are “built from the simple wish to keep making.” But there is nothing simple about Triptych. Prologue sets the tone of the…
This month the State Library of NSW celebrates its 200th anniversary with a six-week program of talks, performances and live music, including new commissions from some of Australia’s most prolific creatives. On Friday night, the Mitchell Library Reading Room, known for its vast ceilings and the multi-storey bookshelves lining its walls, became the site of…
A name like Housework is one that evokes domestic drudgery, or if you want something a bit more fun, Freddie Mercury in the “I Want to Break Free” video. But do not be fooled; this new play about Australian politics is nothing short of sharp and hilarious. It is a show that will surprise you…
Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company opens today in Brisbane, and we managed to score a sneak peek of the exclusive exhibition yesterday morning. Opening at QAGOMA from September 12th and running right through until April 18th 2027, this world-first exhibition is perfectly timed to celebrate 70 years of Henson magic,…
“In order for a dance to exist it requires an audience to witness it.” – Amrita Hepi Bringing together movement and storytelling, internationally renowned Bundjalung and Ngāpuhi artist Amrita Hepi presents Rinse at the Sydney Opera House. A collaboration with acclaimed theatre maker Mish Grigor, this solo work combines dance with theatre to create a…
Welcome to Westerberg High School where you’ll find a liquorice all sorts of jocks, nerds, angsty teens and mean girls. Most notably, the Heathers – a group of nasty girls who rule the school. They take oddball Veronica Sawyer under their wing and everything seems a-okay until things take a sharp turn when Veronica falls…
Fringe season is exciting, exhausting and often both at the same time. You’re performing, promoting, meeting people, seeing shows and trying to enjoy the festival while somehow remembering to eat and sleep. And Fringe doesn’t happen in just one place. Edinburgh Fringe just wrapped an epic month, Melbourne Fringe is coming up and artists are…
We currently live in a world that has lost its sense of nuance. Discussions, particularly those conducted online, quickly devolve into chaos where being right, while proving others wrong, is the entire goal. The world has suddenly become very black and white, with people uncomfortable to exist in the grey. Curious minds have become few…
Earlier this month, while at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I had the chance to see Sydney writer and comedian Hannah Reilly’s brand-new one-woman show, Roleplay. The 70-minute production has already completely sold out its Edinburgh Fringe run, across 22 shows. In part, this came out of early buzz from must-see show lists on publications like The…
More than a quarter of a century after Memento announced Christopher Nolan as one of cinema’s most audacious storytellers, the fractured psychological thriller is being pulled apart and put back together once again – only this time, rhythm is rewriting the equation. For the latest presentation from Hear My Eyes, Michael “CAVS” Cavanagh, drummer for…
The idea of the interactive theatre experience is nothing new. From “whodunit” dinner parties to whatever it is people get up to at those Rocky Horror screenings, there’s always been a market for those of us who want to feel a part of the action. Even sitting front row at a comedy show brings out the more…
Los Angeles-based performer Bryn Woznicki (aka Bryn Woz) brings her latest show SMUT to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In the one-woman show, Bryn plays burlesque character Entendre Entendre, as she launches her memoir Smut. In the show, she her share stories from the novel, and her life of promiscuity and pansexuality. As you can tell…
Have you ever wanted to know what it might be like to perform with one of the world’s most lauded Symphony Orchestras? Now is your chance, with the immersive VR experience at the Edinburgh Fringe, Concerts of the Future. A collaborative experiment between The Sonicrats and the MSO (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Concerts of the Future…
When I heard Kristen Schaal was coming to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, after her run at Netflix’s Comedy Festival in LA, I knew I couldn’t miss her show. By all reports, the comedian well known for her turns on Flight of the Concords, What We Do In The Shadows and of course Bob’s Burgers, had…
Part of the House of Oz series at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival is Birds, a show that is set to make its stars Alex Hines and Sarah Stafford (known collectively as Sons of Susan) fan favourites of the festival. Less a traditional play and more of an absurdist character study, the 50-minute show takes…
One of the must-see plays at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival is a parody of Reginald Rose’s classic 1957 12 Angry Men, that was a hit of the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe. With equal humour and cruelty, this version of the show is titled 11 1/2 Angry Men, due to the shortness of one of the…
The Edinburgh Fringe brings in performances from all over the world, and this year, Spanish theatrical company Yllana have delivered their inspired flamenco comedy show Flamenc Oh!!. If you have never seen a show with such a description before, you’re not alone. I really had no idea what to expect when I walked in the…
From Edinburgh Fringe mainstay Matt Tedford (Margaret Thatcher: Queen of Soho) comes his follow-up Margaret Thatcher: Queen of Hollywood. It’s a fast-paced, absurdist musical that sees the titular former Prime Minister take on modern Hollywood in an alternate reality where she is still alive, and in her own Oscar-winning cinematic universe. Tedford commits impressively to…
There are certain comedians who want to make you believe that they’re not “allowed” to make jokes about “anything” anymore. That life is so hard for a privileged, straight white guy. That woke culture is destroying comedy. Yet up-and-coming British comedian Finlay Christie, who brings his new show Champagne Casanova to this month’s Edinburgh Fringe,…
Journey into the life and mind of travelling salesman Willy Loman in Neil Armfield’s adaptation of Death of a Salesman, an exploration of the flaws of the American dream, consequences of family expectations and the perceived rules of masculine success. Arthur Miller’s timeless two-act tragedy has stood the test of time, captivating audiences through countless…
One of the longest running and most popular shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the improvised musical Showstopper!. Like this very website, they kicked things off 18 years ago, in August 2008. Since then, there have been a dozen sell-out seasons, and they’ve even taken it to the West End (twice!) for which they…
Walking the streets of Edinburgh this week for my second ever time at the Fringe, it’s hard to escape the presence of Australians. I hear the accent in just about every audience, and there seems to be a comedian or a production on just about every stage. With the world’s second largest Fringe Festival in…
