Art Smitten: Reviews - 2016

It was fantastic to hear that The Arts Centre’s season of Sugarland is being targeted at VCE students, but don’t let that make you think that the play itself is mostly for high school students. Fraser Corfiel and David Page’s debut production of Rachel Coopes and Wayne Blair‘s latest theatrical work is one of those stories of adolescence that engages teenagers both past and present. Lately, Melbourne has seen quite a few ensemble pieces set in remote regions of Australia, usually ones like this year’s Meeka that have used this type of setting as a source of claustrophobia, dread and potent danger. One of the characters in Sugarland, Erica (played by Xanthe Paige) describes the Northern Territory town of Katherine as a kind of Disneyland, a peaceful place where no one is a stranger and everyone can be trusted. However, Erica has just moved here from Canberra, while our narrator, Nina (Dubs Yunupingu), and her friend, Jimmy (Calen Tassone), have lived here their entire lives. They

When I heard Renee Geyer was a famous international jazz singer I was thrilled to get the chance to go and see her sing. As I am an amateur singer with jazzy vocals myself it felt like it was a match made to be. However Renee Geyer was different to my initial assumptions. If I were to liken the whole experience to dating a person you met online, Renee Geyer would be a date you hade hopes for, only to have the actual date be considerably different to your expectations. Renee’s actuality contrasts considerably to the young pictures you see of her in the programs. They boast she is a proud Australian jazz talent. When I think of jazz, I think of swanky bars, dim lights and a commitment to seriousness to music as a vehicle for creative expression. Therefor, I’d constructed a vague conclusion that she was going to be refined, musically precise and like she looked in the picture. Malvern Town hall was dimmed, with fancy cheese platters on the tables to boot. It felt like the show was going to live up

Rachel attended the opening night of Malthouse Theatre’s production of Tennessee Williams' classic 'memory play', The Glass Menagerie.  The Glass Menagerie is being performed on 18th May to 5th June at the Merlyn Theatre in Melbourne.

Recently I got to visit the Linden New Art Gallery. The current exhibition that is being held at the moment is the ‘Wild Lands’ exhibition with two sections following different artists and there particular styles of different wild life. When walking into the gallery on the left side is the ‘Wild Lands’ exhibition, featuring the artists: Chris Mason, Bronwyn Hack, Dionne Cazano, Michael Camakaris, Mathew Grove, and Ruth Howard. This section was particularly interesting especially when looking upon the works of Bronwyn Hack. I was immediately drawn to these pieces because of the rawness that they seemed to have. The first thought that came to mind was “why did this person only want to portray wolves?” The closer and longer I looked at the pieces, the information I gathered from each individual work was that it was telling a story of a lone wolf. The pieces may not be extremely detailed, but the pieces themselves express an emotion that can connect too many people. Another art

Adalya joins Lauren in the studio to share her thoughts about the Tinnalley String Quartet & Lior concert she attended earlier this month.

Green Room is the latest film by Jeremy Saulnier, an American filmmaker whose two previous films, Murder Party (2007) and Blue Ruin (2013), both explore and analyse violence in various forms and settings. And now Green Room, which premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2015, extends this obsession to even darker territory. It centres on a punk band who goes to play at a small concert venue in the backwoods of Oregon, witnesses a murder, and is immediately taken hostage in the green room of the film's title and not allowed to leave. From then on, things only get worse. We start to find out more and more about the concert venue and the people behind it, the vice-like tension grows and grows and grows, and the blood of many a character is unceremoniously spilled. The cast includes Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat as members of the band, as well as Macon Blair, who's acted in and co-produced all of Saulnier's films. And, in an out-of-type casting, we have Patrick Stewart who excels as the owner of the venue, the

Earlier this month, Andrew had the opportunity to speak with Michael Williams, head of The Wheeler Centre, about the event: Paul Kelly does Shakespeare.

Australia's first production of The River, by Jez Butterworth, called for a complete revamp of the Red Stitch Actors Theatre. To make a small fishing cabin by the river feel like an arena, the audience is seated on two sides of the stage as they watch a devout fisherman entertain his novice fisherwomen guests. Sometimes you are getting a monologue delivered straight to you, at other times the actor with all the lines is facing away from you, so you're watching much more of the reacting than the acting, as it were. The action and setting of this play are so markedly mundane that every tiny detail comes under the microscope. At one point, we are simply watching the fisherman clean and cook the fish that his current housemate has caught for a good few minutes. The music playing from his radio hells to lull the audience into an easy, meditative state that is far from boredom. If anything, these quiet and sometimes completely silent moments are a welcome relief in between the deep-and-meaningfuls about life out in

Saturday April 23, 2016 marked 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, and exactly 452 years since his birth. You have to appreciate the perfect symmetry of being born and being taken on the same day of the year, apparently due to some overzealous celebrating at his favourite pub. It also gives his global fanbase a reason to have two big celebrations each century. The latest of these, held at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, is now being screened at Cinema Nova up until Wednesday May 18, accompanied by a short film about the history of these celebrations, which announces an intention to be more than just a collection of the bard's best known couplets and soliloquies. This gala is also a showcase of his extraordinary influence across so many different artforms. For instance, it was no surprise to get a performance of the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, with Mariah Gale as a particularly histrionic Juliet, but what I wasn't expecting was to see that same scene then danced by the Royal Ballet, with a

A Room of One’s Own is an extended essay written by Virginia Woolf. It is based on a series of lectures Woolf gave at two women’s colleges at Cambridge University in 1928. The lectures employ a fictional narrator and narrative and they explore the idea of ‘women and fiction’. It argues space for women writers, both figuratively and literally, in the world of literature that is often dominated by men.  Sentient Theatre’s inaugural performance of A Room of One's Own is directed by, and translated and to stage, by Peta Hanranhan. Virginia Woolf's essay was beautifully bought to the stage in this production performed by Anna Kennedy, Jackson Trickett, Carolyn Bock and Marissa O’Reilly The ideas and arguments were successfully portrayed and it was amazing to see how relevant Virginia Woolf's writings are still today. However, I felt it often delved too deeply into the intellectual and the academic in an attempt to make it more accessible to people unfami

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a film written and directed by Taika Waititi, based on the book Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Trump. It opened in New Zealand on March 31st 2016 and set box office records, which is no surprise because the film is phenomenal.  It follows the story of Ricky Baker played by Julian Dennison, a young delinquent from the city. He is sent by child welfare to live deep in the country with foster parents Bella, played by Rima Te Wiata, and Hec, played by Sam Neill who Ricky calls Aunt and Uncle. Bella is very fond of Ricky and they quickly form a strong bond, but Hec clearly doesn’t want to be part of Ricky's life. Shortly after Ricky is settled and loving living with Bella, she is found dead by Hec. Child welfare send them a letter informing them that Ricky will have to be sent to another foster home. Ricky runs away into the bush because he wants to stay, Hec follows him to bring him back. Child welfare arrive to find a house empty and presume Hec has kidnapped Ricky. &nb

Will had the opportunity to review 3 shows from the Next Wave festival: microLandscapes, Ground Control and Voices of Joan of Arc.  All shows are being performed at the Northcote Town Hall until May 14th except for microLandscapes, which finishes on Sunday May 8th Image: Janine Gibson from Voices of Joan of Arc, Next Wave Festival 2016  

Review by Ebony Beaton Studio Ghibli’s lesser known film Only Yesterday is this year celebrating it’s 25th anniversary and is being re-released in Australia. Only Yesterday is unlike other studio Ghibli films. It cuts back the magical and child-like imagination that is usually the main premise within their films. It is a realistic drama, it is made for adults and is particularly aimed at women. It’s set in 1982 and follows Taeko, she is 27 and unmarried, and she grew up and lives and works in Tokyo. She takes a holiday to the countryside to visit the family of her elder brother of her brother-in-law, and is helping them on their organic farm to harvest safflower. She travels on the over night train and on her journey there begins to recall her childhood back in the 1960s. When she arrives at the station she is greeted by her brother in law's second cousin, Toshio, they barely know each other but quickly create a very strong bond. Through the film she finds her self more and more nostalgic of

Content warning: contains swearing. Review by Ebony Beaton Fucking Parasites directed by Adam J A Cass, is a grim look into the world of two teenage girls who are imprisoned in an immigration processing centre and waiting to find out if they have been granted refugee status after fleeing from their homelands with their parents. They spend their time playing and parodying adults in their lives, such as nurses, their parents and lawyers. It is written by Swedish playwright Ninna Tersman, she wrote it about 10 years ago and was inspired by her experience in Sweden with refugees as well has her experiences while traveling New Zealand, and is based on interviews with asylum seekers, refugees, migration board officers, lawyers, doctors and policemen both in New Zealand and Sweden. I really enjoyed Adam J A Cass’s and this casts interpretation of this text. The set was quite abstract and stark, pastel blue boxes as rooms with small passages ways to each painted on the floor, with furniture and objects in the s

Katie reviews Metanoia Theatre’s production Coriolanus. Coriolanus is being performed at Heartstring Theatre until May 8th.