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[Published in Beat, June 25 2012] The fable of the ant and the cricket teaches a lesson in work ethics: during summer, the cricket spends their days singing in the shade, while the ant diligently harvests food for the coming winter. When the snows come, the starving cricket must beg the ant for assistance but […]
May 2, 2012
[Published in Beat, Issue #1318, May 2 2012] Playwright Jonathan Biggins’ new comedy Australia Day explores the competing values of present-day Australia. While didactic in highlighting the political correctness befalling our national holiday, there are some genuine belly laughs to be had amidst the at-times clumsy social commentary. Set in rural Coriole, the play focuses […]
April 25, 2012
[Published in Beat, Issue #1317, April 25 2012] The realm of childhood is a liminal zone. Unable to fend for ourselves, we are beholden to adults to teach us about the world. Our character, our worldview and our values are already beginning to take shape, many aspects of which will stay with us through our […]
April 9, 2012
[Published in Beat, April 9 2012] This is a true story, Zoe Coombs Marr tells us at the outset, but if you’re seeking a tale of redemption you’ve come to the wrong place. She doesn’t find herself at the end. She doesn’t become a better person. In her mid-20s, Coombs Marr breaks up with her […]
March 5, 2012
[Published on Beat.com.au, March 5 2012] Written in 1888, Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck epitomizes modernist naturalism. In this adaptation director Simon Stone (of The Hayloft Project) takes Ibsen’s text and distils it to its dramatic essence, transposing Ibsen’s exploration of family, greed, jealousy and paternal inheritance into the present day. What immediately becomes apparent […]
January 22, 2012
[Published on Beat.com.au, January 22 2011] Before the actors set foot on stage, the set of MTC’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll says much about the wistful portrait of 1950s Australian suburbia that will follow. Mottled peach walls, musty lace curtains billowing in the always-open window, floorboards scuffed raw with the years, languorous summer light […]
January 10, 2012
[Published in Beat, Issue 1302, January 11 2012] When the sun goes down and the screens light up, Melbournians know that summer has truly arrived. The outdoor cinema has become a staple in our sunny season’s cultural calendar, with each up-and-coming contender boasting a setting more spectacular than the last. This year’s new kid on the […]
January 4, 2012
[Published in Beat, Issue 1301, January 04 2012] Eddie Bocanegra is an unassuming figure. Slender, softly spoken, his kindly demeanor belies his past. Watching him stand before a roomful of elementary school children in Chicago, teaching them to paint as a way of expressing their feelings about gang violence, it’s hard to believe he’s only […]
December 7, 2011
[Published in Beat, Issue 1298, December 7 2011] In times of trouble, cinema can provide a window on the world. The filmmaker’s lens offers a unique insight into the issues that are concerning a country’s citizens, often revealing the subtleties that are omitted in mainstream media coverage. There is perhaps no nation this is truer […]
June 25, 2012
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