Menu
“…when Antony and Dolabella were accused of plotting revolution, Caesar said: ‘I am not much in fear of these fat, long-haired fellows, but rather of those pale, thin ones,’ meaning Brutus and Cassius” – Plutarch, ‘The Parallel Lives‘ Plots and Prayers by Niki Savva is a fast-paced chronicle of the events that led to the ousting of
Read More
Down our road and around the corner, people have recently built a tiny house on what was once grazing land. It’s on my drive into town, so for the past year or two, I’ve been checking out their progress. First, up went a very large shed, with solar panels on the roof. Then, in went
Read More
Subtle notes of angst, despair and deep yearning defined a powerful union of the work of musicians Nick Cave and Warren Ellis with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in several shows at Hamer Hall at the weekend. The unique pairing showcased six of Cave and Ellis’s notable film scores as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival,
Read More
By Raymond Gill
You’ve heard apocryphal stories about people making movies on their maxed-out credit cards, but this remarkable story of bringing a full-length feature film on a shoestring to fruition is not fiction. On a sudden whim, Melbourne visual artist Tom Alberts decided in 2008 to make a film that celebrated the kind of screwball comedies and
Read More
In Hong Kong right now, there are people standing in the subway train doors, preventing them from closing, and, when people try to push past to get on the train, the protestors are shouting that they are being attacked, claiming victimisation. We can recognise this behaviour as unreasonable; is there any way to deal with
Read More
Theatre historian and academic Julian Meyrick returns home to London in July and finds the UK gripped in a kind of collective madness as the ticking countdown clock of Brexit gets louder. So many things have been, are being, and will be written about Brexit, that offering additional thoughts on the subject feels spectacularly redundant, like squirting
Read More
Disney’s new The Lion King remake opens with the sounds of birds chirping and the sight of a golden sun rising into a majestic skyline. Nants, ingonyama! What a scene this is! There are giraffes, zebras, elephants, the whole damn animal kingdom jiggling along to the rhythms of a bright and busy natural world, full
Read More
By Anders Furze
Towards the end of Shakespeare in Love, Melbourne Theatre Company’s major 2019 production, the play returns to an image of Shakespeare sitting and writing at his desk, illuminated by candlelight. The moment jolts: for much of its running time, this is a portrait of writing that’s social and highly energetic. It’s also a portrait of
Read More
You can look into the moon, deeply and for a long time. When it’s full it can hold you spellbound. At other phases, such as crescent, it can conjure a rambling of the mind. When you look into the night, you don’t have to blink, you don’t have to worry about retina damage, as if
Read More
By Anders Furze
It’s a brave new world at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, the first for new artistic director Al Cossar after the departure of Michelle Carey. Long-time screening venue the Australian Centre for the Moving Image is out of action due to renovations, and the festival’s footprint has expanded to some 20 venues, including Carlton’s
Read More
