Art Smitten: Reviews - 2016

Come Away with Me to the End of the World by Ranters theatre was a series of conversations between nameless characters on stage. The actors seemed to be playing nobody or themselves - they talked of seemingly random things like their trip to Japan or the Italian dance classes they were taking, or meeting someone while going for a morning jog. Some of these conversations were mundane or even boring, some were absurd and surreal, some were long and winding, some were very short, and some conversations ended in song. These conversations were spoken over a soft backing track of ambient instruments and sometimes bird noises, which I found calming and it made the conversations easier to listen to. To my understanding, Come Away with Me to the End of the World was at least partly an one dimensional exploration of culture and/or travel seen though a white lens, most conversations centered around travel and experiences with other cultures while abroad, or experiences with other cultures that happened locally. Of

Our Kind of Traitor may well be the least confusing film adaptation of a John le Carré novel that we are ever going to see. If you enjoy political thrillers but don't exactly the have the head for real, convoluted espionage, Susanna White's film is sure to be the thing for you. Unlike the rather cold and brittle Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, this story of a man about to inform on the Russian mafia has a much stronger human element, one that often even takes precedence over the political machinations, which are explored in unusually sparse detail. Dima (the always brilliant Stellan Skarsgard) wants to defect to Britain, using the central intelligence he has been privy to in order to gain safe passage from the British Secret service for himself, but also, more importantly, his family, whose lives have been threatened by the vengeful new mafia boss, "The Prince" (Grigoriy Dobrygin). MI6 won't officially go anywhere near Dima, but an agent named Hector (a perfectly British Damien Lewis) reaches out to him wit

Emma is fascinated with the haunting Australian story Picnic at Hanging Rock, originally a book published in 1967 by Joan Lindsay.  She had the opportunity to speak to Tom Wright, the playwright of Malthouse Theatre’s production of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and to visit the Macedon Ranges, the home of Picnic at Hanging Rock, to experience where the mystery all began.  Picnic at Hanging Rock is on at the Malthouse Theatre until 20th March.  Picture: Sourced from Malthouse Theatre website

Super low-budget and full of charm, the Melbourne-made film Pawno, released in 2015 at the Melbourne International Film Festival to sell-out crowds, is the first feature from director John Ireland and scriptwriter Damian Hill, who also stars in the film. Pawno takes place over one whole day, and is largely centred around a Footscray pawn shop, referenced in the title. The shop is inhabited by Les, the kind-hearted grouch of an owner (played by John Brumpton) and his youthful dogsbody assistant Danny (played by Hill). As well as these two characters, the film is populated by an assortment of locals who add an offbeat vibrancy to the day's proceedings. There's two women who work in a bookstore, one of whom Danny has a crush on, there's a pair of smart-arse layabouts, there's a violent thug, there's a woman whose son is missing, there’s a trans woman whose visits to the shop are a form of solace from the harsh outside world, there's an Indian taxi driver who was a dentist in his home country... t

Talisse gave a live review of The Wheeler Centre’s election one-night special event - Stand Up...and be Counted.  Comedians at the event included: Toby Halligan (MC), Denise Scott, Zoe Coombs-Marr, Sammy J, Aamer Rahman, Mathew Kenneally, Claire Hooper, and Gerard McCulloch.  

Albert Einstein is the latest scientific genius to have lured a scriptwriter into the trap of biography. Jess Newman was clearly intrigued by the mind of the famous theoretical physicist when she started to write the sung-through musical Einstein: Master of the Universe. Watching it, you can feel her yearning to see the world as he saw it, if even for a moment, and to understand what he saw. Her audience, I’m sure, is after the same thing, but it quickly becomes apparent that this is something she either cannot, will not or has lost interest in delivering. This is one of those biopics that gravitates more towards the “man behind the science” than the work itself. The bulk of the story is taken up by Einstein’s younger years at university, starting just after the turn of the century, until he travelled to America in the early 30s. His two marriages are used as a frame for his journey from patent office clerk to Nobel-prize-winning physicist. Mileva Marić, his long-suffering first wife,

On Thursday the 23rd of June, I went to see Melbourne Playback perform 'On Ours Shores' at the Footscray Arts Centre. The troupe are a many things, or rather, become many different things over the course of one night, being one of Melbourne's leading improvisation theatre companies. The team consists of actors, organisers and musicians, with the roles interchangeable between the variously skilled artists. As with improv, you can expect that an evening with Melbourne Playback will direct the spotlight from the stage and into the audience at times. However, the theatre group conspires to engage audience participation to a degree I have never before experienced. You might encounter any selection of their actors on a given night. On Thursday, Ernie Gruner and Karen Berger provided a two piece band. Throughout the show they accompanied the actors with violin, percussion and xylophone. The core cast consisted of Alex Sangster, Allen Laverty, Diana Nguyen, Mike Mc Kevoy, Michelle Hussey and Ananth Gopal, who all con

On Thursday I went to see The Addams Family Musical, a performance by Federation University’s 2016 graduating Musical Theatre class. The musical comedy was written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and based on Charles Addams’ iconic characters in his comic strip The Addams Family. It was performed at Theatre Works on Acland St in St Kilda and its closing night was on Saturday. As soon as the orchestra began playing the overture you knew this play would be a crowd pleaser. Rainer Pollard conducted a talented group of musicians, who were both expressive and controlled, and their performance suggested a strong connection between the conductor and musicians. The play then began with the Addams family gathered around the family tree in the graveyard, a yearly ritual to celebrate life and death, and honour their ancestors. The ensemble of ancestors, portraying figures like Marie Antoinette, a WW1 soldier and a suffragette, were summoned out of their graves for t

On Friday night I danced to the rhythmic genius of Quarter Street, one of Melbourne’s hottest Salsa bands, as they performed in the first of three “House Parties” at the heritage-listed Kew Court House. Spoilt with a dance floor rather than a seated concert, the audience took full advantage of the space in the former courthouse and police station. Quarter Street champion the gritty sounds typical of the Salsa Dura, a style developed in 1970s New York by the Puerto Rican migrants. Unlike its brother, Salsa Romántica, the Salsa Dura is less polished and demands a more darling sound, especially from its brass section. Quarter Street did not disappoint in that respect. Lazaro Pompa, on trumpet, along with Ben Gillespie and Jimmy Bowman, on trombones, commanded the stage with their explosive fanfare. They jolted the party to life with quick bursts of notes, bending them around the beat. The boys melted these vibrant melodies with their dynamic rhythms, charming the audience into swaying al

Rachel reviews Nic Green's Trilogy at Arts House in Melbourne. Triology was performed for a limited season at Arts House in Melbourne. Trilogy was presented across the UK to wide acclaim.  "Trilogy begins by celebrating women in today’s world – with all their complexities, in their skins and as they are. Honest and adventurous, Trilogy deftly weaves performance, participation, discussion, music and archival material; carving out new space for feminism and rallying the power and strength in women together." - City of Melbourne.

Emma reviews the Malthouse Theatre’s production of The Events  ***DISCLAIMER*** The Events was written as a response to the 2011 massacre in Norway. Devastatingly, this story is still as relevant today as it was five years ago. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victims of the recent 2016 attack in Orlando, USA. The Events is being performed at Malthouse Theatre, Merlyn Theatre until July 10th.

*Note to listeners: this review contains gun shot sound effects* This year, the Scandinavian Film Festival is leading with what might sound like just another World War 2 movie, but is one that actually turns the tables the tables on a lot of its predecessors. The Danish film Under Sandet (literally Under the Sand), is a drama set in post-war landmine-ridden Denmark and is being released internationally with the English title Land of Mine, a rather unfortunate, hopefully accidental pun on an obviously serious issue. It's easy to see why the second world war is still a cinematic staple. The Third Reich, and its soldiers, remain the definitive example of what hateful extremism can lead to, and what we all want to avoid becoming. No film has ever had to work especially hard to characterise Nazi soldiers as villains. It is curious, then, that in Land of Mine, these supposedly evil men appear in the form of scared, defeated young boys who just want to go home. Of course, as prisoners of war from the losing side, so

Rachel & Jim were fortunate to attend the exclusive media preview of NGV International’s newest winter masterpiece exhibition – DEGAS: A New Vision. Rachel and Jim were also lucky to get a few words with Ted Gott, the senior curator of European Art at the NGV. DEGAS: A New Vision is on at the NGV International in Melbourne until the 18th of September. Pictured: one of the works showing at DEGAS: A New Vision, NGV International. 

The Honey Bees is a stage play written by veteran playwright Caleb Lewis and directed by Ella Caldwell, starring Eva Seymour, Christopher Brown, Rebecca Bower, Mara (Kat-Marek) Kaczmarek and Katerina Kotsonis. It is now showing at Red Stitch Theatre on Chapel Street in St Kilda's East, and is running until the 16th of July. Caleb Lewis' gradually and masterfully details his characters in a dexterous juggling of intersecting plotlines and overlapping relationships. His writing is enhanced by the strong direction of Caldwell, who proves to be a master of the long pause, drawing silences between characters out to a length just long enough to be painful and not tedious, creating an atmosphere of tension from the first interactions of the play. At the centre of the drama is Joan, a bitter yet charming Polish immigrant, both bee-keeper and now elderly mother, who rules her long standing (yet struggling) apiary with an iron will. Daryl is her estranged, middle aged son, vulnerable and ambitious, living in his d

Christian reviews the 2015 film Queen of the Desert, not to be mistaken for Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, which features actors Nicole Kidman, James Franco and Robert Pattinson. Queen of the Desert is the true story of Gertrude Bell, a traveller, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.  The film was written and directed by Werner Herzog. Queen of the Desert is now showing at Cinema Nova.

The Melbourne international jazz festival, now in its 18th year is Melbourne’s premier jazz festival which takes over the city for 9 days in june showcasing local and international talent in different concert halls, bars and occasionally laneways! This year I was lucky enough to attend three completely different yet equally exiting events: Tomasz Stańko Band, Vince Jones and the astral orchestra, and Jose James. Polish born Tomasz Stanko has been a jazz trumpeter since the 60s, touring the world time and time again and working on film scores. His performance at the Coopers Malthouse was a true testament to his experimental yet highly skilled approach to jazz. Accompanied by Alexi Tuomarila on piano, Slawomir Kurkiewics on bass and Olavi Louhivuori on drums, the four absolutely filled the space of the theatre unlike any others! Performing a total of six songs, interspersed with extensive improvisation, the band created the classic dizzying jazz atmosphere and had the entire audience bopping their heads,

In #DearDiary, the Melbourne-based actor Andi Snelling achieves the seemingly impossible. She manages to turn 20 years worth of diaries into an entertaining, highly amusing and climatically moving piece of theatre. #DearDiary is a one-woman show that tells the story of Andi from childhood to now, using only verbatim diary entries. Andi doesn’t speak for the first 5 minutes, but as soon as she enters the stage, your eyes are utterly transfixed by her. Such is the power of Andi’s physical presence, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, given her extensive experience in physical comedy and movement. The show is a multimedia experience – using sound, screens, song and dance to bring Andi’s diaries to life. It begins lightly – Andi mimes and sings her way through her childhood, leaving the audience hysterical in its wake. Then, we travel with her to France. Andi goes on exchange and her 15 year old self is suddenly plunged into a world of boys and awkward sexual encounters. Never

Ben & Christian did a combined review of ACMI’s exhibition dedicated to award-winning film maker, Martin Scorsese.  Scorsese will be exhibiting at ACMI 26th May to 18th September  

Experience. Strength. Hope. These words don’t carry much meaning by themselves, but together in the context of Melbourne Playback Theatre Company’s latest performance SticksnStones of the Birrarung Marr - Stories of First Nations Place Making, Culture and Legacy, they provided a pivotal focus for the evening’s event. SticksnStones was the second public event by Melbourne Playback for the year. The event was split into two parts – a Q&A panel with esteemed First Nation Victorians including Jill Gallagher, Reuben Berg, Monica McDonald, Bruce Pascoe, and Stan Yarramunua, followed by a one-of-a-kind improvised theatre performance by Melbourne Playback. The event took place at Deakin Edge Theatre in Federation square, located on the banks of the Birrarung Marr – the river of mists. The Birrarung Marr is a significant meeting place for First Nation Victorians, and so it seemed particularly appropriate for the event to take place beside the river. The event also coincided with Reco

Adalya reviews The Wheeler Centre’s author talk event with Hanya Yanagihara in conversation with Jason Steger.