O.C. Diva Hayes Theatre Sunday’s 15 June to 29 June. Grab your tickets here. Hilary Cole, the rising star on the Sydney musical theatre scene, is definitely a woman to watch. After wowing audiences as the star of Squabbalogic’s enormously successful Carrie in 2013 and then The Drowsy Chaperone (what a great show that was) […]
June
23
The Violent Outburst that Drew Me To You – Kate Gaul and the smell of teen spirit. (Theatre Review)
posted by lisathatcher
The Violent Outburst that Drew me to You Griffin Theatre with Siren Theatre Company 18 June to 12 July. You can grab tickets here. We all know that overwhelming frustrated anger that the human caught between a departure from childhood and the passage into adulthood experiences. Is everyone around me stupid? is the cry of […]
June
19
An update on the ongoing question of why Australian Theatre criticism is valuable – even when I do it.
posted by lisathatcher
This post is a contribution to a contemporary debate about Australian theater, inspired by this post and this post, both of which I found illuminating and inspiring. When I feel generous toward myself (or haven’t outlined a plot for 2-3 pieces in a row) I like to state that I am a “critic” rather than […]
June
17
Frank – Lenny Abrhamson drags outsider art inside. (Film Review)
posted by lisathatcher
Frank is showing at the Sydney Film Festival. You can grab your tickets here. Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did was a dark, unassuming film whose impact relied on a combination of not knowing what to expect despite knowing the plot, Jack Raynor’s fine performance that included vulnerability and a remarkably universal take on issues of […]
June
17
Winter – John Fosse and the words to say it. (Theatre Review)
posted by lisathatcher
Winter Old 505 Theatre 7 – 22 June You can grab your tickets here. If life is what happens when you’re making other plans, then surely communication is what happens when you say nothing, in the spaces between the patterned and circular repetitious lines we sprout that act as familiar signposts dedicated to the listeners […]
June
16
21 Jump Street – Phillip Lord and Christopher Miller on how to get guns into schools. (Film Review)
posted by lisathatcher
What saved 21 Jump Street from being a total yawn fest, was the great one liners and the surprise appearance of Channing Tatum as something other than beefcake (comic beefcake) who has good timing. The first 21 Jump Street was loaded with the exaggerated praise reserved for this sort of fan-boy film worship of macho-ism […]
June
15
Concerning Violence – Göran Hugo Olsson and the trouble at our door. (SFF Film Review)
posted by lisathatcher
Concerning Violence is now showing at the Sydney Film Festival. You can grab your tickets here. “And it is clear that in the colonial countries the peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system is the first among the exploited to discover […]
June
15
Fell – Kasimir Burgess lost in the woods. (SFF Film Review)
posted by lisathatcher
Fell is currently showing at the Sydney Film Festival You can grab your tickets here, on on line. The second Australian feature premiered at this festival to convey emotional narrative through image (and I have yet to see The Rover, which looks like more of the same), often stills, using minimal dialogue and relying on […]
June
15
Premier of Fell available online
posted by lisathatcher
A stunning debut by Australian director Kasimir Burgess, Fell is an entrancing and enigmatic drama – a dreamlike, visually resplendent tale of nature, revenge and redemption. While on a camping trip, Thomas’ only daughter, Lara, is killed by a logging truck in a hit-and-run accident for which the driver, Luke, serves a prison sentence. Stricken with grief, […]
June
14
Eastern Boys – Robin Campillo moves power around a room. (SFF Film Review)
posted by lisathatcher
Eastern Boys is now showing at the Sydney Film Festival You can grab your tickets here. Robin Campillo can be relied upon to make statements about social class, integration and exploitation in each of his films, but what makes him so interesting is the indirect route his story telling will take, which gives the viewer […]
Lisa Thatcher 