arts

Review: Macbeth

New Farm Nash Theatre Blood and butchery, swords and sorcery, tyranny and tragedy, murder and mayhem,  daggers and death are all promised in promotions for Nash Theatre’s production of Macbeth.  It’s a promise the cast are clearly driven to deliver as much as Lady Macbeth in her wanton desire for the throne. Brenda White’s decision […]


Review: Romeo & Juliet

It isn’t every ballet that uses rock music and motorbikes, but Queensland Ballet’s student production of Romeo and Juliet isn’t every ballet. The young faces on stage are the only indication they are students, for their talent and professionalism make this an outstanding production. As lines from Shakespeare’s play opened the ballet, artistic director Martyn […]


Review: Valentino

Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art beat hundreds of international galleries to win the first overseas exhibit of the revered Parisian Valentino exhibit. Valentino Retrospective Past/Present/Future was unveiled in Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art last weekend in the exhibit’s first display outside Paris. It follows Valentino Garavini and the fashion powerhouse over the decades since 1959. […]


How books saved an author’s life

“Sex won’t save you, but a good story – yes!” said a smiling Brenda Walker, award-winning author and academic. She appeared with fellow literary scholars Stuart Glover and David Carter in a panel discussion on “The Art of Reading” at Avid Reader in West End on Tuesday night. In a discussion chaired by newly published […]


Review: David Campbell

The promotional material promised a night of classic and modern Broadway songs accompanied by a dazzling orchestra. Finely groomed and in a shiny three-piece suit, David Campbell promises “an election free zone” and “no swingin’… until later.” With the coloured lights and overworked smoke machine it’s easy to imagine you are knocking heads in a […]


Review: The Secret Love Life of Ophelia

Fractal Theatre (Metro Arts Theatre, Brisbane) Reading between the lines of Shakespeare’s Hamlet there is little doubt that the prince of Denmark had his way with the daughter of the king’s minister, Polonius – or at least tried to. Steven Berkoff speculates about the possibilities in this clever parallelquel to Hamlet, reminiscent of Tom Stoppard’s […]


Review: The Clean House

Cremorne Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre Reluctant cleaners watching this clever play will be relieved to note obsessive cleaning and too much attention to fastidious detail may blunt your passion for life! As a high achieving, clinical, busy doctor, white-clad Lane has little time for life’s pleasures. She hires a young Brazilian to clean her […]


Review: An Ideal Husband

New Farm Nash Theatre The wheels within wheels, the corruption, the bribery and the back room deals are as much a feature of modern politics as they were one hundred years ago.- Nigel Munro-Wallis, director. Set in London’s Grosvenor Square, Oscar Wilde’s classic play begins at a dinner party hosted by the wealthy and highly […]


A bikini is not a bikini unless…

A bikini is not a bikini unless it can be pulled through a wedding ring, according to the new “Exposed” exhibit at Queensland Museum. The exhibition is a showcase of Australia’s beach identity and the development of a million dollar industry that now has its own fashion week. The development is a seductive one that […]


Mueck’s sculptures show life in the raw

“A Girl” is Ron Mueck’s scuplture of a nude newborn baby complete with blood smeared on her body and a purple-blue umbilical cord still attached. The baby is quite ugly, suggesting a challenge to the idea of beautiful and innocent childhood. This sculpture is of no innocent, but of a primal force of nature. One […]


Nikki Lynn – an angel sings dirty

You probably would not take your parents to see her perform. In fact, she did not even let her biological parents hear any of her “funny songs”. [WARNING: strong language follows] If you did not understand English you would swear Nikki Lynn Katt (pictured) was an angel singing. But when you understand her, it’s a […]


Paper theme for student exhibition

Paper is the theme of an exhibition by art students of the Queensland College of Art this Saturday. Titled “Paper Walls”, the exhibition showcases the work of 13 students, mostly in their final year, from different disciplines. Organised and put together entirely by students, the exhibition is part of a learning project where students learn […]


A century’s images of war

An exhibition at the Brisbane Powerhouse captures 100 years of war through the eyes of the photojournalist. Degree South: War uses images taken over nearly 100 years to look back, forward and sideways at the events of modern war. The exhibition shows that in the human aspect of combat there is no glory or glamour […]


Busking in glory

Some Brisbane city buskers can make a healthier living on the street than in a normal job. According to 39-year-old guitarist Tim Brennan (pictured) the corner of Elizabeth and Albert Street, outside bookstore Borders, is the place to be. “I make about $700 a week there, Wednesday to Sunday from 8 ’til 4. It’s great!” […]


Love potion works its magic

Wide blue skies, a windmill atop ochre coloured hills, and the token sheep of an outback station set the opening scene of the QPAC production The Elixir of Love firmly in Australian territory. The light-hearted opera, written in two acts by prolific Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti, premiered as L’elisir d’amore in Milan in 1832. This […]


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