Observer

OBSERVER: La Ronde at Spiegel Haus

Saturday, October 31, 2026

In this day and age the word ‘spectacle’ has lost its gravitas but, playing at the Spiegel Haus this summer, the spectacle that is La Ronde captures the true meaning of the word.In a tried and true formula for a cabaret/circus show, five amazing performers one by one take to the stage.Interspersed between their performances…

OBSERVER: The Heart Beats In Counts Of Eight

Monash Uni Student Theatre’s (MUST) production The Heart Beats in Counts of Eight by Madeleine Willshire, merged dystopia with science-fiction, dark comedy and body horror.Under Esmé Stripp’s competent direction (assisted by Ava Toon), Willshire’s fascinating play tells of a post-synthetic-revolution society.Three synthetic beings living quietly in a small apartment, Lou (Eleanor Cooney), Jamie (Farah Abdul-Rahim)…

OBSERVER: My Duchess

At 92, Joan Collins embodies Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American socialite who almost brought down the British Royal Family.Directed by Mike Newell, the high-class gothic horror My Duchess is set in her final years, after the Duke of Windsor’s death, when Wallis was isolated and invalided, living in her chateau on the Bois de Boulogne.The…

OBSERVER: Sunday

When a film is nearly two hours long and keeps an audience enthralled, it’s a good film.Directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, Sundays (Los Domingos), a new Spanish film that looks at a rather different coming of age story, set in the modern-day Basque area of Spain.Viewers meet 17-year-old Ainara (Bianca Soroa) in her final…

OBSERVER: Young Frankenstein

Saturday, October 24, 2026

Ribald, rude, raunchy and ridiculous. The delightful nonsense that Mel Brooks imagined in his stage version of Young Frankenstein is brought to life by StageBugs Productions on the Theatre Works stage.The attention to detail in all aspects of this production would suggest it should be staged in a major theatre.The choreography (Claire Robinson) was precise…

OBSERVER: Big Diva Energy

Will Skarpona in his Melbourne Fringe debut Big Diva Energy is just the right amount of ‘much’.Whilst larger than life he is perfect for the stage. From his first song to the last, the voice was huge.There were some moments such as the opening line where I think nerves took over, the note not quite…

OBSERVER: Guillotine!

Guillotine! or, a modest proposal broaches the nexus between what might be considered offensive and the comic.Anna Piper Scott poses an ethical conundrum about the killing of billionaires who control people’s lives and the need to maintain social parity.Comparably, would it have been ethical to kill Hitler as a baby to save the millions killed…

OBSERVER: Come From Aawy

Come from Away at the National Theatre is the remarkable story of how the residents of Gander, in remote Newfoundland, Canada, opened their hearts and homes to total strangers, in the wake of the attacks on New York on September 11, 2001.Welcome to the Rock introduces town residents. The Mayor, Claude (Rick Birkett), teacher Beulah,…

OBSERVER: A Twist of Fate

Scary Goats Theatre is bringing back A Twist of Fate for its sixth season to “terrorise and titillate audiences” at The Motley Bauhaus from October 29-31.Inspired by The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, this new season of A Twist of Fate contains four short plays about the unusual and otherworldly, each with their own devastating…

OBSERVER: An Evening Without Kate Bush

Developed in collaboration with director Russell Lucas, Sarah-Louise Young’s An Evening Without Kate Bush is a one-woman show that packs a punch.A ghost-like apparition appears on stage and immediately launches into an eerie rendition of Kate Bush’s “And Dream of Sheep.”Next, the audience is asked to practice collectively howling at a metaphorical moon.“She’s not here,…