Observer

OBSERVER: Two Prosecutors

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Set in Stalin’s Russia in 1937, Two Prosecutors is based on a story by dissident writer and gulag survivor Georgy Demidov and is written and directed by Sergei Loznitsa. A chance discovery of a blood-written note, rescued from a mountain of others headed for the incinerator, is diverted to the prosecutor’s office.A secret act of…

OBSERVER: Meow Meow’s The Red Shoes

International cabaret star Meow Meow returns to Melbourne this month with Meow Meow’s The Red Shoes, described as ‘a wildly inventive, darkly funny and achingly beautiful reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale,’ playing from November 19 – December 6 at the Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse.Drawing on the myth of a young girl who cannot stop…

OBSERVER: Local Theatre Report

ShowsWilliamstown Little Theatre: Jeeves and Wooster in ‘Perfect Nonsense’ (by The Goodale Brothers and PG Wodehouse) Until November 22 at 2-4 Albert St., Williamstown. Director: Keith Hutton. Bookings: wlt.org.auBeaumaris Theatre: Blackaddder II (Based on the original BBC Television Series created by Richard Curtis, Rowan Atkinson, Ben Elton and John Lloyd and adapted for the stage…

OBSERVER: Australian Music Prize

The winner has been announced for the 21st SoundMerch Australian Music Prize, described as ‘Australia’s most prestigious award recognising and honouring the creative accomplishments of Australian musicians’.This year’s winner is Ninajirachi with ‘I Love My Computer’.Ninajirachi has been awarded $50,000 prize money and joins previous winners including Kankawa Nagarra (2024), RVG (2023), King Stingray (2022),…

OBSERVER: Love Actually, The Musical Parody

Love Actually, the Musical Parody returns to Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre from December 5.The show is promoted as: ‘”This festive season, everyone’s favourite christmas movie will be gloriously sent up in the off-Broadway smash hit, Love Actually: The Musical Parody.“From the comedic minds behind Friends! The Musical Parody, this new musical brings the classic Christmas rom-com…

OBSERVER: The Fifth Step

The Fifth Step will screen in select Australian cinemas from November 28.Olivier Award-winner Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Dunkirk) is joined by Emmy and BAFTA-winner Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, The Responder) in this critically acclaimed and subversively funny new play written by David Ireland and directed by Finn den Hertog.The story tells of James having spent…

OBSERVER: The Haunting Of Spook Mansion (By Ghosts)

Parody done well can be hilarious. However, doing it well is not as simple as it looks. The play The Haunting Of Spook Mansion (By Ghosts), as the title suggests, was a send-up of the classic haunted house horror story.Hilarious at times it unfortunately failed to maintain its early momentum and faded in the second…

OBSERVER: Cricket The Musical

Singer, songwriter and satirist Denis Carnahan returns to the stage this summer with his one-man cult hit musical comedy show, Cricket the Musical.Cricket The Musical will follow the English Cricket Team’s tour of Australia and plays in Melbourne on December 27, 28 in The Show Room, Arts Centre Melbourne.“The 2025-26 cricket season is destined to…

OBSERVER: Titus Andronicus

The gratuitous violence and callousness of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus has often seen the work sidelined, but in this interpretation by directors Kevin Hopkins and Claire Nicholls, the moral ambiguities of exacting revenge, the political schemes perpetrated, and personal grievances manifested are all made relevant.Josh Morrison makes for a powerful Titus caught between duty to the…

OBSERVER: Opera Up Late

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Opera, often seen as a conservative elitist art form, was given a hilarious bawdy extreme makeover when Opera Australia’s show Opera Up Late had its Melbourne debut at the Regent Theatre.Originally created for the World Pride event held in Sydney in 2023, the show was a cabaret-style evening of songs and entertainment made up of…