Observer

OBSERVER: Titus Andronicus

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Th’Unguarded Duncan and Theatre Works invite audiences to the Australian premiere season of Titus Andronicus being presented from November 13-22 at Theatre Works, St Kilda.Described as ‘a surreal telling of Shakespeare’s most violent play’, this season features international artist and Prague Shakespeare Company Associate Director Josh Morrison in the titular role.Titus Andronicus is the tale…

OBSERVER: Theatre Etiquette

A quietness descends as the lights fade. The audience settles in anticipation of what’s to come. There is the ubiquitous ‘welcome to country’ along with a reminder to turn off one’s mobile phone.But many people still observe this overture as something to be ignored, something that doesn’t apply to them, as something that’s an imposition…

OBSERVER: No Season

Experimental work is, by its very nature, risky. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t, sometimes the experiment can be a mix of both success and failure.A new piece exploring gender and transitioning, No Seasons by Oliver Ayres, falls in the last camp as moments of beautiful stillness contrast with frustrating moments of obscure imagery.Upon entering…

OBSERVER: Down The Back Of The Couch

Liz Skitch becomes a latter-day Pam Ayres in her Fringe Festival routine, Down the Back of the Couch.The poems that form the core of her performance have a comic quality in their depiction of the mundane in life with associated imagery that is amusing.But Skitch takes things a little further with emotional reflections on cancer…

OBSERVER: Cosi Fan Tutte

Melbourne Opera presents Mozart’s comedy Cosi Fan Tutte, in a new production by Suzanne Chaundy from October 30 – November 9 at the Athenaeum Theatre 2, Collins St, Melbourne.Featuring some of Mozart’s most beautiful ensembles and arias, Cosi Fan Tutte is an enjoyable comedy in which two men test their girlfriends’ fidelity and infidelity.The Melbourne…

OBSERVER: Red

Award winning Director Iain Sinclair brings John Logan’s Tony Award winning play Red to Melbourne from November 20 at fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne.Directed by Iain Sinclair, starring Dylan Smith (House of Dragon, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) and emerging actor Jordan Briggs (16th Street Actors Studio Grad), this intense drama by one of Hollywood’s…

OBSERVER: Familiar Touch

Familiar Touch presents a memorable screen experience. Photography by Gabe C. Elder under the direction of writer/producer Sarah Friedland creates a superb visual language, whether studying Ruth’s facial expression or movement and the faces of others. Equally important is the wonderful performance from Kathleen Chalfant as intelligent, mature-aged Ruth, the film’s protagonist who transitions from…

OBSERVER: New stage for West

Footscray Community Arts announces Lango, a new, architecturally designed outdoor performance space opening in November.The venue, designed by MGS Architects with landscaping by Simone Bliss Landscape Architects, will be a community-led space for live music, community events, creatively ambitious performances, markets, and cultural ceremonies.This design announcement showcases the thoughtfully integrated artwork by Indigenous artist Moorina…

OBSERVER: Death at Booroomba

Authors tend to fall into one of two categories – fiction or non-fiction.But Alison Booth (pictured) defies that categor-isation as she is an award-winning academic at Australian National University and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.Yet when she is not lecturing or writing academic papers, she pens cracking stories with an…

OBSERVER: Local Theatre Report

ShowsThe 1812 Theatre: Speaking in Tongues (by Andrew Bovell) Until October 25 at 3 Rose St., Upper Ferntree Gully. Director: Dexter Bourke. Bookings: 1812theatre.com.auCLOC Musical Theatre: &Juliet. Until October 25 at the National Theatre, St Kilda. Director: Karl McNamara; Musical Director: Dan Heskett; Choreographer: Felicity Bender. Bookings: cloc.org.auBabirra Music Theatre: Grease. Until October 18 at…