Observer

OBSERVER: Are You There?

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Theatre Works and Wild Boar Theatre’s premiere season of Are You There? was a beautiful piece of masterful storytelling, a timely dark comedy that gave a bittersweet insight into life in an aged care home.The home in question was the fictional Autumn Dale Village. There we met three women – Colleen, Pia and Lauren –…

OBSERVER: Other Desert Cities

In 2011, American playwright Jon Robin Baitz wrote Other Desert Cities around the lives of an affluent Republican family in Palm Springs, California, during the Presidency of Republican Geoge W Bush, in 2003.It is Christmas Eve and the Wyeths – Lyman and Polly – are committed Republicans and have invited their son and daughter to…

OBSERVER: Common Knowledge

Comedian, television host and film star Rosie O’Donnell will make her Australian debut with her new, critically acclaimed show Common Knowledge.After its debut in Dublin and direct from the Edinburgh Fringe, the one-woman show will play in Hamer Hall on Sunday October 19 at 2pm.This show marks the first time Rosie has ever performed in…

OBSERVER: Melbourne Fringe Festival

The Melbourne Fringe Festival runs from September 30 to October 19, bringing 500 events over more than 130 venues, and turning the city itself into a stage.Fed Square, Elizabeth Street, Queen Victoria Market, and more will be transformed into free, interactive, and immersive artworks that invite the public to play, move, and connect at this…

OBSERVER: Sincere Apologies

Alternative Facts brings their quietly subversive participatory performance Sincere Apologies to the 2025 Melbourne Fringe, from October 8-19 at Trades Hall, The Square.Created by award-winning artists Dan Koop, Jamie Lewis and David Williams, Sincere Apologies is a show about how we say ‘sorry’.Part theatrical ritual, part social experiment, Sincere Apologies explores what it means to…

OBSERVER: The Anarchy

Friday, September 5, 2025

There haven’t been too many shows that I’ve walked out of as a reviewer but Doppelgangster’s The Anarchy (1138-53) was one of them.Presumably trying to appeal to the historical period of the same name when England and Normandy were at war, the oral stream of indecipherable verbiage from one performer and then the other (Tobias…

OBSERVER: Hidden Times

Thursday, September 4, 2025

The scourge that is sexual harassment was the theme of Small Ripple Theatre’s original production Hidden Tunes, performed at the Clayton Community Centre. It was an earnest, well-intentioned musical delivered by an energetic troupe of actors and musicians that, while engaging, could labour the point at times.Set in a prestigious musical academy, the show tells…

OBSERVER: Numa and Karl

An important event in queer history is brought to life in the premiere of Numa and Karl: Extraordinary Man That He Was, a bold new Australian play at Footscray’s Bluestone Church Arts Space.Set in the mid-19th century in the Kingdom of Hanover, a German lawyer and writer, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, decides to speak out in…

OBSERVER: Patrizio Buane

Good looks and a great voice are hallmarks of Neapolitan pop crooner Patrizio Buane, who is heading to Australian shores in early December.This will be his 20th anniversary Australian tour, which should delight his many fans down under.It’s 20 years since Patrizio launched his debut album, and on this tour he will be joined by…

OBSERVER: Diamonds

In Diamonds, director Ferzan Özpetek crafts a love letter to the women he has worked with throughout his career.The film begins with 18 of Özpetek’s women gathered in a sunny garden in Rome, around a long table piled with food, for a reading of his new work.This film, the director tells the women, is all…