Observer

OBSERVER: Fringe Festival launch

Monday, August 25, 2025

Standing room only in the iconic ETU Ballroom at the Trades Hall, Lygon St, for the 2025 VIP launch of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, starting September 30 and running to October 19.As Victoria’s longest running multi-arts festival it has been no mean feat for 43 years and this year it has more than 500 exciting…

OBSERVER: Local Theatre Report

Sunday, August 24, 2025

ShowsThe 1812 Theatre: Home, I’m Darling (by Laura Wade) Until August 30 at 3 Rose St., Upper Ferntree Gully. Director: Amy Calvert. Bookings: 1812theatre.com.auBrighton Theatre Company: Fallen Angels (Noel Coward) Until August 30 at Brighton Theatre. Director: Joe Dias. Bookings: brightontheatre.com.auThe Mount Players: A Skull in Connemara (by Martin McDonagh) Until August 31 at the…

OBSERVER: Greeking Out

Greeking Out – Mythology 101 is a new one-woman comedy show created and performed by Rebecca Perich, being presented from October 6 -12 at Spielhaus, near Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne, as part of the Fringe Festival.Perich says: “We’re greeted by Professor Ari who, in 60 minutes, will test the audience’s knowledge on Greek gods, Greek…

OBSERVER: Rourke’s Reviews

The ToxicAvenger(MA). 102 minutes. Opens in selected cinemas August 28.Shot in 2023, this slick but deliberately trashy remake of the 1985 cult classic finally sees the light of day, fully uncut and intact.Pulled from a potential release apparently due to its graphically violent content, a new distributor has given audiences a chance to see what…

OBSERVER: St Ali Film Festival

The largest celebration of Italian culture and film outside Italy, the St Ali Italian Film Festival, returns to cinema screens in Melbourne from September 19 to October 16, and Ballarat September 20 – October 16 in Palace cinemas.Presented by Palace, the full 2025 line-up is being revealed, with these first highlights offering a taste of…

OBSERVER: Ordinary Days

The ordinary takes flight in Adam Gwon’s chamber musical Ordinary Days.Set in New York, Jason (Bobby Fox) and Claire (Sarah Morrison) are moving in together.Meanwhile, Warren (Joel Granger) has found Deb’s (Melanie Bird) misplaced notes for the thesis she is writing. Their lives intersect in a form of poetic symmetry where the simplest dots of…

OBSERVER: The Life of Chuck

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Before seeing The Life of Chuck, it helps to know that the film is in three acts, and travels back through time. Each act focuses on a different cast, with the character of Chuck (played as an adult by Tom Hiddleston) being the common link.The story is by famed horror novelist Stephen King, and the…

OBSERVER: Trophy Boys

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

The return season of Emmanuelle Mattana’s Trophy Boys is not just a testament to its theatrical durability but to the importance of the insights and messaging. The work is superbly crafted, luring audiences in with a seemingly comic send up schoolboy culture.Owen (Myfanwy Hocking), David (Leigh Lule), Scott (Gaby Seow) and Jared (Fran Sweeney Nash)…

OBSERVER: Entertaining Mr Coppin

The Show Room at Arts Centre Melbourne was packed to capacity for the launch of Simon Plant’s exciting new book Entertaining Mr Coppin:An Antipodean Showman in Civil War America, commissioned and published by Theatre Heritage Australia.Actor, digger, entrepreneur, innovator, influencer, traveller, speculator and politician George Coppin (1819-1906) also undertook an extraordinary journey to America in…

OBSERVER: Crisis Actor

In Crisis Actor, audiences do more than just watch – they use their phones to help shape the outcome of a dark and playful performance that blends silliness with solemnity.Premiering at Arts House in partnership with Now or Never, Crisis Actor is part surrealist comedy, part live-action video game and will be presented from August…