Observer

OBSERVER: Snatchers

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

The Australian dark comedy feature film Snatchers, a debut comedy feature film from married duo Craig Alexander and Shelly Higgs, had its premiere in June in London at the largest independent film festival – Raindance Film Festival – with a nomination for Best Debut Feature.Reviews have hailed the film as “unashamedly Aussie”, “entertaining” and “darkly…

OBSERVER: Mary Poppins Jr

Emphatically presented by the Young Australian Broadway Chorus in the Cripps Centre, Caulfield Grammar School, Mary Poppins Jr was a theatrical highlight.The company’s youth (18 and under) cohort have differing years of training and experience, yet the whole cast worked as one , particularly in the huge choral numbers like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious .It was nothing short…

OBSERVER: The Mikado

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

I was so excited and honoured to see the 90th anniversary Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Victoria’s matinee production of Mikado.Patience or ‘Bunthorne’s Bride’ for GSOV was my first-ever stage show and first ever lead role as an 18-year-old in the 1981 centenary production at MLC.We are all most grateful and pleased that the tireless…

OBSERVER: A Twist of Fate

Scary Goats Theatre presents A Twist of Fate from August 21-23 at The Motley Bauhaus, Carlton.Inspired by The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, each season of A Twist of Fate contains four short plays about the unusual and otherworldly, each with their own devastating twist.Described as “A little unnerving, a little thought-provoking and just a…

OBSERVER: Numa and Karl

Sevenfold Theatre Company presents a new Australian play titled Numa and Karl: Extraordinary Man That He Was by trans writer and performer Em Chandler, supported by Maribyrnong City Council as the 2025 Arts and Culture Supported Season recipient.Inspired by the life and legacy of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs; a pioneering queer activist who, in 1867, became…

OBSERVER: Crossroads with Rob Foenander

Friday, July 18, 2025

Destroy fearMelbourne outfit Destroy Fear’s debut album, The Mountain Before Us All, is a bold and emotive entry into Australia’s metalcore legacy. Drawing on influences like Parkway Drive and Northlane, it showcases punishing riffs with soaring melodies and raw emotional depth. Exploring themes of struggle and resilience, this powerful release cements Destroy Fear as a…

OBSERVER: Here You Come Again

Nerdy, diehard Dolly Parton-tragic Kevin (Dash Kruck) is in the middle of an existential crisis. Back at home with his parents during the Covid lockdown, “waking up to fresh toast and passive aggression” in his childhood attic bedroom.Paul Wills’s fabulous set full of abandoned childhood toys and the usual discarded household junk competes with Dolly…

OBSERVER: Richard Clapton

Richard Clapton is performingThe Best Years of Our Lives show at 7.30pm on Friday, August 1 at The Palms At Crown, Southbak.He is celebrating 50+ years on stage, and performing a songbook featured in the soundtrack to almost three generations of Australians, including Trust Somebody, I Am an Island, Girls on the Avenue, Goodbye Tiger, Capricorn…

OBSERVER: Stories of Bradmill

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Yarraville, a vibrant inner-western suburb of Melbourne, known for its village atmosphere and heritage architecture, was once a mix of industry servicing a fledgling Melbourne and beyond.Back in 1925 and founded as Davies Co-op, Bradmill grew to become recognized as a most important textile producer, expanding into spinning, weaving, becoming a national leader in cotton…

OBSERVER: Breaking The Castle

Peter Cook’s one man show, Breaking the Castle, is a tribute to surviving addiction.Based on Cook’s own struggles with alcohol and drugs, the theatrical creativity employed in both the writing and performing of the piece enables the audience to appreciate the nature of addiction and its causes.Deftly threaded through the work are indications of the…