Observer

OBSERVER: Crossroads with Rob Foenander

Friday, June 27, 2025

Buoys unpluggedIt’s all happening again at the Two Buoys Dromana Wine and Cocktail Bar.This year’s Unplugged open music competition has kicked off and will run over the next few months.Featuring solo artists, duos and acoustic acts, contestants will be playing their best for prizes totalling over $14.000 and the chance for future work opportunities. Visit…

OBSERVER: MSO

I am joining a standing ovation, having experienced one extraordinary performance and musical masterpiece after another.At Hamer Hall, the magnificent Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Benjamin Northey and guest pianists, have transported the audience to a place of joy.Nearly 140,000 votes were cast in this year’s ABC Classic FM Countdown for the 100 most popular…

OBSERVER: The Yellow Line

The Yellow Line (two worlds, one line) directed and co-written by Alaine Beek and Berne-Lee (Nana) Edwards will be presented on July 26 and 27 at the Wyndham Cultural Centre, Werribee.Described as ‘a powerful true story’, and inspired by events at Port Phillip Prison, now set to close in 2025 amid major prison reforms, The…

OBSERVER: Love Overdue

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Some best friends get together over coffee for deep and meaningful chat, but Melbourne-based besties Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus take it one step further.The two friends write together and have just released their fourth novel, Love Overdue.Described as a heartwarming rom com about the ink first love puts on your heart, Love Overdue introduces…

OBSERVER: Rourke’s Reviews

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Green Room(R). 95 minutes. Now available on Blu-Ray and DVD.Balancing a slow-burn intensity with moments of ferocious violence, the new film from writer/director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Hold The Dark, Rebel Ridge) supplies the kind of edge-of-your-seat thrills that is missing from so many American thrillers made today. Like Blue Ruin, things begin quietly. A…

OBSERVER: Samaná Sunrise

Two couples, Ale (Luisa Mayol) and Santi (Luis Tosar), and Natalia (Bárbara Santa-Cruz) and Mario (Luis Zahera), all best friends, take a trip to the Caribbean to celebrate their anniversaries.Fired up with the romantic location and numerous cocktails, Ale confesses that 20 years ago, on the night when they all first met, she manipulated the…

OBSERVER: Second Chance Family

Finding happiness after grief is something everyone hopes to experience.That’s the theme of popular rural fiction author Barbara Hannay in her latest novel, Second Chance Family.Callie is a young widow with three children and still grieving the loss of her beloved partner when she receives an unusual offer.She finds she has inherited one half of…

OBSERVER: Macbeth

Malvern Theatre Company presents William Shakespeare’s Macbeth until July 5 at 29 Burke Road, Malvern East.Directed by David McLean, Macbeth is described as “Shakespeare’s most thrilling story, of unchecked ambition, witches and ghosts, castles and swordfights … a harrowing exploration of crime and guilt, power and corruption”.“Stars, hide your fires. Let not light see my…

OBSERVER: Thrones Parody

Thrones! The Musical Parody, which played at the Alex Theatre in St Kilda, was something of a hit-and-miss affair in its attempts to make fun of the hit HBO TV series Game of Thrones (GoT), with moments of genuine hilarity offset by jokes that simply were not funny.The setting for the parody is cleverly done….

OBSERVER: Love, Love, Love

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Heidelberg Theatre Company presents Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett from July 4 – 19 at 36 Turnham Avenue, Rosanna.Directed by George Werther, Love, Love, Love is described as having ‘a galloping satirical wit that pulls you along, happy and appalled, through the decades.’The story tells of Sandra and Kenneth, born into the optimistic “baby-boomer”…