Observer

OBSERVER: Sisters In Crime

Friday, March 7, 2025

Sisters in Crime present Lifting the petticoats: the underbelly of Regency England on Friday April 4.Dinner is at 6.30 pm, show at 8:00 pm at the Rising Sun Hotel, 2 Raglan Street, South MelbourneRegency England wasn’t ‘all balls, bodices, and beaux for those in high society.’ Markets and gentlemen’s clubs hid secrets, scandals, spies, escaped…

OBSERVER: Local Theatre Report

ShowsGilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria: Fledermaus! April 12 at Moe Plaza. Director: Robert Ray; Musical Director: Geoffrey Urquhart. Bookings: gsov.org.auThe 1812 Theatre: Spider’s Web (by Agatha Christie) Until March 14 at The 1812 Theatre, Rose St., Upper Ferntree Gully. Director: John Mills. Bookings: 1812theatre.com.auMordialloc Theatre Company: Holmes and Watson (by Jeffrey Hatcher) February 27 – March…

OBSERVER: All Shook Up

What do you do with teenagers who have too much time on their hands?Community theatre group Diamond Valley Singers has an answer – you put them in a youth production and get them on stage or behind the scenes.The latest DVS Youth production is the musical All Shook Up, set over a 24-hour period, during…

OBSERVER: A Couple Decides What To Have For Dinner

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Writer/Producer/Director James Hazelden presents A Couple Decides What to Have for Dinner at The Butterfly Club, Melbourne from March 24 -30 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.James says he had to clear the script with his spouse before he showed anyone else. “I knew that when my wife came along she would immediately…

OBSERVER: Jimmy’s Run

Melbourne author Joseph Connellan’s novel Jimmy’s Run has been adapted into a radio play of the same name and brought to life by actors from the Complete Works Theatre Company.The radio play is now available on all podcasting apps by searching ‘Jimmy’s Run’.Jimmy’s Run tells of the trials and tribulations of Sonya Bird, a city…

OBSERVER: Robot Dog

Directed by Amy Sole, The Robot Dog on the surface is an engaging, sweet comedy.Set in Australia in the future world of 2042, the gentle nature of the comedy belies its coverage of multilayered social commentary.Following the death of her mother, Janelle (Kristie Nguy), a woman of Cantonese heritage, together with her First Nations partner…

OBSERVER: Arts Column with Peter Kemp

Saturday, March 1, 2025

Baanj Dayang (Rakali) is a sculpture by indigenous artist Aunty Kim Wandin and Christine Joy featuring a pair of local rakali (water rats), playfully emerging and returning to the water.Ripples etched in concentric circles symbolise the rakali’s eternal connection to place, as a significant entity in Aboriginal culture.This public artwork celebrates ‘indigenous Cultural Heritage’ together…

OBSERVER: William Yang and the MSO

William Yang has built a reputation as a social profile photographer but his presentation, Milestone, documents not just his life but the social changes that have occurred in Australia over the last 80 years. Born to Chinese parents, he has weathered the racism, lived in a variety of regional areas and become an advocate for…

OBSERVER: Rourke’s Reviews

The Substance(R). 140 minutes. Now available on Blu-ray and DVD.With its incredible word-of-mouth which has lead to a huge following and wonderful awards attention (including at this year’s Oscars), this is superb, provocative film-making.But a word of warning first; this new film from Coralie Fargeat (whose excellent debut 2017 feature, Revenge, had a similarly divisive…

OBSERVER: And Then There Were None

A masterpiece of the murder mystery genre, there is a wonderful production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None playing at the Comedy Theatre until March 23.Ten strangers are invited to a solitary mansion on an island off the English coast. Trapped there by a storm one of them suddenly dies from poisoning. The…