Observer

OBSERVER: Grand Tour

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’s wistful and melancholic film Grand Tour, for which he won the Best Director prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, is a strange meld of cinematic styles, part 1930s old Hollywood, part present-day documentary.Loosely based on a Somerset Maughan story, the film’s first half follows Edward (Gonçalo Waddington), a British civil…

OBSERVER: Spark

As part of this year’s Midsumma Festival, Frenzy Theatre Company in conjunction with Theatre Works produced Spark, an exploration of a gay man’s search for ‘Mr Right’ in today’s world of apps and online dating.In brief, Simon (played by Ryan Henry) is nearing 30 and desperately searching for love. To help him, he uses Iris…

OBSERVER: The Seed of the Sacred Fig

In 2022, Iranian student Mahsa Amini was arrested and beaten to death for improperly wearing her hijab.Set against the spontaneous protests that erupted following her death, Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig begins as a tense family drama in which an emerging generation gap threatens the family dynamic.Where prosecutor Iman (Misagh Zare) sees…

OBSERVER: Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen

“I’m 36, I’m a comedian, and I’m about to kill my boyfriend”, is in fact, a killer opening line from Samuel Barnett, portraying a single, neurotic, gay, stand-up comedian.The celebrity-scattered Opening Night audience at the Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, was with Barnett all the way, laughing heartily – though silenced by moments of pathos…

OBSERVER: Billy Elliot

Regional Victoria can claim a Billy Elliot the Musical record of having two brothers alternate as Billy during their 12-performance season at the Geelong Arts Centre.Footlight Productions assembled a truly talented cast and support team that without doubt would rank among the many professional companies in the world.I say this as I have seen the…

OBSERVER: Tantrum for 6

Pictured: From left: Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Michaela Tancheff, Anika De Ruyter, Rebecca Jensen and Oliver Savariego in Tantrum for 6.Photo: Jo Duck Darebin Arts Speakeasy presents Tantrum for 6 by Harrison Ritchie-Jones from February 12-22 at the Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre.A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, choreographer Harrison Ritchie-Jones will use his…

OBSERVER: Truth of Power Café

Pictured: Truth To Power CafePhoto: Kate Holmes Jeremy Goldstein and Theatre Works present Truth to Power Café from February 5 – 6 at Theatre Works, 14 Acland St , St Kilda.Created, written and performed by Jeremy Goldstein with Henry Woolf, directed by Jen Heyes, and described as ‘a profound theatrical reflection on loss, hope, and…

OBSERVER: Alice In Wonderland

Penny Farrow’s adaptation of Lewis Caroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a magical, fun-packed 60 minutes.Performed for a limited season at the Athenaeum Theatre, Farrow’s Alice in Wonderland was created over a decade ago with Executive and Creative Producer Ethan Walker, and still resonates with imagination and creativity.The fantastical characters Alice meets on her…

OBSERVER: Free concerts at the Myer Music Bowl

Pictured: MSO Chief Conductor Jaime Martin. Photo: Paul Marc Mitchell Over three star-filled February summer nights, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will continue its more than 60-year tradition of performing free outdoor concerts at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.The 2025 free summer series opens on February 5 with Cybec Assistant Conductor Leonard Weiss leading the MSO…

OBSERVER: Many Wives of Windsor

Pictured: Elizabeth Brennan in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Photo: Ben Fon Shakespeare’s comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor, under the stars, directed by Glenn Elston was a delightful night of theatre.Set at the Garter Inn and adjacent houses of two middle class Windsor families, the Fords and the Page, the company’s early 1970’s take…