Arts and Entertainment Archive

The recorder – mainly the descant – is responsible for turning generations of school children off making music from a very early age. A featureless instrument in many ways, its flat tone conjures out-of-tune ensembles parping away amongst the pencil shavings in a …

There’s really no need to leap inside the mind of writer/director Charlie Kaufman— à la Being John Malkovich—because his films themselves offer us a glimpse into his innermost thoughts and philosophies. This is true of Kaufman’s latest feature Anomalisa, a darkly funny …

The Alliance Française French Film Festival is returning to the Palace Cinemas in Sydney on March 1 with a fabulous film selection for French film lovers. The Festival, now in its 27th season, is the most popular French film festival in the …

A choking man spits out a hunk of chicken that lands near our feet. A wheelchair is suddenly illuminated by our seats. A crying woman shakes beside us, her tears visible on her face. Participatory theatre? Not intentionally. Try instead intimate theatre …

From the outset this gig had some mystery about it. The Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) Chevron Gardens had a new home at the brand spanking Elizabeth Quay and The Dub Pistols had never been to Australia before. Seeing the main stage …

There is nothing quite like going to the Old Fitz Theatre on opening night: it’s an excuse to get dressed up, have a nice glass of wine or a beer and ogle at the variety of Sydney characters in one of the …

Vaudevillian entertainer Godfrey Uke and his ensemble of award-winning jazz musicians will be very busy in February. The fun begins in the Blue Mountains with Tin Pan Alley, a debut theatrical homage to the great composers of American popular song, performed as …

A program of Beethoven symphonies too often gives modern orchestras an excuse to really blast and shake the concert hall rafters. After all, Beethoven’s symphonies are full of pile-driving riffs and slammin’ power-chords. It’s all very exciting – as any heavy metal is …

  A Moscow chill is in the air at the Glen Street Theatre with Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor, a work that with its humour and touchingly human dilemmas dispels the cliché portrayal of 19th century Russia as harsh, unyielding and soporific. This …

Sydney Festival’s poster girl is Meow Meow whose orange mermaid fish lips adorn bus stops across the city. But while the cabaret performer is dominating publicity, the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent in which she performs is also hosting lower profile yet equally dynamic …