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Lightscape (Royal Botanic Gardens) - 90 minutes
An unquestionable highlight of winter in Melbourne is Lightscape at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Â Now in its fourth year, it is bigger and...
Alex First
23 hours ago3 min read


Welcome Home (Highlight Productions), at Chapel Off Chapel - 90 minutes, without interval
A delightful new play with originality stamped all over it, Welcome Home concerns two women who each believe they own the same house. Â ...
Alex First
3 days ago3 min read


Hedwig And The Angry Inch (Athenaeum Theatre and touring) - 85 minutes
With a powerful rock score, the talent on display in the new Australian tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is phenomenal. Â With music and...
Alex First
5 days ago3 min read


The Selkie Project (Liminal Theatre and Performance), at Theatre Work’s Explosives Factory - 70 minutes
First up, a confession. I am not sure I really understood The Selkie Project. Â The whole thing felt experimental and somewhat...
Alex First
6 days ago2 min read


Heartbreak Hotel, at The Show Room, Arts Centre Melbourne - 75 minutes
Breaking up is hard to do.  So it goes, as Karin McCracken and Simon Leary put on a slick show unpacking her characters’ angst at trying...
Alex First
Jun 153 min read


Circe’s Carnival of Vice (Bloomsday in Melbourne), at fortyfivedownstairs - 95 minutes
Gender bending and a hallucinatory trip are the focus of Bloomsday in Melbourne’s playful, highly original work, Circe’s Carnival of...
Alex First
Jun 142 min read


The Chronicles (Stephanie Lake Company), at Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne - 70 minutes
There is a reason that Stephanie Lake is my favourite choreographer. Â In short, she is eternally creative in the work she produces. Her...
Alex First
Jun 133 min read


The Wrong Gods (MTC and Belvoir Street Theatre), at Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne - 90 minutes, without interval
What is the price to be paid for progress? That is the conceit at the centre of the compelling drama with comedic undertones, The Wrong...
Alex First
Jun 113 min read


Prison Island (Fever and Make It Now), at The District Docklands shopping centre - 90 minutes
Do you enjoy being challenged mentally and physically? Â Do you like playing games and solving puzzles? Â Are you fit, clear of mind and...
Alex First
Jun 92 min read


Fat Pig (Forest Collective and BK Opera), at fortyfivedownstairs - 100 minutes
The conceit behind the Australian premiere of the darkly comedic chamber opera Fat Pig feels all too real. Â What is it like to be...
Alex First
Jun 83 min read


Kill Me, at The Sumner, Southbank Theatre - 90 minutes
Naked women, guns, pop and classical music, dancers, roller skating, shadow boxing, athleticism, a shrine and Russian ballet dancer...
Alex First
Jun 72 min read


Swingers: The Art of Mini Golf, above Flinders Street Station
Have you ever thought about playing mini golf with a tail? No, I am not off with the pixies. Â Swingers: The Art of Mini Golf, a...
Alex First
Jun 62 min read


POV (re:group performance collective), at The Showroom, Arts Centre Melbourne - 70 minutes
POV (Point of View) is an extraordinary undertaking, unlike anything I have seen.  A 14-year-old – played by alternates on different...
Alex First
Jun 63 min read


BLKDOG, at Arts Centre Melbourne, as part of the RISING festival - 1 hour 6 minutes
Life’s struggle from childhood is captured in captivating form in Botis Seva’s Olivier Award-winning dance theatre production BLKDOG.  ...
Alex First
Jun 52 min read


The Lighting Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical (MUST), at Monash University - 2 hours 20 minutes, including interval
If you think a musical about Greek gods is too much of a literary stretch and hardly relatable to the modern world, think again. Â The...
Alex First
Jun 43 min read


Samson & Delilah (Melbourne Opera), at the Palais Theatre - 2 hours 20 minutes, including interval
A portent of doom hangs over Melbourne Opera’s production of Samson & Delilah.  It is largely dark and foreboding (lighting design is by...
Alex First
Jun 22 min read


Love and Information at Theatre Works - 105 minutes
My approach to reviewing is to enter a theatre, cinema or gallery knowing nothing about what I am about to see and hear. Â That means not...
Alex First
Jun 12 min read


Ripening (Citizen Theatre), at Gasworks - 90 minutes, without interval
Who has the right to tell you how and when to give birth? Â Of course, it is a deeply personal issue, but one that, over generations, has...
Alex First
May 313 min read


The Phoenician Scheme (M) – 101 minutes
From the highly creative mind of Wes Anderson comes the story of a ruthless businessman and his estranged daughter. Â It is 1950. Anatole...
Alex First
May 292 min read


Endgames, at fortyfivedownstairs - 90 minutes, including interval
Max Gillies is a living treasure who brings frustration, despair and humour to three fine pieces involving men at the tail end of their...
Alex First
May 263 min read
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