By Jessica Taurins AmaJayus is a harrowing retelling of a life unlived for a long, long time. The titular Jay - comedian and drag performer Jay Wymarra - grew up in northern Australia as a queer, Indigenous, deeply depressed person... well, at least the story is...

By Jessica Taurins Demi & David - Comedy Show (Grocery Store) is like the Wario Ware of comedy shows. Every minute, nay, every second is tied together as loosely as a Woolies bag worn as a t-shirt, with scenes lasting anywhere from a few minutes to six seconds....

By Natalie Ristovski  CW: This review contains descriptions and discussion of sexual assault and grooming. It is rare in this country to see theatrical works that sidestep the mainstream. Gone are the days when La Fura Dels Baus or Jan Fabre could sneak their way into...

By Adam Rafferty Winner of the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award Prize for Drama, Kendall Feaver’s excellent Almighty Sometimes feels to have taken too long to reach the Melbourne stage, yet the scheduling of its launch here this week has become eerily timely....

By Nick Pilgrim Running for three madcap weeks between March and April, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival grew from modest beginnings almost four decades ago to the world-renowned behemoth it has become today. A mixture of new and established talent, the...

BY David Gardette Drag cabaret legend Dolly Diamond doesn’t miss a beat in her new show for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She Slayed – A Drag Murder Mystery throws together four Drag Divas in a rough around the edges, very silly but laugh out loud...

By Nick Pilgrim The Beaks - Stickybeak The Tower, Malthouse Theatre Southbank Reviewed on Thursday April 18, 2024 As the Melbourne International Comedy Festival starts winding down for another year, there is still plenty to see and do. Critiquing the 2024 event has...

By Darby Turnbull The newest generation of Western plays; where the promises of opportunity, bounty, freedom under a capitalist construct haven’t just been broken but shattered repeatedly; have a very complex relationship with hope. The playwright as both omnipresent...

By George Dixon Josh Staley - entertainment that satisfies. Close-up magic is always amazing; close-up magic without a table that takes you on a journey is even more so. With Josh Staley, that journey is peppered with delightful comedy, sometimes a bit corny as if,...

By George Dixon One of the Hottest Melbourne Comedy Festival shows for 2014 is undoubtedly,Bang On Live, presented by Myf Warhurst & Zan Rowe. I had absolutely no idea what Bang On was all about, so I was intrigued by the hundreds of people who had arrived at the...

By Jessica Taurins Emerson Brophy is known for upsetting conservatives the world over with his songs about abortion law and right-wing governments. He also does TikToks! In general, he's a pretty confident guy, so he opens his 2024 Melbourne International Comedy...

BY Bec Johnston It's tough to so much as glance at your phone right now without being inundated with images of climate crises, war and genocide, unthinkable death and suffering. It becomes difficult to envision a better and brighter future when facing down such...

  The Fire Raisers is a play by Swiss novelist playright Max Frisch. Written in German in 1953, Herr Biedermann und die Brandstifte was initially a radio play before being adapted for television and the stage in 1958 as a play with six scenes. Two years later an...

By Jessica Taurins Presented by Grouse House and Aunty Donna, 'The Most Upsetting Guessing Game in the World Live' is, somehow, simultaneously incredibly amusing and incredibly unsettling at the same time. It's great! For those who haven't seen the show, it's fully...

By Jessica Taurins Nina Conti is a ventriloquist, stage performer, comedian, and more recently, actor / director in her upcoming film 'Sunlight', where she is also a monkey. She can, most impressively, do it all, and pulls a lot of it off under not-so-easy conditions...

By Carissa Shale Have you ever felt the dread and panic set in as you’re travelling internationally, venturing through airport security, customs and passport control? I know I don’t have anything nefarious in my bag… but what if by some series of unfortunate events… I...

By Nick Pilgrim Each year prior to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Theatre Matters asks their team of writers to nominate which acts they would like to review. With over 500 choices on offer spanning across three hectic weeks, making the right move is no...

By Nick Pilgrim Familiar to audiences on both the stage and screen, Mike McLeish is a man of many talents. His diverse list of performing credits includes: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Bed of Roses, David Bowie’s Lazarus, Georgy Girl: The Seekers Musical,...

By Carissa Shale The first time I saw Viggo Venn was back in 2016 when he was performing in the Prague International Fringe Festival. A lot has changed for him since then. Having won Britain’s Got Talent, he’s certainly much more visible! However, what hasn’t changed...

By George Dixon The Melbourne 2024 Comedy Festival is in full swing, and I had the wonderful pleasure and privilege to attend one of this year's little gems. Australian-born Jacqueline Mifsud is anything but a regular stand-up presenter. Her latest production “The...

By Natalie Ristovski “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot…” Macbeth, William Shakespeare To hear modern historians tell it, Shakespeare was a man for the...

By Jessica Taurins Before Gadsby even strides onstage (well, they do, but very briefly), we are introduced to Urooj Ashfaq, a Mumbai-based comedian who talks at length about her parents' divorce and the dichotomy between Indian and Australian audiences. She is a ton...

By Kristopher Hinz It’s the little moments that count. Anne Edmonds takes the audience on a charming ride through late-in-life motherhood (or LILM, as she calls it). There are of course, a litany of stories filled with the larger-than-life characters and shrill...

BY Carissa Shale After a breakup, some people lash out and get a questionable haircut or cry on the couch into a tub of ice cream. Diana Nguyen instead chose to cry all the way to Spain to trek 300 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. To heal her broken...

By Chenoah Eljan Tom Gleeson is a grumpy middle aged white man, and he does not care who knows it. In fact, if you park your van outside his house, ask him to contribute to your ‘Go Fund Me’ for a new electric Volvo, or you happen to be a fellow comedian who has ever...

By Natalie Ristovski One question danced through my mind this evening as I sat in the second row of the Malthouse Theatre, awaiting the arrival of anarch-artistic auteur and bane of Bible-bashers everywhere… Is Reuben Kaye the Anti-Christ? Some would certainly have us...

By Darby Turnbull I am in awe of the select few playwrights who have the ability to dramatically chronicle a moment in time and culture in ways that are compelling as a piece of art but also capture a feeling so innate, so specific that it offers a record so that that...

By Sarah Davies If you happen to have missed Innes Lloyd’s previous two Mina Harker adventures, never fear, gentle viewer; the audience is quickly initiated into the world of our central character, and what a rich, zany world it is... channeling the manic energy of a...

By Jessica Taurins Tom Walker, self-proclaimed to be one of Australia's tallest comedians, is back yet again with another weird and wonderful Melbourne International Comedy Festival show: "My Treasures My Beautiful Treasures". Now, one may think before heading into...

By Anna Hayes  After a very successful Melbourne Fringe run in October of last year, Lincoln Vickery’s dark comedy gets its chance to tread the boards at The Motley Bauhaus until April 10, and it’s well worth a look for those who aren’t squeamish. Yes, yes, there’s...

By Carissa Shale Zoë Coombs-Marr’s certainly has bold ambitions when she attempts to cover every single thing in her whole entire life. While she doesn’t quite have the time to cover everything, what she does cover, certainly does not disappoint. Promised to be a...

By Anna Hayes A full house packed into The Butterfly Club to see who the latest victim of ‘Murder Village’ was going to be. The show, running as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, has been treading the boards across Australia for the last few months...

By Nick Pilgrim An entertainment institution for as long as I can remember, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is bigger and stronger than ever. For three intense weeks each autumn, the jam-packed celebration takes over every space available in town. With a...

By Chenoah Eljan Lucy Henderson has been killed and her audience tasked with figuring out her murderer, the location of her death, and the murder weapon – all within a single hour. It is a big ask, but Lucy’s ghost comes prepared with a small TV monitor and powerpoint...

By Carissa Shale Australian comedian Daniel Connell could be described as the epitome of typical Aussie bloke; carefree, laid-back and loves to tell a good story. As a comedian who has frequented the Melbourne International Comedy Festival since 2011, Connell is an...

By Jessica Taurins Reason number one to see 'Act Like I'm Not Here': Mish Wittrup is a stellar storyteller (and a noted lover of alliteration, from what I understand) and uses her skills to bring you under her wordy, delightful spell. Reason number two: as befitting...

By Jessica Taurins Ashley Apap is restless, but we didn't need the title of her show to figure that out. Half-energetic and half-exhausted, Apap is a comedy powerhouse running on adrenaline and good vibes from the crowd. Her show at the 2024 Melbourne International...

By Nick Pilgrim In 2024, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is better than ever.  With enough content to fill a small phone book, there is something for everyone.  The bread and butter of this annual three-week event, stand-up and its many iterations is the...

BY Carissa Shale With an array of awards to her name, it’s no surprise that Gillian Cosgriff’s one-hour musical comedy ‘Actually, Good’, is in fact, actually very good. Not only funny, entertaining, and lighthearted, ‘Actually, Good’ also acts as a large-scale...

By Karyn Hodgkinson  I wanted to see this show because of my fascination with Mozart. Mozart is famous for mainly the quality but also the quantity of his music, and for being a musical genius. He apparently enjoyed all kinds of humour, especially pranks and...

Review by Bronwyn Cook Chicago. The 1920s. The Jazz Age. The dawn of the “celebrity criminal” - where the crime (and justice) itself is overshadowed by glitz, glamour and a good story.   Sound familiar?   A century later, the key themes of “Chicago: The...

By Karyn Hodgkinson  I love the bravery, insanity and sheer skill of this show. As the title of the show suggests, this work is ‘brave and bold’ indeed because one of the most ego bruising experiences is to graduate from an ‘elite’ performing arts institution, as...

By Jessica Taurins Lauren Bok describes herself as a "burlesque jester" in the blurb for her Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024 show 'Boklesque', which is a staggeringly apt title for this extraordinary performer. Opening with (semi-)custom music and a...

Will this review lead to a death? Let’s find out! By Annie Zeleznikow   Ruthless follows young and talented Tina Denmark (a shared role between Chloe Halley and Luisa Oro) and her talentless mother Judy (Britni Leslie) in Tina’s quest to lead her school’s...

By Karyn Hodgkinson In November 2019, the BBC’s Newsnight arranged an interview with presenter Emily Maitlis and Prince Andrew - third child and second son to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Recalling his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the Duke said that he...

By Jessica Taurins An adaptation of a play, based on a movie, based on a book, sounds like a bit of a messy evening. Luckily for The 39 Steps, the intention is to be messy! Based on Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 spy thriller, which is loosely based on John Buchan's 1915...

By David Gardette Premiering in 1938, Patrick Hamilton’s psychological thriller has enjoyed many iterations across stage, TV and film — most notably George Cuckor’s 1944 film noir starring Angela Lansbury in her film debut and garnering a Best Actress Oscar for Ingrid...

  Review by Jody Hooker A Modern Twist on a Timeless Tale - What if Romeo’s ending, was Juliet’s beginning?   The Emmy®-winning writer from Schitt’s Creek flips the script on Shakespeare in this hilarious and poignant story of self-discovery and second...

Review by Bronwyn Cook “Who runs the world? GIRLS” There is nothing more so evident in 2024 than the current surge of girl power we are seeing globally. From Beyonce to Barbie to Taylor Swift to the incredible Australian female sporting achievements, the world is...

By Ash Cottrell When I think about it, it’s been forever since I saw a superb, couldn’t-fault-it, piece of art. I’m pleased to report that last Saturday night, Malthouse Theatre delivered that kind of an evening. In short, Yentl was flawless, and I haven’t stopped...

Review by Kelly-Louise Austin   The Sound of Music is a firm favourite among generations of theatre goers, and that ongoing love was confirmed looking at the range of young and old in attendance for Theatrical’s red carpet opening night on Saturday. The Sound of...

By Anna Hayes The ghosts of the past loom large in Adam Fawcett’s ‘Every Lovely Terrible Thing’ which is running at Theatre Works in St Kilda until March 16. Produced by Lab Kelpie, a Daylesford-based champion for new Australian writing, the play explores...

By Karyn Hodgkinson  Milked, by British playwright, Simon Longman, is set in Herefordshire in the West country of England. It revolves around two young men in their early 20s, each trying to find meaning and purpose in their lives. Paul has returned from university in...

  Written by Geoffrey Atherden, Mother and Son was a popular television series which aired from 1984 to 1994. The original series starred Ruth Cracknell, Garry McDonald, Henri Szeps and Judy Morris. An updated version aired on tv in 2023 starring Matt Okine and...

By Chenoah Eljan Walking into the theatre Avril Lavigne’s “My Happy Ending” plays, welcoming the audience to 2004 but also alluding quite adroitly to what is about to unfold. Olivia (Helen Doig) sits on stage, muttering along to a television. Four unique spaces of a...

By David Gardette Words have power. Words shape people, culture, and beliefs. The power of words and language not only create the world around us but have the authority to influence society and change. After reading ‘The Surgeon of Crowthorne,' about the making of the...

By Melanie Thomas On a beautiful sunny day at Central Park in Malvern I was fortunate to attend the first day of Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s children's show ‘Adventures in Neverland’. Directed by Carl Whiteside, who is strongly experienced in children's theatre,...

 By George Dixon The Duchess of Malfi, written by John Webster in around 1612, is based on actual events in Italy.  Giovanna d'Aragona was the real-life Duchess of Amalfi who was widowed at the age of 19, in 1498. To bring the characters into context, Giovanna...

By Calysta Morgan Nestled amidst the lush greenery of Central Park Malvern, Melbourne Shakespeare Company's adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing" transports audiences on a delightful journey through time and tradition. With a unique blend of Shakespearean wit and 60s...

   By Ellis Koch  The Wharf Revue has a solid history. Twenty-four years running in fact and, one hopes, many more years to come.  With such a long history it is no wonder that The Wharf Revue can deliver such a polished and slick product - political satire that...

By Adam Rafferty On a coarse blue sand shore, studded with the wreckage of a house, reminiscent of the bow of a tall ship, two women wash up with a thud. So begins Scottish playwright Zinnie Harris’ tale of love and loss that poetically explores the way we humans like...

  Review by Nic Conolly   Disney’s latest stage adaptation of Beauty and the Beast premiered on Saturday, February 17th, captivating audiences in Brisbane with its fresh take on the timeless tale. Shubshri Kandiah's portrayal of Belle was a highlight of the...

Review by Suzanne Tate   The talented cast of The Rocky Horror Show are once more delighting audiences in Melbourne with the return of the 50th Anniversary production. It is less than 9 months since this production last opened in Melbourne, but the audience are...

Review by Suzanne Tate   Opening Night of Groundhog Day: The Musical was a highly anticipated event for me. I am a huge Tim Minchin fan and was excited to see how his satirical comedic wit and mind-blowing musical ability would transform the popular 1990s movie...

By Darby Turnbull I must confess I struggled with Barry McStay’s Vespertilio, again directed by Gavin Roach. Bat aficionado Alan (Alec Gilbert), an older gentleman with inherited wealth encounters Josh (Ozzy Breen- Carr) a man in his late teens sleeping rough in a...

By Darby Turnbull I’m running out of superlatives for Kikki Temple. She’s asserting herself as one of the most exciting, and highly respected theatre makers here in Naarm, especially within the queer creative community. Her new play Stuck which she’s written and...

By Darby Turnbull One of them ones by UK playwright and actor Charlie Josephine is a piece about how to have a hard conversation and how high the stakes are when through the conversation your perception of the person will irrecoverably change and how that’s necessary...

By Darby Turnbull So much is made in our society about ‘safety’ and ‘comfort’; often as vague, symbolic things ‘I’m feeling unsafe/uncomfortable/threatened ’ is an extremely effective tool for shutting someone down; safe spaces and boundaries as essential as they tend...

  By Nic Conolly     As the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) Playhouse plunged into darkness, the strumming guitar chords transported the audience from contemporary Brisbane to New York's East Village in December 1989. Amidst global events, one...

  Created by director, choreographer, and dancer Matías Jaime, Malevo is a high-energy and passionate performance with a contemporary take on the traditional Argentinian folk dance, the Malambo. The show opens with an energetic drumming performance executed with...

 By Adam Rafferty The last day of secondary school is a seminal moment that marks the point at which, for many, pivotal decisions are made that will have a heavy influence on the rest of our lives. Yet, at an age of seventeen, the proto-adults most of us are at that...

By Karyn Hodgkinson  It’s been over 30 years since I have seen the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. It began in 1979 as a local project for school kids. Now, 45 years later, it is a member of the Arts8 group of elite performing arts training organisations, which include the...

  Review by George Dixon     The stage show Grease the Musical is in Melbourne town, and the whole city is buzzing with delight.   Grease was created by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey in 1971. It premiered on Broadway on Valentine's Day 1972. The film...

By Bronwyn Cook Anyone who is from the UK or has visited will tell you that the local pub can often be the heartbeat of a town (or village). For me, it was Bartons Mill in Basingstoke, a charming place by a stream which I walked to through a country field. For the...

By Jessica Taurins Harkening back to the carnivals and big tops of a hundred years ago, Circus 1903 is an absolute feast for the senses (including taste, if the ringmaster happens to toss some popcorn your way) and a delight for all ages. Aside from the acrobats,...

By Chenoah Eljan The Australian Shakespeare Company’s 2023 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is perhaps their best and most polished production yet. Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens provides a stunning backdrop; cleverly, the paired-back, simple set does not...

By David Gardette Following a highly successful sold-out Brisbane season A Very Naughty Christmas (AVNC) makes its way to Melbourne for a limited festive season. Creatives Alex Woodward and Dan Venz have devised and developed over the past 7 years this raunchy crowd...

  Review by Suzanne Tate   Kinky Boots was an absolute powerhouse of a show!   Unlike most theatre folks, I have never seen the show or film, and as I don’t list to the soundtrack until I’ve seen a show, I’ve also never heard any of the music. I came to...

By Nick Pilgrim Written by the late Edward Albee (1928-2016), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is considered a modern theatrical classic. Sixty years ago since its Broadway debut and set on a university campus, the story is a gripping character study of two marriages...

By Chenoah Eljan A Christmas Carol is a timeless classic that reminds us there are many things more valuable than money, including love, human connection, charity and generosity. This adaptation written by Jack Thorne does so with wit, music, and a contemporary...

By Nick Pilgrim In the vast and varied landscape of Australia’s independent live entertainment scene, for more than a decade Little Ones Theatre has carved itself an impressive niche. Known for their commitment to showcasing queer comedy and drama at capital city...

By Carissa Shale Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah or Chrismukkah, ‘A Very Jewish Christmas Carol’ is a heart-warming, must-see production, just in time for the holiday season. Produced by Melbourne Theatre Company, this original festive comedy is a fresh and...

By Anna Hayes The story of Julian Assange is one that dots in and out of our media consumption these days. After seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, he was arrested in April 2019 and transferred to Belmarsh Prison where he remains while fighting against a...

  Review by Josiah Hilbig   First premiered in France in 1994, Art is an award-winning play that tells a simple story inspired by a personal experience of the playwright Yasmina Reza: Serge buys a particularly expensive painting—no more than white lines on a...

By David Gardette Based on the 1973 French farce of the same name, La Cage Aux Folles (The Cage of Mad Women), premiered on Broadway in 1983 and enjoyed a hit four-year run, culminating in 6 Tony Awards. With numerous revivals, International stagings, more awards and...

By Annie Zeleznikow Dogfight is a soulful musical about a rag tag team of young marines heading for Vietnam in the 1960’s. Before they are deployed they spend their last few hours of freedom in San Francisco, conforming to the tradition of marine’s past by hosting a...

By Rebecca Waese  Orlando, the first musical production by Antipodes Theatre Company, adapts Virginia Woolf’s novel of the same name, portraying a young, privileged artist who writes and loves, changes from a man to a woman, and lives almost 300 years. The production...

Alain Boubil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's epic musical Miss Saigon was originally inspired by a single photograph. A distressed young child in Saigon was being taken away from her mother to join her ex-GI father in America. The pain is evident, as the mother gives up...

By Jessica Taurins Entering to the sounds of bardcore - parody music where modern songs are performed with flutes and lyres - the Motley Bauhaus stage is well-set for the audience to enjoy another mash-up in Shakespeare Ghostbusters. On the spookiest of October...

Reviewed by Tim Garratt   With a music career spanning six decades, Sting has achieved astonishing global success. He has 17 Grammy Awards to his name and over 100 million record sales, and his critically acclaimed Australian tour earlier this year played to...

By Adam Rafferty Great American jazz singer Billie Holiday, nicknamed ‘Lady Day’ and famous for her unique vocal style, is about as intimidating a historical character one can choose to portray. Yet Zahra Newman, in a virtuosic performance, captures the diva so...

By Ash Cottrell It was Friday night at, Malthouse Theatre and the weather could only be characterised as, European-esque. There was a stillness to the evening and a frivolity in the air. One of COVID’s lasting benefits, the extended outdoor area, adjacent to ACCA, was...

By Chenoah Eljan Latchkey is a sketch comedy show from the brilliant minds of The Improv Conspiracy alums Taylor Griffiths and Matt Jenner. This show has precious little in the way of set design, costumes, props and sound cues. Instead, it is 68% Griffiths’ hilarious...

By Chenoah Eljan Nicole Gulasekharam has adapted her 2021 short film The Quirky Best Friend for the stage in this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival. It is a one-woman rom com-esque tale that relies heavily on the tropes it parodies, to great comedic effect....

By Chenoah Eljan Every seat is filled for Victorian Theatre Company’s production of Angus Cameron’s For Love Nor Money. Word has got out, this is, quite literally, one to watch. It is a story about an aspiring poet, Liam (Alexander Lloyd), and an aspiring filmmaker,...

By Chenoah Eljan Alex Lowes has always wanted to be the most famous person in the world and so he made a show about it. This is Lowes’s first Fringe festival show, which is surprising given his comfort on stage and the ease with which he rolls with technical...

By Nick Pilgrim Situated in Melbourne’s inner south, Red Stitch / The Actors’ Theatre is known for producing exciting and diverse local and international content. Thanks to the company’s compact black box space, viewers are treated to an experience never far away from...

By Darby Turnbull Three girls, one boy, minus one sister.  Minusonesister, Anna Barnes’ 2013 adaption of Sophocles Electra, which was the recipient of the Patrick White Playwrighting award that year, makes a welcome return at this year's Fringe Festival. Barne’s savvy...

By Natalie Ristovski One thought pervaded my mind for the bulk of my foray into the world of Mythos: Ragnarok this Melbourne Fringe Season, and that thought was: Why is this not a dinner theatre show? To be fair, one would be forgiven for wanting to avoid tying...

By Anja Eljan (age 8) The maddest of mad scientists, Magnus D Magnus, is the ruler of the show KABOOM! Magnes D Magnes calls himself “the world’s stupidest genius and the smartest idiot”. He shows the audience mind-blowing science experiments and shocking explosions....