By Jessica Taurins Sometimes an actor is just an actor, and sometimes an actor is their character through and through. Aside from owning a book shop, it turns out that Dylan Moran is - in more ways than one - an exact replica of his early-2000s Black Books character...

  Review by Jody Hooker   Just prior to the opening night of RENT in New York City, its creator and composer Jonathan Larson tragically passed away before getting to witness his masterpiece. But, before RENT, Larson had created another musical. And just like...

By Nick Pilgrim Writing for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, one is spoiled for choice. With more than 500 acts converging on the city over a hectic three-week period, there is at least something guaranteed for...

By George Dixon. Adam Rozenbachs is, without a doubt, one of Australia’s most-loved comedians of stage, screen, and Television. With a history that has entertained and delighted audiences for over 10 years, Rozenbachs has more that honed his skills which include...

By Adam Rafferty Winner of the Best Newcomer award at the 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Frankie McNair hasn’t rested on her laurels over the last year. Returning this time around in the form of a washed-up lounge singer of yesteryear named Tabatha...

By Jessica Taurins Jordan Raskopoulos is known to Zoomers as 'that woman from Tik Tok', Millennials as 'that singer from The Axis of Awesome', and Boomers probably as 'that person who did weird shit on the Ronnie Johns Half Hour - so hopefully everyone knows her as...

By George Dixon This amazingly high-energy multi-awarded stand-out comedy is a not to be missed show that ticks all the right boxes. Otto and Astrid have been professionally performing their unique style of musical comedy since 2008. It’s very clear that they have a...

By Jessica Taurins If this was to be a single sentence review, it would read "DeAnne Smith can only be described as a hilariously relatable and easily distractible weird little guy, 5/5 stars". But... my editor wouldn't like that, so let me add a few more sentences....

By Anna Hayes Ah job interviews, we’ve all been there - we’ve had good ones that we thought went bad, bad ones that we thought went good, but we’ve probably (hopefully!) never had one quite like this... Written and directed by James Hazelden, The Job Interview is,...

By Suzanne Tate  A very common theme for comedians recently has, of course, been the pandemic. I suspect most of the shows at the festival this year have touched upon it in some way. Danny Bhoy’s show title, Now is Not a Good Time, refers to covid and other negative...

By Ellis Koch It was thirty years ago that Colin Lane and Frank Woodley graced the Melbourne performance scene as a comedy duo, although their origins are as a trio dating back as far as 1986. So, minus the eleven year hiatus from 2006 until 2017 . . . That's twenty...

By Suzanne Tate Paul McDermott’s show Plus One: Blood Orange at the Brunswick Ballroom is 90 minutes of hilariously irreverent comedy and music. I’m sure many of the audience had been fans since his Doug Anthony All Star days (he did make some digs about the age of...

By Suzanne Tate Rhys Nicholson is a consummate comedic performer and a natural-born storyteller. They have an undefinable ‘IT’ factor that makes them eminently watchable, and the gift to be totally relatable, regardless of common ground. Out of the several shows I saw...

By Laura Hartnell It’s the little things that annoy Cal Wilson. Incorrect grammar. Slow walkers. Her dad’s sock-hoarding habit. The TikTok-famous cat commentator and household name is back with her new show Supposably (named in honour of one of her husband’s...

By Xavier McGettigan I had the absolute pleasure of attending Larry Dean's stand-up comedy show, "FUDNUT" at the Swiss Club as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2023. It is an absolutely brilliant show. Dean had me in stitches from the very beginning...

By Anna Hayes The ubiquity of Shakespeare is the central theme of Here There & Everywhere’s MICF production, ‘Bogan Shakespeare’, a crass and crude exploration of the Bard through the eyes of a group of bogans drinking tinnies in the backyard. It shouldn’t be a...

By Laura Hartnell ‘Start at infant mortality and bring them back from there.’ That’s the approach of Bronwyn Kuss’ latest show, Sounds Good. It’s a tightly structured and effortlessly paced hour of wry, dark comedy. After winning the Directors’ Choice Award and being...

By Anna Hayes A packed house at the Improv Conspiracy Theatre made for a raucous response to ‘Hunt for Ghosts’, the new offering from comedy duo Annie Lumsden and Lena Moon. Not that they’re comedians or actors anymore. Oh no, don’t make that mistake - they’ve given...

  By Laura Hartnell When’s the last time you listened to an album the whole way through? Conk has. And he’s here to tell you how to create the perfect music album, in an unhinged and wholesome comedy lecture that makes you happy to be alive. Genuinely as...

By Xavier McGettigan Who knew Microsoft Paint drawings, Powerpoint Presentations and Betrayal could be so entertaining? In an introductory audience survey, a resounding chorus of cheers responded to Jenny Tian’s “who knows me from my Instagram and TikTok videos?” But...

By Laura Hartnell Geraldine Hickey is having a great time. She’s at the Comedy Theatre this year, after winning Most Outstanding Show Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2021. She got married, bought a (third) house, and is riding high (on a horse)...

By Nick Pilgrim For a quarter of a century, triple Gold Logie winner, Rove McManus has been a mainstay on Australian commercial television and radio. A natural born charmer, McManus quickly rose through the ranks. Earning his stripes on community radio and Channel 31,...

By Adam Rafferty Dave O’Neil may call himself a lightweight, but the 57-year-old’s wealth of experience working the comedy circuit and the airwaves with his cheeky brand of humour means he can more than hold his own when it comes to a tricky crowd or an audience...

By Heather Bosted A debut cabaret about one woman's journey to make her boobs smaller. Underwire is punchy, brilliant, original, hilarious, and full of pathos. Opening with some destigmatising of all words to do with breasts and nipples, especially for the dad’s in...

By Darby Turnbull As a  longtime fan of Le Gateau Chocolat and Adrienne Truscott from across the equator the opportunity to see these two bold, brash performance artists up close was too delicious an opportunity to miss. Grey Arias is a chance to spend an hour in...

By Nick Pilgrim In writing this piece, one specific source sprang to mind. In 2016 I attended a monologue at The Malthouse in Southbank called Every Brilliant Thing. With writing credits shared by Jonny Donahoe and Duncan Macmillan, their story details how a family...

By Nick Pilgrim  For more than a decade, I have had the good fortune to review The Melbourne International Comedy Festival. During this time, these shows covered as many themes and variations as the jam-packed calendar allows. That being said from a comic perspective,...

By Nick Pilgrim The second-largest event of its kind in the world after Edinburgh, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has something for everyone. Local and international stars work side by side, promising big laughs for our hard-earned bucks. Running for...

By Suzanne Tate After a brief introduction, the Impromptunes show started as most improvisational comedy of this nature does – with suggestions from the audience for show titles. The crowd was small tonight, only a few rows in the ETU Ballroom at the Trade Hall, and...

By: Adam Rafferty American born, Australian based comedian Mike Goldstein has been working the comedy circuit both here and internationally since the noughties. But his regular appearances of recent on Channel 9’s The Hundred with Andy Lee – where he plays “budget...

Written by Australian playwright and screenwriter, John Misto, The Shoehorn Sonata is a powerful award-winning drama based on the true events of two women interred in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the Sumatran jungle. Bridie is an Australian nurse and Sheila is...

By Anna Hayes My record with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has been something of a mixed bag since moving to Australia four years ago. In 2019, I saw a very entertaining improv group, and last year my boyfriend and I were the only two people at a gig...

By: Adam Rafferty  When Joanne McNally swaggers out onto the Athenaeum Theatre stage, you’d be forgiven for thinking she was a rock star. A stadium full of Harry Styles fans would seem meek and disinterested by comparison to the wild and raucous gaggle that screamed...

Review by Jody Miller   Wyong Musical Theatre Group (WMTC) is an amateur community musical theatre group who produce a variety of musicals each year showcasing the talents of the Central Coast youth and adult performers, creatives and technical crew.  ...

By Guy Webster Oscar Wilde once said ‘progress is the realisation of Utopias’. But what exactly constitutes utopia, and how does one go about realising it? Surely, that’s the rub. In Maki Morita’s new hyperpop-punk fantasy, Trash Pop Butterflies Dance Dance Paradise,...

By Anna Hayes A friendship in disarray seems to be a popular theme at the moment and it’s one that is explored with great heart, humility and hilarity in Laura Knaggs’s one-woman show Silly Little Things, a clever title because the character’s concerns are neither...

By Jody Miller Customer Service Workers revolt. No more happy helpers till you treat us with respect. A cathartic account of what retail workers experience on a daily basis and what they want the general public to know, that sometimes the customer isn’t always right,...

By Darby Turnbull At only the second week of March I find myself being spoilt in terms how my specific theatre appetite is being satiated this year. Between Jasmine Lee-Jones' Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Emmanuelle Mattana’s Trophy Boys, Travis Alabanza/...

Theatrical presents Green Day’s American Idiot By Michelle Thompson   I had the great pleasure of attending the opening of Theatrical’s latest offering, Green Day’s American Idiot at Chapel off Chapel. American Idiot: a Rock Opera that follows the fortunes of three...

  Like so many students, I studied Romeo and Juliet in high school. It's a tragic romance story that has been adapted in so many ways ever since it was first published by William Shakespeare in 1597. But I've never liked the ending. I know it's a classic, but I...

By: Adam Rafferty Arguably the progenitor of modern celebrity, Sarah Bernhardt was the most famous actress and theatre manager of the late 1800s and early 1900s, also known as the Belle Époque. Long before the superstars of Hollywood’s golden era, Bernhardt toured the...

By Ellis Koch  This may sound strange but . . . perhaps the best review one could write for Made in China 2.0 is no review. If I could convince you to see this show by publishing nothing but a blank, empty page I most certainly would. That would be the most fitting...

By Darby Turnbull I sat and waited but you were gone too long…is a gorgeous invitation to surrender to sensory aspects of witnessing live performance. Like Letting bleeding girls lie; the third part of Liv Satchell’s grief trilogy that I’ve previously engaged with...

By Darby Turnbull  120 minutes, 22 scenes, many dense monologues with no interval are a big ask of an audience, not to mention the creatives! A production featuring a company very fine actors and creatives working to the best of their abilities has the potential to be...

By Jessica Taurins Across the world, there is no show - stage or otherwise - that has run for longer than Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. This show approaches 30,000 performances and has just reached its 70th anniversary, coming far across the world from its typical...

By Ash Cottrell It was a particularly hot day in Melbourne and as I approached the theatre, I found myself thinking more about the ability of the venue’s air conditioner to sustain me through sixty-five minutes, no interval, than the performance I was about to see....

By Karyn Hodgkinson Romeo and Juliet is an example of Shakespeare’s extraordinary understanding of the human condition in all its goodness, malevolence and complexity. He taps into the very soul of ambition and guilt (Macbeth), jealousy (Othello), revenge (Hamlet),...

By Nick Pilgrim What are the odds? Within the space of a week, I got the chance to review several shows which paid homage to two of America's leading female entertainment legends. Last Saturday I had the privilege of seeing Judy - Australia - 1964, detailing Judy...

Reviewed by Jody Miller   The Rocky Horror Show 50th Anniversary Tour has opened at the Theatre Royal Sydney and I see you shiver with Antici--Pation. The Rocky Horror Show is one of Sydney's finest theatrical nights out, an absolute banger of a show asking us to...

  Review by Suzanne Tate   I was quite impressed with the movie Cruel Intentions when it was released in 1999. It was a little edgy, well-acted, and despite being a modernised version of ‘Dangerous Liason’s’, it felt fresh and original. Producer David Venn...

By Anna Hayes Fortyfive downstairs’ latest dramatic offering is an interesting beast - no pun intended. It’s an Australian premier of a UK playwright’s adaptation of a Russian novelist’s short story and, in form, it’s no less of a mix-up. The stage show is a mix of...

By Jessica Taurins The myths of vampires (at least the vampires we know today) have been around since the 18th century. Revenants with long nails and hair, and lips stained red with blood, wandering towns and draining poor souls who happened to cross their paths. The...

By George Dixon. I always enjoy the Mid-Summer Festivals and this year is no exception. One of the plays worth seeing is Coming Out. A play written, directed, and produced by the immensely talented Scott Taylor. With Coming Out, Scott has total control of the...

By Ash Cottrell As I exited the luxe, Fairfax Studio Saturday night, to a swarm of well-dressed waiters with trays of champagne, I smiled to myself. After two years (or thereabouts), of unrelenting COVID restrictions putting an unceremonious halt on the Melbourne...

By Nick Pilgrim In my thirteen years as a critic, I have had the good fortune to experience a solid cross-section of tribute acts.  Some of the more notable examples include: Blue – The Songs of Joni Mitchell  Dream Lover  In Vogue – Songs By Madonna  Late, Late At...

By Darby Turnbull I often find the rating system limiting; yes it’s a readily accessible and shorthand way of indicating whether a performance is worth seeing or not based on the individual tastes and points of reference of the reviewer. But its most glaring...

Confusions is a collection of five short, interconnected plays, written by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn and first staged in 1974. It's an ambitious undertaking for a community theatre, with each play requiring its own unique set. A smart set design (Chris...

tick, tick…BOOM! is the autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, the composer of Rent. Rent opened on January 25th 1996 - the day Jonathan Larson tragically died from a dissected aorta. It was a ground-breaking musical in its day and it earned Larson three...

By Karyn Hodgkinson On 4th February I attended the one-night-only performance of ‘A Worthy Rival’ at the Victorian Pride Centre. In the spirit of the Australian Women’s Open that had finished a week earlier, this new script revolves around two leading female tennis...

By Ian Nott Proto-intellectualism, sassy moves and the use of Linx deodorant are just some of the things that make this new play Trophy Boys by Emmanuelle Mattana hilarious and socially relevant for today’s theatre going audiences and perfect for the Midsumma...

Review by Bronwyn Cook Whilst the magical English nanny Mary Poppins is known and loved globally, she could be considered a true blue Aussie. Not only was her creator P. L. Travers born in Maryborough, Queensland (as was I and a few generations of my family) but her...

By Bec Johnston Red Hot Productions' latest outing this Midsumma Festival takes expectant punters into Theatre Works' Explosives Factory, a vast room of blacked-out windows and thumping dance music. It's opening night of The MILF & Mistress, a new Australian play...

Review by Tim Garratt   Bat Out of Hell is a rock musical with music, lyrics and a book by Jim Steinman. Most of its songs are taken from the Bat Out of Hell trilogy of albums, released by American rock singer Meat Loaf over a 30-year period, beginning in 1977....

By Anna Hayes Cracked Actors Theatre strives towards supporting new Australian writing and its new offering, James May’s In The Ghetto is a perfect fit for this year’s Midsumma Festival. The winner of last year’s 50 Years: Queers & Pioneers competition, In The...

By Adam Rafferty The subject of Sunday and John Reed and the ‘Heide Circle’ of artists established in 1930s and 40s Melbourne is one ripe for storytelling. This group, patronised by the Reeds, are now counted amongst some of Australia’s best-known and most beloved...

By Guy Webster It has been less than two years since Jo Clifford’s The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven premiered at 2021’s Midsummer Festival to near-instant acclaim and it has been thirteen years since it first appeared at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre in 2009....

Review by Jody Miller   Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, Urinetown is an irreverently humorous satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny. Urinetown takes place in a time of desperation and desolation. A massive water shortage caused by a...

By Guy Webster The Sims is a game that entered pop culture in 2000 and promptly never left. Where else can one create a marriage, end a career, avoid death or curate a birth with a click of a finger? As a social simulation game it affords one an alluring sense of...

By Ellis Koch As a story, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland surely needs no introduction. A classic tale written by Lewis Carroll and published in 1865 it more than withstands the test of time and has seen countless adaptations that include films, stage shows,...

By Nick Pilgrim Established in 1987, for over thirty-five years the Australian Shakespeare Company has provided discerning audiences with a vast spectrum of quality entertainment. Known primarily for playing numerous outdoor venues around the country, this season the...

By Karyn Hodgkinson It has been great to see the growth of The Australian Shakespeare Company since its inception in 1987. It is well known for presenting quality and accessible theatre in a range of locations - indoor and outdoor - featuring fine actors. It now...

Madagascar The Musical is a stage adaptation of the well-loved Dreamworks film. The book, by Kevin Del Aguila remains true to the original story, meaning the plot is already very familiar to fans and makes the show easy to follow for children. The musical adaptation...

Slava's Snowshow is the creation of Russian-born, French-based performer, Slava Polunin. The show has been seen by over 7 million people worldwide and has received more than 20 international awards including an Olivier award for Best Entertainment. . It's difficult to...

By George Dixon Everyone has their story, and each story is important. But when you have a unique natural musical gift of the calibre of Dale Burridge, the story is worth telling and listening to. Burridge presents a one-person cabaret-style concert in two parts of...

By Adam Rafferty Plays that take on contemporary issues always guarantee a warm welcome from audiences who enjoy the familiarity of recent societal issues being woven amongst fiction. Developed through Red Stitch’s INK program, Ross Mueller’s pandemic set comedy A...

Review by Bronwyn Cook "The One With the Review" 🎶 So no one told you life was gonna be this way…clap clap clap clap. Chances are you are now singing the rest of this iconic sitcoms theme song in your head, whether you were a fan of the show or not. For the 10 years...

By Ash Cottrell Rounding off the week with a trip to Malthouse Theatre on a Sunday night, is always a pretty good place to start. If only Melbourne’s weather made up its mind and picked a season, the outdoor area that once thrived at Malthouse during COVID would be a...

By Jessica Taurins The story of A Christmas Carol feels like one of the most adapted stories of all time. There are numerous movies - live action, animated, Muppet - as well as a plethora of stage productions every year, both amateur and professional. Yet still,...

  Review by George Dixon   Outstandingly Entertaining and Satisfying Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat have always been a family favourite “Feel Good” production. A production that has stood the passing of time. It was initially written by Andrew...

By Darby Turnbull As I entered the Theatreworks auditorium last night, my interest was immediately piqued by Casey Harper-Wood’s fabulous set design. Featuring a home that looks like a cross between Norma Desmond’s Sunset Blvd mansion and the Golden Girls suburban...

By Darby Turnbull One of the innumerable tragedies in this thing we call civilisation is that is that a woman’s voice, unless she’s exceptional, is lost to time; or rather stolen, suppressed, erased by a patriarchal monolith that relies on that censure to hold itself...

By George Dixon You know you are in for a fantastic night when the opening number starts with “It was a Dark and Stormy Night”. Stranger Sings, a comedy Horror/Sc-Fi musical parody based on Stranger Things, a Netflix TV presentation. As a parody, the show has a lot...

Review by Annie Zeleznikow   Entering the large space in town hall, I was immediately immersed by an atmospheric blue haze with the large wooden pipes of a historic organ looming over the crowd. The organ had a platform that resembled a stern of a ship, and felt...

Review by Kellie Warner In Brisbane last Thursday night, a strange weather anomaly occurred. So blustering were the winds that people were warned they should be careful with their umbrellas lest they fly off into the sky. Though there was one woman who was perfectly...

By Darby Turnbull MTC’s Girls and Boys by Dennis Kelly, may by chance of program timing be the best Halloween show on the Melbourne stage. This week, as part of my seasonal read of classical horror fused novels I revisited Ira Levins’ Rosemary’s Baby and Stepford...

Review by Suzanne Tate In Hamer Hall, at Melbourne’s Art Centre, Hugh Sheridan is bringing fans of Neil Diamond a real treat with Solitary Man. Supported by a full orchestra of extremely talented musicians, 2 backup singers, and a brief appearance by Naomi Price,...

BY Karyn Hodgkinson  “We have heard countless stories about how much people grieve for all they have lost when they arrive in residential care. They become ‘just a resident’, just another body to be washed, fed and mobilised, their value defined by the amount of...

By Karyn Hodgkinson  It was surprising to learn that the United Ukrainian Ballet was coming to Melbourne.  But Ukraine has already shown in so many ways, that it is full of surprises. In the words of the producers . . . ‘that this tour is happening with a company...

By Karyn Hodgkinson Cabaret Night Fever takes us on a roller-coaster ride involving aspects of MJ Wilson’s own life as well as popular culture. The strength of this show is its utter absurdity. We are carried along by a stream of consciousness - a constant crazy...

Review by Tim Garratt Originally written as a short radio play as a birthday present for Queen Mary, Dame Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opened in London’s West End in November 1952. Since then, it has run continuously in the world-famous theatre district...

By Darby Turnbull Ignis presented by Anthropocene Theatre Company is one of Fringe’s hottest tickets, having been sold out weeks before their opening I can see how audiences might resort to subterfuge to get into Toorak Manor to experience it. Written by Daniel Noller...