At most, I expected to tolerate I'm Your Man. It is, after all, about boxing, for which I (and, let's generalise, most theatregoing folk) care not. So it came as a surprise when I loved I'm Your Man, and if you allow yourself to be transported through the doors of Belvoir Downstairs into a so-real-seeming boxing gym, creator/director Roslyn Oades and her multitalented, impressively athletic cast ensure you will, too. My (self-appointed) job is to convince you to take that first step and turn up. I'm Your Man spends time with the fighters, trainers and aspirants at a Sydney gym, and one in particular, Billy Dib, as he gears up for his world title fight. Oades spent 18 months observing and gathering interviews with these athletes, scratching at the psychology and culture that makes them. Her little bit journalistic, little bit anthropological documentation is distilled through a technique she's pioneered called headphone-verbatim, last seen in her Stories of Love and Hate. Rather than memorising the lines, the actors have the recorded audio from these interviews fed to them onstage through headsets and focus on wholly and accurately replicating the subtleties of speech. It might sound awkward, but it really works. We're used to theatre speech being worlds removed from everyday speech, and there are some great verbal quirks — fast-talking, stumbling, on-the-run grammar — that would normally never survive the flattening of the rehearsal process. These rediscovered idiosyncrasies of voice prove totally bewitching, and it's a neat antidote to theatrey declamation. (Plus, no complaints about dodgy accents here.) But more than just document, I'm Your Man immerses you in its characters' world. Even before you see your seats, the walk down the corridor carries you into another, intoxicating world — one where whitewashed walls brandish fight posters, articles, autographs and inspirational quotes; one that sounds of fists hitting vinyl and sneakers squealing against the lino. It smells thankfully not of sweat but of Deep Heat. It's powerful. You soon get a sense for just how this milieu might become a clubhouse, and a comfort. The sharp observation extends to the gym-bright but cleverly flexible fluorescent lighting (Neil Simpson), evocatively ringside sound (Bob Scott), and host of behaviours, exercises and rituals enacted by the performers (Mohammed Ahmad, Billy McPherson, Katia Molino, Justin Rosniak and John Shrimpton). The wrapping of wrists is hypnotic. In place of the usual dramatic climaxes, you want to clap feats of core strength and skipping. These actors may not have memorised lines, but they've been doing some hardcore practice. Often Billy Dib and his team seem to make boxing bear the weight of dreams and ideals bigger than it could possibly contain. Their stories of struggle, migration, self-improvement and community admiration come together to produce insight into the motivations of people who pursue something that most of us don't understand, and in some cases, can't abide. I'm Your Man acknowledges that real-life violence and the competitive violence of sport are not wholly disentwined; it just won't let the violence be the whole story. After earning their trust over many months, Oades clearly had her subjects open up to her, and she's honoured that trust by using their words with warmth, empathy and unflinching honesty.
If you're a true-blue Aussie KFC fan, you've probably felt a little miffed by the fried chicken empire's decision to completely overlook us when doling out its unique merch. Our mates in New Zealand got KFC candles, the USA scored chicken-scented sunscreen and Japan lucked out with fried chook-inspired bath bombs. Well, now it's finally our turn for a piece of the finger lickin' action, as KFC launches what might just be the most Aussie merchandise collection ever. Dropping as part of a month-long fundraising initiative by the KFC Youth Foundation the limited edition goodies will be up for grabs online from noon tomorrow, Thursday, August 16. All profits from merch sales will go towards supporting local youth-focused charities, including Youngcare, StreetWork and ReachOut. The unique haul includes cotton trackies in that famous KFC print, racy red KFC-inspired budgie smugglers, printed socks, a necklace and a '100% Original Recipe' tee. You'll also be able to get your mitts on the world's first-ever KFC-scented surfboard wax and — if you're extra quick and willing to part with $3000 — the single-edition 'Harland' surfboard, emblazoned with the Colonel's face. If subtlety's more your style, nip into any KFC restaurant across the country to show your love with one of their limited run enamel badges. The five-strong collection features a mini nuglife box, the Colonel's iconic black tie, an Original Recipe bucket, a tie-wearing chicken, and a tiny homage to the KFC drumstick. Catch the collection from 12pm, Thursday August 16, right here.
In need of aesthetic inspiration? Fear not, dear friend, for the creative extravaganza that is Semi-Permanent is heading to Sydney this autumn - and you’re invited. The design festival is fresh from blowing minds in Los Angeles and Portland, and will make a sneaky stop in Sydney from May 24-25 as part of its world tour. Featuring a smorgasbord of visionary thinkers and exhilarating speakers, Semi-Permanent combines presentation, exhibition and party into an artful orgy of visual delights. It’s a must-iCal event for any artist whose heart longs for authentic creative community. Or for those whose hearts love free tote bags. Attendees will be able to rub shoulders with the likes of Brian Roettinger, Saturdays NYC, Finbarr O’Reilly and Aaron Rose, while concurrently soaking up the Darling Harbour sun. Highlights from previous years include behind-the-visuals insights into Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, fiery expositions from crazed photographer Charlie White and onstage rail sliding from artist/pro-skater Ed Templeton. When inspired thinkers collide, good stuff happens. Tickets are on sale right now from the Semi-Permanent website - but dive in quick because early bird prices end on April 26 (this Friday).
Last year saw the inaugural event for Hashtag Burgers' Burgerpalooza festival, with a sold-out Manning Bar completely at capacity, full of hungry folks sizing up each $10 burger. Akin to Superman, the Mummy, and the Jedi, Burgerpalooza is returning for round two, and they've raised the stakes. After selling out incredibly quickly last year, the festival will take place over two days, April 1 and 2, in Marrickville's Fraser Park. The added space means they'll be able to fit more vendors and activities in, notably featuring bespoke burgers from Sydney burger favourites BL Burgers, Burger Head, Down 'N' Out, Mister Gee, and Superior Burger, with more to be announced. Hashtag Burgers have teamed up with Menulog to kick things into overdrive, with each ticket coming with $10 credit for the site. The chilli eating competition will rear its head again, hosted by Daniel Muggleton, and there'll be a mix of live music and vinyl DJs to help you digest your wares. There'll be fun and games from The Burger Collective, plus booze by the official partner, Coors, and there's still a whole bunch more to be announced. Image: Burger Head.
Get Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand and more exceptional women in a room, point a camera their way, let the talk flow: Sarah Polley's Women Talking does just that, and the Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar-nominee is phenomenal. The actor-turned-filmmaker's fourth effort behind the lens after 2006's Away From Her, 2011's Take This Waltz and 2012's Stories We Tell does plenty more, but its basic setup is as straightforward as its title states. Adapted from Miriam Toews' 2018 novel of the same name, this isn't a simple or easy film, however. That book and this feature draw on events in a Bolivian Mennonite colony from 2005–9, where a spate of mass druggings and rapes of women and girls were reported at the hands of some of the group's men. In a patriarchal faith and society, women talking about their experiences is a rebellious, revolutionary act anyway — and talking about what comes next is just as charged. "The elders told us that it was the work of ghosts, or Satan, or that we were lying to get attention, or that it was an act of wild female imagination." That's teenage narrator Autje's (debutant Kate Hallett) explanation for how such assaults could occur and continue, as offered in Women Talking's sombre opening voiceover. Writing and helming, Polley declares her feature "an act of female imagination" as well, as Toews did on the page, but the truth in the movie's words is both lingering and haunting. While the film anchors its dramas in a specific year, 2010, it's purposefully vague on any details that could ground it in one place. Set within a community where modern technology is banned and horse-drawn buggies are the only form of transport, it's a work of fiction inspired by reality, rather than a recreation. Whether you're aware of the true tale behind the book going in or not, this deeply powerful and affecting picture speaks to how women have long been treated in a male-dominated world at large — and what's so often left unsaid, too. Stay and do nothing. Stay and fight. Leave the only home they've ever had behind, be excommunicated from their faith and forgo their spot in heaven. When the Mennonite women catch one of their attackers, he names more, arrests follow and the men are sent to the city — the culprits imprisoned, the rest there to bail them out — those three choices face the ladies of Women Talking. To decide which path to take, they hold a secret vote while the colony's males are away. When the results are tied, a cohort within the cohort chat it out in the barn. From elders to mothers and teens, everyone has a different perspective across three generations, or a different reason for their perspective, but the hurt, pain, dismay and distress simmering among the stern gazes, carefully braided hair and surrounding hay is shared. The women's religious beliefs dictate one solution only: absolution. That's the outcome demanded by the scarred Janz (The Tragedy of Macbeth's McDormand, also a co-producer here), so much so that she won't entertain alternatives. But her peers Agata (Judith Ivey, The Accidental Wolf) and Greta (Sheila McCarthy, The Broken Hearts Gallery) see shades of grey in their predicament — shades that Polley and her returning Away From Her and Take This Waltz cinematographer Luc Montpellier highlight in Women Talking's colour palette, even though their viewers will scream internally for the women to immediately leave. While dialogue-driven by necessity, the film also spies the country idyll that sits outside the barn doors, where the kids play contentedly in the crops. This isn't an aesthetically sunny movie — its tones are muted, as its women have long been required to be — but it still sees what departing means on multiple levels with clear eyes. As the debate rages against Hildur Guðnadóttir's (Tár) score of yearning — The Monkees' 'Daydream Believer' also gets a spin, surreally so — Agata's daughter Salome (Foy, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) furiously advocates for battling. Her toddler daughter was among those attacked, which is understandably something she can't forgive, forget and keep living submissively beside the perpetrators, in a culture that allowed it to happen, afterwards. For Greta's just-as-irate daughter Mariche (Buckley, Men), who is abused by her husband openly aside from the widespread attacks, nothing good can come from running — including with their god. And for Salome's sister Ona (Mara, Nightmare Alley), who is pregnant from being raped, her ideals keep her going. As pros and cons about fighting or fleeing are thrown around, she speaks calmly but passionately about wanting a better community where the Mennonite women have agency and educations, as well as being safe and free. Indeed, because the group cannot read or write, formerly ex-communicated teacher August (Ben Whishaw, No Time to Die) is the lone male permitted to their meeting, taking minutes. More than a decade has passed between Polley's third film and Women Talking, and cinema has been all the poorer for it. How rich and resonant — how raw, sensitive and potent at the same time — her latest directorial effort proves. Compassionate and thoughtful in every frame, it scorches as a based-on-a-true-tale drama and as a state-of-the-world allegory, and says just as much beneath all the feverish utterances. Even with the Mennonite order's rules and conformity, costuming and hairstyles convey plenty about varying personalities. Letting colour seep into the movie's characters as the sun sets parallels the vibrant personalities these ladies are not expected to possess. And when Women Talking peers at the boys of the collective, it does so softly, asking what it takes to turn those innocent faces into men who'd subdue Salome, Mariche, Ona and company with cow tranquillisers to violate them. Such a complex and empathetic feature that's also intense, gripping and wide-ranging — pondering gender inequality, what community truly means and should stand for, religious devotion and the sins permitted in its name, unthinking compliance to any societal order and more — is unsurprisingly packed with performances to match. Women Talking's cast are deservedly up for the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards ensemble prize, while Buckley and Whishaw earned Gotham Awards nominations as well; there's no weak link in this troupe, including with all the rhythmic chatter. Each in their own way, Foy, Mara, McDormand and their co-stars radiate heartbreak, determination, vulnerability and anger. Whishaw is similarly excellent, but also never the film's focus. These portrayals are talking, too, in a movie that wouldn't fantasise about offering easy answers — but dreams of the possibilities spirited conversations and no longer staying silent can and do bring.
The 4th Brazil Film Festival runs in Sydney from February 19 to March 1 and presents 10 of the most acclaimed recent Brazilian film productions as well as a selection of short films. Here's a preview of five movies that have us totally intrigued. 1. Heleno is a portrait of real-life 1940s soccer star Heleno de Freito's romantic and professional exploits. Shot entirely in black-and-white, this looks to be a glamorous chronicle of the 'Cursed Prince', complete with well-dressed busty ladies, fast cars, and snappy dialogue. 2. Mulatas. The first word that comes to mind when you think of Brazil is probably 'Carnival'. This doco interviews the women embodying Rio de Janeiro's exuberant Carnival samba culture, the mulatas. Delving beneath the surface of a national symbol, the film explores the stigmas associated with the provocative dance style and its impact on the mulatas' personal lives. 3. Hauling. Sao Paulo is home to a marginalised subculture of professional recyclers, including Claudines, a man who for many years has based his livelihood on carefully salvaging what others would view as junk. He's not the only one, either. This documentary offers a fascinating look at Brazil's recycling underworld, covering both its social and environmental aspects. 4. Highrise. What does life look like from the perspective of the Brazilian upper classes, dwelling high above street level in the penthouses of major cities? Highrise scrutinises the country's social and economic disparities by entering the lofty homes of some of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Recife's wealthiest denizens, interviewing them about their motives for choosing the high life. 5. Amazonia Eterna. The Amazon is the last great forest wilderness, and the balance of its ecosystem affects all life on Earth. This documentary examines the way local inhabitants view their home, its significance and its future. The film will be accompanied by a panel discussion chaired by Green Cross Australia, raising awareness of parallels between conservation issues in the Amazon and Australia. https://youtube.com/watch?v=nq7XsCyZRVI Top image from Hauling by Sean Walsh.
Postponed from last summer, Australia's new touring pride festival has finally delivered the news that music fans and festival-goers have been waiting for: new 2022 dates. Mark November in your diary, because that's when Summer Camp will finally make its debut. And yes, while the fest is no longer taking place during the season that shares its name, the weather is still bound to show up for the occasion. Thanks to the pandemic, it's felt like years and years since Australia scored itself a huge new music festival featuring overseas headliners that took its lineup around the country. Summer Camp is closing that big gap, and giving the nation its newest pride festival — and only touring pride fest, in fact. Obviously, the fact that Years & Years will lead the bill really couldn't be more fitting. Years & Years, aka British singer and actor Olly Alexander (It's a Sin), will headline the new fest's stopovers in Sydney and Melbourne, all as part of Summer Camp's two-city tour of the country. Also on the lineup: New Orleans' Big Freedia, plus The Veronicas, Cub Sport, Ladyhawke, Jess B, Kinder, Art Simone and Stereogamous, with more set to be revealed. Summer Camp will tick a big first, too: it's set to be the biggest ticketed LGBTQIA+ music festival in the southern hemisphere as well. In addition to live tunes from all of the above across two stages, the festival will feature dance, performance art and art installations, as well as food and beverage offerings. More than 200 artists will be involved all up, including over 150 DJs, drag queens, dancers and performance artists in each city. Given the name, it's clear what kind of vibe that festival founders Kat Dopper (creator of Heaps Gay) and Grant Gillies and David Gillett (creators of Red Mgmt, and former Sydney Mardi Gras marketing and international talent managers) are going for. So, expect a cruisy summer camp-meets-arts and music playground-type atmosphere that's also all about inclusivity and supporting young diverse artists. Originally, the fest also had Perth and Darwin dates on its schedule; however, they're not currently part of the just-revealed new plans. But further city and artist announcements are in the works — so cross your fingers. [caption id="attachment_831849" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Years and Years, Theatrepeople via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] SUMMER CAMP FESTIVAL 2022 AUSTRALIAN DATES: Saturday, November 5 — Centennial Parklands, Sydney Saturday, November 12 — Reunion Park, Melbourne SUMMER CAMP FESTIVAL 2022 LINEUP — FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT: Years & Years Big Freedia The Veronicas Cub Sport Ladyhawke Jess B Kinder Art Simone Stereogamous Summer Camp head to Sydney and Melbourne in November 2022. For further details or to nab tickets, head to the festival's website.
For fans of Adam Driver, 2019 was a movie-watching delight. When he wasn't tackling zombies in Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, he was investigating CIA-sanctioned torture in The Report. He scored an Oscar nomination for his relationship struggles with Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story, and fought the force in Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, too. Alas, after that welcome onslaught of Driver-starring flicks in such short succession — The Man Who Killed Don Quixote also released Down Under the same year, in fact — he didn't appear on our screens in 2020. But this year, he'll be back in cinemas in one of his most-anticipated films yet. In the works for half a decade — and reportedly initially delayed in part due to Driver's busy schedule — Annette tells the tale of stand-up comedian Henry (Driver) and his soprano opera singer wife Ann (Marion Cotillard). He's funny, she's famous, and their lives are happy and glamorous; however, when their daughter Annette is born, they're changed forever. Few other narrative details have been revealed, but their story plays out in a musical — and if the just-dropped first trailer gives any indication, viewers can expect a brooding, dreamy, sweeping and immensely gorgeous film to dance across the screen. Actually, movie buffs can expect all of the above simply based on Annette's director. It has now been nine years since Leos Carax's Holy Motors hit cinema screens, becoming one of the most memorable films of both the decade and the 21st century in the process, so his next project has been eagerly awaited for quite some time. Annette will also mark the French filmmaker's English-language debut. And, after being shot late in 2019 and initially expected in 2020, it'll open this year's Cannes Film Festival in July. Exactly when viewers elsewhere will get to see the film hasn't been announced, but whenever it surfaces locally, it'll be a certain big-screen event. Every director wishes that they made movies that no one else could even dream of, but Carax is genuinely one of those filmmakers. Here's hoping that we soon get to see what Carax's inventive mind has put together next. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=068aFF8fOIA&feature=emb_logo Annette will open the Cannes Film Festival on July 6. Details for the film's release Down Under are yet to be revealed — we'll update you with further details when they're announced.
Melbourne Fringe Festival is set to return this month (November 12–29), and with it comes one helluva opening night party. But, this year, the party will take place in your lounge room. Club Fringe will broadcast into homes all over Australia from 9.30pm on Thursday, November 12. For this year's festivities, Fringe has joined forces with the folks behind Yirramboi Festival as part of NAIDOC Week. They've curated an all-First Nations lineup including some of Melbourne's best independent talent. The night will kick off with a Boonwurrung Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country. Then, rapper Deejai with vocalist Breanna Lee, Arrernte drag artist Stone Motherless Cold and electro-tribal pop duo The Merindas will all take to the virtual stage. DJ Soju Gang will keep the party vibes going until midnight. Don't forget to nab your tickets, which are choose what you pay (with a $10 suggested donation). Then prep your dance floor (aka living room), deck yourself out in glitter and get ready to party like its 2020. Top image: The Merindas
After a weekend packed with Halloween themed gatherings, do you really want to wait another year to get those spooky juices flowing again? Or perhaps you tend the bar, pulled the short straw on the roster this week and missed out on the revelries? Worry not, because there is always the option of pushing on through Sunday with help from Tasmanian death metal legends Psycroptic and their state bros Moo Brew at Frankie's. Frankie's get super psyched for Halloween, and this year won't be any different. Doors open at 4pm, which is when they'll crack Moo Brew's barrel-aged Scotch Ale, then DJs hit the decks from 7pm. After the band tear it up, the DJs come back on until 3am. Whatever your reason for wanting to get down this Halloween Sunday night, Frankie's has you covered.
Arguably the biggest pop sensation to emerge in the last five years, Billie Eilish has just announced a run of Australian and New Zealand tour dates throughout September 2022. The tour marks the first time Eilish has graced the shores of either country since 2019. In the two years since her last tour, Eilish has released her latest chart-topping album Happier Than Ever, a documentary and visual book, taken out the Hottest 100 and swept the Grammys, taking home all four of the major categories at the 2020 ceremony. The announcement of this run on dates also comes days after the announcement that Billie Eilish is set to become the youngest-ever performer to headline the UKs Glastonbury Festival in 2022. The Happier Than Ever Tour will kick off at Auckland's Spark Arena on Thursday, September 8 before moving to Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena on Tuesday, September 13. It'll then move on to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne and Perth's RAC Arena throughout the remainder of September. The tour follows previous tour announcements from international artists Tyler, the Creator, Gorillaz and Guns N' Roses, marking the expected return of international touring for the first time in more than two years. Tickets to the Happier Than Ever Tour start at $99 and are available as part of Telstra Plus and Vodafone pre-sales on Monday, October 11, plus Frontier and Live Nation pre-sales on Wednesday, October 13 before they go on sale to the general public on Friday, October 15. BILLIE EILISH — HAPPIER THAN EVER TOUR Thursday, September 8 – Spark Arena, Auckland Tuesday, September 13 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Saturday, September 17 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Thursday, September 22 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Thursday, September 29 – RAC Arena, Perth You can find all the details on Billie Eilish's Happier Than Ever Australia and New Zealand tour at the tour's website. Top Image: Crommelincklars
Sydney Fringe Festival has unveiled its tenth anniversary program, which promises over 342 shows (including 120 world premieres) across 21 postcodes. Running from September 1–30, the festival includes a few major firsts, too, such as a precinct in The Rocks, a touring hub sponsored by Innocent Bystander, a comedy on a vintage bus and an Archie Rose Cabaret Club. There are also a whole heap of immersive and interactive events going down this year, including an eerie theatre show inspired by Wolf Creek, intimate long-table dinners and talks, a Kevin Bacon-themed flashmob and a night of eats, drinks and music that'll transport you to Babylon. All of this is going down at five hubs located across the city. To help you sift through it all, we've broken down the program by what's happening at each — so, open your calendar and start planning. CITY TATTS HUB As announced in June, Sydney Fringe Festival will be taking over the CBD's 124-year-old City Tattersalls Club this year. As well as playing host to the aforementioned Archie Rose Cabaret Club (complete with lots of gin cocktails, of course), City Tatts will be home to 30 events, a Young Henrys bar, a diner, a Heaps Gay 'RSL extravaganza', a tongue-in-cheek interactive seminar on How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse and a 1920s-inspired speakeasy, which will be open every Friday night with a lineup of female musicians playing jazz and soul. To round out the festivities, City Tatts will host the official Fringe closing party: a giant, four-level Dance All Night party that'll feature everything from an 80s prom to a 'Kevin Bacon in Footloose'-inspired flashmob. THE ROCKS HUB Also in the city will be the festival's first-ever precinct in The Rocks. The harbourside area's many laneways will fill with market stalls, shows, interactive installations and a free program of events every Friday–Sunday. The latter will include a communal trash-to-treasure sculpture, pub sing-alongs and story telling. In terms of interactive experiences (there are a lot of them happening this year) there's the aforementioned comedy on a vintage bus that will let you relive the movie Speed — fittingly dubbed Speed: The Movie, The Play — and a choose-your-own adventure theatre show that places you in the first day of a job at a start up, called By The Water Cooler. PADDINGTON HUB Wander up Oxford Street and you'll find everything from yoga to dinner parties going down at the Paddington Hub. The latter will take the form of three long-table suppers and conversations held underneath Verona Cinemas. Each intimate dinner will have a different topic of conversation — the art of social change making, the art of listening and the art of a campaigning contemporary artist — a different guest speaker and the food will be curated by a different artist. They're one part of Yoke Magazine's pop-up — called Fringe Unyoked — dedicated to talks, exhibitions, yoga classes and workshops about creation and change. [caption id="attachment_735460" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hillbilly Thriller[/caption] LEGS HUB Physical theatre company Legs on the Wall will once again transform Lilyfield's The Red Box into a buzzing hub of performance, complete with an outdoor bar and lots of live music. The highlight of this hub is Legs' latest intimate, interactive, immersive and (slightly) terrifying new performance piece: Hillbilly Thriller. Shown to just ten people at a time, the show is pitched as "Picnic At Hanging Rock meets Wolf Creek meets Jedda" and combines film, performance, sounds and installation. We don't think this is for the faint hearted. Also happening here are Adelaide Fringe Award-winning show Yuck Circus and a dark and poetic show called La Vide. [caption id="attachment_735470" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Ballad of the Apathetic Son and His Narcissistic Mother by Niall Walker[/caption] INNOCENT BYSTANDER TOURING HUB & NEWTOWN PRECINCT On the western side of the city, the Newtown Precinct will return with a whopping 192 events taking over 22 different venues. One of those will be the festival's opening party, Fringe Ignite. The Fringe Festival organisers have teamed up with the crew behind King Street Crawl to fill the street with performances from over 150 different artists. Over at the Emerging Artist Sharehouse, you'll find World's Best/Worst House Party — an immersive theatre experience that's part show, part party. Newtown's Old 505 Theatre will be the home of the Innocent Bystander Touring Hub: a program of award-winning shows from around the globe. Among them are modern (and award-winning) retellings of Orpheus and Eurydice, a high-energy show about a real mother and son who are obsessed with Sia (expect swinging from chandeliers), a part-comedy, part-game show called Love/Hate Actually and Matriarch, a one-woman show that highlights the strength of four generations of Gumbaynggirr women. Innocent Bystander has set up a wine bar here, too, so you can sip on vino before, after or between shows. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE... While not officially hubs, you'll also find the three-night Fringeville in Hurstville — with pop-up food trucks, light installations and shows — and an immersive Babylon-inspired world at Chippendale's Kensington Street. The inner-city food destination will transform with live music, snacks, drinks and soundscapes for one decadent evening. Of course, the program keeps going (and going). To check out all the events, head to the Sydney Fringe Festival website. Sydney Fringe Festival 2019 will run from September 1–30 at venues across Sydney. For more information and to buy tickets, head to sydneyfringe.com.
Lenin wrote secret letters with milk when he was in prison in Siberia. Not many people experiment with such strange pigments, and even less out of need than curiosity. For some artists held in Australian detention centres, working on the Refugee Art Project, paint and other art supplies became hard to get a hold of, so they made art with what they had at hand. Which led victoriana-like, delicate watercolour drawings done with instant coffee, among other ingenious ideas. These and other results of the Project will be on display at the Mori Gallery as part of Refugee Week, featuring work by artists originally from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Iraq and further afield. Detention centres are essentially prisons. Artworks at the Mori exhibition are by people stuck there, children and adults; a few released into the community, but most of them still behind bars. They get money from sales, but it doesn't do much to get them out of such places and into a life. Nonetheless, bearing witness to them is of no small importance. And once you're there, maybe you can think of something more useful to do. Image by All Fadhel.
Marius von Mayenburg's The Ugly One is all kinds of satirical, and while it tends to be the convention to call satires 'searing' or maybe 'biting', let's bypass those particular clichés in order to say that the play moves on at an, er, 'cracking' pace. It is, at roughly an hour, quite short and a lot happens onstage. Like engineering, office politics, extramarital affairs, a lot of fruit getting eaten, and a bunch of surgeries rendered (especially the first) with ingenious and brutal sound effects that really justify the 'cracking' thing. "We'll start with the nose," the surgeon explains at the start of each, "because it sticks out furthest from the face." Onomatopoeia ensues. Faces are the big thing of the play, with the central characters transformation from having an "unacceptable" face to one that is perfect, precipitating a new age of personal and professional success that turns weird when his plastic surgeon starts replicating the procedure all over town. The subsequent confusion and upset is absurd enough that you don't feel bad about it, but hits close enough to home that feeling bad about not feeling worse comes into effect. The simple production design and sensitive performances keep the play poised between allegory and relatability, ending up at a point where you know you're not that shallow, but may be left wondering if you're not-shallow enough.
"Painting, like art, attempts to fill holes in hearts and minds wrought by life, work, politics and culture." Okay? So, yeah, the basis of this show is a bit, um, 'hol[e]y shit'. Forgive me for that, but honestly? A concept that presumes that painting has been "repeatedly killed by the middle of the 20th century" sounds a little bit risible. But this is actually a legit, serious issue given that it is striking at the basis of what painting is, is about, and might be for. The works in Extended Painting, by artists Tom Loveday, Mark Titmarsh, Sean Lowry, Mark Shorter and Andre Brodyk, collectively consider the act of painting itself by way of works of which some are paintings and some are not. The issues at stake are of the purpose and function of painting as techne rather than how a painting manifests a technique. What did Minimalism do to painting? What about Abstract Expressionism? How does appropriation as a thing change the status of the art object and how does the difference in the way we can represent and experience duration via newer media impact upon what it is to look at a painted work? Again: holey shit. Image: Tom Loveday, Video Stills "Polar Bear 002," 2011
To help slow and stop the spread of COVID-19, a number of hygiene measures are recommended. We all know them by now. They include frequently washing our hands and using hand sanitiser, maintaining 1.5-metre social distancing and staying home if you've experiencing even the slightest of symptoms. Wearing masks is another tactic, but the approach within Australia has varied state by state throughout the pandemic. They were first mandated in Melbourne back in mid-July, and were made compulsory in some indoor situations in Greater Sydney at the beginning of 2021. In Queensland, they'll be required for the three days that the Greater Brisbane area is in lockdown from Friday, January 6–Monday, January 11, in response to the first community case of the new, more contagious COVID-19 strain in the country. When it comes to flying, because social distancing can be difficult and you're sat in close quarters in a confined space with other people for a period of time, mask usage has long been recommended — but it'll now be mandatory, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced today, Friday, January 8. The new rule was adopted by the first Australian national cabinet meeting for 2021, alongside a number of other changes made in reaction to the new COVID-19 strain. The mask mandate applies to all domestic flights within the country, and to international flights to and from our shores as well. For domestic flights, only children under 12 won't have to don a face covering. Folks will have to wear masks for not only for the duration of their flights, but at airports as well, including airports overseas for those about to hop on flights to Australia. The rules cover international air crews, too, who will now be required to undergo a COVID-19 test in Australia every seven days or upon arrival, with the exact requirement to be determined by each state. Compulsory pre-flight testing for international travellers coming to Australia has also been adopted by the national cabinet, as part of "a set of improved measures to tighten the end-to-end process of international arrivals in Australia," said the Prime Minister. "Travellers to Australia must return a negative COVID-19 test result prior to departure to Australia," he advised; however, there "will be exemptions in extenuating circumstances. This could include for seasonal workers from amber-risk countries where there is limited access to testing, with mitigation of testing on arrival in Australia". Australia is reducing caps on international arrivals in some states as well — in New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland — by 50 percent until February 15. In NSW, a weekly cap of 1505 will be in place, while WA's will be 512 and Queensland's will be 500. Quarantine workers will also be subject to changed requirements, moving nationally to daily testing. National cabinet is taking an expansive view of the term 'quarantine worker', and the Prime Minister said that "states are encouraged to take as broad a definition of that as they can, as is done in many states — that would extend to transport workers for people going to quarantine, not just those who are the cleaners or others directly involved in that process, medical staff and so on." As for when this'll all come into effect, the Prime Minister advised that the changes will be implemented "over the course of the next week — and the compliance arrangements that sit around that will be put in place by the Commonwealth and the state governments". For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Australia, visit the Australian Government Department of Health website.
This Is Not Art is the dream that keeps us trudging through winter each year, looking towards that October long weekend when Newcastle transforms into some wild, uncontrollable and utterly miscellaneous beast of the arts. Except that, for a moment there, it looked like this year's festival wouldn't happen. In early July, with less than three months left until the festival, TINA were notified by Newcastle City Council that their triennial funding had been canned. This meant an $18 000 deficit in the budget: a nightmare for any small arts organisation. The event, which annually offers over two hundred and fifty free events, featuring the work of more than four hundred Australian artists, and typically attracting over five thousand participants, was in serious doubt. Thanks to an assertive campaign by Festival Coordinator Eliza Adam, this week TINA have confirmed that the show is back on the road. Phew! Incredibly, supporters of TINA raised a huge $8 750 over only two weeks. What's more, the Copyright Agency Limited jumped on board to offer a huge $9 000 and a Newcastle-based web company, Izilla Web Solutions, pledged $2 000. In the wake of popular outrage, Newcastle Council flipped to offer TINA increased financial support, plus additional provisions for planning and assistance into the future. This year's festival is once again looking good. Keen to see TINA be all it can be? You can still help! Donations are being accepted at TINA's Pozible site until 7 August - and let's face it, it's a small fee to pay for an amazing, five day festival that's already free. TINA is also heavily reliant on volunteers, and there's a huge range of things to be done which you can check out here.
If you live in Adelaide, you probably already think your city is the best place in Australia. For two days this spring, music fans across the country will share that view, too. Come November, the South Australian capital will play host to a brand-new — and huge — music festival called Harvest Rock, and it boasts one helluva lineup. Headlining the bill is Jack White, with The White Stripes frontman playing his only Australian show — and, at Rymill Park and King Rodney Park across Saturday, November 19–Sunday, November 20, he'll be joined by plenty of international talent. The Black Crowes, Khruangbin and Groove Armada are all on the roster, as are The Lumineers and Hot Chip. Yes, that's a lineup worth planning a weekend in Adelaide for. From the local contingent, Crowded House will bring a hefty dose of nostalgia — don't dream it's over indeed. The Avalanches sit among the other big drawcards, as do Courtney Barnett, You Am I and Tones And I. [caption id="attachment_865436" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mia Mala McDonald[/caption] Hailing from Secret Sounds, the crew behind Splendour in the Grass, Harvest Rock's two-day run will also place a big focus on the other part of its moniker: food. That'll include a dedicated stage for chef and bar stars to showcase their skills, a clear marquee serving up curated bites by chef Jake Kellie (arkhé, Burnt Ends), and a food truck park. Plus, the bar lineup is being curated by Australian wine critic Nick Stock, and features Archie Rose Distilling Co pouring spirits, wine tastings at a cellar door pop-up, a beer hall and a champagne bar. One watering hole will be a LGBTQI+ space, too, and there'll also be a booze-free bar for anyone keen on avoiding a post-fest hangover. HARVEST ROCK 2022 LINEUP: Jack White Crowded House The Black Crowes Khruangbin Groove Armada Sam Fender The Lumineers Tones And I The Avalanches Courtney Barnett Kurt Vile Angus & Julia Stone The Teskey Brothers Hot Chip Goanna Genesis Owusu The Living End Cat Power You Am I Meg Mac Marlon Williams Holy Holy Alex Cameron Ruby Fields Allen Stone Electric Fields TOWNS Slowmango Harvest Rock will take over Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka and King Rodney Park / Ityamai-itpina, Adelaide, on Saturday, November 19–Sunday, November 20, with tickets on sale from 9am AEST on Wednesday, August 24. Top image: Paige Sara.
Good news has been in short supply in 2020, so when something positive comes along, it's worth celebrating. In Victoria, after two tough periods of lockdown this year, the state has just hit an impressive milestone — with no active COVID-19 cases present. That figure comes as the state also hits 25 consecutive days without any new COVID-19 cases or deaths, which is obviously also fantastic news. To put those achievements in context, when Victoria announced on October 26 that it had zero new cases or deaths that day, it was the first time it had celebrated that feat since early June — and that mid-year news was the first time since the start of the pandemic. By mid-August, the states cases had climbed to 687. That was the peak of the second wave, thankfully, and since then, the numbers have slowly been decreasing. The Victorian Government Department of Health and Human Services has sent out its daily Tweet with yesterday's numbers and it's what we all want to see: a big fat zero in all four crucial fields. So there are no new cases, no deaths, no active cases and no cases from an unknown source across the past fortnight, either. https://twitter.com/VicGovDHHS/status/1330996503817703430 Of course, this doesn't mean the war is over, but it is great to hear as Victoria continues to open back up. It's also the first time that cases have hit zero in the state since February. Today's zero new cases places Victoria's total at 20,345, which includes 19,525 people who have recovered from the coronavirus, as per the state's last reported numbers on Monday, November 23. So far, Victoria has conducted more than 3.5 million tests for COVID-19. While restrictions have been easing across the state, the Victorian Government has continued to encourage the state's residents to get tested and respect the rules. The last round of eased restrictions came into effect on midnight this past Sunday, with Victorians no longer required to wear masks outside (as long as you can maintain social distancing) and venue and gathering limits increasing. At-home gathering sizes are set to increase again on Sunday, December 13 — just in time for Christmas. The state has been slowly progressing through a five-step roadmap to COVID-normal since mid-September. For more information about the status of COVID-19 and the current restrictions, head over to the Department of Health and Human Services website — and for further details about Victoria's steps for reopening, head to the roadmap itself.
One of the many casualties of last year's pandemic fallout was Melbourne Museum's much-anticipated Treasures of the Natural World exhibition, which is set to feature a monumental collection of rare, ancient and fascinating artefacts curated by London's iconic Natural History Museum. The blockbuster installation was originally slated to make its debut Down Under in May 2020, but was instead postponed as COVID-19 restrictions swept in. Now, the wait is almost over, with news of a new opening date — Saturday, June 12. Come winter, Melbourne Museum will finally play host to this Australia exclusive, showcasing more than 200 groundbreaking items that have each helped change the course of scientific history. The exhibition is once-in-a-lifetime stuff, packed full of artworks, specimens and other objects that give insight into the mysteries of the natural world, and also mark the biggest moments in human discovery. Visitors will have the chance to see the 400,000-year-old hand axe that was discovered next to the bones of a woolly mammoth, check out the 200 million-year-old Ichthyosaurus fossil that Mary Anning unearthed at the tender age of eleven (as mentioned in the recent film Ammonite), and even explore some of the pieces from Charles Darwin's personal collection that were seminal to informing his theory of evolution. Among its many stories, the exhibition also has a strong focus on sharing First Peoples' narratives from across the globe, taking an important deep dive into the histories and relationships that Indigenous people have with the natural world. London's Natural History Museum is one of the world's top five most visited museums, and is renowned as a global leader in the areas of taxonomy and biodiversity. This is your chance to get up close and personal with some of its coolest scientific finds — all without having to wait for those international borders to reopen. Tickets that were purchased for the original dates of the Treasures of the Natural World exhibition automatically remain valid for the new run — you'll just need to show them at the Museum's ticketing desk. Treasures of the Natural World will launch at Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton, from Saturday, June 12. To find out more and grab tickets, check out the website. Images: Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly, the Latrobe Nugget and the Cursed-Amethyst — all via Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.
In 2023, Queensland made history when it became the first Australian state to commit to pill-testing services not just ad hoc or at festivals, but on an ongoing and permanent basis. The Sunshine State's strategy is now being put into place, starting over 2024's Easter long weekend. Accordingly, festivalgoers at 2024's Rabbits Eat Lettuce will be able to use Queensland's first event-based pill testing service onsite. The aim, at fests and in general, is to ensure that Queenslanders heading for a night out and to big music events can check their illicit substances for dangerous ingredients — and do so for free, voluntarily and confidentially. The state-funded sites are being established as a harm-reduction strategy, to minimise overdoses and other adverse effects resulting from party drugs. Exactly where in southeast Queensland the permanent locations will pop up hasn't been revealed as yet, but there'll be two venues. As well as winning the tender for the initial pair of fixed-site spots, Queensland Injectors Health Network, The Loop Australia, and the Queensland Injectors Voice for Advocacy and Action will also provide at least one festival-based service this year. Harm Reduction Australia, which operates as Pill Testing Australia, will take care of several other pill-testing services at festivals in 2024 and 2025, capitalising upon its experience in Canberra at fests and at a fixed-site spot. Indeed, Queensland's move comes after trials in Canberra, which has included Groovin' the Moo in 2018 and 2019. The Australian Capital Territory also launched the country's first fixed testing site as part of a six-month trial. Drug checking has been used overseas since the 90s, but remains a controversial topic in Australia. Indeed, when Groovin the Moo conducted its first trial in 2018, calls to offer pill testing had been circulating for the prior two years, after a 15-year-old collapsed from an overdose at the fest's Maitland event in 2016. Rabbits Eat Lettuce, which takes place just outside of Warwick in Elbow Valley, experienced two deaths at its 2019 festival. "In 2021, there were 2231 drug-induced deaths in Australia — the equivalent of five deaths a day. That's 2231 deaths too many, and we know this number will continue to grow if we don't act now," said Queensland Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Service Shannon Fentiman. "I want to be clear that these services are all about harm minimisation; we don't want people ending up in our emergency departments — or worse, losing their life. They aim to make people aware of the dangers of taking illicit substances, influence behaviour and, ideally, reduce their use of substances," Fentiman continued. [caption id="attachment_809941" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dave Byrne[/caption] For more information about pill testing in Queensland, head to the Queensland Government website.
What could be better than small plates and cocktails on a Sunday arvo? Rum Cha Sundays have launched at Luis Tans. With two sittings at 12pm and 2pm every week, Venezuelan head chef Alejandro Franco Lancini is bringing you his South American flare in bite size dishes. Described as the "unforeseen love child of traditional Chinese yum cha and Latin American flavour", the menu is more tapas than yum cha. Beef dumplings ($10.50) smothered in chimichurri and black turtle beans sit on the menu next to carne mechada spring rolls ($13.50) of pulled beef and whipped guasacaca sauce. Since a lazy afternoon on Bondi's Campbell Parade isn't complete without summery cocktails, Luis Tans has you covered with a fruity list of Bloody Marys and rum cocktails. It's a Sunday session you won't mind getting stuck in for.
For much of his career, Ryan Gosling has perfected on-screen smouldering. He's the kind of actor who can utter few words and still convey everything, as movies such as Drive and Only God Forgives demonstrated so well. But Gosling is also exceptional at comedy, which Barbie reminded the world in 2023 with glorious ballad-crooning, beach-loving Kenergy. Next, cinema's baby goose is getting into action-comedy mode in the Sydney-shot The Fall Guy. Based on the 80s TV series of the same name, the film follows stuntman Colt Seavers (Gosling), whose career isn't what it used to be. After taking time off, he's back at work getting set on fire for a living — but the fact that his ex Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer) is directing brings chaos. That's just the first dose of the movie's mayhem. Also complicating matters: that megastar actor Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bullet Train), who Seavers is meant to be doubling for in Moreno's flick, has gone missing. So, the stunt professional now has another task: work out what's going on by solving a conspiracy. If you're thinking "wasn't Gosling in the stunt game in Drive?", you're correct; however, The Fall Guy couldn't be in more different territory tonally. That said, when Ted Lasso's Hannah Waddingham tells Gosling "you're a stuntman — nobody's going to notice you, that's your job", in The Fall Guy's just-dropped first trailer, you'll already know that his casting means that's never going to prove true. As well as finding a missing actor, getting immersed in action intrigue to unravel a criminal plot, saving his latest movie and doing his regular job, Seavers is on a mission to win back Moreno — but IRL stuntman-turned-filmmaker David Leitch, who also helmed Bullet Train, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, puts stunts to the fore as much as rom-com banter in the initial sneak peek. Written by Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw scribe Drew Pearce, The Fall Guy co-stars Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu, plus Winston Duke (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever). Also a big feature in the trailer: its Sydney shooting location, including the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Everyone in Australia knows that Gosling was in the country to make the movie — and we all know that any flick shot here will show off that fact in its footage, as seen in the trailer for the also Sydney-made Anyone But You recently as well. On the small screen, The Fall Guy ran for 113 episodes from 1981–86, starring Lee Majors after his best-known role in The Six Million Dollar Man. Check out the trailer for The Fall Guy below: The Fall Guy releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, February 29, 2024.
The Red Rattler is hoping for an extra-special birthday present this May; after five years, the alternative arts space, currently facing an uncertain future, is looking to the community for support. 'The Rat' was founded in 2008 by a quintet of queer artists and activists dedicated to independent arts and grassroots activism. They "hocked everything that they could" to create a space that is not only accessible but also legal, and able to survive the market vicissitudes threatening so many live performance venues. All too often, Sydney's exorbitant rent levels get in the way of the arts underground. Two of the five original founders are now departing to take on other projects, so the Rat has decided to adopt a new model, which will see a shift towards becoming a collective-owned, self-sufficient entity. The catch is that this will only be achievable if the venue can find the $40,000 needed to purchase a 40 percent share in the warehouse that it calls home. Enter crowd funding. Audience members, artists and patrons are being asked to donate to the Rat's Pozible campaign, which, at the time of publication, ends in 46 days and has reached 50 percent of its goal. A failure to meet the target amount may mean closure. Given the growing list of venues that have kicked the bucket recently, losing the Rat would seem a rather tough blow. The space occupies a particularly important position, in terms of its focus on community. "The Red Rattler prides itself on accessibility in terms of both affordability and a non-discriminatory mode of operation," says Jamie Ferguson, a member of the volunteer advisory management committee. "[It] was set up as a space where racism, homophobia, transphobia and sexism are not welcome on stage, in the audience, at the door or at the bar. The Rat has and continues to be a space where everyone feels welcome and part of a family, and able to be oneself and also be experimental. There is no judgment, which is a great thing for artists, and performers who want to push boundaries or simply try new things." Anyone wanting to become part of the Save the Rat campaign can make a contribution or offer their services as a volunteer. They're also invited to the venue's fifth birthday celebrations, which will take the form of a fundraiser on Friday, May 3. The line-up includes DJs Seymour Butz and Adonis, Mojo Juju, Wife, Venus Vamp, and "loads of cake".
Deep-voiced Sydneysider Kirin J Callinan preludes a massive Europe tour with a few stops on local turf, i.e. a national tour. He and his '80s cricketer hairdo will be rocking Oxford Art Factory this Sunday, October 4 30. Callinan kicked of his music career as guitarist for Mercy Arms, before going solo with his own unique genre of chaos. His live shows have become infamous, with constant streams of stories from his gigs appearing online. In the words of Clash's Joe Zadah, "these unhinged and confessional sermons are made of savage riffs, self-deprecation and loop pedals." Between his hectic string of live gigs, he's made time to release his album Embracism (out now on XL/Terrible Records), perfect a flamboyant fashionably/unfashionable style and team up with Mark Ronson and Tame Impala as they covered 'I Sat by the Ocean' for Like a Version. Now, Callinan embraces his home city. His Sunday night show will be supported by Molly Lewis and Donny Benet.
Having dominated Australian dining for decades with the likes of Bondi's Icebergs Dining Room, Da Orazio and The Dolphin Hotel, restaurateur Maurice Terzini is now taking his talents to Asia. And his first stop is Seminyak, Bali, where his new restaurant Da Maria will be opening on Saturday, November 5. As the name suggests, the venue will be bringing a splash of Italy to the tropical Indonesian island. Roman architects Lazzarini Pickering took care of the design and, walking into the courtyard, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd landed on the Amalfi Coast. The cool whites and blues, bold shapes, fountains and feature ceiling are a contemporary take on 1960s aesthetics, including that of Giò Ponti's famous Sorrento hotel Parco dei Principi. "Da Maria is our portrait of Maurice Terzini in Bali," said Carl Pickering. "'Bali Style' wouldn't have worked for the ideas Maurice had for this restaurant." That said, there is evidence of Balinese influence in the rubber trees, cacti and passionfruit vines. Plus, you'll notice a dash of French fer forgé style in the tables and chairs. As far as the food goes, Terzini has gone for a modern take on simple, traditional Italian dishes. A cool 24 hours of fermentation goes into the pizza dough, which is made using Neapolitan techniques and cooked in lava stone ovens. You'll also find porchetta (whole pig) which has proved a big hit at Bondi's Da Orazio. Among the lighter dishes, there's asparagus with anchovy butter and parmesan, snapper crudo with tomato, chilli and marjoram, and octopus with overnight beans, red wine vinegar and parsley. If you're up for a long feast, then order 'La Panarda', which will get you a selection of sharing plates. "We are offering traditional Italian food, done correctly, in a modern environment without trying to reinvent the wheel," said chef Steven Skelly. "It's accessible, fresh and fun and we really enjoy cooking it." Meanwhile, in the Americano-influenced bar, expect Italian classics, like the Negroni and the Spritz, as well as house-made liqueurs, including vermouth, and a contemporary wine list. As at any Terzini establishment, special events will pepper the calendar, to be curated with help from Motel Mexicola's Adrian Reed. DJs will be popping in every night from 10.30pm onwards and, before then, you'll be kicking back to playlists put together by Sydney DJ Kali (Picnic). Last but not least, there's an onsite boutique, Da Maria Shop by Ten Pieces. Ten Pieces is Terzini's fashion label, launched in partnership with Lucy Hinkfuss in 2011. Find Da Maria at Jalan Pettinenget 170 Badung, Bali, Indonesia, open daily from 5pm–2am and on Sunday for brunch from 11am–3pm.
If you're looking to shop locally for your swimwear this summer, look no further than Active Truth, which is offering 20 percent off its Australian-made, sustainable swimsuits. Plus, you'll receive free express shipping, so even though we're already one week into February, you'll have your new swimsuit at your doorstep before summer ends. Active Truth is accessible to beachgoers of all shapes and sizes, with a wide range of swimwear from XS to 3XL. The brand is also committed to sustainability, supporting the Healthy Seas initiative and making its swimwear from reconstructed recycled fibres, such as discarded fishing nets. If you're keen to snag some new togs, have a look through the catalogue of one and two-piece swimsuits and order before the sale ends on Tuesday, February 9. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
Stepping back to its titular year, 1985 is filled with signs of its time — from Walkmans playing Madonna, to bars pulsating with synth, to fashion choices that couldn't come from any other period. And yet, for all of the exacting music choices, production design decisions and costuming touches, it's the film's cinematography that grounds it so firmly in the past. With director of photography Hutch shooting on grainy 16mm, Yen Tan's third stint as a director feels like it was made in the era it depicts, then subsequently unearthed now. That couldn't be a higher compliment. This is how many low-budget movies looked three decades ago, with 1985 not only meticulously recreating the same aesthetic, but quietly nodding to the wealth of queer cinema that came before it. Framed with precision, those speckled monochrome images serve another purpose, too. A film's style can say as much as its story, which is never in doubt here. 1985's black-and-white visuals overflow not only with visible texture, but with meaning and emotion — as seen in its loaded shadows, inky contrasts and jittery flecks. How better to convey a world where so much is left unsaid than to cloak it in grey? How better to express existential turmoil than to strand its protagonist between light and dark? And how better to show someone striving to soak in every last detail than to make each grain jostle for attention? Every inch of 1985 looks and feels as it should — like Adrian Lester (Cory Michael Smith) has returned to his Texan hometown at the height of Reagan's America not just for Christmas, but with much more serious matters on his mind. The 20-something hasn't been back to Fort Worth since he left for New York, where he can express his sexuality openly, and his family haven't forgiven his absence. While Adrian's homemaker mother Eileen (Virginia Madsen) understands more than she'll ever utter, his Vietnam veteran father Dale (Michael Chiklis) openly seethes with hurt and hostility, and his pre-teen younger brother Andrew (Aidan Langford) clearly wishes he'd had a role model over the past few years. Awkward is one way to characterise this stilted reunion; caught between the conservative religious rhetoric spouted by the Lesters' favourite radio station and the reality of Adrian's new life is another. Conceiving the narrative with co-editor Hutch, but penning the screenplay solo, Tan treads delicately around the obvious. Given that his protagonist is a gay man in the mid-80s, and that a climate of fear is evident from the outset, it's hardly surprising that AIDS leaves an imprint on this tale. Given the historical context, it's not difficult to guess where the film is headed either, however the movie's slow reveal is as much about reflecting Adrian's experience as it is about both storytelling and chronicling a pivotal period in the past. When a person is faced with tragedy, their perspective changes forever, and yet the minutiae of everyday life cruelly and relentlessly goes on. 1985's power and poignancy stems from this fundamental truth, as Adrian goes home, sleeps in his childhood bed, spends time with his family and hangs out with his high-school girlfriend (Jamie Chung), all while knowing what no one else does: although he steadfastly wishes otherwise, nothing can ever really be the same again. In taking such an internalised journey — even one so astutely made tangible via stylistic flourishes — 1985 is fond of lingering in certain moments. This patient approach is noticeable, even in such a concise 85-minute movie, but it also has another function. As led by Gotham's Smith and ably supported by Madsen, Chiklis, Langford and Chung, this is a film anchored by exceptional performances that live and breathe when they're given the room to do just that. (Often, visually, Tan literally gives them space by peering at his actors in long and medium shots.) What comes to the fore, too, is the complexity of these characters, who never adhere to one-note archetypes despite initially appearing otherwise. That's another essential truth that 1985 conveys perfectly: no matter how transparent a person's facade may seem, you can never truly know just how they're afflicted by pain and heartbreak underneath. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw5LfaKTKoI
In an attempt to boost audiences, an independent theatre in Barcelona has introduced Pay As You Go to the comedy circuit. Rather than risking an advance ticket purchase and (for better or worse) taking the show as it comes, you're charged per laugh. That's right, the sorer your face muscles are when the curtain falls, the bigger your bill. The scheme is a response to plummeting theatre attendance. Mid-last year, Spain's arts scene took one of its hardest hits ever when the government increased the tax on drama performances from 8% to 21%. Consequently, ticket sales dropped by a whopping 30% in just twelve months. Rather than surrendering to despair or closing down altogether, Teatreneu, which boasts eight stages, looked for solutions. That's when they teamed up with ad agency the Cyranos McCann to invent 'Pay Per Laugh'. Facial recognition technology, attached to each seat, records every smile or laugh — and you pay €0.30 per expression recorded. If you're in a bad mood, hard to impress or incredibly self-controlled, you walk away with your bank account intact. If, however, you’re more easily amused, you're charged up to a maximum of €24. The new scheme is truly great news for the performers. According to the promo video, the initiative saw most spectators pay €6 more than they normally would, and led to a 35% increase in crowds. They're contemplating expanding their emotional palette to include dramatic theatre 'Pay Per Cry' fees and our favourite idea, 'Pay Per WTF' — naturally, for performance art. Via Springwise.
There are a few theories floating around about alt-pop Sydney singer-songwriter Andy Bull. The first (now proven) is that the shorter his hair gets, the more attractive he becomes. The man truly is a sort of mythical anti-Samson. The second is this: the reason Andy Bull hasn't become a household name in Australia has less to do with Andy Bull and more to do with the inhabitants of Australian households. You see, we don't quite know what to do with him. He's not shiny enough for our pop tastes; he's not weird enough for our alternative tastes. He's a little Regina Spektor/Ben Folds, but he's also just a little Justin Timberlake. The man refuses to be pigeonholed. But international superstars have ridden the Bull and concluded that it is an experience to be had. Music critics have done the same. He's been invited on the road with the likes of Joss Stone, Tim Finn and Duffy. When he wasn't busy touring with international superstars, he was releasing killer singles like 'Small Town Girl' and 'Young Man'. Then, upon dropping his debut album, We're Too Young, in 2009, Bull was showered with a Cyclone Zane of critical acclaim — including a 4-star review from Rolling Stone. Your chance comes on June 8. After 18 months off the road, Andy Bull returns to promote his newest Triple-J-dominating single, 'Keep on Running'. https://youtube.com/watch?v=JSGUxRWR_r8
UPDATE April 28, 2023: Moonage Daydream is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video Ground control to major masterpiece: Moonage Daydream, Brett Morgen's kaleidoscopic collage-style documentary about the one and only David Bowie, really makes the grade. Its protein pills? A dazzling dream of archival materials, each piece as essential and energising as the next, woven into an electrifying experience that eclipses the standard music doco format. Its helmet? The soothing-yet-mischievous tones of Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane/The Thin White Duke/Jareth the Goblin King himself, the only protective presence a film about Bowie could and should ever need and want. The songs that bop through viewers heads? An immense playlist covering the obvious — early hit 'Space Oddity', the hooky glam-rock titular track, Berlin-penned anthem 'Heroes', the seductive 80s sounds of 'Let's Dance' and the Pet Shop Boys-remixed 90s industrial gem 'Hallo Spaceboy', to name a few — as well as deeper cuts. The end result? Floating through a cinematic reverie in a most spectacular way. When Bowie came to fame in the 60s, then kept reinventing himself from the 70s until his gone-too-soon death in 2016, the stars did look very different — he did, constantly. How do you capture that persistent shapeshifting, gender-bending, personal and creative experimentation, and all-round boundary-pushing in a single feature? How do you distill a chameleonic icon and musical pioneer into any one piece of art, even a movie that cherishes each of its 135 minutes? In the first film officially sanctioned by Bowie's family and estate, Morgen knows what everyone that's fallen under the legend's spell knows: that the man born David Jones, who'd be 75 as this doco hits screens if he was still alive, can, must and always has spoken for himself. The task, then, is the same as the director had with the also-excellent Cobain: Montage of Heck and Jane Goodall-focused Jane: getting to the essence of his subject and conveying what made him such a wonder by using the figure himself as a template. Nothing about Bowie earns an easy description. Nothing about Bowie, other than his stardom, brilliance and impact, sat or even stood still for too long. Driven by themes and moods rather than a linear birth-to-death chronology, Moonage Daydream leaps forward with that same drive to ch-ch-change, the same yearning to keep playing and unpacking, and the same quest for artistry as well. Taking its aesthetic approach from its centre of attention means peppering in psychedelic pops, bursts of colour, neon hues, and mirrored and tiled images — because it really means making a movie that washes over all who behold its dance, magic, dance. That's the reaction that Bowie always sparked, enchanting and entrancing for more than half a century. In successfully aping that feat, Morgen's film is as immersive as an art installation. Exhibition David Bowie Is has already toured the world, including a 2015 stint Down Under in Melbourne; Moonage Daydream sits partway between that and a Bowie concert. This gift of sound and vision is as glorious as that gig-meets-art concept sounds — and yes, live footage beams and gleams throughout the documentary. Among the snippets of interviews, smattering of music videos, melange of clips from cinema touchstones that reverberate on Bowie's wavelength in one way or another, and scenes from his own acting career on-screen and onstage, how could it not? During his five years, fittingly, spent making Moonage Daydream, Morgen had access to the original concert masters, from which he spliced together his own mixes using alternative angles. Zooming back to the androgynous space-alien Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars tour is exhilarating, including when the feature's eponymous song explodes. Jumps to the 90s, to the Outside and Earthling tours, resonate with awe of a more grounded but no less vibrant kind. The Serious Moonlight segments, hailing from the 80s and all about pale suits and glistening blonde hair, see Bowie relaxing into entertainer mode — and, amid discussions about his wariness about making upbeat tunes, mastering that like everything else. When Bowie takes to the stage in Moonage Daydream, it plays as a concert film, in fact, even if there's always a new vintage chat with the man himself, compilation of movie images or video from one of his singles to swiftly follow in this musical mashup. The entire viewing experience is designed to feel like an event and a show; seeing it on the biggest possible screen, and sitting close enough to it so that all that's in front of you is that Bowie-adorned screen, is heartily recommended. Enlisting Bowie's longtime producer Tony Visconti, Moonage Daydream has the sound, not just the soundtrack, to both match and evoke that like-you're-there sensation. (Or, to make its audience feel like Bowie's here in the cinema in front of you.) Those tunes have also been remastered, aided by audio engineer Paul Massey (an Oscar-winner for Bohemian Rhapsody), and they're given the thunderous volume they deserve. Mesmerising fans comes easily in this Bowie mosaic's frames and tunes, with the doco edited as well as written and directed by Morgen; freak out in a Moonage Daydream indeed. For the casually interested, the film uses its style as part of its substance, and as an immersion technique — a tactic that Baz Luhrmann's Elvis also used in a just-as-vivid and expressively stitched-together manner. Understanding by feeling: that's the 2022 wave of modern music icon love for viewers to fall for, although Moonage Daydream and Elvis are clearly different features. The pair's subjects can be heroes, and that's a fact, and their directors want viewers to absorb why beyond merely being told. Among the time-defying jumps backwards and forwards throughout his life — channelling his always-futuristic air — Bowie's narration isn't about singing his own praises, instead flowing with insights into his processes, loves and challenges, and why he kept seeking the new and the bold. Hearing it as the movie's music and visuals work their magic is as revelatory as it's meant to be. Get your 'lectric eye on this and you'll slide through a multi-sensory ode — a multimedia extravaganza — that also includes looks at the Starman's paintings, which he was cautious about unveiling to the world; hops from the Brixton of his birth to his Los Angeles stint, and to his Berlin period and his tours through Asia; and buzzes with delighted-to-the-point-of-anxiety 70s-era crowds. Naturally, a refusal to be easily pinned down, to stop pushing itself and stop transforming also echoes, again paralleling Bowie himself. Morgen teases one song then layers in another, or sets up a segue but veers elsewhere: he is the propulsive documentary's DJ and he loves being playful. Every choice and surprise chimes with the utter Bowieness of it all, and how indefinable Bowie was and still is. Moonage Daydream is noticeably light on his last few decades, and on the reasons he stopped unleashing his inimitable presence upon stages, but perhaps that's another movie's job; this one is wondrous and wonderful anyway.
Smirnoff takes on a Brazilian spirit speciality with the introduction of a new flavour of vodka, Caipiroska. The Caipiroska mixed drink is typically made by combining vodka with lime wedges and sugar, but Smirnoff has created three different versions of the sweet liquor: lime, mango and passion fruit. The unique flavours deserved to be encased in something more exceptional than the average glass bottles, so Smirnoff wrapped them up in style. The promotional bottles of Smirnoff Caipiroska come in colourful skins that can be peeled off like the fruits they represent. The opaque skins conceal the traditional Smirnoff packaging and give consumers an idea of just how fruity the new concoction is. If you think your taste buds can handle the tangy twist of the Caipiroska mixed drink, here are the simple ingredients: 35 ML Smirnoff vodka, 1/2 lime cut into wedges, 2 small spoons of brown sugar, and 15 ML simple sugar. Enjoy! [via Comunicadores]
The National Gallery of Victoria is wrapping up this wild year in style, hosting the blockbuster second edition of its much-hyped NGV Triennial. Taking over the gallery from Saturday, December 19, the exhibition looks set to be the biggest art event to hit the city in three years, featuring works from over 100 artists, representing 30 different countries. Among them, you can expect a diverse response to this year's themes of illumination, reflection, conservation and speculation. With a lineup like this — and many months of missed art appreciation to make up for — it's hard to know where to even start. But we're here to help. We've delved into the program and pulled out five must-see artworks set to grace the gallery's hallowed spaces this summer. Start plotting your post-lockdown art gallery debut now, with this roundup of five captivating artworks to check out at the NGV Triennial. [caption id="attachment_795343" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dhambit Mununggurr, 'Can we all have a happy life' 2019-20, courtesy Salon Indigenous Art Project. Installation view at NGV International, photographed by Sean Fennessy.[/caption] DHAMBIT MUNUNGURR: CAN WE ALL HAVE A HAPPY LIFE If you've got a thing for hues of blue, this immersive work from Yolnu artist Dhambit Munungurr will surely resonate. While artists from her home of Yirrkala (Northeast Arnhem Land) traditionally paint using hand-ground ochres and other natural pigments, Munungurr was granted special permission to switch to acrylic paints after a 2005 car accident left her with ongoing injuries. She's since developed a special love for the colour blue and as such, her recent works have left a significant mark on Yolnu art as a whole. This NGV installation Can we all have a happy life (2019–2020) is the latest to embrace the artist's go-to colour palette, featuring a vibrant series of 15 bark paintings and nine larrakitj (hollow poles). [caption id="attachment_795344" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cerith Wyn Evans, 'C=O=D=A' 2019–20, courtesy White Cube, London. Installation view at NGV International, photographed by Tom Ross.[/caption] CERITH WYN EVANS: C=O=D=A Big and bold is the name of the game for Cerith Wyn Evans' latest work, titled C=O=D=A (2019–20). The London-based artist has created a large-scale, neck-tilting celebration of light and movement, with his series of neon 'drawings' suspended brightly together in mid-air. Among them, you'll spy frantic scribbles, carefully structured shapes and even doodles referencing chemical compounds, each design experienced in countless new ways from different angles as audiences move around the installation. The full display towers at up to six metres high, challenging viewers to continually switch their perspective as they explore how each shape interacts with the next. [caption id="attachment_795349" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Atong Atem, 'Studio series' 2015, courtesy MARS Gallery, Melbourne. Installation view at NGV International, photographed by Tom Ross.[/caption] ATONG ATEM Atong Atem serves up some fresh cultural perspectives with her series of early photography works offering a vibrant exploration of identity. Born in Ethiopia in the 90s and now based in Melbourne, the artist has developed her body of work honing in on migrant stories and post-colonial practices in the African diaspora. For this portrait project she gives a nod to the old-school studio photography practices of her homeland, via a collection of staged shots dripping with colour. The vintage-inspired images are heady and impactful, featuring a festival of patterns and hues delivered through props, backgrounds, textiles and garments. [caption id="attachment_795351" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Stuart Haygarth, 'Optical (tinted)' 2009 (foreground), Mark Rothko, 'Untitled (Red)' 1956 (left) and Sabine Marcelis 'Dawn XXXIII' designed 2015. Installation view at NGV International, photographed by Sean Fennessy.[/caption] STUART HAYGARTH: OPTICAL (TINTED) A collection of over 4500 recycled tinted prescription spectacle lenses are the unlikely heroes of this stunning piece by British artist Stuart Haygarth. Optical (tinted) (2009) speaks to ideas of consumption, time and loss, as a thing of beauty is hatched from a bunch of discarded objects. Best known for his work repurposing everyday items into unexpected lighting installations, Haygarth here puts together a layered, shimmering sphere of used lenses. The intricate work features a careful assembly of elements, with cloudier lenses at the core making way for clearer glass pieces towards the outer edges. It's then lit from within, creating a sort of dazzling disco ball that'll have you reassessing your thoughts about waste and trash. [caption id="attachment_795355" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Porky Hefer, 'Plastocene – Marine Mutants from a disposable world' 2020, courtesy Southern Guild, Cape Town. Installation view at NGV International, photographed by Tom Ross.[/caption] PORKY HEFER: PLASTOCENE — MARINE MUTANTS FROM A DISPOSABLE WORLD We'd imagine there won't be too many times in your life you'll get to admire a giant octopus crafted from hand-felted cigarette butts. But this supersized oceanic beauty will be just one of many featured in a new large-scale installation by Porky Hefer. Plastocene – Marine Mutants from a disposable world (2020) sees the South African artist and his collaborators create a series of handmade sea creatures plucked from some dystopian future. The work's built on the notion of species being able to transmutate, eventually adapting themselves to fit a world of polluted oceans and plastic waste. The NGV Triennial 2020 will be on show at NGV International from Saturday, December 19 until Sunday, April 18, 2021. For more info and to see the full program, visit the NGV website. Top image: Cerith Wyn Evans, 'C=O=D=A' 2019–20, courtesy White Cube, London. Installation view at NGV International, photographed by Tom Ross
Ah, the humble food truck. Hallmark of the most sophisticated civilisations. Naturally, that world-class institution, Cambridge University, has its own local food truck, known fondly as the Trailer of Life. And for good reason — because everyone knows that a food truck is a comfort to drunken stomachs everywhere, a great alternative to stuffy restaurants and a justification for casual dining en plein air. Plus, where else can you go at midnight, other than Maccas? In recognition of this fact, and following a successful trial this October, Sydney's food trucks are celebrating their own popularity by getting together in one spot to feed you, one Friday every month, following a successful trial run in October and November. There's probably no better way to kick off (or conclude) your TGIF festivities. StreetFest Food Trucks United, as the monthly event is known, will open from 5pm at Belmore Park near Central Station. What tasty nomz will be available there? Are we talking pulled pork banh mi on crispy baguettes? Are we talking caramelised onion and aioli slathered on organic beef burgers? Veggie Patch Van, Tsuru, Cantina Mobil? All your digestive tract's fevered questions are answered on the Sydney Food Trucks website. There's even a smartphone app so you can align yourself yet more closely with this noble enterprise. Lord Mayor Clover Moore, that crafty cookie, says that the event is "part of our ongoing work to create a world-class night-time economy across Sydney". This is an initiative we can certainly get behind, and it mirrors public demand: a recent survey of food truck customers confirmed what we all know deep in our waters to be true, that (a) food trucks create new business in the city, (b) food trucks are the go-to destination between 9pm and midnight, and (c) food trucks tend to generate a devoted following, attracting customers who will happily travel up to 2km just to partake of their goodies. Not only that; the presence of a food truck also enhances a public space, helping to populate it, with all the benefits for a buzzy community that brings.
As of this weekend, Freda's will stay open till late. After years of applying to the council and State Government, the much-loved Chippo bar now has permission to serve until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights, and until midnight on Sundays. These hours represent a two-hour extension. "Being closely involved in the music community for almost a decade, I have seen the drastic decline in Sydney's nightlife — from the envy of the world, to a relative backwater," said David Abram, proprietor at Freda's. "We have lost a large part of our soul in this process, but this news gives hope to all those who want a better solution for our nightlife and who believe a night out should only be about relaxing, listening to music, dancing and engaging with each other in a safe and respectful way." For you, that means more hours to see more music, more art and more cultural happenings. The timing is good, as Freda's recently added an art space to its basement. Called Down Under, it hosts exhibitions, performance art and fashion shows.
Your mates at Concrete Playground know how much you guys love Nutella. Sydney went nuts over those damn Tella Ball milkshakes, Melbourne eats so much of the stuff they caused a temporary nation-wide shortage back in 2015, and Australia lost its collective shit when a toaster-shaped Nutella food truck started rolling around the country. Long story short, the food truck will be hitting the road again this month, embarking on a road trip from Sydney all the way over to Perth. We figured you'd want to hear about it — especially as all the goodies on board will be free. Alistair Fogg, the man behind Sydney's Nighthawk Diner (which has just opened a permanent store in Chippendale) must have had excess Nutella lying around, because he's once again devised the menu for the food truck. This time, he'll be drizzling Nutella on pancakes, crumpets, bagels, waffles and even acai bowls. And, yes, it's all free — although there is a limit of only one item per customer per day,. The nine-stop road trip will spend two days in Sydney, pulling up at Chatswood's pedestrian mall from 7–10am on Friday, May 11 and Peryman Square on the Cronulla Foreshore the morning after from 8–11am. From there, the truck will head to Griffith before going down to Adelaide and across to Perth.
When Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) heads from Cleveland to Los Angeles for his job, he discovers a previously unknown passion for acting after he stumbles into a class held by veteran thespian Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler). The catch? Barry is a hitman, and that isn't a line of work that you can leave easily, especially when you become caught in the Chechen mafia's violent and deadly dramas. As Saturday Night Live fans will already know, Hader is an on-screen treasure, but he's never been better than he is in this part-comedy, part-tragedy series. Barry's struggle mightn't seem that relatable on paper, but it proves just that with Hader in the role. Also excellent is Winkler, expectedly, as well as Bill & Ted Face the Music's Anthony Carrigan as a Chechen gangster who befriends Barry, isn't that great at the whole crime business and quickly becomes one of the most memorable characters to ever grace a TV series.
For more than a year now, we've all been paying extra attention to maps — but not just to show us how to get from one place to another. Thanks to all manner of handy online diagrams, we've been using maps to see which venues have been visited by COVID-19 cases, and also to work out how far we can travel during lockdowns. Now, with vaccinations an important focus at this stage of the pandemic, there's also a particularly nifty interactive map that'll help you work out where to get the jab. If you're familiar with COVID-19 Near Me, the statewide map that draws upon New South Wales Government's register of locations that positive COVID-19 cases have visited, then you already know where to head for this new map. It's actually an added function on the existing website, which now comes with two options at the top: exposure sites and vaccination clinics. Like the exposure venues part of the map, the statewide diagram gives locations specific hues depending on how the clinics operate. A grey dot is used if the clinic doesn't take online bookings, a purple dot indicates that it's an AstraZeneca clinic and a blue dot shows a Pfizer clinic. This map isn't run by the NSW Government — it's just powered by its official data. So, NSW residents are urged to also check the official NSW Health website as well. At the time of writing, the map was last updated on Sunday, August 8. At present, all adults in Australia can opt for the AstraZeneca vaccine as long as you give a doctor your informed consent before you go ahead. Since Thursday, June 17, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has recommended the use of AstraZeneca vaccine in people aged over 60 only due to the risk of rare blood clotting disorders that've been linked to the vaccine when given to younger folks. That change followed an early recommendation back in April, which noted the AstraZeneca vaccine wasn't preferred for anyone under 50. But since late June, as announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, anyone of any age, including those under 60, can still get the AZ jab — after making an informed decision by talking to a doctor. For people under 40 who'd prefer the Pfizer vaccine, you need to fall into a specific group to access it at present, as the nation's vaccination rollout hasn't yet opened up the Pfizer jab to that age group. That means that adults aged up to 39 aren't yet eligible to get the Pfizer vaccination unless you're of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent; work in quarantine, border or healthcare roles; work or live in an aged care or disability facility; work in a critical and high-risk job such as defence, fire, police, emergency services and meat processing; have an underlying medical condition or significant disability; are pregnant; or participate in the NDIS, or care for someone who does. You can check out all existing COVID-19 vaccination clinics at covid19nearme.com.au. For more information about COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. Images: COVID-19 Near Me as of Monday, August 9.
It's been a David and Goliath battle from the very start, but it seems Goliath has finally made his size known — construction crews have this afternoon been found secretly demolishing the interior of the much-loved Palace Theatre. Though most mourned for the Palace back in June when the owner's lease ran up, many have still been fighting the good fight trying to get the venue heritage listed. After all their good work, the site was set to be reviewed for heritage protection from Melbourne City Council shortly. Now, much of what they were fighting to protect has been destroyed. Though the new owners, Jinshan Investments, are yet to obtain a demolition permit, it seems they're free to do as they see fit with the building's interior. Nearby businesses have reported the rubbish skips have been out the front all week, and construction workers have been spotted hauling out huge slabs of plaster and moulding that has been in place since the early 1900s. One worker told The Age that they were carrying out orders as the site was to be turned into apartments. City of Melbourne councillor Rohan Leppert was one of the first to speak out by calling the police to the scene. "There is no permit to demolish the building, and the owner knows that the Council and Government considers the interiors to be of significant heritage value," he said. "[It's] sheer vandalism." Protestors from Melbourne Heritage Action and Save the Palace Theatre are currently on site too. "We asked to see a copy of the demolition permit and were asked, 'who the hell are you?' and 'where's your badge?'" the group said on their Facebook page. They are now reporting that the demolition crew told police they were "removing plaster to check sprinkler systems". A snap protest has been called for 6pm tonight at The Palace. "[It's] a visual sign to the people who can turn this around that this IS NOT ON!" their Facebook post read. "While there is still something to save you all need to get off your arse and down to the Palace ... The people of Melbourne need to join together to make some damn noise." Outside the @Palace_Theatre at 6pm - make some noise! These cultural vandals need to be stopped and the decision makers must do something — Save the Palace (@SavethePalace13) November 20, 2014 It may be a fairly sad last resort, but if you've ever loved the venue it's time to get your arse up to Bourke Street. Do it for that incredible gig you snuck into when you were 17; do it for the first dates and the late nights and all the amazing bands that have played there over the years; do it for the goddamned principle of the thing. Photos via Melbourne Heritage Action.
Can't afford the sky-high prices of partying but still stinging for somewhere stylish to swing your pint-sized designer handbag? Never fear. Nestled inside The Bristol is Midtown, and nestled inside Midtown right now is a series of irresistibly adorable mini cocktails. If you haven't yet, you're going to want to meet Midtown. It's a buzzing New York-inspired bar slinging some of the city's best martinis, margaritas and negronis. The atmosphere is cool, disco and a little bit electric, and the prices are decidedly affordable. At a teensy $6 a pop, you can enjoy a mini version of your cult-fave cocktails every single Wednesday to Saturday in March. There are seven to choose from – including Mini Pina Colada, Mini Espresso Martini and Mini Pickle Margarita – along with a $6 snack menu that's just as tidy. Fancy a bite of kingfish with sweet cucumber, burnt chilli, finger lime and plum? What about a rosemary and honey butter focaccia? Or go straight to the sweet stuff, with a tiny chocolate brownie with sour cherry and Chantilly cream. And did we mention the complimentary popcorn, marinated green olives and house-roasted chilli, lime and coriander peanuts for every table? All included in your Midtown $6 special – now that's cute.
It's that time of year again — the City of Sydney is putting 1000 trees up for grabs. For free. Over 13,000 trees have been planted since 2005, with the inner city area home to over 44,000 trees across its streets, parks and city properties. The City of Sydney is inviting locals down to Sydney Park from 10am on Saturday, March 28 as a way to encourage residents to help reach the government target to increase the urban canopy by 50 percent by 2030. There will be small species like hibiscus right through to 15-metre-tall jacaranda trees, and food-bearing types like lemon, lime, grapefruit and pistachio trees. Enjoy a sausage sizzle while you peruse the freebies, chat to clued-up staff and choose which ones to adopt. To prep, check out the website for the tree species that will be available on the day, along with caring instructions. If you're an inner city slicker and don't have a backyard, no wukkas — balcony horticulturists can use this tip sheet for growing trees in pots.
They may have replaced the old red and yellow prize tickets with flashy magnetic 'Powercards', but don't worry, the Timezone experience is as great as it ever was. Take part in the Big Buck or Pinball championships, or play some Street Fighter in memory of the 1994 live action film starring your favourites, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue. Then switch to the easiest game, Whack-a-Croc, and make sure that you collect enough points to win a poorly manufactured toy.
Victorians are preparing to say goodbye to plastic bags as the State Government today confirmed it will impose a statewide ban from late 2019. The Department of Land, Water and Planning has announced that all bags less than 35 microns thick will be banned — that includes degradable, biodegradable and compostable options. Regular black bin bags, animal waste bags and those little bags you put your fruit and veggies in at the supermarket won't fall under the ban. After conducting a public consultation late last year, the Victorian Government received an "enormous amount of feedback" in favour of delivering the ban. "The Government will continue to work closely with Victorian communities and businesses to design the ban — to ensure it works for all Victorians and our environment," said Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio. Premier Daniel Andrews announced the ban on The Project back in October last year in response to a #BanTheBag Change.org petition run by the nightly Ten current affairs program. The move brings the state into line with South Australia, the ACT, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Queensland, who announced it will next year ditch lightweight single-use plastic bags in September 2017. NSW is now the only state that hasn't committed to banning single-use bags. Woolworths has stopped stocking plastic bags at the checkout, and Coles will do the same from this weekend. Instead, the supermarkets will provide thicker, more durable options that won't be included in this ban — but, even though they're meant to be more reusable, it's hard to say if people will use them any differently to the way they use single-use bags now.
One of Sydney's oldest hotels has undergone a lavish refurbishment — so the next time you head over to The Strand Hotel, it'll look a little different. Following a revamp in September, the heritage pub now boasts a brand-new look and a refreshed menu. At the helm of its revival is culinary talent Clayton Wells — Automata's previous Head Chef and co-owner and now PUBLIC Group's Creative Culinary Director, with Leigh McDivitt on Head Chef duties. The ground floor, now know as the Strand Bistrothèque, has undergone a contemporary design update with reflective black ceiling paired with eccentric art prints and pops of colour with inviting green velvet couches placed throughout the space. As for the menu, the relaxed French cuisine now takes a less-is-more approach while pairing unexpected flavour combinations. Highlights include the chicken liver parfait eclair accompanied by maraschino cherry and cacao, as well as a soufflé heroing gruyere cheese. "The food is a combination of my own cooking style of traditional French techniques and a nose-to-tail approach. When you find the quality produce that our farmers are passionate about sharing, you need very little interference from chefs to make the dish sing," said Leigh McDivitt. [caption id="attachment_922027" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The wonderful chicken liver parfait eclairs[/caption] For sips, the ground floor offers a cocktail menu from the globally-renowned Maybe Sammy crew and a wine list that has been carefully curated by P&V's Mike Bennie. To top it off, the Strand Bistrothèque hosts weekly live music gigs. [caption id="attachment_922023" align="alignnone" width="1920"] (The Strand Hotel's Head Chef Leigh McDivitt & PUBLIC Group's Creative Culinary Director Clayton Wells.)[/caption] As for the rooftop bar, the openair space has been relaunched as a French and Mediterranean fusion called Kasbah. Balearic tunes accompany the cosy terracotta lounges, luxe Persian rugs and vibrant patterned tiling, which draw inspiration from Marrakesh's pastel tones. For bites, Kasbah serves French and Moroccan-inspired fusion cuisine in the form of grazing plates to the tune of ginger, turmeric and coriander spiced tiger prawns. To pair, there's an array of Mediterranean-leaning cocktails like The Silk Road and Ficus and a short offering of natural wines. "Leigh and the team have the expertise to provide a renewed experience in food and service across Strand Bistrothèque and Kasbah upstairs on the rooftop," said Wells."You'll be able to make your day or night whatever you want it to be at The Strand." Head to 99 William Street, Darlinghurst, to check out the new and improved pub. For further information and operating hours, head to The Strand Hotel's website. Image credit: Parker Blain
The response to COVID-19 in Australia doesn't just change by the day, but by the hour and even minute, as the country endeavours to stave off the spread of the coronavirus throughout the community. Indeed, already today, Wednesday, March 18, the Australian Government has banned non-essential indoor gatherings of more than 100 people and effectively scrapped all international travel from our shores. Now, we're now seeing our first national cinema closures as well. Palace Cinemas has just announced that it is shutting down all of its Australian venues from Thursday, March 19. Like many other closures across the arts and entertainment industry at present, this is a temporary but currently indefinite shuttering — with a re-opening date to be determined as the situation progresses. In a statement emailed to customers and available on the chain's website, Palace said that it made the decision after it "reviewed advice from the Australian Government regarding non-essential services and public gathering mandates, as well as examined safety concerns for our patrons and staff". Venues affected include Palace Norton Street, Verona, Central and The Chauvel Cinema in Sydney, as well as Palace Byron Bay; Palace Cinema Como, Balwyn, Brighton Bay, Westgarth, Palace Dendy Brighton, The Kino and The Astor Theatre in Melbourne; Palace Barracks and James St in Brisbane; Palace Electric in Canberra; and Palace Raine Square and Cinema Paradiso in Perth. As a result, all Palace screening events and Palace-organised film festivals are also obviously currently on hold — including the cancellation of the remainder of this year's Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, which Palace doesn't run but many of its venues host. Palace ticket holders will be contacted regarding refunds if they booked online, and are asked to contact their relevant cinema if they booked in-person. It's highly likely that more Aussie cinema chains will also close, especially with such a large number of films postponing their upcoming releases. No Time to Die, A Quiet Place Part II, Fast and Furious 9, Mulan, The New Mutants, Black Widow, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, The Woman in the Window, Antebellum, Peter Rabbit 2, Trolls World Tour and The Secret Garden were all due to hit screens between mid-March and late May, but have now delayed their plans. The news of Palace's temporary closures came on a big day for the Australian film industry, with the Sydney Film Festival cancelling its entire 2020 festival, which was scheduled to run from June 3–14. It's the first time in the fest's 67-year history — so since it started in 1954 — that the huge annual celebration of cinema has been scrapped. The festival will return in 2021. Palace Cinemas across Australia will close from Thursday, March 19. For further details, visit the chain's website. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
Coworking spaces are gaining popularity these days as people ditch the regimented nine-to-five, office-tower-lifestyle in favour of spaces that foster imagination, innovation and community. In the heart of Surry Hills, you'll find one of the most impressive examples of this new way of working: MUSE. Set on Campbell Street, the heritage-listed building has been converted into a space for creative entrepreneurs and businesses. It's an office that doesn't feel like one — beautifully appointed, with top-notch facilities. And, because a workspace should be just as much about potential as pragmatism, there are networking and mentoring opportunities available here as well. So what's it like working at MUSE? We've taken a tour of the space to get an insiders view on what it's like to run a business in a shared work environment. GOODBYE GREY CARPETS MUSE is the antidote to the soulless modern office space. Here, concrete, cubicles and fluorescent lighting have been replaced by exposed brick, leather detailing and long wooden tables. The building itself has a rich history, infused with the working and cultural life of Surry Hills, dating back to the late 1800s. These days the heritage-listed site has been reimagined while paying homage to its past. Architect Vince Alafaci and interior designer Caroline Choker of ACME & Co (The Grounds, Fred's, Archie Rose) have brought their formidable skills to bear to create a space that's both beautiful and functional. "The inherent character of the building, with its solid timber flooring, exposed beams and brickwork, lent itself to an interior design that is restrained yet confident," says Alafaci. So well executed is the team's work, that it was recognised with a silver in interior design at this year's Sydney Design Awards. Thimble, the in-house bar, adds an extra layer of conviviality inside, while outdoors the rooftop courtyard boasts incredible views over the city and is the perfect place for a midday reset, an afternoon brainstorm or a post-work tipple. Tom Baker of Mr Black, a coffee liqueur company that started in 2013, says of his coworking experience, "You know your business is working well when you can't remember what people used to do. I don't know what businesses did without email or smartphones, and I don't know what we would do without coworking spaces…we'd probably be in some office box in North Sydney." COLLABORATION IS KEY Everything at MUSE is geared towards allowing companies and coworkers to grow. It's not just the practical — sleek working spaces and meeting rooms with high-end facilities — it's also the atmosphere that's cultivated within. Managing director of MUSE Nicholas Sammut says a key objective of bringing the concept to life was to bring together the right people. "Fostering ideas exchange, networking and collaboration are fundamental to creating productive and successful communities. The MUSE community is no different. Its success rests on the mix of the right people, the bespoke environment to attract them in the first place and being able to check all boxes across facilities and operations. It's really the full package." Sarah Luthaus experiences the advantages of this community first hand. She's the only member of digital media agency Ten Past Ten based in Sydney (the rest are in Adelaide) and rather than sitting solo at home with a luke-warm cup of tea and a temperamental wifi connection, she spends her office hours at MUSE. "I work on my own, but I get to have a sense of community rather than having to work every day by myself — and I've got people to bounce ideas off". Kate Hart of Barenaked Studios, a company that organises life drawing and art classes with a twist, also digs the vibe at MUSE. "Creative people work best surrounded by other creative people. You can bounce ideas off each other, and everyone is great at collaborating." FEAR NOT THE RISKS OF EXPANSION One of the best things about running a business out of a coworking space is the versatility it provides. If you're running a startup, chances are it could go from your parents' basement to mini-mogul status in a short period of time, and you'll need the right environment to facilitate it. Tom Baker appreciates the flexibility that the shared working space affords him. In just under four years, the team at Mr Black went from "two men in a shed on the Central Coast to 15 coffee 'evangelists' working in the CBD." MUSE has a small business-friendly membership model that takes the rapid expansion of businesses into account. Members pay for a desk month-to-month, so it's easy to be agile when it comes to scaling up (and down). Rather than pack up and move office, it's just a matter of paying for a few more desk allocations. This has worked favourably for digital marketing company MiQ, which has tripled in size since launching in Australia six months ago. "As our team has rapidly expanded, MUSE has grown with us," says managing director John Danby, with the business now taking up the entire second floor. PEOPLE NEED (FREE) YOGA Community and opportunity are key at MUSE. To that end, there's an array of activities, workshops and events to help get the creative juices flowing and to foster networking opportunities. Start the day with early morning yoga on the rooftop (free for members) and downward-dog your way into better ideas as the negative energy is released. Members looking for something more up-tempo (or to beat out some pent-up aggression) can join a boxing session hosted by Funktional Community at lunchtime. But MUSE recognises that, just like the body, the brain needs exercise in order to function at its peak. Meditation classes are on offer to help refresh and rezone and there's also life drawing classes (run by Barenaked Studios) to inspire different ways of looking. Events and workshops are held regularly, covering everything from pitching ideas and the ingredients of success through to managing stress. Gatherings like Christmas in July and rooftop cinema sessions in summer provide the perfect opportunity for the coworking community to come together. John Danby attributes part of the MiQ's rapid growth to the great working environment MUSE provides for his staff. "Such a great space with all of the perks continually inspires the team to achieve our best results." To learn more about MUSE, its memberships and event hire packages, book a tour via the website. Images: Trent Van Der Jagt.
Mudgee's Blue Wren winery is creating minimal intervention drops in an elegant farmhouse setting. Don't expect to find a wine counter here, though — instead, guests gather at tasting tables and enjoy their wine seated. The flights are $10 for five wines, with the vineyard growing shiraz, verdelho and merlot grapes. During the cooler months, tables near the open fire are prime real estate, while in summer you can take your wine out to the garden and farm. It grows herbs, fruits and edible flowers for the in-house restaurant, The Chef's Kitchen, and is home to a cherry farm and bee hives — as well as duck, geese, chooks and heaps of blue wren birds (naturally). While The Chef's Kitchen is currently closed for renovations, you can still nab lunch Friday through Sunday from noon—3pm. And you can even stay overnight in a newly renovated farmhouse, complete with an elevated deck and pool.
During the catastrophic bushfire season over the summer of 2019–20, flames encroached on Bundanon and Riversdale, the 1100-hectare properties that were gifted to the Australian public by by artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne Boyd back in 1993. Located in the Shoalhaven region on the New South Wales south coast, the heritage-listed sites were thankfully saved, as was the art collection within them — and now they're all part of Australia's sprawling new bushland gallery. The Bundanon Art Museum was first announced back in 2018, with construction starting in early 2020. Come Saturday, January 29, it'll finally opening its doors to the public. The purpose-built, 500-square-metre structure will showcase contemporary and First Nations art year-round, starting with opening exhibition From impulse to action, which is all about the creative energy of experimentation. And yes, works by Boyd are part of the program. The venue will host three seasons each year, drawing from its $46.5 million onsite collection of around 4000 items, plus new commissions. When they're not on display, the museum's pieces are housed in a safe storage facility, which is part of its 'environmentally prepared gallery-of-the-future' design by Kerstin Thompson Architects, and takes all of the challenges posed by its location and the changing climate into consideration. Also a highlight: The Bridge, the 160-metre-long by nine-metres-wide structure that doubles as a learning centre, and spans over the existing gully on the property's sloping hillside. As well as teaching and break-out spaces, it features accommodation for up to 64 guests, plus cafe and dining facilities. And views, too, taking in the Shoalhaven River — because seeing the scenery is as much an aim here as checking out art. That eatery, Ramox Cafe, will serve up seasonal menus that hero paddock-to-plate ingredients and source produce from the Shoalhaven region. Drinks-wise, expect sips from local wineries and breweries, continuing the local mindset. Built near the site's existing nineteenth century buildings, the new art museum and bridge also share a public plaza as part of the $34 million project. Windows that frame the artwork with glimpses of the natural splendour outside are also a big feature — and, as well as responding to its surroundings, including by making The Bridge a piece of flood infrastructure that'll still allow water to flow naturally across the property, it's all solar-powered. As for that hefty art collection, if spans around more than 1300 works by Arthur Boyd himself, as well as pieces by Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya and Brett Whiteley. When the Boyds gave the rural site to the Australian public back more than a quarter-century ago, Bundanon and Riversdale became a haven for creativity, arts and education, and remained a working farm. That's all staying the same now that Bundanon Art Museum is opening — just with the new addition built into the hillside. Bundanon Art Museum opens on Saturday, January 29 at 170 Riversdale Road, Illaroo, New South Wales. For further information, visit the venue's website. Images: Zan Wimberley.
Give Netflix the night off and invest generously in your local art scene by rolling down to The Old Fitz Theatre for dinner and a show. With a number of fearless and dynamic performances, Red Line Productions programmes some of the most challenging theatre in Sydney, and in light of recent art funding cuts, these young writers, actors and producers could use all the spare dimes they can get. So why not throw them a money bone and catch them on a Tuesday? You'll score cheap tickets and a hearty bowl of pasta for less than $50, which we think is a pretty sweet deal.
Usually we only have bad news to report on the topic of Sydney's public transport fares — either they're going up, getting stricter or cracking down on loopholes. But, this time, it's some positive news: today, the NSW Government announced that it will reduce the weekly travel cap on your Opal card by $13.20. The cap change was buried in the 2019–20 Budget Papers, which were released by the recently re-elected Berejiklian Government today. At the moment, if you have an adult Opal card, it maxes out at $63.20 within any calendar week — but, when the changes come into effect from June 24, 2019, it will be capped when you hit $50. The cap will come into play no matter what mode of transport you take, but probably won't impact you if you have a shorter commute (that is, less than 20 kilometres on train, bus or light rail). But if you already hit the current cap in a week — say, you catch the train from Cronulla to the city each day — you'll save the $13.20 straight-up. It's also good news if you don't currently reach the cap — for example, if you catch the ferry from Circular Quay to Balmain to and from work every weekday, you'll stand to save at least $10 a week. Which is pretty substantial when you consider that could potentially see you save over $500 a year — or at least have the freedom to spend that cash on funner places than Central Station. The Opal weekly cap will change to $50 from Monday, June 24, 2019. Find more info here. UPDATE: JUNE 20, 2019 — This article initially reported that the weekly would cap would come into effect from July 1, 2019, but Transport for NSW has since brought that forward a week. It will now start from June 24, 2019. The article has been updated to reflect this.
