They're acting icons with four decades of work to their names. They also each played a part in the delightful Paddington movies — but in different films. We're talking about Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, who finally share the screen in six-part mini-series The Undoing. As married couple Grace and Jonathan Fraser, a renowned psychotherapist and a celebrated children's oncologist respectively, they seem to have the perfect New York City life. The drama's title tells you that change is coming, though. When a woman connected to the ultra-expensive school attended by their teenage son Henry (Noah Jupe) turns up dead, the Frasers' existence begins to unravel. Or, as Big Little Lies writer David E Kelley and The Night Manager director Susanne Bier make clear, perhaps it was already unfurling but Grace and Jonathan just didn't realise. Also starring Donald Sutherland as Grace's father and Edgar Ramirez as the police detective with many a suspicion about the Frasers, The Undoing serves up twist after twist as it investigates not only a crime and a marriage, but the lives of the wealthy and privileged.
Gone are the days when a handful of 20 cent coins was like a wad of fifties, when you would buy finger buns — with their iconic pink icing and coconut shavings — with the silver scraped from the bottom of your bag. The tuck shop might've deserved a visit from the Health Inspector, but the buns were pink, they were sugary, they were cheap; they were everything we once wanted in food. But apparently those days aren't totally gone — just the price point and dubious hygiene. Adriano Zumbo is transforming his Rozelle and Waverley patisseries into 'Fluffy's Aussie Bakery' as a creative homage to Australia Day. For ten days Zumbo's will be the classic Aussie bakery with kitsch decor, vintage chalkboard art and baked goods. Among the treats on offer from tomorrow until January 26 are finger buns, neenish tarts, cream buns and lamingtons. All that's missing is a milkshake and sausage roll. The pop-up bakeries can be found at 114 Terry Street, Rozelle and 24 Arden Street, Waverley, somewhere round Memory Lane.
Prepare to get hopelessly devoted — again — to Rydell High, summer lovers reuniting at school, leather jackets and Pink Ladies, all across Australia's stages in 2024. Because giving Grease a prequel streaming series isn't enough, the 50s-set musical is returning to its original home, with a brand-new multimillion-dollar theatre production of the five-decade-old show set to be the one that local audiences want next year. Grease is shaping up to be Melbourne's big summer hit, zipping into the Victorian capital's Her Majesty's Theatre like lightening in January. Then, from March, it'll take its retro stylings to Sydney's Capitol Theatre. If you live elsewhere in the country, cross your fingers that these two initial seasons are only the beginning. Everyone knows Grease's plot by now, given how popular the 1978 movie adaptation of the musical rom-com still is, especially Down Under. It is about an Australian transfer student, after all, who falls in love with an American high schooler in California. After it sped from the stage to become a silver-screen classic, it spawned a 1982 Michelle Pfeiffer-starring sequel, too, then this year's Paramount+ show Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. Exactly who'll be slipping into John Travolta (Paradise City) and the late, great Olivia Newton-John's (The Very Excellent Mr Crocodile Dundee) leathers as Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson in the new Aussie production has yet to be revealed, nor has any casting — T-Birds, Pink Ladies and teachers alike. But whoever gets the gig, obviously they'll be belting out all the famous tunes, including the titular 'Grease' and fellow earworms 'Summer Nights', 'Sandy', 'Hopelessly Devoted to You', 'You're The One That I Want', 'Greased Lightnin' and 'Beauty School Dropout'. "I am thrilled that Grease, one of the world's all-time favourite musicals, is returning to Australia in a brand-new production featuring an all-Australian creative team," said producer John Frost announcing the new tour, which is presented by John Frost for Crossroads Live Australia. "Grease has always been about having fun and, coupled with the much-loved songs and choreography, I know that this will be the party musical that everyone is talking about for a long time to come." GREASE 2024 AUSTRALIAN TOUR: From January 2024 — Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne From March 2024 — Capitol Theatre, Sydney Grease will tour Australia in 2024, starting in Melbourne in January. For more information or to sign up for the ticket waitlist, head to the musical's website.
There are more than a couple of covert events taking place in the Tasmanian wilderness right now. But as of 2017, there is one less. Two revolutionaries — aliases Spinifex and Dr. Gesundheit — have left the cover of the canopy to declare they're constructing a contingency for the ailing human race. Starting today, they're calling for potential crew members who know — or want to learn — a thing or two about rebuilding societies from the ashes up. So as not to raise suspicion or alarm, the training/selection process has been given the moniker of Newkind Festival. The immersive event purports to be presented by UpUpTrampoline, a group known for creating live art events that pursue social change. The lie is a necessary one. For four days from March 17-20 in a secret location in eastern Tasmania known only as 'base camp', participants will become initiates of the future — the Newkind — and imbued with the skills to navigate the ascent out of the cataclysm. The Newkind are split into six categories — farmers, scouts, healers, administrators, engineers and artists — depending on the contribution one wants to make to the new world. Each group will camp together over the course of the weekend, taking part in lectures and classes on assisting a chastened humanity in rebuilding. For those with skills to share, Spinifex and the good doctor are still accepting applications for volunteers here. At $400 a pop, tickets are pricey. Then again, it includes all meals and the promise of calm acceptance should anarchy begin to shred the lie we call society. The reckoning isn't far off now. Will you be the one left in the desert still searching for phone reception or leading a small band to the only drinkable water for miles? Newkind Festival could be the difference. Newkind Festival will take place in a secret location in eastern Tasmania from March 17-20. Tickets are on sale and can be bought at newkindfestival.com.
Sure, it's the middle of winter and most of those planned tropical getaways have been put firmly on hold (and relegated to the realm of dreams), but that hasn't stopped the folks behind renowned Sydney distillery Poor Toms from releasing their most holiday-worthy concoction yet: a bright and vivacious piña colada gin. The new drop is a labour of love that's been in the works for a while, taking the team two years to perfect thanks to hero ingredients like pineapple and coconut being notoriously tough to distill. There's freshly juiced pineapples in there, along with some dehydrated fruit, toasted coconut — that's been both distilled and fat-washed in coconut oil — and lots of aromatic extras like pandan, lime and allspice. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDN6gDvDHoy/ As such, there are only a total of 5000 bottles up for grabs, available now at select bottle shops, or from the online store. So, you'll want to be quick if you want to inject some boozy sunshine into your 2020. Fun and fruity, the newly dropped gin is like some international beach vacation, distilled into a bottle. "Our philosophy is about bringing surprise and pleasure to people's lives, however we can," Poor Toms Co-Founder Jesse Kennedy said in a statement. "You may not be able to travel overseas, but you can still have a holiday in your lounge room." The distillery's tasting notes describe a "toe-dip of milky coconut rough" and a "welcome tidal wave of brine-soaked juniper and lime peel". And, obviously, it pairs perfectly with Rupert Holmes' 'Escape (The Piña Colada Song)'. If that's not exactly the kind of vibe we need right now, what is? Poor Toms' Pina Colada Gin is available now at select Victorian and NSW bottle shops, or for Australia-wide shipping via the online store. The 700-millilitre bottle comes in at $77.
A disintegrating Buddha, giant plesiosaurs, robot operas, Samoan Viennese Waltzes, electronic data installations, performance art-turned-dance parties, live gig record fairs, ten thousand tigers; Carriageworks has unveiled its epic program for 2015. And we mean epic. Immediately visible for Carriageworksgoers will be Zhang Huan's Sydney Buddha, sure to be a huge drawcard for Carriageworks (and previously announced in conjunction with Sydney Festival) and Jonathan Jones' site-specific exploration of Indigenous connection to contemporary space. For Huan's highly-anticipated work, two, five metre tall Buddha sculptures made of 20 tonnes of incense ash and its aluminium case, will face each other. Made of incense ash collected from Chinese temples (and set to disintegrate slowly within Carriageworks), one of these giant sculptures acts in the same way a Tibetan Buddhist mandala works — a stunning, complex, time-consuming artwork to be briefly enjoyed and subsequently destroyed, reminding us of the brevity of life. One artist who has been continuously pushing the limits when it comes to questioning our existence in this data-driven age has been Ryoji Ikeda. After the audio-visual assault of his last Carriageworks show, test pattern [no. 5], Ikeda makes his grand return to Australian shores with his new head-spinning work, superposition — an all-encompassing performance stretching across the barriers of sound, language, physical phenomena, mathematics and human behaviour. Visual artist Ho Tzu Nyen is obsessed with cats. While emphasis is usually given to Singapore's colonial past, Nyen chooses to reveal his home country's neglected histories – the history of the feline. Premiering in Australia at Carriageworks for the first time, Nyen's visual work, Ten Thousand Tigers pays homage to the symbolic power and sheer magnificence of the Malayan tiger — blending together live performance, video, installation, and sound. There's no other way to commemorate the start of Mardi Gras except to throw a massive party. Part performance art, part music, and part dance, Day for Night is one cut above the rest. Curated by Jeff Khan (Performance Space) and Emma Price (The Kingpins), the event sees Carriageworks transformed into a large-scale space for queer expression for a full three days — helmed with tunes from local electronic outfit Stereogamous (Paul Mac and Johnny Seymour) and self-described as sounding like a "gay bath house". Enthusiasts in film, screen and video work won't want to miss 24 Frames Per Second, a truly monumental, ambitious undertaking by Carriageworks. Consisting of 24 commissioned screen-based works by 18 Australian and six international artists, this exhibition has been in development for three years. Ever really looked at a football crowd at the height of intensity? You should really take another look. The name David Malouf may strike a familiar chord with some. Maybe it was because you read him in high school, or spotted him amongst the literature big guns on the Booker Prize shortlist. Upon the eve of the Gallipoli centenary, Malouf's haunting work comes right in time for a remembrance of its calamities and the perseverance of the Australian spirit in the world premiere of his classic novel, Fly Away Peter, as a contemporary opera. Australian composer Elliott Gyger, director Imara Savage and librettist Pierce Wilcox combine in what will sure be an affecting performance by the Sydney Chamber Opera. Made for kids but likely to be enjoyed wholeheartedly by adults, Prehistoric Aquarium comes from the geniuses behind Erth's Dinosaur Zoo. Puppetry at its most whimsical and dinosaur-focused, this work lets you dive in to hang with the plesiosaurs. Then Wade Marynowksy's Robot Opera takes a similar fun-filled adventure using robotics, dancefloors and sound to examine our relationship with technology — and allowing you to throw shapes with a bunch of robots. Performance is perhaps the strongest card played in Carriageworks' 2015 program. In a collaboration we've been waiting to see happen for years, Bangarra will undertake their very first season at Carriageworks with Ochres, the iconic four-part work that revealed Bangarra as a company and examines the spiritual significance of colour (yellow, black, red, white) to Aboriginal people. Then, cultural displacement is examined in Siamani Samoa, a new work in which Michael Tuffery and the Royal Samoan Police Band transport their Viennese Waltz-playing daily march to Carriageworks and raise the Samoan flag (simulating their daily routine through the German-colonised Samoan city of Apia). Some of the Carriageworks program is cloaked in mystery and a cheeky smile, dependent purely on Sydneysiders curiosity and daring to book an unknowing ticket. Renowned French choreographer Francois Chaignaud is set to present Dumi Moyi an intimate, multi-lingual baroque recital performance developed with French fashion designer Romain Brau and inspired by "Indian religious performance, 19th century dime theatres and urban contemporary elements." We're officially perplexed. Music fans have a few focused gems to look forward to next year at Carriageworks. The inclusion of cult Italian composer Fausto Romitelli has contemporary music fans frothing, as his final work An Index of Metals is taken on by director Kip Williams and soprano Jane Sheldon for an Australian premiere. FBi Radio's Martin Doyle is presenting At First Sight, part record fair, part live gig, while eclectic Aussie record label Room40 celebrates 15 years with Open Frame: featuring the Australian debut of audiovisual work Hypnosis Display by Grouper and Paul Clipson, Austin Beckett and label founder Lawrence English. For anyone who visited 13 Rooms at Pier 2/3 in 2013, you might have stumbled across Xavier Le Roy's work Untitled (2012). For the 31st Kaldor Public Art Project, the French artist presents his solo work Self Unfinished and will create a site specific work at the Mosman oil tanks. On a performance art note, the brand new work by award-winning Branch Nebula, dubbed straightforwardly Artwork, makes people question the realities between stage and life using a very intriguing snare (we can't say much more, we'd ruin everything). This morning's announcement joins the shiny new excitement-driving elements of the 2015 Carriageworks program with the already-revealed. American artist Nick Cave — most well known for his androgynous, anonymous, nationless soundsuits and for being confused with our Nick Cave — will be appearing in conversation in a free event at Carriageworks on November 13. Announced for Sydney Festival earlier this year, Force Majeure's unapologetic, stereotype-ditching work Nothing to Lose sees FM's outgoing artistic director Kate Champion collaborate with artist and fat activist Kelli Jean Drinkwater to celebrate the beauty of the larger dancing body. Also announced for SydFest, UK artist Mira Calix's stunning plan to create Inside There Falls, a sound sculpture in the form of a paper maze, featuring choreography from Rafael Bonachela and narration by Hayley Atwell, photographer Greg Barrett's luckily-timed video work Spongebob Squaretimes. Annually-anticipated staples in the Carriageworks calendar are back for another year. Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week Australia picks the new trends in April; unmissable conference for design lovers, Semi Permanent, returns in May; August marks the return of national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander playwriting festival Yellamundie; and Australasia's new international art fair, Sydney Contemporary, returns after a huge year in 2013. Plus, Sydney Dance Company collaboration New Breed is booked in for a three year residency, with fresh batches of new choreographers crafting works with SDC's top tier. Finally, Carriageworks' projects in development should stay on the radars of Sydneysiders: Hossein Valamensh's first large-scale new media work Char Soo, Kristina Chan's A Faint Existence is exploring impermanence amidst an electronic score by James Brown and New Normal sees a national strategy initiated by Carriageworks to support the development of contemporary disability arts practice: ten new Australian and international works will be commissioned and presented over five years. Plus, the program cover will be embossed with shiny gold font. Everyone wins. Find out more about the entire 2015 Carriageworks program over here. Words by Amelia Zhou, Jessica Surman and Shannon Connellan.
Earlier this year, long-time Opera House tenant Guillaume Brahimi announced that he and his team at fine dining restaurant Guillaume at Bennelong would be leaving the Opera House, after 12 years, a three-hat rating and over half a million guests. Now, Brahimi has announced the location of his next venture — a brand new Paddington restaurant set to open around Easter in 2014, simply titled guillaume. Brahimi and his team — which includes head chef Jose Silva and head sommelier Chris Morrison — will say their final goodbyes to the Opera House on New Year's Eve before moving into the site previously occupied by Darcy's restaurant in Paddington. Brahimi’s previous ventures have included Pond in Potts Point, Quay and his two existing Bistro Guillaume restaurants at the Crown Casinos in Melbourne and Perth. guillaume will continue focusing on the type of food Guillaume at Bennelong was famous for — high quality, produce-driven fine dining.
"Take a picture of a picture from the past in the present." This directive is the basis for a great new Tumblr project, Dear Photograph. Just a few weeks old, the blog is a collection of photos of people holding up old photographs in the original location the photograph was taken, thereby showing what has changed over the years to striking effect. The idea and execution is relatively simple. In fact, Sergey Larenkov flashed us back to WWII in a similar fashion a few months ago. The end result though is incredibly enjoyable - a sense of pure nostalgia and a chance to look at time passing right before your eyes. Hopefully, with some increased attention more people will be inspired by the project, go out and take their own photos, and build up the collection.
Sydneysiders, it has been a long two months — and the city's lockdown is still set to continue until at least the end of September. But Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been talking up New South Wales' path forward, and the way out of the current statewide stay-at-home rules, with high vaccination rates identified as the key tactic. Wondering what that means? Today, Wednesday, September 1, the Premier provided a few more details. Already, NSW residents had been told that something would change once the state hit six million jabs. And, come 12.01am on Monday, September 13, that'll indeed be the case. The Premier has already advised that the rules around outdoor gatherings will change slightly — allowing people who live outside of Sydney's Local Government Areas of concern to enjoy outdoor recreation in groups of five, as long as all adults are fully vaccinated, and fully vaxxed adults in LGAs of concern to go outside for outdoor recreation in family groups for an hour a day. From there, the next big milestone arrives when 70 percent of people in NSW who are eligible to get the jab have had both of their doses — and that's when more significant changes are set to kick in. In August, NSW Police Minister David Elliott revealed that allowing restaurants, bars, pubs and gyms to open to fully vaxxed NSW residents at the 70-percent threshold was part of the plan, and the Premier has now expanded upon the strategy. "Obviously, New South Wales always takes a responsible approach, but the national plan does say at 70-percent double-dose vaccination that you can expect to go out and have a meal, you can expect to attend a public event, you can expect to go and get services that you can't expect now — but obviously we'll take a very responsible approach," Berejiklian said today. "We know that indoor gatherings or people coming to your home are high-risk. But outside of that, there are many, many things we can't do now that we should be expect to be able to do when we have 70 percent of the adult population vaccinated." "That's what the national plan says," the Premier continued. "Of course, at 70 percent there will be density requirements, QR code check-ins, validation that you're vaccinated, mask-wearing in certain settings, so there will be obviously constraints and restrictions in place. But compared to what we're going through now, life will be much better at 70-percent double dose than it is now — and I'm calling out to businesses to say let's have September the month we all get ready." [caption id="attachment_798221" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Cassandra Hannagan[/caption] If you're in a hotspot Local Government Area, however, there hasn't been any clarity on whether the relaxed rules at the 70-percent threshold will apply in parts of Sydney dubbed LGAs of concern. The Premier didn't directly respond to a question on that exact topic, but did say that "everybody should expect a level of freedom which they don't have today." She continued: "it will depend on a number of other factors but let me be clear — no matter where you live in New South Wales, please expect to have much more freedom than you do now as long as you're vaccinated fully and as long as 70 percent of residents are vaccinated, and details will be provided in the next little while." The Premier has been promising to release a roadmap outlining how NSW will ease rules moving forward, and how it will come out of lockdown, since mid-July. In late August, she was also set to reveal the roadmap, but announced the extension of Sydney's lockdown and the eased outdoor gathering rules instead. But, as Berejiklian keeps mentioning, the plans hinted at so far fall in line with Australia's new 'National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID Response' that was announced in July. It's worth noting that the national plan requires all of Australia to reach each vaccination threshold overall before an individual state or territory that's met that milestone can ease restrictions. Whether NSW will stick to that requirement hasn't been revealed. Today, the Premier said that NSW "can get back to life at 70-percent double-dose vaccination, which we anticipate will happen somewhere around the middle of October." In all the discussion so far, exactly what eased rules at the 70-percent mark will mean in NSW in practical terms still hasn't been revealed, but outdoor dining is likely to be a big feature, as it was in 2020 when NSW reopened after lockdowns. Also, vaccine passports may play a part, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison announcing after Australia's last National Cabinet meeting on Friday, August 20 that work will now move forward regarding "incorporating the proof of vaccination status into existing state and territory check-in apps." If you're wondering were you can currently get vaccinated, there's a handy online map that helps you find your nearest clinic. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Tired of stale old superhero stories with their predictable Hollywood plotlines? Wouldn't you rather watch a movie about a half-man, half-fish instead? If your answer to either one of those questions is yes, then it's time to dive into the program at KOFFIA, aka the Korean Film Festival in Australia. Merman comedies aside, the lineup at this year's festival is packed full of highlights. Held at Event Cinemas on George Street, genre fans can scream through exorcism flick The Priests, and be pushed to the edge of their seats by supernatural thriller The Wailing. We're also extremely keen for zombie apocalypse tale Train to Busan, which is only screening in Sydney. Viewers after something a little less on the gruesome side won't be disappointed either. This year's program boasts a number of Korean rom-coms, headlined by Cho Sung-kyu's disarming relationship farce Two Rooms, Two Nights. For the full KOFFIA program, go here.
Porch & Parlour has risen from the ashes, opening its doors for the first time since a fire forced its closure in August. The beloved Bondi bar and eatery is sporting a fresh look throughout, incorporating a new retail space and a revamped menu offering. On the walls, you'll now spy artworks by the likes of Vicki Lee and Ted O'Donnell, while a striking blue San Remo coffee machine is turning out those New Year caffeine hits. Alongside tried-and-true menu staples like the green pea pancake and breaky bowl, the Porch & Parlour kitchen is dishing up a swag of new season creations, zinging with vibrant local produce. Think, cinnamon scroll french toast, topped with banana, blueberry compote, maple syrup and a whipped lemon feta cream, and a loaded veggie bowl with cashew and turmeric dressing, all primed for those post-beach brunch sessions. And for lazy afternoon visits, see the 'sundowner' offering, running from 4–8pm, Friday through Sunday. You'll find top-notch specials on sips like Regal Rogue spritzes, lemon myrtle-infused gin and tonics, and mezcal margaritas. Find the new-look Porch & Parlour at 17-18/110 Ramsgate Ave, Bondi Beach. It's open from 6.30am–4pm Monday to Thursday and 6.30am–8pm Friday to Sunday.
Party like it's the turn of millennium at Hudson Ballroom's NYE special. Much loved club staple Rhythm of the Night will be taking over the venue from 9pm and spinning '90s hits until the wee hours. In the front room, you'll be getting R&B classics, while the back room will be transformed into a rave den, complete with laser shows, smoke machines and all the dance anthems. As usual, DJ Levins, who's just toured Australia with The Vengaboys, will be leading the proceedings, joined by Ariane, Flex Mami, Kritty, Shag, Nic Kelly and special guests. There's no need to fret about what to wear — you're being called on to commit to '90s all the way. We're talking pedal pushers, hyper-colour t-shirts, double denim, overalls, scrunchies, slap bands and jelly sandals. Go on a Spice Girls YouTube extravaganza and you won't be stuck for inspiration.
In a couple of months, when it's time to see how 101 Dalmatians' Cruella De Vil came to be such a villain, moviegoers will have two choices. When the end of May hits, you'll be able to see the Emma Stone-starring Cruella on the big screen — or you'll be able to sit on your couch, jump onto Disney+, pay an extra fee and check it out from home. More of a Marvel kind of film fan? Been looking forward to Black Widow, which was originally supposed to release in cinemas last April but has been delayed several times due to the pandemic? You'll have the same pair of options when that flick releases in July, too — a couple of months later than was last slated, but still in the very near future. Disney has announced that the two big movies will go the same route as Raya and the Last Dragon, which made its way to cinemas and Disney+ at the same time at the beginning of this month. The news is hardly surprising, given that theatres in different parts of the world are at different stages of reopening — or, in some cases, still closed. Indeed, after over a year of holding off from making move with Black Widow, the Mouse House just might be setting the template for its releases moving forward. So, you can expect to see Cruella in cinemas on Thursday, May 27 and on Disney+ the next day, on Friday, May 28. As for Black Widow, it'll hit the silver screen on Thursday, July 8 and then become available to stream on Friday, July 9. Because neither film will be included in your regular Disney+ subscription, just how much extra you'll pay to watch them at home hasn't been revealed — but Raya and the Last Dragon costs $34.99 on top of your monthly or annual fee, so that's a good guide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmRKv7n2If8 If you'd been looking forward to Pixar's next flick, the Italian-set Luca, you'll also be able to watch that at home from Friday, June 18. In this case, though, it's completely bypassing cinemas, and it won't cost you anything extra to see on Disney+. The animation studio's last movie, the gorgeous and moving Soul, did the same last Christmas — so again, this isn't unexpected in the slightest. Last year, Disney moved Pixar's Onward to streaming when cinemas started closing, then did the same with the terrible Artemis Fowl, the phenomenal filmed version of Hamilton and the visually impressive live-action Mulan, too — so yes, this is becoming a trend. Recognising that viewers want choice when it comes to watching big-name new-release movies was always bound to happen, of course, but the pandemic has certainly sped up the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdAIBlPVe9s Cruella will release in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, May 27 and on Disney+ on Friday, May 28. Black Widow will hit the big screen on Thursday, July 8 and then become available to stream on Friday, July 9. And Luca will hit Disney+ on Friday, June 18. Top images: Black Widow, photo by Jay Maidment. © Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved / Cruella, photo by Laurie Sparham. © 2021 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.
If it's ethereal indie folk you're after, Dustin Tebbutt is your man. The New England native's music is described by his record label as "the music for your autumns and winters" which, in our opinion, couldn't be more accurate. The haunting isolation that comes through his high echoey vocals and crisp acoustic guitar certainly create feelings of isolation and introspection. Well, it's a good thing he's coming to town as the temperature is starting to drop. Tebbutt's latest national tour is for his latest EP, Bones, and it's gorgeous. First single 'Bones' is much like what we saw on debut EP The Breach; incredibly entrancing music that has the ability to transport its listeners far away from anyone or anything. If you enjoy the thoughtful sounds of Bon Iver or Sigur Rós, then Dustin Tebbutt is a local boy you definitely shouldn't miss. The Armidale local had a good ol' chat to Concrete Playground about roasting coffee, living in Sweden and working with Oliver Tank, right smack in the midst of his national tour. So you're on tour at the moment, and all of your shows are pretty much sold out. How has it all gone so far? It's been really great. We've got a really good crew and they're all people I know really well, so it's just like hanging out with friends really! The shows have been really nice, it's a big difference selling out shows and knowing there'll be a lot of people there to see you, as opposed to driving halfway across the county and ending up with 20 people in a room. It's been amazing and everyone has been really receptive so far, so it's good. Is this your first time performing with a band? What has that been like for you? We did Falls Festival with the band and a festival in March in Sydney with the guys, but they were really just warm up shows to get it all up and running. This is the first tour that we have headlined and the first time we've been on the road together. We've got a chance to do a few shows back to back, which has been really good. It has allowed us to have a closer look at the songs and workshop stuff a bit too. You have also done some international touring earlier this year, how was the reception to your music overseas? I was really surprised actually! I've been really lucky here to have the support of triple j and FBi that have allowed me to get in front of a lot of people quite quickly. Overseas that hasn't really been happening, it's just been word of mouth over the internet. The London show sold out and the New York show sold out, and the one in Amsterdam was packed, so it was really surprising to see that. It's kind of weird because it's very passive, going to these far away places and people happen to know about you! It's strange but it's nice. This tour is showcasing your recently released second EP Bones. Did the songs come together in a different way to your debut EP The Breach? It was a similar process in a way. Quite a few of the songs on Bones started out in the same place as The Breach, and they were kind of the ones I started writing a bit closer to the end of that period overseas. I wasn't quite finished with them when I got back but they all came from a very similar place — a lot of the themes are pretty similar as well. I think I learned a lot with The Breach EP production-wise and my own writing process, and I think Bones was more of a way to experiment with that and refine it a bit more. In a way I think they are both from the same chapter of my life, we'll have to see what the next one is. https://youtube.com/watch?v=FzdxNjwsoAI There is a wonderful remix of The Breach by Oliver Tank on the Bones EP. You two seem like a match made in heaven, how did that collaboration come about? I had seen him when he was supporting James Blake at the Opera House in Sydney, and when he first put out his EP years ago was when I just got back to Australia and I was listening to it a lot up in Armidale. It just kind of captured me straight away, I just sent him an e-mail just to see if he was interested and we just took it from there. I gave him a lot of creative control and said, "There's no agenda here, I just want you to make something that you're happy with." He took his time with it and when I heard it back for the first time it blew my mind, it was so stunning. I'm really happy that we got the chance to work together. So let's go back a bit, you moved to Sweden for two years and that is where song from The Breach EP were conceived. What drew you to Sweden and how did living their influence your music? Originally I was living in Melbourne just before that and I was playing in a few bands and roasting coffee, and my life was very sorted and on a trajectory. I just felt the need to shake it up a little bit. I had a friend who had grown up in Sweden and he was out here as well making music at the time. He told me about the scene over there and how the music is a bit different and I started to get intrigued by that, to the point where I had to go and check it out for myself. When I got there I didn't have any preconceived notions of what it would be like, so I was a bit of a sponge. Spending a lot of time with a small group of people writing music in winter, we stayed in this little country town an hour south of Stockholm for three months and it was insane. It was like the images you see on the Sigur Rós covers. It was such a beautiful place and to be so far away in a different environment was pretty inspiring. You came home to produce and record The Breach in your home studio that you built in Armidale. Do you prefer this set up to a fully-equipped professional sound studio? I really do. I actually did a lot of the drum tracking within a bigger space, which was really good because it's efficient and easy and there's not really anything logistically getting in your way. But the studio that I built was tiny; I could only just fit an office chair in there. But it made you solve problems differently, maybe instead of setting up a new microphone or getting a new guitar, because that would take you eight minutes to change everything over, you didn't. Or you couldn't fit the instrument in the room properly, so you'd play it upside down. The whole set up made me make all of these interesting choices that contributed to the overall sound of the record. If you go to a big studio where a lot of bands have tracked you risk sounding like every other record that has been made in that room. I didn't want to do that, I wanted to do my own thing and it might not have been the easiest way to do it! But I'm really happy with how it worked out. https://youtube.com/watch?v=OysNiYXWga0 Your music is very distinctive; ethereal and complex. Who would you say are your musical influences? Laura Veirs, a Canadian-born singer-songwriter, she and her husband have made six albums together now and he is one of my favourite producers. She was a geologist and she has this amazing vocabulary for songwriting and she tells the most beautiful stories through geographical metaphors. It's just stunning; she's one of my all time favourites. I guess I listened to a fair bit of Bon Iver when that first record came out, and Jeff Buckley when I was growing up, that's probably where the falsetto comes from. You've produced two wonderful EP's, any plans on releasing a debut LP album this year? I'm working really hard to make that happen. At the moment there's not a deadline, I don't want to put anything out that I'm not completely happy with. I'm just writing as many songs as I can and trying to finish them off when they feel ready. It would be really nice to get something out this year, but I'm not making any promises (laughs). What else has this year got in store for you once you've finished the Bones tour? We're heading up to Splendour in July, which will be awesome. Going to drop in to Armidale on the way back — I haven't been there for a few months so that will be good to catch up with some people there. In August there will be a festival in Port Hedland so we'll head up there for a few days. Missy Higgins is playing and the Kite String Tangle, and a few other people I'm looking forward to sharing the stage with so that will be nice. A lot of song writing this year I think, it should be a lot of fun. TOUR DATES: WED 14 MAY - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (SOLD OUT) THU 15 MAY - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (SOLD OUT) FRI 16 MAY - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (SOLD OUT) TUE 20 MAY - Newtown Social Club, Sydney (SOLD OUT) WED 21 MAY - Newtown Social Club, Sydney (SOLD OUT) THUR 22 MAY - Newtown Social Club, Sydney (SOLD OUT) FRI 23 MAY - Alhambra Lounge, Brisbane SAT 26 JULY - Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay
Sport and the internet seem to have a love-hate relationship. The extra exposure can make athletes more human, but a mis-placed tweet can land them in hot water; the web can open up new audiences, but illegal streams of event coverage can encourage fans to stay home. Sony Ericsson, the US Open and foursquare have teamed up to see what tech can bring to tennis. The 2011 US Open is set to become the first integrated foursquare sporting event. Fans will be encouraged to check-in at each of the courts, unlocking prizes, and if they become mayor of a court, the chance to do the pre-match coin toss. Sounds like a neat idea to encourage attendance, but perhaps foursquare will be the real winners in the deal, gaining a partnership that puts them one up against other check-in apps, and providing prime exposure to the 300,000 tennis fans expected to attend. Hopefully the web-sport crossovers won't stop there. Perhaps clubs will do away with expensive managers and just use the fantasy league picks of their fans? Or perhaps CrickiLeaks will be the source of all new cricket scandals? Let's just stay away from chatroulette while Warney is still around though...
While the extended sunny days and warm temperatures may seem like a gift, in truth the region is also experiencing one of the most severe droughts on record. Two years on and the drought in rural New South Wales and Greater Sydney shows no sign of slowing — so the NSW Government is taking action, again. After introducing level one water restrictions in June, it has today been announced that level two restrictions will come into effect for both residents and businesses in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra from December 10 this year. The last time level two water restrictions were enforced in Sydney was in 2004 (with restrictions lasting till 2009) during the Millennium Drought. At one point during the 2000s drought, Sydney's total water supply dropped to a historic low of 33.9 percent. While Sydney's water supply isn't quite that low at the moment, the region's dam levels are currently sitting at 46 percent — a significant drop from 53.4 percent in May. Level two water restrictions are usually automatically triggered when levels dip below 40 percent, but the NSW Government has introduced them early because of the dam levels' "rapid rate of decline" and ongoing drought conditions. "We're experiencing one of the most severe droughts on record," said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in a statement. "And we expect introducing level two restrictions to save 78.5 gigalitres of water per year." We'll need that water, because the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting below-average rainfall and higher daytime temperatures for the remainder of 2019. https://twitter.com/SydneyWaterNews/status/1197323674174377984 So what does this mean for Sydneysiders day-to-day? At the level two restriction level, you can only water your garden before 10am or after 4pm with smart/drip irrigation system (for a maximum of 15 minutes) or with a watering can or bucket — which means no hoses (even trigger nozzle hoses). You also can't use a hose to clean pathways, driveways or other paved areas unless it's an emergency. Buckets must be used when washing cars, too, or you can go to a commercial washing spot. Here's the full list of what you can and can't do at this stage. Fines for not following restrictions (including current restrictions) range from $220–550. While Sydney moves to enforce level two restrictions, some areas in regional NSW are doing it even worse. One of these is Orange, where level five water restrictions began just last month. For Orange residents, this means showering for a maximum of three minutes and watering gardens for one hour, once a week. Level two water restrictions for Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra come into effect on Tuesday, December 10. To find out more about what you can and can't do, head to the Sydney Water website. To stay up-to-date with the state's dam levels and the ongoing drought, keep an eye on WaterNSW website and Twitter.
The Imperial Panda Festival does strange art, performance and some general fringe. It emerged from the tail end of Lanfranchi's Memorial Discotheque and ran two packed small festivals in 2008 and 2009. Returning from a fallow year last year, the Festival is landing on Sydney in a bigger and better-funded incarnation. A new festival headquarters is being provided by the SMAC-winning Goodgod Small Club, giving this year's Festival a beating heart and an underground home. For two weeks in March, the Imperial Panda Festival inflates Sydney's regular creative miasma into a maelstrom of art and entertainment. Regulars return, like The Suitcase Royale (in part and in whole) and various incarnations of artist collective Cab Sav. But this year's festival is also home to the Campfire Collective's Moth-like storytelling evening, the Hanson-baiting Pauline Pantsdown and an edifying show explaining What Is Soil Erosion? Not to mention a series of free talks and some bartering art in the form of an Unwanted Music Swap and the mysterious Stock Exchange project — which matches strange bargains with stranger counter-offers. What more could you want, actual pandas aside? *Tickets for most events are on sale on the door of the venue on the night.
Coogee Bay Hotel's Craft Beer & Cider Festival returns this month, once again filling the beachside courtyard with a mind-boggling array of stalls dedicated to craft beer and cider. This annual festival is an opportunity for beer and cider lovers to sample some of the finest brews from around the country — and the world. There'll be over 60 beers on offer, which you can enjoy with live entertainment and smoked meats from pop-up food stalls. Two days couldn't feasibly be enough time to sample everything so, to save you time (and in the interest of responsible consumption of alcohol), we've put together this list of the five beers you should track down first. Plus, if you love them as much we do, all of these featured beers will also be available for takeaway from the hotel's adjoining Liquor Barn. BATCH BREWING COMPANY — JUICY AS PHUCK 2.0 NEW ENGLAND IPA The haze craze is still going strong, and juicy, cloudy IPAs bursting with tropical hop aroma are very well-suited to the impending warmer months. This one is brewed at the recently opened Small Batch, situated behind Public House Petersham, which focuses on a more experimental, pilot batch style of brewing. Batch's 'Juicy As Phuck 2.0' typifies the NEIPA style with plenty of pineapple, passionfruit and mango notes dancing across the palate. A light malt bill allows the hop flavours to dominate without too much bitterness, whilst the smooth, velvety mouthfeel offers an almost creamy texture to the body of this cracking beer. HAWKERS BEER — PILSNER When the craft beer trend kicked off it was largely in reaction to the poor quality lagers this country is known for producing en masse. A side effect of this was that many brewers initially shied away from brewing this style in favour of more typically American hop-forward beers. But as the brewing world continues to evolve, there seems to be a shift to return to traditional (and well-made) beers. Enter Hawkers Pilsner. It's excellently well-balanced, clean and sessionable with some spicy, floral notes from the blend of Perle, Mittlefruh, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka and Pacifica hops make this anything but another bland, boring lager. STONE AND WOOD BREWING CO — THE GATHERER First brewed in 2016, The Gatherer has undergone a few tweaks over its three-year stint as a summer seasonal from the pioneers over at Stone and Wood. It now even outsells the mega-popular Pacific Ale in the brewery's Byron Bay tasting room, and it has finally — and just in time for the warmer months — made it part of the permanent range. The beer itself most closely resembles a Belgian-style witbier, but without a dominating estery character from the yeast employed. Instead, The Gatherer's gentle malt base and sessionable 4.2 percent ABV make it suited to showcasing the refreshing flavours of watermelon, cucumber and mint infused into a beery context. Light, refreshing and dry — this is a surefire winner this summer. AKASHA BREWING COMPANY — MOSAIC IPA If there was a hop of the year award, it would go to Mosaic. This light, fruity hop offers aromas of sweet pineapple with just the right amount of bitterness. It makes sense then that the hopheads over at Akasha would seek to highlight this hop in all its glory with its Mosaic IPA. The brewery is known for some pretty serious IPAs and began knocking out a new single hop IPA every six months back in 2016. Mosaic was the original and, let's face it, it's still the best. This version of Akasha's Mosaic may feature a few small tweaks to showcase the sweeter notes of the beer before bringing in that piney, pithy bitterness endemic to the style. At 7.2 percent ABV, this is a must for IPA lovers and a great entry point for people just getting into their IPAs. PIRATE LIFE BREWING — TROPICAL IPA Pirate Life's rapid rise to prominence and sale within five years to one of the biggest liquor companies in the world proves it knows a thing or two about beer. Cue the groans from the beer nerds who despise the corporate takeover of an indie brewer. Yet Carlton & United Breweries seems to have learnt its lesson and is allowing and encouraging the team at Pirate Life to keep brewing more and more interesting offers. The Tropical IIPA is a nod to its sublime IIPA that it brewed back in the early days and is still one of the best Australian interpretations of the style. This iteration features a New Zealand hop blend of Simcoe, NZ Cascade and Summer hops. It gives a burst of bright citrus and tropical fruit on a light malt base with just enough bitterness on the back end. Perfect for a summer barbecue. Coogee Bay Hotel Craft Beer & Cider Festival will take place on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13, from 12pm. Entry is free but you can pre-purchase tokens at a discount here.
In Her's almost certainly near future, Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly — a gentle, retiring man who works at BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com penning heartfelt correspondence between people he's never met. In his personal life, his wife (Rooney Mara) has left him and now communicates exclusively via their lawyers. In short, nobody really talks anymore. Then one day he buys and installs a new operating system called 'OS1' — an artificially intelligent construct that names herself, or rather itself, 'Samantha' (voiced to perfection by Scarlett Johansson). At first Samantha simply streamlines Theodore's life, triaging his emails and encouraging him to get out more, but gradually, as she evolves and learns more from their interactions, they begin to fall in love. It seems ridiculous, yes, but thanks to Spike Jonze's masterful script and direction, it never really feels it, and that's what makes HER the first must-see film of 2014. it is a beautiful, imaginative and provocative offering by Jonze that asks some fascinating questions about the direction love is taking in the technological age. Read our full review here. Her is out on DVD, Blu- ray and digital download on May 22, and thanks to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, we have 15 DVDs to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=1awGTPsEmiU
Twelve months ago, if you uttered the words 'doughnut day', you were probably using them in the literal sense between mouthfuls. Thanks to the chaos of 2020, however, the term now refers to a day without any new COVID-19 cases — and, when it comes to locally acquired cases, New South Wales has just notched two consecutive days of that milestone. The state has been dealing with a rise of coronavirus numbers since before Christmas, starting in Sydney's northern beaches suburbs and now including clusters in the inner west and southwest. As a result, festive plans were thrown into disarray around not only NSW, but the entire country, as new restrictions on borders, gatherings and mask usage came into effect. Today, Friday, January 15, NSW Health sent out its daily Tweet with yesterday's numbers and it's what we all want to see: a big fat zero. It's the second doughnut day in a row, too, with zero cases of community transmission also recorded on Thursday, January 14. https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1349869311993630720 The bad news is that the city's restrictions won't be eased until testing rates increase. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian didn't give an exact number, but said they are looking to "see the number two in front or even higher", so significantly more than the 16,070 conducted in the 24 hours leading up to 8pm last night. At the beginning of the northern beaches outbreak, upwards of 60,000 Sydneysiders were getting tested in a day. NSW Health said in a Tweet that higher rates of testing were particularly important in Sydney's west, southwest and northern beaches, as well as Wollongong, because of recent cases who have been in these areas. At the moment, Greater Sydney has strict limits on gatherings, with just five visitors allowed in homes and public outdoor gatherings capped at 30. To keep an eye on the situation in Sydney, you can check out an interactive map that plots places that positive COVID-19 cases have visited, which takes data from the state's venue alerts. There's also a map that shows cases by postcode. For more information about COVID-19 in NSW and current restrictions, head to NSW Health.
Spending more time at home is much easier to stomach with a hefty rage of desserts on hand, or at least that seems to be Gelato Messina's pandemic motto. Over the past few months, the gelato fiends have served up plenty of tasty specials, including cookie pies in choc chip, red velvet, choc-hazelnut, and peanut butter and jelly varieties; 40 of its best flavours; and full tubs of both Iced VoVo gelato and Messina's own take on the classic Viennetta ice cream cake. Up next: a lamington version of the brand's sticky snails. Basically, it's their interpretation of a Cinnabon-style brioche scroll, then combined with an Aussie favourite. It's another of Messina's limited releases, and it'll be available at all of its stores for a very short period. Wondering what exactly Messina's lamington sticky snail entails? Well, that sticky brioche scroll is filled with vanilla custard, chocolate chips, raspberry jam and chocolate caramel. And, yes, it's then sprinkled with desiccated coconut. If it didn't, the lamington label just couldn't apply. The sweet bake-at-home bite can only be ordered online on Monday, August 17. On its own, it will cost $20 — but to sweeten the deal, the cult ice creamery has created a few bundle options, should you want some of its famed gelato atop it (vanilla is recommended). You can add on a 500-millilitre tub for $28, a one-litre tub for $36 or a 1.5-litre tub for $39. Once you've placed your preorder, pick up will be available between Friday, August 21–Sunday, August 23 from your chosen Messina store. And, once you've got the lamington sticky snail safely home, you just need to whack it in the oven for 20–25 minutes at 160 degrees and voila. If you're in Melbourne, remember that you can only venture to shops within five kilometres of your house — and only once a day — to get essentials, including food. Gelato Messina's lamington sticky snails will be available to order on Monday, August 17, for pick up between Friday, August 21–Sunday, August 23 — keep an eye on the Messina website for further details.
Sydney might have enjoyed a somewhat mild-ish start to 2018, with only one 30-degree day on January 1 and temperatures staying in the mid-20s since; however a blast of hot, hot heat awaits come the weekend. Indeed, finding some frosty air-con or a shaded pool is recommended on Sunday, when the city is predicted to reach more than 40 degrees in some areas. The Bureau of Meteorology may only expect the mercury to make it to 39 degrees in the CBD (we know, we know, there's no such thing as only 39 degrees) on Sunday after a maximum of 31 degrees on Saturday, but highs of 45 degrees are expected in Penrith, 44 degrees in Richmond, 43 degrees in Liverpool, Blacktown and Campbelltown, and 41 degrees at Sydney Olympic Park. The hot spell will see the city swelter through its first weekend of 2018, after experiencing its second warmest year on record in 2017. As reported by Weatherzone, 2017 came second only to 2016, and only by 0.1 degree. The figures are based on the city's average temperature for the entire year, which was 19.5 degrees in last year and 19.6 degrees the year prior. It's Sydney's 25th consecutive warmer than average year based on mean temperature — and a year that featured a November heatwave, one of the hottest recorded September nights and one of its hottest winter days as well. Thankfully, the current blast of scorching summer warmth will be short-lived. Monday will reach 33 degrees, while the rest of the week isn't forecast to exceed 30, with temperatures hovering between 24 to 29 degrees. Phew. It was originally thought that Sydney might escape the toasty weekend temps, only hitting the low 30s, with the rest of southeastern Australia also set for a balmy few days as well. Melbourne will endure a 41-degree day on Saturday, its warmest day for two years, while Adelaide will reach 41 degrees as well, and Canberra will hit 36 and 38 degrees across both days. At the upper end of the east coast, Brisbanites get off somewhat lightly, with a comparatively bearable 31 and 32 degrees predicted for the weekend. Via the ABC.
If there's one thing about the Central Coast that's plain to see, it's that everybody loves the water. Every day visitors and residents hit the rivers, channels, lakes and beaches for a spot of swimming, surfing, fishing or sailing. It should be no surprise then to hear that there's a waterfront celebration dedicated to the humble heritage putt-putts and wooden boats that dot the waterways of the region. On Sunday, October 13, the Davistown waterfront will host a family-friendly celebration of these nautical beauties. You can take in the fleet of local vessels while anchored or on the move in the Grand Parade or when they compete for first place in the putt-putt challenge. Beyond the boats, Illoura Reserve will host an artisan goods and food market, dedicated kids' areas, live performances and additional maritime vehicle viewing opportunities from 9am to 4pm.
Move over wine — beer deserves its own place at the dinner table, and the Redoak 'beergustation' class proves it. For $99, you get a five-course degustation menu carefully crafted to pair with five Redoak Brewery beers. This event, set in the beer cafe's dining room, is as elegant as any wine pairing and as classy as any cocktail pairing. You'll hear first-hand from the beer sommelier Simon Beveridge and manager Janet Hollyoak (sister and co-owner to brewer David Hollyoak), who will share their insights into beer and food — tips like how to taste different styles, choose glassware, and of course how to pair each beer to a gourmet dish. The Redoak crew are dedicated to expanding the Australian palate beyond Tooheys and Carlton and have been champions of the craft brewing movement for 20 years. The class generally runs the first Saturday of the month.
COVID-19 clusters keep popping up, lockdowns are still part of Australian life and whether Aussies can head to states other than their own — or to New Zealand — can change quickly. This is the reality of life during the pandemic. That said, if you have a trip to Queensland in your future, the Sunshine State has revealed one definite new part of your next visit. The state's government has advised that it is introducing online travel declarations for all visitors to Queensland. So, from 1am on Saturday, June 19, anyone travelling to the Sunshine State from another Aussie state or territory — or from NZ — will need to fill out the form. And yes, this should sound familiar, because similar online forms were implemented back when Queensland's borders were beginning to reopen post-lockdown in 2020. Queenslanders returning home from other Aussie states and territories, and from NZ, will also need to fill out the declaration. You're required to do so up to 72 hours before heading to Queensland, after which you'll be issued a 'green Queensland travel declaration' — as long as you haven't been to a hotspot or exposure site while you were outside of the state. The declarations will apply to everyone, unless you live in the Queensland or New South Wales border zone and have only been in that zone or in Queensland for the past fortnight — and then, only if you're entering the Sunshine State via road. Workers in emergency health services, emergency services, national defence, state security and police who are responding to an emergency in Queensland will be exempt, too, as will ambulance and aeromedical passengers, anyone heading to Queensland in an emergency situation, some maritime crew, folks assisting with or participating in a State or Commonwealth law enforcement investigations, and disaster management workers under their operational protocol. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1405311966072037382 Announcing the news today, Thursday, June 17, Queensland Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D'Ath advised that the declarations were about contact tracing efforts. "It's vital that if an interstate exposure site or hotspot is declared, our health experts can quickly contact anyone who has travelled into Queensland from that area," the Minister said. Also coming into effect: a traffic light-style system like Victoria's, which will designate sections of Australia and New Zealand as green, amber and red areas. If somewhere is green, there are no travel restrictions. In the amber category, the area in question has interstate exposure venues — and if it's red, it's a hotspot. Queensland already requires anyone heading to the state who has been to an interstate exposure venue to either quarantine at your home or in other appropriate accommodation for 14 days if you're already in the state with the exposure venue is identified. Or, if you enter Queensland after an exposure site is named, you'll need to isolate in government arranged accommodation for a fortnight. Queensland's online travel declarations will come back into effect from 1am on Saturday, June 19. For further information, head to the Queensland Government website.
This article is part of our series on the diverse highlights of NZ's Canterbury region, from city to snow. To book your snow trip, visit the 100% Pure New Zealand website. The South Island of New Zealand is enjoying some epic snow this year, attracting a huge local and international crowd to test out the slopes. To capture this season in all of its glory, New Zealand Tourism is using ‘dronies’ — mini drones with cameras attached to them — to photograph the skiers and snowboarders so they can take a little something back with them. That means, what a mere three months ago sounded like an April Fool's Day prank is now spectacularly real. The drone begins recording with a close-up of you being king of the mountain, then it swiftly flies backwards, widening the shot to include the surrounding snowy mountains and beautiful South Island landscape. The videos last for about eight seconds, and it seems like a much wiser option for a photo-op than carrying a camera in your pocket only to crush it if/when you ungracefully stack it on the mountain. Once the video is taken they’ll send it to you so you can share it via social media using #NZdronie. If you’re heading to New Zealand while the powder is still fresh we’d happily wage a bet that your snow selfie will make more then a few friends/colleagues/family members tingle with envy. And really, isn’t that what a selfie is all about? NZ Tourism is the first country to use dronies on their slopes, and they will be flying all over the South Island between July and August. Some of the destinations they plan to pop into include Coronet Peak, Cardrona, Mount Hutt, Mount Cook, Queenstown and Lake Tekapo. For more info on the NZdronie, or to find out where they’re located, head to the 100% Pure New Zealand Facebook page.
Young Dreams want us to follow in their footprints, HAIM just keep on giving and Mumford & Sons are hopelessly wandering towards claiming funniest music video of the year. 1. 'Footprints' - Young Dreams The new release from Norweigan pop wizards Young Dreams is another slice from the bouyant harmony pie that is their album Between Places. Despite coming in at only a tad over four minutes long, it does not waste any of this time, dealing with young love, angst and moving on against a driving drumline, bubbly vocals and hooks that leave us all dreaming of happier things. If music this joyous can be made in a country that gets almost no light for half of the year then I for one am buying a one-way ticket to Norway. 2. 'Nothing Less' - No Regular Play This is the perfect house music for your weekend, nay for any weekend. This track is timeless. From the opening horns it becomes clear that there is something different about 'Nothing Less', a funky playfulness ready to take over your ears and your body and have you moving something along to the beat. This something will swiftly become everything as arms, hips and legs will be flailing everywhere as they are carried by the introduction of the exquisite synths that take over the track. As soon as it hits dancing time, just keep this on repeat and nobody will be unhappy. This is the type of music that memories are made to. 3. 'Strong Enough' - HAIM I know we included this trio last week but they just keep on giving sonic gifts that have to be shared. This week they gave Australia two parting gifts. Not only did they announce the long-awaited release date of their debut album Days Are Gone (Friday, 27 September) but they followed that up today with an early morning visit to Triple J's Tom and Alex to do 'Like a Version'. The L.A. trio opted to restyle Sheryl Crow's 'Strong Enough' and their electric guitar transforms Crow's heartfelt piece of acoustic rock into a driving anthem sure to be played post-break-ups for years to come. The lovely people over at Triple J are letting us all download it for free as well so you can easily add it to your playlist for this weekend and all of the weekends in the future. 4. 'JSMN' - Badboxes 'JSMN' confuses but in a beautiful way. It's captivating melody transports us to an ethereal musical Eden for two and a half minutes. You want it to last so much longer yet if it did then the song's perfection would be shattered. Luckily once you reopen your eyes and realise you can press repeat, your dilemma is somewhat quelled and you can once again concentrate on how natural this song is to your ears. The accompanying video is also eponymous with the track, mixing cuts of nature, pretty people and mesmerising employment of split screen. 5. 'Hopeless Wanderer' - Mumford & Sons Just about every video clip Mumford & Sons have ever made follows a fairly predictable pattern, and their latest for 'Hopeless Wanderer' isn't much different. Mottled light shining through golden leaves? Check. Impossibly whimsical vests? Check. Banjo-led hoedowns in Ye Olde Barns? Check. Jason Bateman and SNL's Will Forte wearing fake beards and thrusting their crotches at each other? Check. Hang on. What? That's right — Mumford & Sons have procured the services of some of the world's funniest comic actors for a pitch-perfect parody of their own pastoral proclivities in a move that suggests M&S might not take themselves too seriously after all. Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, Jason Bateman and Ed Helms go all out here, and their utterly straight-faced commitment to the bit is amazing. I couldn't keep a straight face watching it, so goodness knows how they were able to while filming. Truly, you haven't lived until you've seen Sudeikis fall to his knees on a dusty road because of all the feelz, and Bateman's furious banjo shredding is the most metal thing you'll ever see. By Matthew Watson and Hugh Robertson.
Sydney trio Little May could be Australia's answer to folk warblers First Aid Kit. They've certainly been compared to the Swedish duo, and to New Zealand's Tiny Ruins, but at the moment they are carving out their own path. They've recently put out their debut, self-titled EP and are wrapping up an Australian tour with the legendary Rodriguez. But there's no rest for the wicked (or the wickedly charming, in this case). The Little May ladies are about to embark on a 12-date national headline tour to promote the EP. The group's sound has been described as 'ghost folk' — and it does indeed brim with haunting melodies and unapologetically personal and nostalgic lyrics. Watch the strange video for their track 'Dust' to get a sense of their style. It seems to be working. Hype is following Little May wherever they go — from appearances at Splendour and Laneway, to an intimate showcase in London, a string of shows at CMJ in New York, and now this tour back home. Tickets are selling fast (one Melbourne show has already sold out), so get on this. https://youtube.com/watch?v=HwV2GCooJlg
Feeling like a bit of low-key self-improvement? Want to change the way you approach each day? Or, do you just need a bit more balance in your life? We agree that it's important to bring positive changes into your life, but why start with the big stuff? Vincent Van Gogh once said, "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." So, start with the small. To help you out, we've teamed up with our mates at Coopers to bring you a list of 'easy wins' — small things you can do to make your day, your week and your life just that little bit better. And, yes, savouring an easy drinking Coopers Dry is a good start. MONDAY: ATTEND A COMEDY NIGHT Need a good laugh? Well, local comedy nights are guaranteed to get you cackling. Sure, you might have some hit and miss moments, but small-scale comedy nights are a great way to check out your area's comedic chops. Plus, it's an easy date idea that's not just 'going for a drink'. Who knows, you might even be inspired to get up there yourself (but only if it's in open-mic format, please). On Mondays, laugh the blues away at The Comedy Lounge at Cafe Lounge in Sydney, Quick Bites at Boney in Melbourne or The Sit Down Open Mic Club at Newmarket Hotel in Brissie. TUESDAY: WATCH THE SUNRISE We know it's tough, and it doesn't have to be Tuesday, but pick one day a week — maybe when you have a late start or a bit of extra time — grab yourself a takeaway coffee, and watch the world wake up slowly. Living in Australia, we're blessed with a ton of easily accessible scenic views in and around most of our major cities. Start a day an hour or so earlier this week, and welcome the morning with a view. By the time everyone else is rushing off to start the day completely stressed out of their minds, you'll be calm, relaxed and focused. Great spots for this include, Wendy's Secret Garden in Sydney, Brighton Beach in Melbourne or The Redlands Bayside in Brisbane. While it's a little too early for beer, earmark the spot and head back after work for a sundowner. WEDNESDAY: WALK TO WORK Now, if your commute is massive, we're not suggesting you load up a supply donkey and trek through the night — but if there's a point you can walk from, do it. If your walk to work is half an hour or less, try to make this choice a couple of times a week. It's a great way to break up the monotony of the working week and stay fit and healthy. And, you'll actually look forward to going to work — hear us out — since you won't have to join the squished sardines on the train, you can stretch your legs and pump up the volume on your motivational playlist. Fresh air, exercise and good tunes — it's a winning formula. Plus, fewer cars on the road means peaceful streets and lower carbon emissions — an easy win, for a brighter future. [caption id="attachment_640628" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Riley Street Garage, Sydney.[/caption] THURSDAY: PUT AWAY YOUR PHONE ON DATE NIGHT There's no denying that the smartphone is an invaluable part of modern life, but it's far too easy to get lost in the pixels and waste away a day (or night) on your phone scrolling and swiping and tapping. So, you've booked a nice restaurant for you and your partner (or bestie) to enjoy together? We reckon it's time to ditch the phones and focus on each other — just like the good old days. Give your dining partner your undivided attention instead of staring aimlessly at your feed and scrolling into the Insta-abyss. You'll be surprised how easy and rewarding this is. FRIDAY: GO TO THE THEATRE Sure it's great to veg out, watch every new original Netflix series that's been released and completely disengage. We get it, it's important to turn the mind off. But, it's also important to keep it stimulated — our parents did say too much TV would turn the brain to mush, right? Look to the theatre. It's like IRL television and it doesn't have to be inaccessible, overly artsy and incredibly dull. There are multitudes of theatre companies both mainstage and independent doing exciting, hilarious, terrifying and incredibly entertaining work. Check out your local theatre and catch a mid-week independent show, support emerging artists and indulge in the thrill of live performance. Great examples include The Old Fitz in Sydney, Red Stitch Actor's Theatre in Melbourne and La Boite in Brisbane. SATURDAY: INVITE YOUR NEIGHBOURS FOR BARBECUE AND BEERS If you're stuck in that uncomfortable smile-and-wave phase with your neighbours, we have a solution. Ditch the awkwardness and invite them round for a low-key barbecue. Grab a case of Coopers Dry to break the ice, and knock the froth off a couple with who could be your new best mates. Meeting new people is a great way to build confidence and sharpen your social skills, and where better to do it than in the comfort of your own home. You'll gain some new friends that are literally a stone's throw away. NB: we do not condone the throwing of stones at neighbours. SUNDAY: PLAY A GAME OF POOL Everyone likes pool, even more so when it's free. The pool table is a great leveller and icebreaker, chuck a few coins down, grab some beers, and get to know some new mates down at your local. Brush up on your skills or just have a laugh — the free pool is usually available on quieter nights in most venues and always makes for a nice night of mild-mannered fun. Make it a weekly thing and, who knows, you might discover your hidden talents as a pool shark. Best spots for cheap (or free) pool on Sunday are The Rose Hotel in Sydney (free), The Rainbow Hotel in Melbourne ($2) and Tomcat in Brisbane (free). Kick off your 'easy wins' by enjoying a Coopers Dry, or two, with your mates.
Do you need an election hangover cure the entire family can enjoy? You’re in luck, ‘cause Festival of the Winds is here to nurse the headache at Bondi Beach this Sunday, September 8. Colourful cartoon characters, giant animals and flowers, fighter kites, box kites, delta kites and more are scheduled to appear at the festival, which kicks off at 11am on what we hope will be a sunny spring day. Internationally renowned kite flyers (yes, they exist) will be boasting some pretty spectacular flying skills with their handmade creations. So dust off that kite you packed away at age ten and show off your (probably rusty) flying skills, or join in on one of the kite-making workshops on offer throughout the day. But this isn’t just a day for kite enthusiasts; there’ll be loads of dance workshops, puppet shows and a whole lot more that both children and the nostalgic can enjoy.
Far more than simply sustenance, food is about bringing people together, creating an experience and sharing something of yourself. Preparing a meal is an act of love, and it's this attitude that a handful of revered cooks will be bringing to Carriageworks for Double Delicious. There's a story behind every dish, and the storytellers, which include writer Benjamin Law and chef Heather Jeong,will be spinning a yarn while slicing and sautéing to tell you what food means to them, both personally and in terms of its cultural significance. It'll be an experience that promises to be equal servings mouth-watering and mind-altering. Image: Courtney Stewart.
With her song and record titles — her lyrics as well — Courtney Barnett has long found the words to express how many people feel. It's a knack, talent and gift, and it's helped her rocket to Australian fame and global success within a decade of releasing her debut EP in 2012. As thoughtful and captivating documentary Anonymous Club shows, it's also something she's frequently asked about in interviews. But expressing those lines and the emotions behind them with a guitar and microphone as weapons, plus a riotous melody as armour, is different to sharing them quietly one on one. Directed by her long-time collaborator Danny Cohen, who has helmed a number of her music videos, Anonymous Club begins with this reality. Barnett can pour her heart, soul and observations about life's chaos into the tunes that've made her a household name, achieving something that few others can; when she's on the spot, however, she's as uncertain and awkward as the rest of us. Barnett's way with words and wordplay in her work, and her lack thereof elsewhere, thrums through Anonymous Club like a catchy riff. The subject doesn't fade, burrowing into the film as an earworm of a song inside a listener's head does, and feature first-timer Cohen doesn't want it to. His movie was shot over three years, starting in 2018, which places it between Barnett's second studio album and her third — and knowing that makes the phrases from their titles, and from her debut record also, echo with resonance throughout the doco. Anonymous Club could've been called Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, like its subject's first album in 2015. Tell Me How You Really Feel from 2018 would've worked as well. And, yes, Things Take Time, Take Time would've been apt, too, concluding a line of thinking that the film invites anyway — ultimately finding its moniker in a Barnett track from 2014, before all those releases. Across two tours spanning Europe, the US and Asia, plus stints in Melbourne, Anonymous Club watches Barnett sit and think, and sometimes just sit. It tasks the singer/songwriter with telling how she really feels, and shows her realising the truth that things take time. All of the above is captured on glorious 16-millimetre film and, even within a mere 83 minutes, the backstage documentary is overwhelming comprised of these ruminative, reflective moments — of snatches of Barnett's life caught as she hops between rooms that aren't her own, be it stages or green rooms or hotels or homes she's housesitting. Her thoughts and feelings come via brief chatter in front of the lens (or, more accurately, with the unseen Cohen behind it, shooting with a camera customised to record synchronised sound), and from overlaid snippets of the audio diary he asked her to keep. That's a job she tussles with — more words, more on-the-spot candour rather than deliberated-over lyrics, more struggles — but she still stuck at it for the project's duration. Frank, earnest and honest, so much of what's uttered is as revelatory as everything that Barnett has sung over the years. She confides in the fly-on-the-wall film via her Dictaphone recordings; as a result, a highly poised, posed, image-conscious portrait, this isn't. "I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about anymore. I just feel like I'm going around in circles and digging myself a deeper hole," she says at one point, and many other statements have the same tone. Jumping from America to Japan to Germany and elsewhere, life on the road gets to her. Back in Australia, life without a fixed space to call her own after spending so long touring has a similar impact. "My heart is empty, my head is empty, the page is empty," she offers, another telling statement. "It feels like I'm being part of this scripted performance of what we think we're supposed to see on stage, and it just feels really pointless," she also advises. There's raw feeling behind these words, and Cohen wouldn't have it any other way; Barnett uses her work to wittily and astutely contemplate everyday life, and he does the same with her rockstar existence in his doco. Of course, one of its insights, blatant as it proves, is how anti-rockstar the indie musician's day-to-day reality is. She gets excited about gold in her Berlin lodgings, her unassuming vibe has crowds mesmerised during her shows, and she needs prompting about lyrics when one fan asks her to sign his t-shirt with her own — but much of her days, as seen here, are a quiet, busy shuffle from place to place with swathes of downtime and alone time. Cohen and editor Ben Hall (another veteran of Barnett's videos) convey this in the movie's structure, too. The big-ticket parts of the tours — the gigs, travelling, and interviews with Jimmy Fallon and Ellen DeGeneres — whiz by, while the gap around them lingers. Anonymous Club is a music documentary, but it isn't a concert movie. It knows where Barnett's career is at, the path she took to get there and how she's regarded, but it isn't a career overview or talking head-filled tribute. It features gig footage, but largely spliced into montages instead of as whole songs played on-stage. It thoroughly avoids other chattering figures — be it fellow musicians offering their praise, experts and commentators, or friends and family — in favour of its intimate, personal, in-the-room, inner monologue-driven approach. It's a road movie, but it's about the experience of being on tour over the tour itself or the places visited. Anonymous Club is about spending time and hanging out with Barnett, and about what it's like to be Barnett; melancholy, anxiousness, claustrophobia, doubt, fears, malaise and imposter syndrome come with the territory, relatably so. Cohen isn't advising viewers that stars are people too, though. Again, this isn't that kind of message-pushing, persona-redefining doco. He makes it plain that this one figure is a person first and a famous musician second — and chronicles the process of constantly juggling and balancing the two, and the impact upon her mental health. His chosen aesthetic suits the job perfectly, playing like warm, soft, unprocessed memories, and also relishing blue shades in both pensive and hopeful moments. As its revealing journey is wrapping up, Barnett finds herself more in the second category, and has the words to explain it. "My albums won't be with me on my deathbed holding my hand," she notes. "This film will not be with us as we lie dying — but I'd like to think in the bigger scheme of things, it will live on and help other people, or inspire other people, or create some sort of conversation."
Perhaps you're a Brisbanite eager to head to another state. Maybe you live elsewhere in Australia, but you're keen on holidaying in Queensland; summer is in full swing, after all. Either way, the Sunshine State is set to reopen its borders to quarantine-free travel, allowing in double-vaccinated interstate visitors from all around the country without a stint in isolation — even from places deemed hotspots. That means that whether you're a local keen to visit Sydney or Melbourne and then return home, or you reside in those cities and you've been dreaming of a sunny beach holiday, that'll be able to become a reality at 1am AEST / 2am AEDT on Monday, December 13. Queensland was already scheduled to ease its border restrictions in exactly this way, but not until Friday, December 17, so this is happening five days early. The reason? As flagged back when the Sunshine State started allowing folks from hotspots into Queensland if they went into quarantine — in November, when the state hit the 70-percent double-vaccinated mark ahead of schedule — the latest reopening stage has been fast-tracked because of high jab rates. Queensland will reach the 80-percent double-vaccinated mark earlier than expected, hence the new border reopening date. BREAKING: Queensland will reopen at 1am on 13 December as we move towards the 80% vaccination milestone earlier than expected. Nominating a time and date for reopening gives everyone certainty to book flights and accommodation and make plans to visit loved ones. pic.twitter.com/lYWnKoAUAk — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) December 6, 2021 Announcing the news, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that "we can't predict exactly when [Queensland will hit 80-percent double-vaxxed], but we know it's going to be this week. And I'm very conscious that we want to give people certainty. We want to give families certainty, and businesses certainty." The Premier also confirmed two other changes: that folks will be classed as double-vaccinated one week after getting their second jab, not two; and that all arrivals from domestic hotspots will need to get another COVID-19 test on day five after their arrival in Queensland. Double-jabbed interstate travellers still have to test negative in the 72 hours getting to Queensland, too — and anyone who isn't double-vaxxed will still be required to go into hotel quarantine for 14 days. Only double-vaccinated visitors can arrive by both air and road, with air the only option if you aren't vaxxed. Also, double-jabbed border residents will be able to move freely across the border if they have a border pass — no testing required — which is excellent news for people on the Gold Coast and in northern New South Wales. Queensland's rules around international travel will change as well come Monday, December 13, with double-vaccinated overseas travellers able to undertake 14 days of home quarantine — if they've also received a negative COVID-19 test result in the 72 hours before getting to Queensland. They'll be tested upon arrival, too. That said, the Sunshine State will still wait until Friday, December 17 to start its new rules regarding visiting venues. From that date, as previously announced, you'll need to be double-jabbed to enter places such as restaurants, bars, cafes, cinemas, stadiums, festivals, libraries, galleries and museums — but all of those types of sites across the hospitality and entertainment industries will completely ditch capacity restrictions. Queensland's border rules will ease at 1am AEST / 2am AEST on Monday, November 13. For more information about Queensland's border policies and border passes, head to the Queensland Government website.
Make your end-of-week bevs count by heading to the Kings Cross Hotel on Thursday, May 12 for a night of beers, bikes and loud beats — for the legends at Sea Shepherd. Taking over multiple floors of the hotel, the Culture Collective Party sees Young Henrys, Sailor Jerry and Gasoline Motor Co. teaming up for one night only, raising much-needed dosh for the crew behind Sea Shepherd (the no-holds-barred conservation charity responsible for protecting the ecosystems of oceans worldwide). There'll be live art and music provided by the impossibly fun, rockabilly Western Swing fivesome Cruisin' Deuces. Head to the rooftop to hear the hotel's resident DJs, take a peak at the Gasoline Custom Motorcycles display or donate to get your hair or beard styled at a pop-up barber shop downstairs. With tickets just $10 (including a free drink on arrival), there's plenty of reason to get behind this cause.
If you're a dog person, being surrounded by wagging tails and beaming pooch faces is one of the happiest feelings in the world. Here's another: doing your part to assist animals in need. Each year — a pandemic hiatus aside — the RSPCA's Million Paws Walk combines the two, asking Sydneysiders and their puppers to go for a stroll to help raise funds for an obviously extremely worth cause. Come Sunday, May 26, this endorphin-sparking mosey returns for 2024, taking over Cathy Freeman Park within Sydney Olympic Park. Whether you're keen to dress up for the occasion — in a matching outfit to your four-legged bestie, of course — or just pop on your sneakers and usual workout attire, you can choose between a two- and four-kilometre walk from 10am. Tickets costs $15 for adults and $7.50 for concessions, with the money raised going towards RSPCA NSW's work rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming animals. In addition to the exercise, you and Rover can browse a heap stalls afterwards, and enter raffles, shop for RSPCA merch, listen to live tunes and score prizes. Can't make it to Sydney Olympic Park? Check out the full list of venues around NSW. Images: Call of the Wild Pet Photography.
Veterans of raging warehouse parties, Motorik know the score. Secret locations, check. Solid party-fuelling DJs, check. Epic dance parties attended by over 15,000 raving punters over the years, check check. In time for their birthday celebrations — a whole three years at the forefront of the electronic music scene in Sydney — The Art of Rave is a four-day exhibition that celebrates three years of strobe lights and techno music with MTK. With assistance from long-term collaborators Babekuhl and Sam Whiteside of Voena photography collective, the exhibition is the amalgamation of original poster artworks, release art and photographs. The Art of Rave exhibition will be held at Salerno Gallery in Glebe for just four days from August 29 until September 3 as part of the Jack Daniels #JDFutureLegends campaign. For those that can't make it to the physical gallery, there will be an online incarnation of the exhibition and a special birthday mixtape hosted right here. Hours: Tuesday to Friday : 10:00am – 5:30pm Saturday : 10:00am – 3:30pm
Get ready for sensory overload — Chinese New Year is here. Time to fill the streets with fireworks and dancing lions while you alternate between inhaling incredible Asian cuisine and watching feats of strength at the Darling Harbour dragon boat races. For the Year of the Sheep (a sign of creativity and wisdom), the festival will be connecting you with the best of the Chinese creative world, including large-scale performance art pieces with the Yangjiang art collective and fire-breathing puppet troupes, as well giving you the chance to put yourself in the mix, whether walking through an army of glowing terracotta warriors or doing Tai Chi in the sunshine. With so much to do and see, here are a few highlights from Sydney's Chinese New Year Festival you shouldn't miss.
Australian playwright Van Badham is known for her political, sometimes violent plays. Now, after a relationship breakdown and drawing on inspiration from a relic of Ancient Greek pottery in the Ashmolean Museum, she has written a romantic comedy. Based on the Minotaur myth, The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars is the story of two museum staff whose romantic frisson gets them into a bit of a tangle. With a mix of wordplay, humour and romance, Badham believes she's found a feminist way into a traditionally fluffy genre. This co-production between Merrigong Theatre and Griffin has already received glowing reviews following its premiere in Wollongong and is set to woo Sydney audiences in early May. We chat to Van about feminism, classics and the Minotaur. So, you wrote a play! I wrote a play! Tell me a bit about it. So, about two years ago, in 2011, I was asked to write an audio play based on a piece of pottery held in the collection at the Ashmolean Museum. It was an extraordinary commission; it was funded by the Onassis foundation, which supports a program at Oxford that promotes classical Greek literature and drama. I got this piece of pottery that had a man and a bull and I thought 'wow, that's pretty interesting', because I was mad about Greek myth as a child and I decided I would write something about the Minotaur. So you pulled a whole play out of a shard? The hook with the story was the idea of a museum and what a museum represents, which is the bricolage and mess of the past, the discarded remnants. And it's the discarded remnants that tell you a lot more about a civilisation than its official history. I was in the dying days of a long-term relationship at the time so I was thinking about relationships a lot and it all coalesced into this story, about two people who work in a museum, one of whom is married, and the attraction between them conjures a monster. That is what the Minotaur represented to me, a symbol of misplaced desire and a transgression — a mythological exploration of the Minotaur. So can we talk a bit about myth and classics more generally? Obviously in your case you were commissioned to write a play about a Greek myth so there's a clear starting point, but I have a suspicion that playwrights use classics as a way of tacking on intellectual heft to their plays. No, it's not about intellectual heft. The reason why theatre makers do revert to classical drama and adaptations is that it's very fucking hard to write a play and it's hard to write a play structurally. It's very hard to get it right where you combine spoken verbal language that has semiotic heft as well as create that uncanny valley of interpretability for an actor in performance as well as hooks, mysteries, stories and climactic patterning. So using classics is fine then as a helping hand? Yeah, investing an original structure in any form of literature is very hard. That's the actual challenge. And there's that theory that says there are only nine stories and everything else is a variation. Okay, but shouldn't that be taken as read? That classics will inform all new original works, rather than explicitly basing dramas on classics? Yeah, but realistically, one of the reasons that adaptations are so popular is that they sell tickets. I think that's what Australian audiences adore, going to a show and going 'great, I'm getting cultural cache because one, it was entertaining and two, it ticked the intellectual box of being based on a classic.' Well, this is the thing. Now that I work in programming, I can really see that brand recognition is how people make buying choices and the theatre is not spared from that. I wonder if that makes Australian playwrights scared of doing a straight-out original work that could one day be a classic in its own right. I don't think that's the issue at all. I think it gets back to fact that it's really damn hard to write a very good play. I mean my job at the Malthouse is to read plays. And good writing, brilliant writing is rare. In the time that I was at the Finborough, of the two thousand plays I read I recommended three for production. Three! It's really hard to write a classic. So knowing how hard it is as a playwright, what drives you? You're known as a political playwright, but this play is a romantic comedy... Yes it's a romantic comedy but it's a feminist play. It's about a woman whose real journey is about surviving desire and I don't think I've let women down by writing a play about that. It fulfills all the genre obligations of a romantic comedy but at the same time, I hope, based on my rather extreme level of knowledge in terms of the number of plays I've read in the past few years, I'm pretty close to something that is original in form and content. Ariadne is the female romantic lead in your play and she's defined by her romantic relationship first with Theseus and then with Dionysus. How do you balance this identity with your feminist project? Do you know what's amazing? Is that feminists, some of them, have relationships with men! And they can be really complex. And if you look at the genre of a romantic comedy in a patriarchal paradigm, generally it works with a woman having to make herself more attractive to the masculine ideal of what women should be like. And you've found a way around that? Well, this is what I try to do. My feminist project is to attack that [patriarchal] narrative whilst at the same time working within genres that are associated with women and women's enjoyment. It's romantic and funny, there are some language games in it that are clever and funny that I'm really proud of. It's about the subjective experience of desire and of love and that is quite intoxicating. The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars is at Sydney's SBW Stables Theatre from May 2 to June 8. More information and tickets here.
Like dumplings? Like disco? Keen to experience them together? Of course, anyone can enjoy a meal at their favourite Asian eatery, then slide into the club — but only folks headed to Cha Li Boi can truly savour the ultimate dumpling and dancing combination. From 7pm on June 1, the new venture from Nahji Chu is welcoming winter with a Dumpling Disco. If that isn't the best kind of food-and-fun shindig around, then we don't know what is. Cha Li Boi is calling it Australia's first event of its kind, and they just might be right. Tunes-wise, her Bondi Junction joint will welcome DJ Boogie Monster, aka actor Alex Dimitriades, on the decks from 9pm. And when it comes to those warm parcels of deliciousness, there'll be free dumplings on offer from 10pm.
Before she was even a teenager, Angourie Rice faced the end of the world. Ever since, she's been living almost everyone's dream. When the Sydney-born Australian actor made her feature film debut, it was in 2013's homegrown apocalyptic thriller These Final Hours, in what was also one of Sarah Snook's (Succession) early movie appearances. Jump to 2024 and Rice has not only a coveted resume to her name spanning everything from Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled to three Spider-Man flicks, but also a role that couldn't be more iconic. Move over Lindsay Lohan, get in Rice as Mean Girls' Cady Heron. Call it fetch, grool, coolness — when you grew up watching a film on repeat and now lead its 20-years-later musical remake, they all fit. The Aussie star of The Nice Guys, Jasper Jones, Black Mirror, Ladies in Black and Mare of Easttown has made it happen. Rice isn't just living the dream in her acting success, however. She also received an email that anyone who has seen 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live or, yes, the OG Mean Girls wishes would land in their inbox: a note from Tina Fey. [caption id="attachment_934705" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures[/caption] That's how Rice was first given the script for the 2024 movie that's also called Mean Girls, remakes the 2004 favourite of the same name, but isn't merely a case of telling the same tale again two decades later with a different cast. After Fey adapted non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes for the initial Mean Girls film, a phenomenon was born. Alongside getting the world forever equating Wednesdays with wearing pink, the Lohan (Falling for Christmas)-, Rachel McAdams (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret)-, Amanda Seyfried (The Crowded Room)- and Lacey Chabert (A Merry Scottish Christmas)-starring feature inspired both a made-for-TV and a graphic novel sequel, plus a smash-hit musical that premiered in 2017. And, in a full-circle moment, it's the latter that the new Mean Girls adapts, with Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez (Quarter Life Poetry: Poems for the Young, Broke & Hangry) directing. So, a parenting book about the behaviour of girls in high-school cliques became a huge success as a teen comedy, then took to the theatre with songs and dancing, and now returns to the big screen with those tunes intact (not that you could really tell that from Mean Girls circa 2024's first trailer). Fey penned the script again — she wrote the book for the stage version, too — and reprises the role of teacher Ms Norbury as well. The only other cast member making a comeback: Tim Meadows (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) as Principal Duvall. Familiar faces surround North Shore High School's recognisable educators, however. As well as Rice as Cady, The Sex Lives of College Girls' Reneé Rapp plays queen bee Regina George, a part that first had her leading the Plastics on Broadway. Auli'i Cravalho, the voice of Moana, features as Janis. Jon Hamm (Fargo) Jenna Fischer (Splitting Up Together) and Busy Philipps (Girls5eva) are among the adults. Ashley Park (Only Murders in the Building) falls into that category also, after originating the stage's take on Gretchen Wieners and earning a Tony nomination for her efforts. How does as Aussie actor named after a coastal New South Wales town of Angourie become Mean Girls' new Cady? How did she react when Fey appeared in her inbox? How obsessed was she with the original film? And how did she prepare to play such a famous and beloved character? We chatted with Rice about all of the above, as well as why Mean Girls is so relatable, loving musical theatre and what she looks for in a role. [caption id="attachment_934704" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures[/caption] ON GETTING CAST AS CADY HERON — STARTING WITH THAT EMAIL FROM TINA FEY "The journey for me began with, believe it or not, an email from Tina Fey — which I could not believe. When it landed in my inbox, I was like 'what is going on?'. And it was a note from her with the script saying 'we're making this movie — I saw you in this thing, I think you'd be great for Cady'. I was just astonished that she even knew who I was, and that she was taking the time to send me a personal note. That is so rare when you receive scripts, so that meant a lot to me. Also because I just idolise her so much. So that's how it began. I read the script. I worked on the songs, and yeah." ON BEING A LIFELONG MEAN GIRLS FAN STARRING IN MEAN GIRLS "I had Mean Girls on DVD. I watched it over and over again between the ages of like five and nine. It was that and High School Musical 2 and The Sound of Music, I just watched over and over again. That movie is very, very stuck in my childhood brain — and my adult brain as well. I continued to rewatch it all the way up until I got cast in the movie. And then I was like 'I'm not going to watch it' because I need to have a clean mind going into it." [caption id="attachment_934703" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures[/caption] ON TAKING ON SUCH A BELOVED PART "There's a huge sense of responsibility to the people who loved the story of Mean Girls in whatever form, and the sense of responsibility to myself as well. So it was daunting, but I realised that I couldn't say no. It just had to be yes because I knew that if I said no and I went to the cinema and watched it, I would feel like I really missed out." ON PREPARING TO STEP INTO CADY'S (AND LINDSAY LOHAN'S) SHOES "I prepared in the same way I do for any role, actually. I go through the script. I annotate it. I also write down questions in certain scenes that I can ask the writer or director. The directors also gave me a character sheet, which is really cool — just a list of questions that you would answer as your character, which was really helpful." [caption id="attachment_934701" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mare of Easttown, Michele K Short/HBO[/caption] ON DRAWING UPON RICE'S OWN HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCES TO PLAY CADY "What I love about Mean Girls is those feelings of being the new kid, feeling left out, feeling like you're not good enough, those are things are universal and you can feel them at any point in your life — starting a new job, or just when you arrive at a party and you only know one person. I definitely had that experience. I wasn't a new kid in high school, but I would go away and travel and come back, and things in high school move so quickly. So I'd come back and find out that my friendship group dynamic was different, or that someone had had a falling out with someone else and I had to pick a side — those sorts of dynamics. So, coming home and feeling like the new kid again because I'd just been away for three months and everything had changed, I did relate to that a lot with Cady." [caption id="attachment_689818" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ladies in Black[/caption] ON WHAT RICE HAS LOOKED FOR IN A PART EVER SINCE THESE FINAL HOURS "I look for stories that are interesting and characters that have a good arc. That's what I love about Cady. She's got this incredible arc from being naive to being top of the world to falling down and having to get back up again. For me, it starts with the script and the story, and I think that's why I've been fortunate enough to have experiences in different genres and in different formats — limited series and movies. Because it's the story that comes first, and then the genre, and then the time period. I feel very fortunate that I have had lots of different opportunities." ON ALWAYS WANTING TO MAKE A MUSICAL "I love musicals. I love musical theatre. So I was just overjoyed. One of the main reasons I took it was simply because I just wanted to be in a musical. I love the feeling that musical theatre gives me, so I just really wanted to be a part of it." Mean Girls opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, January 11 and New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, January 18. Read our review. Mean Girls 2024 images: Jojo Whilden/Paramount © 2023 Paramount Pictures.
Beau is afraid. Beau is anxious. Beau is alone. Beau is alive. Any of these three-word sentences would make a fitting name for Ari Aster's third feature, which sees its titular middle-aged figure not just worry about anything and everything, but watch his fears come true, concerns amplify and alienation grow — and then some. And, in the Hereditary and Midsommar filmmaker's reliably dread-inducing hands, no matter whether Beau (Joaquin Phoenix, C'mon C'mon) is wallowing in his apartment solo, being welcomed into someone else's family or stumbling upon a travelling theatre troupe in the woods, he knows that he's truly on his own in this strange, sad, surreal and savage world, too. More than that, he's well-aware that this is what life is inescapably like for all of us, regardless of how routine, chaotic or grand our individual journeys from emerging out of our mother's womb to sinking into death's eternal waters happen to prove. Aster has opted for Beau Is Afraid as a moniker, with this horror-meets-tragicomedy mind-bender a filmic ode to existential alarm — and, more than that, a picture that turns catastrophising into a feature. Psychiatrists will have a field day; however, experiencing the latest in the writer/director's growing line of guilt-dripping celluloid nightmares, so should viewers in general. Even with Chilean The Wolf House helmers Cristóbal León and Joaquin Cosiña lending their help to the three-hour movie's midsection, where animation adds another dreamlike dimension to a picture book-style play within an already fantastical-leaning flick frequently running on dream logic, Aster embraces his favourite deranged terrain again. He makes bold choices, doesn't think twice about challenging himself and his audience, elicits a stunning lead performance and dances with retina-searing imagery, all while pondering inherited trauma, the emotional ties that bind and the malevolence that comes with dependence. Death, the bonds of blood, life's onslaught of damage, long-kept secrets, wild and weird groups, odd rituals, unnerving altercations: yes, they're all present and accounted for in Beau Is Afraid as well; yes, this is unshakeably and unmistakably an Aster joint. When he slides into suburbia in the second act, he also gets as Lynchian as he ever has — that Beau Is Afraid springs from a ravenous mind fed a diet of Eraserhead, Twin Peaks and Inland Empire isn't in doubt long before Mariah Carey's earworm 'Always Be My Baby' scores a Blue Velvet-esque spin. Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York and Anomalisa, Darren Aronofsky's mother!, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales: they're equally among this movie's melange of peers, ambitious and impressive company that offers a litmus test for viewers. Swimming through someone else's mindscape is never easy, after all, and doesn't Aster love sharing that feeling. Beau Wassermann is an average Joe with a rundown flat in a dilapidated neighbourhood, his therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson, Causeway) on speed dial, and O'Loha frozen dinners — an incredulous mix of Hawaiian and Irish cuisines — for sustenance. He's also the son of a wealthy and controlling businesswoman, Mona (played by American Horror Story's Patti LuPone, plus The Craft: Legacy director Zoe Lister-Jones in flashbacks), another mainstay on his call list (Moviefone, the US number for obtaining cinema session information that's been defunct since 2014, is another). And, he's wracked with stress whenever he leaves his house, which doesn't seem that far-fetched given there's a nude killer dubbed 'Birthday Boy Stab Man' by the news on the loose. That said, after Beau Is Afraid shows its namesake's birth from his perspective, obligatory slap on the rear and all, then meets him nearing 50 and nervous about a trip home, he's just fretful all the time anyway. Thanks to an escalating series of unfortunate events — another string of words that could've doubled as Beau Is Afraid's title; Disappointment Blvd was the actual original moniker — the basis for that apprehension is similarly swiftly apparent. From the tiniest minutiae to the biggest change, Beau's existence keeps getting worse, then bleaker still, then even more grim and hopeless. He's prescribed anti-anxiety pills that he's told absolutely must be taken with water, but doesn't have any and his building's supply is shut off. When he sprints to the convenience store across the road, everyone on his crime-riddled street slips into his apartment and trashes it. Aster begins Beau's malaise in the everyday, but becomes hellish quickly, a pattern constantly repeated when he's hit by a van and taken in by the married Grace and Roger (Only Murders in the Building co-stars Amy Ryan and Nathan Lane), watches that aforementioned theatre production, reflects upon his time as a teenager (Armen Nahapetian, NCIS) on a cruise holiday falling for his first crush (Julia Antonelli, Outer Banks) and seeks answers about his father. In only his second on-screen role since winning an Oscar for Joker, Phoenix plays Beau with deeply internalised sorrow, so much so that spying his shoulders do anything but slump in the character's uniform of pyjamas seems like the most fanciful thing that could happen — and this is a movie overflowing with eccentric, imaginative and absurd touches. It's a fascinating performance, both vulnerable and primal at once, as situations exceeding Beau's foulest terrors keep bubbling. Crucially, whether Beau Is Afraid is in Freudian and Oedipal mode, or bringing Misery or Station Eleven or Lord of the Rings to mind in Aster's unceasingly distinctive way, or having its central figure wrestle naked in the bath, Phoenix is committed to the ride and to being the everyman. He's in an often bitingly funny black comedy as much as he's in a horror flick, and he's both game and empathetic as Beau overtly endeavours yet struggles to keep it together. Ideally, no one watching is discovering intruders perched above their baths and monsters in attics, but they'll always understand Beau's panic, shame, dismay and humiliation. Of course, when Aster gets amusing, it's in largely while getting so distressing that you really can only laugh, as Beau's mushrooming plight forever is. If every possible development in your life is always the most miserable, what else are you meant to do? That's Beau Is Afraid in a smart, dark, cerebral, gut-punching, hope-crushing, relatable, hilarious and horrific nutshell. Aster packs in humour wherever he can, though, demanding the utmost attention to his returning Hereditary and Midsommar cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski's purposefully disorienting frames for slapstick silliness, dick jokes and brief flashes of background wordplay (Asstral Projection and Erection Injection are the names of the peepshows next to Beau's building, for instance). Beau is afraid of it all, and teeming with anxiety over it. He's alone in it all, but that's what being alive is. It'd be the film's biggest surprise if Aster wasn't chuckling — and having the ultimate fever dream.
Sydney siblings Angus and Julia Stone have some pretty talented blood pulsing through their veins. Hitting the road once again off the back of their third, self-titled album, the pair's Summer 2015 Tour comes as a welcome surprise after rumours the duo had called it quits in favour of their highly successful solo projects. Fans would be familiar with their long-time success; sparked by their ARIA #1 2010 album release Down The Way featuring the triple j Hottest 100 winner 'Big Jet Plane'. Fast-forward nearly five years, and their reach has gone global, playing sell-out shows across the States and a thirty-date headline tour of the UK and Europe cementing the pair's place as triple-platinum artists. So what inspired these two to turn away from pursuing their own stuff? Legendary producer Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Jay Z) was keen to join the Stone family and work on their latest album, but refused to jump on board unless these kids came back together. So naturally, family reunions flowed. Supported by the likes of Cloud Control, Little May and Jarryd James, Angus and Julia Stone are back on the Australian live circuit with the nicest bunch you could ask for in a return tour. Secure your stubs early, this one's going to sell out.
If you want to know what it feels like to have Siri laugh at you, ask them to search for "small garden hideaway with excellent food, drink, music in Sydney's CBD". Once you've done that, head back here so we can give you what you want. Since I Left You, the 21st-century city speakeasy nestled in a heritage-listed storehouse in the centre of Sydney, has announced another chapter of its SILY Sessions. The bi-monthly sessions are live gigs, but not as you know them. Rather than spending the day being elbowed in the face at varying intensities, the gig takes place in SILY's courtyard oasis, and is small — 50 people max — and generally acoustic. Tickets are only $20, which includes unlimited access to the antipasti table. The bar also serves up $12 cocktails until 6pm. Take that, Siri.
If you're looking for a luxe yet relaxed way to usher in the new year, Double Bay’s Pink Salt has the goods. The Mediterranean-inspired restaurant-bar will be celebrating with a gourmet extravaganza whipped up by executive chef Mark Williamson and creative in-house mixologist Brandon. Two ways of partaking are on offer; the first is a three-course, sit-down meal. After being greeted with a complimentary glass of Champagne, you'll be treated to an array of starters, mains and desserts. They're made for sharing, to maximise sampling opportunities. For drinks, Brandon has conjured up a special New Year's Eve wine and cocktail menu. Tickets are $125 per head. Sittings will be happening between 6pm and 10pm, while the canapé party will start at 7pm and finish off at 11pm. You’ll no doubt be tempted to stay for the midnight countdown, though, with Pink Salt staying open until 3am. You’ll find Pink Salt at 53 Cross Street, Double Bay. For bookings and more information, call 02 9328 1664 or visit www.pinksalt.com.au.
Ever wondered what the world would look like if it was run by hipsters? My guess is that tapered mustard chinos would be a mandatory addition to all wardrobes, while fixie bikes would become the sole method of transportation. One blog has put a creative twist on this idea by offering up hipster reworkings of corporate logos. Hipster Branding, a Tumblr that is 'holding up a mirror to the artsy community', presents viewers with a multitude of logos that would look right at home in the upmarket inner-west of Sydney. Colonel Sanders becomes a member of the cultured demographic with Buddy Holly glasses and ironic facial hair, while Mercedes-Benz gets a throwback makeover that's oh-so-retro. Like it or not, hipsters are here in force and inevitably going to take over the world. Soon enough, the logos featured on this blog will become reality as we're overrun by our cigarette-rolling, scarf-wearing, chin-stroking companions. https://youtube.com/watch?v=HR4n6OVoyYQ [Via PSFK]
Ah, l'Europe. Land of architectural charm and grandeur, where a staircase is never just a staircase but a work of art in itself. Surely providing one of the most gorgeous ways to scale an incline ever, Sicily's Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte in the city of Caltagirone comes alive every year with beautiful designs entirely composed of potted flowers and lights. It's a simple and elegant method of transforming a public space into a natural and versatile artistic canvas, drawing both natives and tourists together to celebrate local heritage. During the La Scala Flower Festival and the Scala Illuminata, the Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte's 142 steps, dating back to 1608, host a series of intricate floral and candle arrangements that take advantage of the steep slope to present vast perspectival images of patron saints and traditional patterns of the region. People can flock to see the designs flicker by night during the light festivals and walk up and down admiring the foliage by day during the flower festivals. Made up of thousands of decorated tiles — one of the signature products of Caltagirone, which is famous for its ceramics and terracotta industry — the Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte is already a landmark. The addition of some 2000 plants (geranium, boxwood and marigolds) took its appeal to the next level this year during the flower festival in honour of Our Lady of Conadomini, patron saint of the city, which ran from 8 May to 3 June. You can scope out more of the inventive and colourful designs here. It's certainly hard to imagine noticing any muscle fatigue in your glutes when you're distracted by so much colour. These inspiring pictures beg the question: which spots in Australian cities are ripe for this kind of ornamentation? We reckon it's time to take a cue from sophisticated Sicily and import the flower stair concept on a grand scale. Via This is Colossal.
Enjoy the charms of the French countryside right in your own backyard, when So Frenchy So Chic in the Park rolls back into town. This massive annual picnic will once again bring the sights, sounds and flavours of France to revellers at St Johns College. Ooh la la. This year's musical lineup features four unique artists. Moroccan-born folk blues singer Hindi Zahra has earned comparisons to Patti Smith and Billie Holiday; duo Brigitte bring a mix of lounge pop and retro folk disco; chanteuse Lou Doillon makes her So Frenchy debut; and Balkan electro collective Soviet Suprem will have you dancing all afternoon long. Food offerings will include an array of delectable hampers and cheese plates — although, if you want to get in on that action, you'll need to reserve one pronto. Don't worry if you miss out though, as you can BYO food, and they'll also be serving up a banquet of seafood, crepes, macaroons and ice cream, along with beer, wine, champagne and cocktails.
"The mormons are coming", posters popping up in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane promised in the 2010s. If you spot something similar now, they might feature the words "the mormons are back" instead. After breaking records on its first Australian run, The Book of Mormon is returning Down Under, with the smash-hit musical's suitcases packed for Sydney. Written by South Park and Team America's notoriously puerile creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, together with Robert Lopez of genius grown-up muppet show Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon is probably one of the most-lauded comedies ever to have centred on the Church of Latter Day Saints and African missions — and to approach both with Parker and Stone's usual humour. If it wasn't so smart and so funny, few would forgive it. But since it is, The Book of Morman has picked up nine Tonys, four Olivier Awards and a Grammy since it debuted in the US in 2011, when it was called "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years". Australia's OG date with The Book of Mormon also earned accolades, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical at the 2017 Helpmann Awards. When the show premiered in the Victorian capital in 2015, it enjoyed the highest-selling on-sale period for a show at Melbourne's Princess Theatre. When it first went to Sydney, it also set a record for the highest-grossing musical in the city's history. A decade ago, Parker and Stone's hilariously irreverent hit production spent a year in Melbourne, then did the same in Sydney, then made two trips to Brisbane — because one wasn't enough. This time, The Book of Mormon is hitting Sydney's Capitol Theatre, starting on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. If missed it then or you're keen to see it again, you'll be plenty excited that you're getting a new chance to go learn all the idiosyncratic details of Mormonism, meet war criminal General Butt-Fucking Naked and know the true meaning of the hakuna matata-like saying 'Hasa Diga Eebowai'. Images: Paul Coltas, London Company. Updated: Tuesday, July 15, 2025.
Inside an artfully graffitied Annandale warehouse, you'll find a dedicated team of colourists that has been bringing vibrant hues to inner west noggins for more than a decade. With whitewashed walls, a vaulted ceiling and generous overflowing pot plants, the space's minimalist aesthetic is a calming backdrop for the vibrant hair art that's created within. Whether you're after a balayage touch-up or a full head of pastel locks, the team weaves its magic with colours and toners for a striking result. You can organise a cut alongside your colour glow-up, but right now DD and Co isn't offering haircuts as a standalone service.
