As Sydneysiders you should be goddamned proud of the Necks. They are one of our finest ever exports. Since the late 1980s when they started playing together in a school hall, they have released countless albums (including a new one, Silverwater), amazed audiences around the world with their live shows, and made film scores — whilst also individually releasing records and collaborating with a veritable smorgasbord of jazz and pop greats (see Tim Finn, the Sydney Symphony, Branford Marsalis, Paul Grabowsky, etc). Their live sets are the stuff of legend, with performances usually consisting of one hour of uninterrupted improvised music. The trio of Chris Abrahams on piano, Tony Buck on drums, and Lloyd Swanton on upright bass build layer upon layer of sound that can oscillate between masterfully cinematic, atmospheric music and brutal, dissonant noise, enveloping the audience into their trance like state without ever alienating them. I would suggest snapping up presales for this one, as the group only play here once in a while. https://youtube.com/watch?v=LWnpmmVWz7A
Future Classic are the Mrs Dalloway of Sydney's electronic music scene, putting on parties galore and schooling Aussies on some of the less obvious musical taste-makers of the world. One of the artists that you've probably heard and should go dance to is Classixx (fitting that they are playing their properly spelled namesake's night), the LA production and remix duo who have rejigged and put disco shine on tracks by the who's who of pop and dance music - see Phoenix, Yacht, Beni, Holy Ghost, Major Lazer and the list (like the beat) goes on. They know how to accentuate hooks and have some serious pop smarts, transforming songs into their own. And sometimes - like in the case of their Yacht remix - they turn the tune into a whole new entity that adds to and betters the original. Anyways, besides all this mumbo jumbo I'm suggesting you could dance the night away with these chaps.
An exhibition-meets-art-history-lesson, Paths to Abstraction traces the transformation of the art world over a 50-year period. While the exhibition follows a narrative, it is not a linear one; it tells of a variety of 'abstractions' and diversions from the (then) naturalist norm. Each room is a universe unto itself, so choose your own adventure: Start from Cezanne's impressionism and follow with Picasso's cubism; play with Matisse and the 'fauves', then Bonard and the 'Nabis'; or peer curiously at vampires from Munch and next noble savages by Gauguin. Yes, this exhibition is comprehensive. Studies, sketches and publications are significantly included alongside more traditional 'works'. The pieces themselves span a wide range of mediums, including wool, woodcuts and a bicycle wheel. There is an acknowledgment of ancestry, in the form of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and also hints towards later directions in both art and design with the inclusion of works such as Gerrit Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair prototype. Paths to Abstraction is amazing and exhausting: the kind of exhibition you could wile away hours in. A definite 'do not miss'. Image by Patrick Henry Bruce.
If a foreign hand violently tampered with your life or the lives of those you loved for impersonal reasons, such as politics or religion, would you adopt the cause and join the fight? Would you raise a hand in retribution? Would vengeance then become your personal calling? These are the silent questions that impregnate the air in B-Sharp’s compelling, heartbreaking, seamlessly executed production of Bang. “There is no paragraph that will explain this work, which is probably a good thing. It’s not a work I want to explain,” says award-winning playwright Jonathan Gavin of his much anticipated follow up to the critically acclaimed Tiger Country. As an audience member, leaving the theatre mouth agape after a stellar opening night, grappling for the words that might comprise an adequate summary, I would tend to agree. Charting the aftermath of a suicide bombing carried out by a young Turkish/Australian woman, Bang is an intimate look at the humanity behind the current social and religious divide between Islam and the West. Told with compassion and sensitivity, its story is a delicate tapestry of diverse characters whose lives and histories interweave through tragedy, faith, love and ideals. Gavin has chosen to reunite with director Kim Hardwick following the success of the highly praised A Moment on the Lips, for what is evidently a coherent collaboration. Hardwick takes a sensitive approach to Gavin's powerful script without diluting its potency, dealing with the dense, emotionally charged subject matter with empathy and honesty. The weight of the complex narrative is carried effortlessly by an elegant cast of five highly skilled actors who imbue each of their characters with both humour and heart. The entire ensemble remains onstage throughout, and each inhabits several characters, moving fluidly from one to the next. There’s a lot happening on the tiny stage, but somehow it never feels crowded or convoluted — each transition occurs smoothly and effectively, cradling your attention like a well-played ball game. Unlike some other contemporary offerings in both theatre and film that deal with similar subject matter, Bang doesn’t explode with the kind of confronting force that its title would suggest, pushing the audience into uncomfortable spaces for its own indulgence; rather, it appeals to our humanity and asks us to adopt a broader perspective when it comes to judging the actions of our fellow human beings.
Since I wasn't there when it happened, I can only imagine where the stereotype that skaters were unmotivated, jobless no-do-gooders came from: The Suits. Sure, sometimes skaters have tats, long hair, 'hole-y' clothes and the rest, but who ever said The Suits' definition of 'civilised' was gospel anyway? Beg, Borrow, Steal by Tristan Still documents D.I.Y skateboarding culture in all its motivated, anarchic glory. Using abandoned buildings, empty swimming pools and even bedrooms, these skaters are curious and talented at re-inventing spaces, then skating in them. Not satisfied with the mundane existence and expression of ordinary folk, Still is a photographer consumed with a desire to capture and document cultures sub-cultures. His images (and his subjects) are grungy, rich with 'attitude' and vaguely nostalgic. They might just motivate you to take a second look at how you're utilising your lounge room — half-pipe, anyone?
Sadly, for many of us, the hustle and bustle of Sydney life means we rarely step back and smell the roses. Sadder still are the lack of roses within our concrete jungle. But spend a while getting to know the concrete, learning of the a beautiful Romanesque revival and masonic Victorian free-Gothic buildings, with their colonnades, balustrades and cupolas and perhaps the city will transform from a jungle into a garden. The Architecture Festival will be opening our eyes to all that is beautiful and hidden in Sydney next month and even the most hardcore functionalist-home dweller will find it hard to ignore. Take a bike, walking or boat tour and examine Sydney's main precincts, forgotten houses and beautiful foreshore. Then appreciate the past and satisfy your inner voyeur with Sydney Open and Home Stories and satisfy your ears with a talks by contemporary architects ranging from urban density to the problem of McMansions to round out your sensory experience. Catch a glimpse of Sydney in 2030 — an exhibition of how Sydney will run with a population of 6 million. The future is all about sustainable beauty so see how upcoming students are dealing with this problem, then ask the current faces of Sydney architecture what they are doing about it right now. As part of the festival, some of the most respected architectural firms will swing open their doors to students and members of the public.
Because we are a warm and welcoming city, not ensconced in parochialism or afraid of the awesomeness of outsiders, we will throw our arms wide and embrace Joseph Breikers, a young artist fella from Brisbane exhibiting in Sydney for the very first time. Breikers works across sculpture, video, performance as well as 2D stuff, and is an arts writer and founding member of Boxcopy Contemporary Art Space, an artist run initiative in Brisbane. In Acoustic and Luminous Effects, a small but pointed exhibition curated by Amanda Rowell (Everything's Alright, 2010 Oblivion Pavilion, 2008 and Rectangular Ghost, 2006) in db (Sydney's newest artist run space which provides exhibitions to locals and out-of-towners), Breikers unleashes his particular brand of humour. It is apparent that curator and artist understand each other - read on. "And the first animal* he acts* [is a] mass manufactured*, paleolithic subconscious icon* feelin' blue*, devoured by jaws of despair*. He's acting shy looking for an answer.* Awkward instant,* talkin' bout* self abuse* (e.g. slit your wrist*). The heart and mind are focus for this conversation.* It’s amusing from my perspective in sort of a frightening way* because I know what goes inside is only half of what comes out*." — media release for Acoustic and Luminous Effects, written by Commander Raul, taken from song lyrics provided by Breikers. Private view: Thursday, 14 October, 6-8pm Image: Joseph Breikers, Detox, video still, courtesy the artist
We are in the age of the cyborg. What was once only the purview of a nude Arnold Schwarzenegger has become invisible through its complete integration in our daily lives. Smart phones, the increasing ubiquity of wifi and our growing dependence on computers to augment our realities has transformed humans into the ultimate helmsmen of an empire of ones and zeroes. With Glow, Chunky Move presents an artistic interpretation of the human/digital interface. Choreographer, Gideon Obarzanek, teamed up with German software designer, Frieder Weiss, in 2006 for Glow's first incarnation — the resulting work merged human performers with a motion-capturing interface that illustrated chaotic patterns projected upon and manipulated by their moving bodies. The longevity of the project, touring now for four years, comes from the fact that no show is ever the same. According to Obarzanek, audiences witness two simultaneous experiences. Glow's aesthetic is of ultra-tech cool, with non-pixellated auras and vectors flowing like electronic liquid out of the performers. Combined with this is, beneath the data projectors, the emergence of a creature — human in form, but interacting with a different environment, moving in a manner quite unlike our own. It is this flesh poem that amplifies the techno wizardry of Glow, creating the impression of an unplaced future where human life and digital marvels are born in the same placental workshop. https://youtube.com/watch?v=FLviiUsjXM0 Image by Rom Anthoni
I'm Still Here is a beautiful nightmare. In fact, if Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop heralded a new 'prankumentary' subgenre, then I'm Still Here raises it to an art form. But Casey Affleck's directorial debut will definitely divide audiences, not merely along the lines of questioning the veracity of Joaquin Phoenix's retirement but rather the lengths the 'documentary' goes to take its subject from the sublime to the ridiculous. Sex, shitting and spewing: nothing is sacred in this portrait of repugnant celebrity. At its simplest, the film plays like a season of Entourage, on acid. As Phoenix makes the rash decision to retire from acting in order to pursue a career in hip hop, he is forever flanked by various assistants, and friends, as well as the man behind the camera (and also often in front of it), his brother-in-law, Affleck. This spectacular fall from grace sees Phoenix go from the clean-shaven darling of the Golden Globes, to the pudgy, bearded, mumbling mess who made that appearance on David Letterman. Affleck ramps up to the infamous interview in what is an incredibly constructed and artfully conceived film, which at times eerily echoes Gus Van Sant's Death Trilogy (Affleck co-starred in the first film, Gerry). The director plays on his audience's sensibilities like a seasoned puppet master, with Phoenix bumbling around like a loveable — if increasingly unhinged — buffoon, until the laughter all but stops as the consequences of his actions (constructed or not) become sobering indeed. In crafting this car crash charade, Affleck called on the awkward brilliance of Ben Stiller and the Commander Adama gravitas of Edward James Olomos alongside a surprisingly scene-stealing Sean Combs. And Phoenix himself chain-smokes his way through a riveting, Herculean performance, one that in its infuriatingly meta way will no doubt define his career. Together Affleck and Phoenix have created a staggering work of near-transcendent genius — as explosive a filmmaking debut as (an alleged) celebrity meltdown. https://youtube.com/watch?v=y3Xg9jeNIi0
We're happy to announce that, in the name of gender equality, chef Teague Ezard is finally opening the female equivalent to his popular Melbourne Asian fusion eatery Gingerboy in Sydney: Gingergirl. Okay, so it's not really in the name of gender equality, it's more in the name of excellent Thai food — but for whatever reason, the acclaimed restaurant is popping up at The Star from today, Friday, December 6 until the end of March 2017. Ezard is behind the food at the complex's BLACK Bar and Grill, and Gingergirl will be making her appearance right around the corner. You can expect an earthier twist on Gingerboy's menu, at far earthier prices. Think cold noodle salad with all the trimmings — squid, drunken chicken, sesame, paw paw and bandit dressing — for $16, a yellow curry of blue eye and wagyu brisket with peanut tamarind caramel and hot and sour coconut salad for $22 a piece. They're also doing Vietnamese coffees and bubble tea, and a thom kha creme brûlée for dessert. The dining atmosphere will also err on the side of casual, so it's a good way to taste some damn fine food without the fine dining vibes (or price tag). The Gingergirl Pop-Up will be open until the end of March 2017 on the ground floor of The Star at 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont. For more info, visit their website.
The Vic on the Park is channelling its inner Camden Town by throwing a London-style party that's all about gin. With some help from beefeater gin and StrangeLove tonic, the Marrickville pub is hosting two days of gin-filled shenanigans including live music, activities and a special gin menu. Popping up across April 2 and 3, the party will feature sets from the likes of Inner West Reggae Disco Crew, Dibby Dibby Sound System, the Free It Up Dance crew and a heap more local artists. Alongside the music, there will be an on-site screen printing station across the weekend, a dog show and a whole heap of food and drink specials. Accompanying The Vic's usual enhanced pub fare (its lobster rolls are a real winner) will be a pop-up jerk chicken vendor, a special gin menu and a gin slushy bar. $1 from every gin and tonic will also be donated to the Addison Road Community Centre, so you can feel good as you sip.
Paddington is famed for its collection of independent art galleries — and it will soon add a vibrant new space to its collection. Set in an 1899 heritage building on Oxford Street, The Concetta Antico Gallery will display the work of one of the world's most colourful artists, kicking off with her latest exhibition Visions of the Muse. Concetta Antico is world-renowned for her unique hyper-coloured oil paintings. Gifted with tetrachromacy — the scientifically endorsed condition which allows her to perceive around 100 million colours (your average Joe sees about one million) — Antico is venerated as the 'colour queen', which she channels into her paintings of flora and fauna. Over her career, Antico has sold over 1000 original works, which are held in both public and private collections worldwide. To celebrate her new Sydney gallery, Antico is throwing a free grand opening party on Saturday, July 13, from 6–10pm. Drop by and see Antico painting live for an audience. There'll be music, food and libations to enjoy, too. The grand opening party, Visions of the Muse, will take place on Saturday, July 13, from 6–10pm. It's free to attend but registration is recommended. Visions of the Muse will be open from Thursday, July 11–Wednesday, August 7. The gallery will operate from 11am–6pm, Thursday through Saturday, and from 2–5pm on Sundays (and by appointment, too).
It feels like performance art is everywhere lately. 13 Rooms was the talk of the town last month and the Museum of Contemporary Art has recently finished Workout, its fantastic, week-long performance extravaganza. These days, you can't even walk into the MoMA without finding Tilda Swinton taking a disco nap in a glass case. The Space Between Us, on show at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, is part of the biennial Anne Landa Award and features the work of Lauren Brincat, Alicia Frankovich, Laresa Kosloff, Angelica Mesiti, Kate Mitchell, James Newitt and Christian Thompson, seven artists exploring the relationship between performance and video art. Devoted to supporting artists who work with the moving image and new technologies, it's an acquisitive award of $25,000 (which means the winning work enters the gallery’s collection). The prize was established in 2004 in honour of Anne Landa, a former trustee of the gallery. It's a terrifically interesting exhibit and I loved all the works on display. The selection of artists is great, and their pieces complement each other wonderfully. Nearly all of the works also use their video screens in innovative and exciting ways. Sydney-based Kate Mitchell's piece is made up of several screens slotted together to make a large, geometric shape. The content of the video (the artist repeatedly throws herself through a series of coloured glass panes) and the large scale in which it’s presented creates a slightly unsettling effect, but there’s something quite comical about the slapstick way she throws herself through the pane. It was my favourite work in the show. The exhibition also includes once-daily performances, promising a somewhat circus-like, two-month long program of ‘tambourine players, women on horseback, groups of people testing their physical endurance and other unexpected encounters’. While it is a wonderful exhibition, coming on the heels of the uber experience that was 13 Rooms, it can be a little underwhelming. It's an unfair comparison, as The Space Between Us is primarily devoted to examining the intersection between video art and performance art, as opposed to 13 Rooms' pure performance focus. However, you can’t help but draw a parallel between the two. It lacks the punch and the vigour of 13 Rooms, but nonetheless it remains well worth a visit. Image from Lucky break by Kate Mitchell.
New year, new in-person film festival from Static Vision. Obviously, 2022 isn't new at all now — it's September — but Metamorphoses follows 2020's Hyperlinks and 2021's Dreamscapes in enticing Sydney movie lovers with the kind of program that you won't see elsewhere. The theme this time: transformation, as well as evolution, adaptation, shifting and changing. We'd hazard a guess that whittling down the possible movie picks into a four-day program must've been a tricky (but rewarding) process. Once again, the film collective is unfurling its curated pictures at the Pink Flamingo Cinema in Marrickville — this time, from Thursday, September 29–Sunday, October 2. Seventeen features and ten shorts will get a-flickering, including ten Australian premieres, kicking off with a 40th-anniversary screening of Paul Schrader's 1982 gem Cat People. From there, standouts include Lux Aeterna, which hails from Climax and Enter the Void's Gaspar Noé, and was funded by Yves Saint Laurent. The provocative filmmaker never holds back — see: the aforementioned titles, and the controversial Irreversible — but this time he's emulating a real-time witch-burning. Or, you can catch a fan-edited and remastered version of Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, which was designed to go along with Daft Punk's 2001 album Discovery; fame-chasing satire Sick of Myself, which played at both Cannes and Fantastic Fest; The Sacred Spirit, about a Valencian ufology cult; and Slamdance fellowship-winner Therapy Dogs, which sees 17-year old filmmaker Ethan Eng make a high-school diary film. The list goes on; however, with Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux, Static Vision will show Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin's (The Green Fog) 1988 feature film debut — while improvised road movie-slash-romance Magnetic Fields was Greece's entry for the 2022 Best International Feature Film Academy Award, and won five Greek Oscars.
Two things that nearly all humans like are clothes and getting really awesome ones at heavily reduced prices. If you're someone who likes both these things then you've probably already heard about the Big Fashion Sale, which is your best chance to get amazingly fantastic threads from some of Australia's top cult designers at prices you'd be hard-pressed to find on eBay. Now in its fourth year, the sale has amassed the most designers in its short history and will be packing them all into the Old Paramount Building. These designers include Karla Spetic, Romance Was Born, Magdalena Velevska, Bec & Bridge, Ruby Smallbone, Christopher Esber, Nathan Smith, Gary Bigeni, Rittenhouse, and Elke Kramer. But be warned — insane prices do not peaceful environments make. This sartorial wonderland is probably going to be one that's crazier than Zara circa May 2011, so arrive prepared to fight for your right to own beautiful things.
Ugly ducklings, scapegoats, white crows, black sheep — farmyards sure know how to single out the atypical. Thank goodness the humans of the Inner West know how to celebrate furry oddballs. As a project of the Newtown Entertainment Precinct Association, the inaugural Sydney Fringe Festival is fresh from the salon and ready for some showponying style, as this "multidiscipline cultural showcase" launches a three-week programme of Sydney’s best underground arts throughout September. Festival director Kris Williams is fresh and filled with ideas from the Big Apple, as the Fringe brings the Adelaidean local back to Oz after five years as founding director of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Reborn from the ashes of the Bondi Fringe, this year's programme is set to wow and wow well, with a diverse line-up from the banterous musical comedy of A Czar is Born to the theatrics of failure in a tiny chorus, the hybrid performative works of Applespiel's newest project Appleloft, far into the reaches of improvised mind-bending musical funktrust Fuji Collective and the collaborative wonderment of idea idea (if only to unfairly single out a few highlights from the plethora). One may even be so bold as to harness up a guinea pig and ferry said quivering rodent to "pet-friendly outdoor events" such as the Your Big Backyard programme of Sydney Park, or perhaps question the sociability of eating and entertaining in a series of awkward-as-a-puffin Silent Dinner Parties. Holy sheep, this haircut is just too darn attractive. With 'curators' poring over the realms of cabaret, comedy, circus, dance, digital arts, literature, music, musical theatre, theatre and visual arts, the newly reborn Fringe is as handcrafted as collections come, with each of the 200+ events lovingly selected by some of Sydney's wiliest artistic minds. With ticket prices hardly breaching the $30 threshold, this in-demand series of events can only be described with satisfaction: baaadly overdue. Image: Fuji Collective.
Frances Rings' Terrain is the newest addition to Bangarra Dance Theatre's repertoire, offering a beautiful production where physicality and spirituality meet. Gracing the stage at the Opera House's Drama Theatre, Terrain explores Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre) — the place of Australia's inland sea and one of the few untouched natural waterways in the world, where "time is measured by the dramatic events of nature," says Rings in her choreography notes. In this bodily "hymn to country", Terrain traverses Lake Eyre's seasonal changes, moving from drought to deluge, witnessing nature's ephemeral transformation of place. Depicted in vignettes which dissolve into each other seamlessly, the 14 Aboriginal and Torres Strait dancers explore and illustrate the connection Indigenous people have with the land. In preparation, music composer David Page and Rings flew over Lake Eyre and met elder Reg Dodd, who shared his stories and myths. Page recorded Dodd speaking in the native tongue of the Arabunna people, which he included in the music for Terrain. Symbolically representing natural and thematic concerns, costume designer Jennifer Irwin decks the dancers' bodies in costumes that dazzle the eye and intrigue the sensation of touch. In 'Salt' there features a spiky yet soft white top, moving with the body and resisting it at the same time. Inspired by Lake Eyre's surrealism and vastness, Irwin took a sculptural approach to the costumes, "representing the stark contrasts of beauty and destruction of the terrain." The piece comes together beautifully, thanks to the Page brothers, artistic director Stephen and composer David; simple yet striking set design by Jacob Nash, illuminated by lighting designer Karen Norris; and of course to Reg Dodd, cultural advisor, who shared his people's stories and mythological beauty.
Warm weather means heading outside and not only soaking up the sun, but enjoying summer's sultry evenings. It also means finding as many ways to do just that as possible, so how better than heading west and enjoying a free film? Every year for the past 18 years, Sydney Olympic Park has played host to Movies by the Boulevard, a free summer film fest that's all about the open-air experience. It's back for 2019, and, as held on a selection of evenings between January 12 and 27, it's serving up a feast of 2018 flicks for your outdoor viewing pleasure. Missed Crazy Rich Asians the first time? Love Black Panther and want to watch it on the big screen again? Eager for a dose of The Greatest Showman on Australia Day? They're all on the agenda, and more. The rest of the lineup spans from the heist hijinks of Ocean's 8 to the superhero onslaught of Avengers: Infinity War, plus the ABBA frenzy that is Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and the intergalactic antics of Solo: A Star Wars Story. There'll also be a night devoted to puppers thanks to the Top Dog Film Festival. Gates open at 6pm each night in Cathy Freeman Park, with films kicking off at 8.30pm. BYO picnic, or grab some food or drink onsite.
If you’re of Swedish heritage, love to fika or just keen on great design, then keep your eyes peeled for the second issue of Mr. Wolf. Put together by a few Nordic nuts, Mr. Wolf is a journal that profiles the personalities behind the great art, design, music and style of Scandinavia. It was rated one of the five magazines you must have on your coffee table by Société Perrier after only one issue, and readers have been waiting to see what they’ll bring next. Mr. Wolf will celebrate the launch of its second edition with two parties in Brisbane and Sydney this month. On November 21, everyone is invited to take a mini-holiday through Scandinavia. Flip through your pre-released copy, sip on complimentary Rekorderlig Cider and chill out to some live Swedish tunes. It’s guaranteed to be a pretty chill night. Update 21 Nov: The Mr. Wolf launch has had a last-minute change of venue to Funkis, 202 Oxford Street, Paddington. Photo from Edition One launch party in March, by SIRAP.
Coffee is one of the simple luxuries that Sydneysiders can still enjoy in lockdown right now. If you live in and around Surry Hills, local cafe Suzie Q and coffee roaster Madding Crowd are looking to brighten your day next Monday, July 26, with a free cuppa delivered right to your door. Surry Hills locals can claim a free cup of filter coffee delivered to them between 10am and 2pm. To claim the free caffeine fix, all you have to do is fill out this form before Monday and Suzie Q will show up to make your home time a bit better. If you want to support Suzie Q and nab a tasty dinner, the cafe is running a lockdown takeaway menu currently featuring a different meal each night of the week. On the menu next week you'll find pumpkin and ricotta cannelloni, beef stroganoff and a potato and cauliflower curry. Top image: Nathan Harradine Hale
It's hard to watch footage of astronauts gallivanting on the moon — with their lack of surefootedness and giddy delight — and not want to have a go. Unfortunately, there's a decided lack of accessible planetoids for us non-astronauts to do it on. But, in good news for earth dwellers, we've found an experience that will get you kinda close. Moon Drops is like NASA's version of a jumping castle: humongous black bouncy globules that allow you to feel what it would be like to run across a droplet of water, which we imagine feels a lot like the moon. NZ architecture firm Jasmax has collaborated with Alt Group and the Auckland Council Public Arts to bring the joys of space to Sydney — five drops will pop up around Darling Harbour for for the duration of Sydney Festival. Don't forget to take off your shoes and play The Police's hit 'Walking on the Moon' to get you prepped for your moonwalking debut. Image: Zee Shake Lee.
The Rocks is hoping to serve up all your Christmas-time needs in its neighbourhood — from bespoke gifts and decorations to joyful meals and even a life-sized snow globe. The giant snow globe will be installed within The Rocks' cobble streets, where you can also find weekend Christmas Markets every Friday through Sunday from December 7–23. Roaming entertainers, art installations and street food will accompany the gift stallholders — from the latter, expect artisan presents like handmade jewellery, wooden children's toys, locally made Christmas decorations and independent designer prints. Plus, DJs will keep the party going on Friday and Saturday nights from 7–10pm. The Rocks' usual shops will be done up in your standard red-and-green, silver-and-gold hues, too. And the local bars and pubs have you covered post-shopping, from craft brews at Endeavor Tap Rooms and Aperol spritzes at The Observer Hotel to cocktails on Mrs Jones terrace and drinks-with-a-view on The Glenmore's rooftop. The Christmas Markets will be open from 9am–9pm on Friday and 10am–5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Maurice Terzini — known for launching Icebergs and The Dolphin — is unveiling an opening of a different kind this month, a guerrilla store showcasing his latest fashion collection. Terzini launched his unisex streetwear label Ten Pieces at Australian Fashion Week back in May 2017. The brand's next collection, Disco SottaSopra, will hit Bondi on February 16. The collection's concept — to 'turn disco upside down with a punk philosophy' — has been realised by Terzini with hand-numbered, super limited-edition pieces. Think black and white slides sporting the words 'disco' and 'unity', along with a range of customised military-style canvas pieces. The 'day-to-night' collection will also introduce new colours, prints and embroideries for the brand, including runway zip boots, wool cashmere knits and bright orange knitted coats. "We feel like it's much more appealing to wear clothing that has an artisan feel about it," says Terzini. "This collection has all been hand customised in Australia which gives it a really personal feel." Situated inside Pacific Bondi Beach on the corner of Gould Street and Beach Road, the shop will open daily from 9am to 5pm — but, in true limited fashion, will only remain open until sold out. This is a very literal case of first in best-dressed.
Cult favourite Aussie basics label Bassike is hosting its annual warehouse sale this weekend, selling its organic cotton jersey, Japanese denim and mainline collections at up to 70 percent off the regular price. Both men's and women's fashion will be up for grabs for three days this weekend — the sale starts at 9am each day and stock will be replenished each morning. The price list includes over 25 items spanning clothing, swimwear, footwear and accessories. Expect half-off sale items, denim for $90, tees for $30, tops for $60, shoes for $90 and one-piece swimsuits for $60. If you're already looking ahead for winter, there will be jackets for $120 and coats for $150, too. No, these aren't basement bargains — but they are reasonable prices for these fine organic duds. The shop is also running a recycle program throughout the weekend. As part of the boutique's zero waste goal, customers are encouraged to bring any pre-worn Bassike jersey pieces to be recycled into fabric offcuts, rags and cleaning supplies. Those who partake get to skip the queue and gain express access to the sale. The sale will run from 9am–9pm on Thursday, 9am–6pm on Friday and 9am–4pm on Saturday.
Beloved Woolloomooloo pub The Old Fitz has reinvented itself as Bar Bodega Fitz for the duration of lockdown. Following a successful three-day pop up as Bar Bodega Fitz pre-lockdown, the inner city spot is now serving up takeaway and delivery tapas along with aperitivo. The continually changing menu, lead by Old Fitz Head Chef Anna Ugarte-Carral, features a range of tasty morsels including crab omelettes, manchego croquettes, garlic prawns and mushroom with garlic and sherry. If you want the decisions taken out of your meal, you can order a mixed selection of ten tapas pieces from $45 or 20 pieces for $80. Those looking for an elevated tapas experience can add the massive $135 five-week dry-aged sirloin on the bone to their meal. Alongside the Fitz's usual selection of craft beers and wines, you can order Partida Creus MUZ in a negroni or on ice with orange and olive, or a glass of sangria. The pop-up is running 12–7pm Friday–Sunday until Sydney's current lockdown ends.
In need of a little pre-weekend pick-me-up? This should do it. Prepare for cuteness overload when a crew of fluffy pups descends on Martin Place next Friday, November 16, to teach city-dwellers all about the NSW guide dog program. Running from 12–2.30pm — yep, perfectly timed for lunch-break cuddles — Guide Dogs in the City will feature a trio of adorable events, celebrating the hardworking fluffers who are changing lives around the country. The fun kicks off with a couple of puppy preschool sessions (at 12pm and 1.10pm), where you'll get to see some of Guide Dogs NSW/ACT's newest recruits learning the ropes. Then, two Guide Dog demonstrations (12.40pm and 1.40pm) will dive into the training process, highlighting all the steps that go into raising and teaching these pups. And from 2pm, you'll have the chance to make some very cute new besties during a puppy patting session. Get lots of cuddles. Take lots of photos. Look at them all afternoon when you're back at your puppy-less desk. And then, if you're ready for the responsibility, maybe consider applying to be a puppy raiser.
Surely the only thing better than feasting on creamy fresh mozzarella is having the skills to make it yourself, any time you like. Or you could enjoy the best of both worlds, when Leichhardt's Capriccio Osteria hosts a mozzarella making class on September 27. Here, you'll learn the art of crafting, shaping and knotting fresh mozzarella in true Italian fashion, guided by local producer Vannella Cheese's head cheesemaker Vito Minoia. This guy's a true cheese expert — he's been hand stretching curds for burrata since he was 16 years old back in Puglia, Italy. But of course, you can't have a culinary masterclass without some good old-fashioned food appreciation, so the one-night cheese students will also sit down to a four-course taster of Capriccio's new seasonal menu. Expect a lively lineup of spring's best spoils with cheese as the hero. The whole night's activities will set you back just $49 — which, for both the feast and your newfound cheesemaking skills, seems like a good investment. You can make a booking either online or over the phone.
Despite our itchy feet, options for travel are still limited for the foreseeable future. So, what better time to make the most of where we live? In partnership with La Bella Verde, we've picked out six tours you can take to rediscover where you live — from underwater escapades to getting up-close to Sydney's haunted sites. Each one will help you see the city through a different lens and appreciate what's right here in our beautiful backyard. [caption id="attachment_791851" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Benjamin Williams[/caption] GO ON AN ECO CRUISE WITH LA BELLA VERDE We won't be welcoming any international cruise ships for a while yet, so why not take advantage of the emptier harbour to explore one of the most spectacular waterways in the world? Better yet, you can bolster your green credentials at the same time. Cruise Sydney Harbour with La Bella Verde, which has the only 100-percent solar-powered catamaran in Sydney. The green beauty departs from various wharves and can take up to 12 adventurers at a time for $200–250 per hour. Say hello to the Harbour Bridge as you float underneath, then wave at the Sydney Opera House as you sail past at your leisure — with zero harm done to the harbour eco-system. It also has large coolers on board and a flat rate of $100 for BYO booze. KAYAK AT THE CRACK OF DAWN Experience a different side to Sydney's usually bustling harbour by getting up with the birds for a caffeinated sunrise kayak tour. Sydney by Kayak offers tours from the Lavender Bay boat ramp (currently departing at 6.20am) before paddling round to Sydney Harbour Bridge. You'll be awed by the magnificence and scale of the Bridge from below and there's time to take in the splendour of the Opera House as the early morning light hits the sails. Your reward for getting up so early and exercising? A hot cup of coffee aboard your kayak. You'll be asked your order in advance and supplied with a suitable reusable cup for the journey. It's a very laidback tour and if you're celebrating a birthday they'll also bring cake to eat on the water. Tours cost $125–165 per person. [caption id="attachment_800090" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] SEE SYDNEY FROM THE SKIES ON A SCENIC FLIGHT There are some things we land-based mammals can't see. Give yourself wings with a Sydney Seaplanes scenic flight and get a bird's eye view of our glorious city. Planes can take up to six passengers, with different routes to choose from, depending on your fancy. Flights take off from either Rose Bay or Palm Beach and flight times and costs vary depending on the route. The Sydney Secrets tour, for example, is a 30-minute soar over our famed coastline for $315 per person. Afterwards, take a pew at Empire Lounge and watch the other planes land as you order a platter of freshly shucked oysters. [caption id="attachment_800091" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] CRUISE AROUND ON TWO WHEELS Take in Manly's famous promenade on two wheels with a Bonza Bike sunset tour, or head to its Circular Quay marquee to hire a ride to explore Farm Cove on the way to Mrs Macquarie's Chair. The company has taken 50,000 guests around Sydney since starting in 2004 and since COVID-19, it's operating as a tailored tour service so you can set the times best suited to you. We think you should hire a bike and hop on the ferry to Manly; from there you can pedal along the waterfront before heading up to North Head to take in the panoramic views. The bipedal trip will set you back $149 per person, with family packages available. [caption id="attachment_800537" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Flickr; KerryJ[/caption] JOIN A SPOOKY GHOST TOUR Take a ghost tour along the cobblestoned streets of one of our oldest precincts and you'll be transported back to the city's dark past. On The Rocks Ghost Tours, guides tell you the gruesome history of the area as they lead you down alleyways — from unfortunate souls buried in cellars to spirits haunting historic homes. The spooky journey takes in some of the most significant sites in The Rocks and offers a perspective of the city you may have overlooked, such as its violent colonial origins. Each nightly tour starts at 7.45pm, running for 1.5–2 hours, from Cadmans Cottage. Tickets cost $45 and during COVID-19 tours are limited to 25 people. [caption id="attachment_800092" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] SEE WHAT LIES BENEATH ON A GUIDED SNORKELLING TOUR Dive Centre Manly runs guided snorkelling tours of Shelly Beach for $75 per person. The area is part of the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve and it boasts a treasure trove of marine life, from blue gropers and giant cuttlefish to wobbegongs and the occasional turtle. Tours are designed for those with some snorkelling experience, and all equipment is provided at the Dive Centre shop. Guides have an intimate knowledge of the beach and where best to float in order to spot its wonders. Find out more about La Bella Verde tours, here. Top image: Destination NSW
Who needs unicycling dogs and lion tamers when you have fleet-footed humans springboarding one another into five-count backflips? Circolombia is a troupe of street circus performers from the Colombian city of Cali, and Urban is their gracefully mind-boggling autobiographical show. It paints a portrait of life in a city as dense with both poetics and violence through seamlessly executed dances and acrobatics, the ballsiest stunts quite effectively calling to mind both life and death. Strobe lighting and a throbbing soundtrack presumably do little to make backflips atop tightropes less alarming. Urban comes to the Sydney Festival following sell-out shows at London's Roundhouse and Broadway in Paris. If you only see one non-inner-city performance this year, this is a pretty weighty contender. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zga7XO707GQ
Butter just keeps giving Sydneysiders more reasons to go absolutely crazy for it. The cult favourite is already a palace of fried chicken, sneakers, Champagne and ramen. Now, you can add truffle to that list, too. Executive chef Julian Cincotta has sourced a whole heap of the luxe ingredient from Western Australian's premiere truffle region, Manjumup, and has created a full menu around the stuff. He's taken Butter's existing fan favourites and truffled them all right up. For $24, you can grab the shop's signature fried chicken sando, now smothered with truffle honey butter — made onsite using Pepe Saya, of course — and topped with fresh truffle shavings. Hot truffle doughnuts also come lovingly glazed and topped with the same butter and shavings. If a touch of truffle just doesn't cut it for you, punters can also go all in with the truffle fried chicken ramen — which, in addition to enoki mushrooms, greens and an egg, comes topped with a full eight grams of the decadent black fungus (for $20 bucks extra, that is). The truffle madness will be short lived, though, and only runs through to late July when the season wraps up. So, if you want it, come and get it. Butter's Truffle Menu is available at both the Surry Hills and Parramatta stores and is available until late July.
What's the one thing Aussie's and Latino's have in common? They love a good party and a day off work to have one. So what better way to spend our God-given long weekend of great Aussie bludgery than at Darling Harbour's annual Latin American Fiesta. Now in its 19th year, this one's set to be the biggest yet with a hearty lineup of Australian and international talent, including high-energy bands, salsa and tango experts, sexy Brazilian carnivale girls, flamenco dancers, capoeira masters, DJs, giant puppet parades and much more. With three outdoor stages and open-air dance floors, there'll be plenty of room to shake it like a salsa superstar and generally get raucous. And you need not worry about queue's, cover charge's or over-priced drinks — this four-day fiesta is free and open to all ages.
Launched in Melbourne in 2016, and running annually since, the Feminist Writers Festival is finally heading to Sydney for the first time on November 1–3. The impressive three-day program will take over UTS's Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building and features 12 sessions with over 40 of Australia's leading feminist thinkers and writers. In an effort to promote and support female-identifying writers within Australia, the festival will see speakers come together in panel discussions and workshops focusing on activism, fiction and the intersectional lives of women. Session topics include 'finding and sustaining a feminist voice', 'writing and speaking indigenous lives', 'domestic violence and the law' and 'words for the feminist activist'. Big names include legal writer Larissa Behrendt, commentator Anita Heiss, independent editor Zoya Patel (founder of Feminartsy), Fairfax columnist Jenna Price, renowned novelist Rebecca Shaw, essayist Alison Whittaker and poet Fiona Wright.
Twelve of Australia's best young winemakers will be gathering in Sydney on Thursday, May 30, and you're invited to spend an evening in their company. You'll be sampling their latest drops, asking all the questions and, ultimately, deciding who decides to get take home the 13th Young Gun of Wine People's Choice Award. To be part of wine history in the making — and play James Halliday for the night — you need to snag a $45 (or $55 after May 22) ticket and rock up at midday. The event, being held by Best Cellars, will be happening at Porteño on Cleveland Street. As well as wine, there'll be a selection of the restaurants famed Argentinian snacks — hopefully including those crispy brussels sprouts. Four states and some of Australia's most famous wineries are represented in the Young Gun list of finalists — including Andrew Scott from La Petite Mort in Queensland's Granite Belt, Sacha La Forgia from the Adelaide Hills Distillery, Ben Ranken from Macedon Ranges' Wilimee and Rhys Parker and Paul Hoffman from Vallée du Venom in the Margaret River. If, on the day, any particular drops takes your fancy, you'll be able to buy bottles at cellar door prices.
Listen to a selection of hundreds of personal and revealing voice messages left in the middle of the night at this new exhibition being hosted by The National Art School as part of Sydney Festival. With The Nightline, audio theatremaker Roslyn Oades, sound artist Bob Scott and their collaborators have collected more than 600 voice messages left by nightshift workers, insomniacs and late-night revellers — all between midnight and 6am. Attendees at The Nightline will be welcomed into a low-lit room full of old-school telephones and switchboards. Then, you'll be granted access to these soul-baring messages, with each visitor to the exhibition given an entirely unique set of voices over your 40-minute slot. All you need to do is pick up the phone and tune into snippets of lives lived while others are asleep. Running from Wednesday, January 12–Sunday, January 23, The Nightline is hosting three to four sessions each night, starting from 9pm. Tickets are $60, or $36 for concession holders. Images: Sarah Walker
Alicia Talbots latest work, The Fence, is quite different to most other shows you’ll see in the Sydney Festival. For starters, in the venue listing where you would expect to see the names of places like “ The Seymour Centre” or “The Sydney Theatre” it simply says “A Backyard In Paramatta”. For the last 4 years, Talbot's company Urban Theatre Projects has been creating hard-hitting and ambitious works of social and political theatre. They work with the local communities, using non actors to create the text together as a group. It’s a method that makes for unusually honest and illuminating productions. Her last two Sydney Festival shows, Back Home (2006) and Last Highway (2008), were highlights of the programs, despite being locally made without any big names attached. Paramatta, especially a backyard in Paramatta, may seem a little out of the way from the usual Sydney theatre haunts but it’s worth the trek for this raw and intimate night of documentary theatre.
The annual Orange Wine Festival is back for its 13th run, with ten days of events highlighting the region's sophisticated winemaking from October 12 through October 21. Patrons can expect wine shows, tastings, dinners and educational workshops, all of which showcase the rich diversity of Orange's rich culinary culture. This year's packed-out program includes over 90 events, which are open to all wine lovers, from the connoisseurs to those still getting to know their palate. The region is known for its cool climate which creates wines with bright fruit and deep, balanced flavours, making them some of the best drops in the country. While there are events on every day of the two weeks, you shouldn't miss the festival's flagship Night Market on October 19 — over 50 food stalls and wine bars will pop up in in Orange's Robertson Park for a night of wining and dining under the country sky. If you want to try as many wines as possible, the Orange Wine Show Tasting on October 12 will give you a taste of 200 wines for a reasonable $60. Even with all the events, you won't have any time to sit still — the region is home to 80 vineyards and over 30 cellar doors. We recommend organising a driver so you can drink it all.
On the silver screen, Australia's golden landscape is frequently the place where pain dwells. Even when spinning fiction, films such as Mystery Road, Goldstone, Sweet Country, High Ground, The Furnace and The Survival of Kindness scorch reality's horrors and heartbreaks into celluloid with ample help from an ochre-hued backdrop that can only belong to the land Down Under. In Sweet As, the red earth of Western Australia's Pilbara region similarly couldn't be more pivotal; however, this coming-of-age drama from first-time feature director and writer Jub Clerc (The Heights) — who previously contributed segments to anthology movies The Turning and Dark Whispers: Volume 1, draws upon her own adolescent experiences for her full-length debut, and crafts the first WA flick that's helmed and penned by an Indigenous female filmmaker — deploys its patch of Aussie soil as a place where teenagers find themselves. Sweet As often lets its chosen terrain stretch as far as the eye can see, which homegrown cinema adores doing. As the movie roves lovingly over the Pilbara's plains and gorges, cinematographer Katie Milwright (Deadloch, The Clearing) sees its vivid hues, craggy surfaces, and dusty scrubland over and over. More than that, Clerc and her director of photography revel in the details and the beauty, conveying the power of Country, and of travel, in every patient and lingering shot. Indeed, watching Sweet As feels like communing with its surroundings; the picture itself is, and enthusiastically shares that sensation with viewers. As it peers and percolates — absorbs, too — the film also spies a canvas for hopes and dreams. It soaks in the inescapable potency of land that has meant so much to the planet's oldest continuous culture for so long, and now proves revelatory for a group of adolescents sent bush on a photo safari. Murra (Shantae Barnes-Cowan, Firebite) is one such shutterbug, albeit not by choice. With her mother Grace (Ngaire Pigram, also a Firebite alum) grappling with addiction, the 16-year-old is traversing a path to child services' care when her police-officer uncle Ian (Mark Coles Smith, Mystery Road: Origin) enrols her on a trip that she doesn't initially want to take. With youth workers Mitch (Tasma Walton, How to Please a Woman) and Fernando (Carlos Sanson Jr, Bump) as their guides and chaperones, Murra, Kylie (newcomer Mikayla Levy), Elvis (Pedrea Jackson, Robbie Hood) and Sean (fellow first-timer Andrew Wallace) are soon hurtling into the outback on a minibus with cameras in their hands — to snap the sights away from their ordinary lives, and also step beyond everything that they know, form new friendships, gain a different perspective and gaze as intently at themselves as they do at the earth from behind a lens. IRL and in the film, sending kids to capture the inimitable Australian scenery one photo at a time, and to roam over its vastness, is a simple yet profound concept. Murra and her companions — all strangers when they board the bus, and all considered at-risk due to their own troubles — are far too familiar with being scrutinised by others, but now get to do some clocking themselves in a cathartic way. They're tasked with judging what's worthy of their time and attention, and of being immortalised in their snapshots. As they point and shoot, they're given the freedom to express and inspect anything that can be glimpsed at through a viewfinder. They're empowered to be bold, break moulds and discover what no one else perceives. Creativity can be an escape, and it can also be an exorcising release and a catalyst to adopt new viewpoints. As its teen characters segue from apprehensive and rebellious to being grateful what they're doing, and where and why, Sweet As explores and appreciates the straightforward acts of road tripping and taking photographs along the way for everything they can offer. Thanks to its origins in her own tale, Clerc's feature unsurprisingly feels personal. Just as crucially, it feels lived in. Bringing a disparate group of high schoolers together isn't a novel storyline, nor is having them glean life-changing insights in the process — The Breakfast Club has notched up nearly four decades of affection for nailing the formula — but Sweet As never merely ticks recognisable plot boxes. Even as Murra's journey involves crushes, questionable choices and underage drinking, the film always values its characters over the teen rites of passage they undertake. While so much about no longer being a kid but not yet being an adult is universal, the most potent examinations of what that's genuinely like refract teendom's markers and milestones through the people going through them. As told by Clerc, Murra's plight is deeply relatable, including while anchored in being an Indigenous youth in Australia today, but it's also exactly what it is because of who the movie's protagonist uniquely is — and, again, why. Consequently, casting is as important to Sweet As as Clerc's formative years, script (as co-penned with Seriously Red actor and Rush screenwriter Steve Rodgers), and calm and confident guiding hand. This is just the fifth entry on Barnes-Cowan's resume after Operation Buffalo, Total Control, Firebite and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, and it's the young Adnyamathanha woman's fifth exceptional performance — the fifth in a career that, based on her excellent efforts so far, is only going to keep growing and expanding. Naturalism and resilience have swiftly become consistent hallmarks of her work, each assisting in making Murra seem like she's walked into the frame from reality. Clerc benefits from both, too, observing Barnes-Cowan as Murra observes the world, and finding an entire universe of emotion blossoming. What does it mean to truly take notice — of people, personalities, Country, cultures, history, existence's big and small highlights, and also everything that's often overlooked — and to be taken notice of in return? They're questions that Sweet As endeavours to sit with. As set to all-Indigenous soundtrack, the film is happiest surveying, contemplating and being in the moment; like protagonist, like movie. Sweet As also shines as an example of what it means to cherish a shared exchange, thoughtful glance, bonding experience, radiant hue, gorgeous vista and perfectly captured instant. This buoyant feature brims with all of the above, beaming as brightly as the distinctively Australian landscape it can't and won't stop treasuring.
Claudia O'Doherty has a lively interest in the natural world. She's cowritten a book called 100 Facts About Pandas and performed a show called Monsters of the Deep 3D, for example. She also contributed a tale about killer whales to The Penguin Plays Rough Book of Short Stories, is part of a comedy group called Pig Island and premiered this current show at the Imperial Panda Festival earlier in the year. Its premise is that this is the TV show 'they' won't let O'Doherty make, and she takes audiences on a condensed tour of all 26 projected hours of the series and quite a long way into the personal life of a nearly unbearably intense and awkward character. The performance's accoutrements include water, cake, lasers, the most unflattering pair of pants possible, a cold sore and a much-maligned offstage technician named Suze. It's absurd in a totally deadpan way that makes the audience nervous as to whether this might be for real at the same time as they're certain that it isn't. O'Doherty's stage presence is naive and not exactly scientifically rigorous, but the show is as clever as can be.
Welcome to a world of vaudeville, grimy charm and breathtaking acrobatics. Sydney Festival's Scotch and Soda promises a raucous late-night circus event with a musical twist. This unique and energetic performance will fuse together infectious tunes from The Crusty Suitcase Band and bawdy theatrics from Company 2. Centrestage are the performers from last year’s Cantina, as well as familiar faces (or perhaps bodies) from previous circus events Smoke & Mirrors, La Clique and Circa. In Scotch and Soda, their expert circus skills and gravity-defying theatrics will be set against the rollicking soundscape of The Crusty Suitcase Band, an ensemble comprised purely of horns and drums that is irresistibly danceable. This dynamic collaboration will witness the performers working with and against the band’s ‘gyp hop’ musical stylings. There might even be a bit of role-reversal. Their performances will take place at 10.30pm in the Circus Ronaldo Tent at the Festival Village. Its old world decor, reeking of decadence and debauchery, complements this crew of rowdy misfits.
The first of Federico Garcia Lorca’s folk trilogy of Spanish plays, Blood Wedding, begins with a woman dressed in black staring out from a bare stage. Beside her, a guitarist plays a fiery Flamenco-style rhythm. There is a sense of foreboding that one wouldn’t usually associate with a celebratory occasion – but this is not a festive wedding, it is a blood wedding. The audience is swiftly transported from contemporary Sydney to rural Spain in the 1930s where an Andalusian bride is forced to choose between duty and desire; her head and her heart. The grooms' domineering mother – still grieving the loss of her husband and her other son – rightly suspects that the bride’s shadowy past will interfere with her pledge to submissively love, honour and obey her bridegroom. She sees that her secret all-consuming passion for another (or "el duende," as Lorca himself called it) may precipitate social catastrophe and eradicate everyone else's chance for romantic fulfillment. The conventional world of the village collapses when the bride elopes with her first lover and the first act finishes. The realistic set is transformed into a surreal forest where two mythic figures - the Moon and Death - preside over a hunt to the death for the fugitives. The dry leaves covering the stage are reminders of the brittleness and brevity of life, and the creatively used spools of red thread symbolise how people's destinies become twisted and re-threaded. Blood Moon is not a feel-good play, but it unveils the power that society has to stifle individuality. It is worth going just to see the menacing Moon, covered in blood, command centre stage.
Another world of possibilities is unfolding as the Canadian Film Festival once again takes up residence at Sydney's Dendy cinemas. Now in its fifth year, this plucky event is the only annual celebration of Canadian films outside Canada — and what a celebration! The genius of this festival is a program that eagerly mixes premiere screenings with parties, talks and welcome drinks. That's Canadian hospitality for you. It remains to be seen if the festival can top last year's poll dancing romp, although the militant-ish Fight the Power party that kicks off after Saturday's screening of The Trotsky (fabulously described as Rushmore meets Ferris Bueller's Day Off) might just do the trick. Or there's the aptly named Vampire Ball — a night of djs and debauchery to coincide with the rock'n'roll vamp spoof Suck. There was also the chance to chat with beloved novelist Margaret Atwood about environmental documentary In the Wake of the Flood, but those tickets have already sold out. So the best bet is to get in quick for the rest of the festival's wonderful line up. The event will open with the Australian premiere of Chloe, the sexy tale from one of Canada's premier auteurs Atom Egoyan (Ararat, The Sweet Hereafter), starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried as the titular escort hired to test a husband's fidelity. There's also the world premiere of Arctic Blast, an Australian-Canadian co-production from one of our Ozploitation legends Brian Trenchard-Smith (Turkey Shoot). Prepare for solar flares and disastrous thrills. If documentaries are more your scene, then the programme includes the critically acclaimed Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould and another musical number, The Mighty Uke. Last Train Home is a captivating look at the largest human migration of workers returning to their families for Chinese New Year, while Invisible City takes to the streets of a Toronto's housing commission in an engrossing look at the lives of its young male residents. Closing night honours go to Xavier Dolan's provocative debut, I Killed My Mother, a gay coming-of-age story fueled by the feisty enthusiasm of its then 19-year-old director. Tickets for this, Chloe and family friendly doco Finding Farley are already selling fast, so don't miss out on this year's window into the various worlds of Canada. https://youtube.com/watch?v=HtU7ERJ3cTw
Sydneysiders, your daily commute is getting a serious shake-up, with the NSW Government rolling out the biggest-ever statewide public transport timetable changes. Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance announced the overhaul on the weekend, promising a massive 8,600 new bus, train and ferry services weekly, as the government looks to beef up its public transport offering. As part of the $1.5 billion More Trains, More Service program, Sydney's rail system will score over 1,500 extra weekly services, with around half of those on weekends. Plus, improvements to service frequency will reduce wait times to less than 15 minutes between trains — for most of the day, at 71% of NSW stations. Bus networks have also been redesigned, with extra services improving accessibility across the inner west, eastern suburbs, Macarthur and Hills districts, lower north shore and northern suburbs. Of course, such hefty changes don't usually come without at least a few minor teething problems, so the NSW Government is asking punters to be patient. "We'll be watching the roll out closely, both in control centres and on the ground, monitoring each service on the public transport network," Constance said. "Our priority now is to keep everyone moving safely while helping customers to get used to the new timetable." Around 400 staff in pink shirts will be placed at major network locations to give commuters a hand. Find your updated train, bus and ferry timetables here.
Some of Sydney's film festivals, such as the Sydney Film Festival and the Sydney Underground Film Festival, have run virtually this year. Others, like the Italian Film Festival and the upcoming Monster Fest, have stuck with in-person events. For movie buffs, that means you haven't been lacking in things to watch — and now a brand new film fest is about to hit town to treat you to a feast of sci-fi. The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will run across three days, from Thursday, November 19–Saturday, November 21, screening ten features and 41 shorts from 20 countries. To get transported to another world — something we could all use this year — you'll need to head to the Actors Centre Australia in Leichhardt. And you can pick and choose the movies that interest you, or opt for a festival pass and watch your way through every session. Topping the bill are the world premieres of new Australian films Monsters of Man and Strangeville, if you like pictures about military androids and alien abductions in an outback town. Or, you can check out weird and wonderful movies from around the globe, including Italian apocalyptic thriller Darkness, and French titles Fish Love and Anonymous Animals. The list goes on, and The Queen of the Lizards from Spain is on it — because, yes, there seems to be an animal theme in the fest's movie monikers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_d2ovybWRw
It's the most weird and wonderful time of the year — if you're a cinephile, that is. The annual Sydney Underground Film Festival is back for another round of showing audiences just what seeing movies in a darkened room is all about. Because when you're staring at a screen sans light, you may as well be watching something dark, odd or unusual to match the mood, really. From September 15 to 18, that's exactly what festival directors Katherine Berger and Stefan Popescu will serve up for their tenth edition. You don't reach that milestone without putting together a standout program — so if you're feeling understandably spoiled for choice, we've picked our top ten standouts from the very impressive 2016 lineup. WIENER-DOG Talk about kicking off SUFF 2016 in style. This year's festival all starts with the film Todd Solondz fans have been waiting 21 years to see: a follow-on from his 1995 favourite Welcome to the Dollhouse. None other than Greta Gerwig takes on the role of Dawn Wiener — and yes, a sausage-shaped canine also helps give the feature its name. Expect to also spot Julie Delpy, Danny DeVito and Zosia Mamet across the collection of four stories, and to enjoy Solondz's brand of black comedy while you're doing so. RICHARD LINKLATER — DREAM IS DESTINY You can be excused for hoping that Richard Linklater — Dream is Destiny features Matthew McConaughey, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and Jack Black walking and talking in a European city, driving around small-town America looking for parties, or captured every year for 12 years. It doesn't. However all three would prove fitting ways for this informative insider documentary to explore the films and impact of the director behind Dazed and Confused, the Before trilogy, Boyhood and Everybody Wants Some!!. DE PALMA If Richard Linklater's films aren't quite your style, then maybe Brian De Palma's vastly dissimilar output is. With a digitally remastered version of his pig's blood-soaked high school horror Carrie also screening at SUFF to celebrate its 40th anniversary, De Palma lets the iconic filmmaker chat through a career that also includes Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Mission:Impossible and Snake Eyes. And if that's not enough, it's also co-directed by Frances Ha and Mistress America's Noah Baumbach. THE LOVE WITCH The Love Witch has been popping up at film festivals around the country for months now, and for good reason, as folks in Brisbane and Melbourne already know. Writing, directing, editing and producing — and taking care of both the production and costume design as well — the multitalented Anna Biller not only pays homage to and subverts '70s sexploitation films (though she definitely does that as well). In addition, she crafts a film that merges and moulds her many influences into a brightly coloured tale of romance and sorcery that's completely her own. I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER If the combination of Where the Wild Things Are's Max Records and Back to the Future's "Great Scott!"-exclaiming Christopher Lloyd doesn't pique your interest in the moody and mysterious I Am Not A Serial Killer, then the film's storyline definitely will. Playing a high school outcast who lives in a mortuary, the former starts trailing his seemingly frail neighbour after a spate of murders rock their small town. Favouring an '80s aesthetic like all the best horror throwbacks at the moment only increases the feature's appeal. ROOM FULL OF SPOONS No prizes for guessing what Room Full of Spoons is all about — or what type of plastic cutlery you should take with you to throw at the screen while you're watching it. After all, it was only a matter of time before someone made a doco about the so-bad-it's-still-actually-terrible cult hit that is The Room. Here, Rick Harper chats to the cast and crew that made the movie the uniquely awful (yet inexplicably enjoyable) piece of cinema that it is, complete with an appearance by the man who started it all, Tommy Wiseau. AAAAAAAAH! When we say that Aaaaaaaah! is mostly dialogue-free, we don't actually mean that it's a silent film. A cast that includes writer-director Steve Oram and The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt make plenty of noise, though don't expect to hear them utter any discernible words. The fact that their characters behave and communicate like primates — while still appearing human — is part of the feature's satirical comedy. This flick makes an absurdist statement alright, and it'll have you laughing in the process. THE VIRGIN PSYCHICS No one makes films like Sion Sono, the Japanese auteur behind previous SUFF hit Why Don't You Play in Hell? And few people make films as often as Sono, with the filmmaker's output as prolific as it is distinctive. With The Virgin Psychics — which is one of five films he made in 2015 — he really does tell the tale the title suggests, and in his expected out-there style. Yep, teen virgins wake up with special powers, put them to erotic use, and then strange things happen. Just try to resist this film with that description. ANTIBIRTH There's unexpected pregnancies, and then there's the seemingly immaculate conception at the centre of Antibirth. In Danny Perez's anti-family-friendly effort, Orange is the New Black's Natasha Lyonne plays a drug-addled party-lover who not only discovers that she's expecting, but comes to realise that her condition keeps doubling in size each and every day. Thankfully, Chloë Sevigny is on hand as her best buddy — though when alien conspiracy theories start coming up, expect things to get even weirder. THE BLACKOUT EXPERIMENTS If documentaries can explore subjects that some of us can't face in reality — or simply don't really want to — then underground film fests can give the darkest and strangest such efforts a big-screen home. Just don't head along to see The Blackout Experiments if the idea of attending an immersive theatre show in a secret location, and then having your deepest fears — such as being restrained, stripped naked, and physically and verbally abused, just for starters — inflicted upon you falls outside of your comfort zone. The Sydney Underground Film Festival runs from September 15 to 18. To view the full SUFF 2016 program, or to buy tickets, visit suff.com.au.
Pecha Kucha (ペãƒãƒ£ã‚¯ãƒãƒ£) is one of those great onomatopoeic phrases that pepper the Japanese language. It means chit-chat, and is the perfect way to describe a night based around just that. Pecha Kucha sprang from the minds of architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in 2003 and works on the simple equation that presentations equalling 20 images x 20 seconds means less chance of getting unzari (fed up). Mainly the domain of designers — US-based Architect Magazine declared that nothing has been embraced so wholeheartedly by them since Apple and Moleskines — it has also been used by comedians (Joanna Lumley), Finnish philosophers and basically anyone wanting to avoid death by PowerPoint. Its Sydney branch is gearing up for a pow-wow of hubris and hub-bub this Thursday November 26th at the Red Rattler in Marrickville, with the likes of Damian Hadley (Simpson Design), the soupy suits from Food for Thought, Renew Newcastle’s Maddy Phelan, Thorsten Kulp (Sopp Collective), Keren Moran from design agency Spring in Alaska, jeweller Melinda Young and Penelope Benton who won’t have far to travel from the Red Rattler offices. So go along and paku paku (stuff) yourself on some fast ideas.
Conventional wisdom is that Fringe is your chance to see something truly, deeply weird that would never get a sniff of the main stage but might remind you of the brilliant range of human endeavour. The show to see, in that case, is Jude the Obscure, in which writer/performer Alice Williams plays Australian comedian Judith Lucy (see uncanny resemblance above), in space, in the the future, doing a catalogue of "little known material" from her oeuvre. Because Judith has been accepted into Mars One, of course. Jude the Obscure is on at PACT, which has curated its own lineup of seven Fringe shows, and, as usual, you can be guaranteed that any show you see there is compelling in its own, offbeat way. Among the picks are Animorphed by Applespiel's Simon Binns, in which he reflects on beloved childhood series Animorphs and whether his favourite character was a racist stereotype, and The Defence, a cerebral-fun look at August Strindberg and misogyny within the rehearsal room. Read the rest of our top ten picks of the Sydney Fringe Festival 2013.
Unrequited love isn't the nicest of feelings, so luckily Alt-J are as crazy about us as we are about them. Or maybe they're just waging bets on how many venues they can sell out in the space of 12 months. Whatever – they're coming back at around the same time as a certain mammoth festival taking place at Belongil Fields, meaning die-hard fans might have a chance to see them twice. The great thing about these guys is that they're incredibly easy to listen to while simultaneously sounding like nothing else you've ever heard before. "Indie rock" is an almost horrifically inadequate tag to attach to the quartet, whose jams are closer to subverted art rock blended up with folk, pop and brains. They're also perfectionists and put on a killer live show. Tickets for Alt-J go on sale Wednesday, 13 March at 9am via Ticketek. https://youtube.com/watch?v=rVeMiVU77wo
After critical accolades at the Next Wave festival in 2014 and an appearance at Brisbane's MELT festival, James Welsby's evocative dance production Hex is making its way to Sydney. Partly inspired by this controversial HIV/AIDS awareness ad from 1987, Welsby's show uses movement, music and allegorical imagery to chronicle the gay community's relationship with the devastating disease. To the tunes of Queen, Liberace and Michael Jackson, three dancers move fluidly through the gay scene of the early '80s, the onset of the AIDs crisis, all the way up to present day. In doing so, the hour-long show pays tribute to the countless lives lost to illness, while exploring its impact on young gay men today.
The luxury ocean liner the Empress of Australia has docked at the Bondi Pavillion as Tamarama Rock Surfers ushers in its most ambitious production of 2013. Following up on the award-winning success of last year’s I Want to Sleep with Tom Stoppard, Toby Schmitz brings us Empire: Terror on the High Seas, a nautical murder mystery featuring a 20-strong cast. Directed by Schmitz’s long-time collaborator Leland Kean, the production oozes 1920s swagger and jazzy interludes. As the play steadily ploughs through the Atlantic, an enticing narrative is woven as the characters attempt to uncover the identity of the macabre serial killer stalking the shadowy depths of the ship. Tackling the challenge of creating a post-colonial Australian story external to the great southern land, Schmitz and Kean combine forces to present an epic and gothic tale overflowing with frights, gags, flashy frocks and dinner suits. Don't miss what is sure to be an entertaining and tumultuous voyage.
Ever wanted to run away to the circus? You sure will after a night with these gymnasts. Sydney Festival has roped in the sell-out acrobatic ensemble Gravity & Other Myths for two weeks of truly breath-taking tricks in the Aurora Spiegeltent. They'll be doing stripped-back circus for A Simple Space — a show so primally daring that props and theming would just get in the way. Tumbling and twisting terrifyingly close to audiences, the acrobats will be teamed with a set of live musicians to top off this raw display of human strength and agility. Dangerous or daring, we can't decide. This is one performance to truly get the adrenaline pumping.
