What is it about vampires? Sure, immorality might mean flawless skin for eternity, and hanging around the planet for a few thousand years would make anyone a pretty interesting dinner guest, but they can’t do half the things that superheroes can, and daylight allergy makes for a pretty dim outlook on life. Yet for some reason, right now the only thing sexier than a vampire is a hairless werewolf with vampire envy. Riding on the cape-tails of this strange craze and bringing new meaning to the term 'blood sports', Company B presents Vampire Theatresports — a season of improvised comedy inspired by our fanged friends. For four consecutive Sundays, upstairs Belvoir will provide the battleground for a hilarious, blood-curdling showdown between good and evil. Drawing on all the faves from Twilight to True Blood to the original Dracula, the two teams of seasoned improvisers and best new talents will ad lib their way to victory. Directed by Ewan Campbell, who has been involved in theatresports for over 20 years, Vampire Theatresports is here to lighten up these pallid creatures of the night and put the comedy back into the business of bloodlust. BYO crucifix for safety.
As if Object Gallery's Spring Series were not, with its bicycle dinners and inflatable couch parking lot takeovers and studio tours and pretty website, endearing enough, here is an exhibition with a pun in the title! A double one! Curated by Joan-Maree Hargreaves (Object's Producer - Digital & Publications) StereoTyped looks at sound design and typography and how they come together in contemporary practice, questioning received attitudes about design and designers in the process. And by received attitudes, we mean stereotypes. See what they did there? Featuring works by Stephen Banham, James Cecil, David Chesworth,Amanda Cole, Nils Crompton, Future Classic,Ellen Lupton, Gemma O’Brien, Tin&Ed, Brooke Trezise and Jared Underwood, StereoTyped is an immersive exhibition that brings viewers into close consideration of the works, pairing up visuals with big black headphones around the arc of Object Gallery's Project Space. Pieces employ print, film and sound recording to explore the potentialities of multimedia communications as forms diversifying beyond formally skilled practitioners into broader cultural applications accessible to non-professionals via new publishing technologies. Specialisation is being challenged here, as is a view of design as something that's applied to represent a concept rather than being a part of it. Get excited, inner dorks who like fonts!
Darren and Ralph of A Tiny Chorus have achieved the impossible — they have actually improved on the unimprovable brilliance of Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt's 'Don't Know Much'. In what can only be described as a moment of absurd genius, their jelly duet will change your life. For a second. But, unfortunately, this is, with the exception of the gherkin sequence, where the genius ends. Darren and Ralph (Emily Tomlins and Eryn Jean Norvill), two lovable simpletons (sweet, hapless fools whose simplicity makes them incapable of sentimentality) are on a journey towards love and joy, uncovering, by way of a series of improbable events, the true depths of their relationship. Blow-up microphones, scissors and straws, an inflatable earth and the Macquarie Dictionary accompany the two performers through a loose narrative of revelation. The problem with the show is that the performances, although thoroughly committed, slip, both physically and vocally, into parodies of intellectual disability — so much so that it is uncomfortable to watch. The clown is always a knife-edge character in some way or another, but Darren and Ralph sit just on the other side of perfect. A Tiny Chorus won the People’s Choice Award for Best Performance at the 2009 Melbourne Fringe Festival. And people were laughing at this performance. So maybe I'm just a stick-in-the-mud. A Tiny Chorus is part of the Sydney Fringe Festival.
Nicole Holofcener's peculiar brand of comedic, upper-middle class miserablism finds a pitch-perfect setting on the streets of New York. Once again proving her mastery of the ensemble cast, Holofcener has gathered the likes of Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet, alongside her cinematic staple Catherine Keener, to play out a neighbourly charade. Kate and Alex (Keener and Platt) make a morally questionable living running a furniture store stocked with antiques they've bought on the cheap from grieving relatives. Their wealth has also allowed them to purchase the apartment next door, currently occupied by a wizened old crone, Andra (Ann Guilbert), for whom they must impatiently wait to pass away before they can begin their dream renovation. Andra's two granddaughters (Hall and Peet) meet Kate, Alex and their spotty teenage daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele), for a birthday celebration, after which their lives become more intimately connected. Please Give takes its place in Holofcener's filmography (Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing, Friends with Money) as another shrewd, strongly written, female-driven dramedy. Relationships, death, guilt, money: Holofcener takes pretty much everything you're not supposed to talk about at a dinner party and spins it into a ruefully awkward, bone-dry comedy. And don't go expecting a rosy Hollywood ending either, for what Holofcener serves up instead will surely set chins wagging as you leave the cinema. https://youtube.com/watch?v=dTtjjYQUzWQ
How does that saying go? 'The only functional family is one you haven't met yet.' This certainly holds for Lisa Cholodenko's (High Art, Laurel Canyon) latest filmic family, made up of lesbian couple Nic (Annette Bening), Jules (Julianne Moore) and their two teenagers Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson). After the kids track down their spunky sperm 'donor Dad' Paul (Mark Ruffalo), the family unit comically and poignantly destabilises as everyone makes room (some more willingly than others) for the new addition. Vino-swilling surgeon Nic is immediately threatened, while Jules finds a kindred spirit in the laid back, organic restaurant owner. The emotional stakes are raised even higher in the days prior to Joni leaving for college. Whichever way you slice it, this family is bound for change. Cholodenko's third film is a near masterpiece; part sex-comedy, part radiant and wry portrait of contemporary relationships. Sure these are upper-middle class white folk, caught in a So-Cal bubble of wealth and sunshine, but that doesn't make Cholodenko's observations any less valid, or thought provoking. Spurred on by joyous, fierce, transcendent performances across the board, Cholodenko refuses to tie this family's story off with a neat little bow, which makes for not only an achingly truthful closing act, but one that leaves you pondering (or even vehemently debating) whether everyone in this film will indeed end up all right. https://youtube.com/watch?v=50gfr57QjG0
This Tuesday DBC Pierre will be at the Oxford Art Factory promoting his new book Lights Out In Wonderland, supported by Gareth Liddard from The Drones (who is amazing, for lack of a better superlative). In 2003 Pierre won the Booker Prize for his debut novel, Vernon God Little, which is fairly incredible when you think about it. Previous winners have included heavyweights like J.M Coetzee for Disgrace and Australia's very own adorable garden gnome, Thomas Keneally, for Schindler's Ark. Vernon God Little was the story of an amoral 15-year-old boy who rides around Texas on a dinky bike eating Bar-B-Chew ribs and daydreaming of panty tangs, who gets caught up in the mass hysteria of a school shooting. It has the ease, humour and scope of great American novels like Catcher in the Rye and Confederacy of Dunces. Plus Pierre's personal life — a wasted youth of drugs, fraud and petty crime — lent him a very press friendly sense of rock and roll glamour. His follow-up made less of a splash, but his latest novel Lights Out In Wonderland was just described by the Guardian as "an artful shout of protest from a soul on fire". So I guess he's back on form. To win one of two double passes to see DBC Pierre tonight, head to our Facebook page.
Honestly, I'm kind of sceptical about this sort of thing. Putting on a show about environmental crises at the MCA is comparable to putting out a zine about being shy and liking cupcakes. It's not even preaching to the converted — the difference between audience and author opinion is so potentially slight as to make it akin to talking to oneself. To some extent, In The Balance conforms to that expectation, with a goodly amount of preaching about recycling and how long a plastic container takes to degrade (no, really?). As well as more than a few documentations of environmental protests — admittedly in relatively effective contexts like the Tasmanian old growth fracas — encompassing your typical banner waving and cops/pigs witticisms. But it's a credit to the show's curation that these elements don't so much grate as form a framework of expected reactions upon which a lot of arguably more interesting works create nuance. Much of In The Balance is quite spectacular, with a good deal of excellent photography covering both verdant and destroyed landscapes, alongside numerous plant installations which lend each room a beauty and liveliness. This serves to open the mind to the show's concerns via aesthetic appreciation rather than duh-duh sloganeering. Perhaps the most vibrant example being Lauren Berkowitz's plastic bag sculpture, which drapes from the ceiling white, quiet and enveloping. You (or maybe I) can't help but want to spend time with this, and an appreciation of it utilises a different part of the brain than that which is normally hostile to environmental engagement via it's association with cockweed environmentalists. Whether this results in any action is up for debate, but that it involves thought potentially outside a viewer's usual pathways with regards to "the environment" makes In The Balance a compelling experience.
A comedy about suicide bombers sounds like a tough sell by any stretch of the imagination. But when that imagination stems from British satirist Chris Morris, there is some sort of brilliantly bizarre alchemy at work. Morris made a name for himself with such high wire humour; his cult series Brass Eye was all about flaying cultural sacred cows, and his feature debut Four Lions is no different. Taking a motley crew of Sheffield Muslims, Morris sets Omar (Riz Ahmed), Waj (Kayvan Novak), Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) and Barry (Nigel Lindsay) on a sacred mission: to get audiences to chuckle over a jihad. And chuckle you will, for Morris' screenplay is an appealing mix of witticisms, pitch-black social commentary and dimwit farce. Not all the elements will work for everyone; Omar and Waj bumbling around and wreaking havoc on their terrorist training camp stretches the characters' potential for stupidity a little far, as do some of Waj's more gormless lines. But Morris' precision as co-writer and director finds echoes of Dr. Strangelove, as well as a form of transcendence in the ridiculous. Ahmed gives a pitch-perfect performance as the group's tenacious leader and the film hits its satirical stride when it ventures into Omar's loving domestic life. And as the wannabe terrorists' manifold idiocy careens towards the climatic, costumed charity race (can you tell the difference between a Wookie and a Honey Bear?) Morris and his cast certainly succeed is in their unerring commitment to seeing the joke through to its bitterly funny and deeply poignant end. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2gyxZv0wxTA
For a band so — well loved doesn't quite cut it — adored, it seems shocking that the Chills have only released a handful of records, but the standard of each one is so high that it seems to run into the hundreds. One of the very first bands signed to iconic New Zealand record label Flying Nun, the Chills sit at the tippiest top of the influential pop tree. Formed in 1980, with members dipping in and out of related bands such as the Clean and the Verlaines over the years, the band has seen some tough times, steady lineup changes and sad losses. And yet, Martin Phillips has always been there, leading the charge with his heavenly pop hits. After a brief hiatus, Phillips reformed the band in 2003 to the glee of Dunedin advocates the world over. This is a band that demands you do a little jig when you find out they're playing in your town, a band that you rush out and get your ticket for, a band that, despite the slightly scary press photo, you will cherish forever. https://youtube.com/watch?v=VKWkK1tJxdw
Every seven years, it is said, all of the cells of our body are replaced by brand new, potentially carcinogenic copies. This is growth, maturation, repetition. Someone of a philosophical bent could argue that this means we are constantly unbecoming ourselves, or that indeed there never was a solid self in the beginning. Maybe that all seems like an abstract argument, but turn your mind to the suburbs of Sydney and imagine that each of those houses is a cell and that, over the years, each will eventually be replaced. Does this mean our suburbs are constantly unbecoming? Or that there is no actual truth to our sense of community? Writer and performer, Rosie Dennis, along with June Hickey, explores Sydney's obsession with property development, designer communities and the silent class war of financially driven displacement in Driven to New Pastures. Sheltering in a house marked for demolition, theirs is a tale of six figures forced to move on when the developers' dream turns to reality. Sessions are at 4pm and 8pm. Bookings essential — call 4645 4100. Image by Marilyn Moreno.
The Spanish are once again bringing their special brand of fiesta to Sydney this May. The 13th Spanish Film Festival has a programme brimming with over 40 films, many of which come with a glittering array of festival accolades, including the Oscar-nominated short animation The Lady and the Reaper, which will open the festival along with the crowd pleasing rom-com Friends Zone. Other critically acclaimed films include Berlinale winners The Milk of Sorrow, Crab Trap and Gigante, as well as the Goya- (Spanish Academy Awards) winning animation The Missing Lynx. And closing the festival is Agora, this year's favourite with six Goyas, by Oscar-winning director Alejandro Amenábar (The Sea Inside, The Others) and starring Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardner) as the Greek mathematician and philosopher Hypatia. Set in fourth century Alexandria, this historical epic tracks the revolutionary rise of religion and the political and social upheavals that portend centuries of Classical tradition. Alongside these new releases from Spain and Latin America, the festival has programmed an exciting All By Women section, highlighting the achievements of contemporary female filmmakers. Included among this great selection is the winner of this year's Goya for Best New Director, Mar Coll, with her debut feature, Three Days with the Family. The festival is also shining the spotlight on director Fernando Trueba, who will be visiting Australia to conduct Q&A screenings of his new film The Dancer and the Thief. Audiences will also have the opportunity to catch up on his lauded films, including Oscar-winning Belle Epoque, the Civil War–set The Girl of Your Dreams and Trueba's love letter to Latin jazz, 54th Street. Documentaries, Julio Medem's naked romp Room in Rome and a vibrant Viva La Musica section (including a Q&A screening with Sydney Dance Company artistic director Rafael Bonachela for Blank Canvas) are all vying for attention over a jam-packed 12 days. And keep an eye on the website for the special 'best of the fest', screening on a lucky 13th day! To win one of five double passes visit our Facebook page, invite some of your peeps to CP then confirm on the wall below. https://youtube.com/watch?v=f-xH0lHUs9c
I imagine The Shipment to be a little like watching Eddie Murphy's Raw: hilarious and uncomfortable in the extreme. The difference is that the writer in this case, Young Jean Lee, is no black stand-up comedian but a Korean-born, Brooklyn-based, experimental theatre-maker. A self-described avant-garde artist, Lee's method of working is to force herself to write plays about the things she least wants to write about, demanding a constant extension of herself and her practice. With an awareness of her own discomfort with black identity politics, Lee has created a work that bends, twists and subverts our tendency to see things in racial terms — in 'black and white'. But don't mistake serious intentions for a serious show: The Shipment won't disappoint Murphy fans either. Inappropriate laughs and language abound, not to mention a shuck and jive dance scene. Lee works as both playwright and director with her ensemble cast, resulting in a piece of theatre which is as energetic and determined as she is. The testament to this is that since opening in Brooklyn in April 2008 the cast have barely stopped touring.
This is a story stranger than fiction: of a concentration camp, Theresienstadt, that was held up to Jewish prisoners as a reward for good behaviour and to the world as a solution to the "Jewish problem". The centre of life and the means of survival in this camp was the ability to perform, to act your part — and in doing so, to show the world that you were alive and happy and perhaps also cope with the circumstances within which you found yourself. Presented to visiting Red Cross officials in 1944 as a model Jewish settlement, members of the camp were forced to reconstruct the town as a set, were dressed in their Sunday best and made to perform to a script. In reality, this 'performance' was so successful that it was followed by a film, cynically titled The Führer Gives a Village to the Jews. All tricky stuff. However, director Tanya Goldberg describes Way To Heaven, the play loosely based on the Red Cross visit, as "more than a holocaust play". Juan Mayorga's script takes issue with what it means to perform and the relationship between our 'character' and our 'performances', questioning the essence of self and the relation of this to action. Goldberg's production employs a number of Brechtian-style distancing techniques to remind us that this is a performance, and not a historical reenactment: one account is given through a microphone, house lights are switched on during scene changes and actors fall purposefully in and out of role — both in the play, and in the play within the play (the performance of the chosen Jews to 'the visitor'). Nevertheless, the emotional dimension of this history is impossible to contain. In a plot where the ability to communicate or conceal something is a matter of life or death, performative symbols become incredibly powerful for the audience. The Jewish lullaby sung by a young girl is devastating, while the first appearance of the giant Nathan Lovejoy in SS uniform is pure horror. The demands which are made of the audience — to look into the eyes of various characters in this production — are unexplainably difficult. Thankfully, the script, actors and audience are ultimately treated with great sensitivity. The collaborative, supportive community of Ride On Theatre, not to mention Griffin Theatre, is hugely significant in this. The long journey to staging this script, apparently five years in the making, has been a blessing in disguise for this production, resulting in a delicately nuanced and potent performance. Image by Heidrun Löhr. https://youtube.com/watch?v=eacIpUZfwoM
There must be something in the river water in Brisbane that dictates a synthesizer fascination, at least since the mid '90s when Regurgitator added a keytar player to their band after the release of Unit. At the same time, the young Seja Vogel was playing synth in electro-pop purveyors Sekiden, shredding the ebony and ivories, and later in the '00s became a member of the 'Gurge. 'I'll get To You' is the first taste of her debut solo album, and it doesn't surprise much in its sound — '80s synths over programmed beats a la Gary Numan — but the surprise comes in the lovely vocals, a sweet melancholic melody that is backed by layers of serene aaahhhhs. It comes complete with a clip full of soft-focus '80s psychedelia: lots of triangles, pyramids and overlapping frames. Making this an unmissable double-header are Otouto, a fresh, new band from Melbourne, made up of two singing sisters and the heavily mutton-chopped Kishore Ryan on drums (better known for his stick work with Kid Sam). Their music is a collaged, lo-fi, slightly messy clash of sounds, jumping around melodically while the sisters sing in unison. Otouto are, too, about to release their debut album. Ghoul round out this bill of new buzz bands. It's all happening in Newtown's favourite watering hole, the Sandringham, which apparently has a good new band room. https://youtube.com/watch?v=NXd0YdbPZvs
There I was, breaking open the piggy bank to rustle up enough cash for a plane ticket to Burning Man festival, Glastonbury or maybe even Fuji Rocks, when out of the blue Splendour in the Grass announce their lineup for 2010. Suddenly my dreams of northern-hemisphere summer festival frolicking burst into flames and I'm plotting a cheap ride up to Queensland in July. Headlining are the Strokes, who sold out their Hordern Pavillion gig earlier this week in less than 48 hours. Thank you for giving all us disorganised Sydney fans a second chance to set the room (or field) on fire with you. Pixies must love life Down Under as they are back for a second time this year, as well as folksters Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling. And packing her lungs for her second Aussie tour is the crimson-haired Florence and the Machine. Homegrown favourites are out in full festival force and include Empire of the Son, Paul Kelly, the Temper Trap, the Vines, Wolfmother, Lisa Mitchell and the delectable Angus and Julia Stone. And to top it all off with an electronic cherry are Goldfrapp, Hot Chip, Grizzly Bear, LCD SoundSystem, Foals and Delphic. Oh, and did I mention Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Magic Numbers, Two Door Cinema Club and Kate Nash? What about Ben Harper, Ash and the Scissor Sisters? Surely this is a festival organiser's wish-list published by accident? And if it is true, do they not realise the immense stress that such a line-up inflicts on perfectionists when it comes to coordinating stage visits? As long as I see the Strokes, I'm happy. But then again I'm happy hanging out in the camping ground drinking cider and talking bollocks. To celebrate their 10th anniversary, Splendour in the Grass are stretching the fun from two days to three, and have moved homes further north to the slightly warmer winter location of Woodford, Queensland. Bring on the port-a-loos! Tickets on sale 9am, Thursday May 6
Like a much much more labour-intensive profile picture, a portrait is how a person has thought someone should be seen. This is a horrible analogy, but, frankly, so too are some of the paintings at The Real Refuses. TAP Gallery, fantastically, are for the 14th year running putting up what doesn't go into the Archibald Prize at the state gallery or the accompanying and also pretty institutional Salon Des Refuses at S.H. Ervin. Once you've culled 3000 or so entries for the Archie, Wynne and Sulman prizes down to however much can be packed into the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and had a panel select an exhibition of the very worthwhile not-quites, and you let artists submit directly to the gallery at an afternoon tea, it gets Really Interesting. There are a few landscapes on show, but the real point is picking out who you recognise and seeing what's been done to their face. What distinguishes the 'refuses' from the 'includeds' is more to do with subject than skill: there are lovely paintings here, where people really might be looking out of the canvas at you, but you don't see the who or why other than as an exercise of the artist's (in most cases, pretty evident) talent.
Actually, that title in full is The Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman AKA Bob Dylan (A Lie) — A Theatrical Talking Blues and Glissendorf. Complex, yes — and an appropriate clue as to the whole experience (the key being 'Bob Dylan'). Through a combination of monologues, duologues with the veteran ghosts of fame, and songs, the play explores the joint enigma of Dylan's life and his self. Don't expect a neat biography: that would be inappropriate. 'Glissendorf' is a reference to a word game played by Dylan which was intended to confuse its audience, so take it as a warning. Benito Di Fonzo's text travels in a deceptively laidback fashion, words slung together into abstract patterns like glass beads, while clear definition slides past and always just out of grasp. Words, including names, are not fixed labels but are employed as symbols when and where appropriate. The songs are not quite literal either. While the production team are the first to admit that this was for legal and not artistic reasons, the re-imagining of Dylan's music and words in new forms seems far more appropriate — Dylan being the last person to play his songs as recorded. This also allows actor/musical director Matt Ralph the ability to sidestep an entirely derivative portrayal and tread new creative ground. Other characters which appear or are merely gestured to are represented in much the same way. Expect to see T.S. Eliot led as a dog on a leash led by Ezra Pound amid lines such as "burning like a pubic hair on Charlton Heston's crossbow". The mood of mysticism serves to do more than obscure: it is revealing — and quite funny. Tapping into a beatnik version of magical realism, Chronic Ills avoids insincere imitation to navigate far richer waters.
In a world funded by the currency of youth, aging can be a pretty difficult concept for a lot of folks to accept. Ours is a time in which Botox clinics pop up like wild fungi, dating a boy in school uniform is considered a mark of feminine liberation and citing an ‘age range’ as opposed to an actual age is no longer isolated to Hollywood actors. In Philip Ridley's intimate, off-kilter play The Fastest Clock in the Universe, directed by Evin Donohoe, modern day age-phobia is explored through its egocentric lead character, aptly named ‘Cougar'. The action kicks off on Cougar's ‘19th’ birthday, an event that we later learn has taken place several times before. Doted on by his loyal companion, simply known as ‘the Captain’, we see Cougar basking in his vanity with the self-obsession of a full-blown narcissist. Complete with fake birthday cards and a cake adorned with 19 candles, we eventually discover that the whole fraudulent shindig is for the benefit of Foxtrot, a much younger boy Cougar is trying to bait. Cougar's ill-intentioned plan is quickly derailed however, with the arrival of Sherbet, Foxtrot's newly acquired fiancé. While this darkly comic play indulges in melodrama a little too often, at times coming off overplayed and unfeasible, it redeems itself through some genuinely humorous moments and solid performances, most notably from Brooke Ryan (Sherbet) whose impeccable comic timing adds a dynamic dimension to the second act. In the subtler moments, the broader themes of vanity, mortality, sexuality and power translate effectively; unfortunately they are lost when overlapped by cliché.
The Come Together festival is badly named; the two-day, Luna Park event splits the lineup stylistically into two separate days, so it's actually more about pushing things apart than coming together per se. Saturday June 12 features lots of bands that I really don't like, but maybe you do: Gyroscope, The Butterfly Effect (who names themselves after an Ashton Kutcher movie?), Frenzal Rhomb (okay, I don't mind them so much), Strung Out, House Vs Hurricane, MM9, The Loved Ones and more. If you love your metal and punk, that is your prerogative, and I wish you all the best in life; Saturday is your day. If you prefer your music on the lighter side, then you can get along to Sunday's lineup, which has bands that I do like, and you may like too: The Jezabels are a great band, Boy and Bear play really lovely melodic folk-rock, Ernest Ellis, fronted by Roland Ellis (not Ernest, though earnest), is a very good young band about to release their debut album, Horrorshow do quite good hip hop, and, although I don't really dig her music that much, Lord can Bertie Blackman sing, and she always puts on a good show. They're joined by Grinspoon, British India and Dead Letter Circus, among others. I apologise for my blatant disregard of journalistic objectivity and preference for righteous opinions. It's been my way of saying: there's something for everyone at this firmly established festival. Lots more bands are yet to be announced, but tickets go on sale before that, from Thursday, April 8, at 9am (pre-sales from Tuesday, April 6, at noon).
David Scott Mitchell’s bequest of his books, papers and pictures to the State Library in 1907 came with the condition that it be housed and displayed in its own wing. When it opened in 1910, it provided the first public collection of Australian and Oceanic history through original, primary sources, alongside an extraordinary selection of general maps, manuscripts and records. Its holdings have been continually expanded to encompass more local and historical treasures, and, as a venue, it’s become a part of the social history it houses. To celebrate its centenary, the Mitchell Library’s ONE hundred exhibition has 100 of its treasures on display for 100 days, almost jumbling together objects that are significant in their specificity to time and place and revealing in their vernacular documentation of technologies, geographies and attitudes. In one room, there’s a 14th-century prayer book, an ultra-candid portrait of an upper working–class settler matriarch, a photo of a filthy Sydney butcher’s shop in 1903, car ads and a proclamation on marriage and morals from Governor Lachlan Macquarie. The collection is held together by the way its various exhibits all represent and document life and the world, with an emphasis on individual views and moments in time.
Adaptations of ancient Greek plays are scarce in the landscape of contemporary Australian theatre. While Shakespeare productions continue to flourish, the earlier classics attract less excitement. That said, Love Me Tender is no straightforward re-staging. Playwright Tom Holloway, while inspired by Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis, has twisted contemporary images and ideology into a dreamlike chaos. Holloway's creation is unusual in its rich wealth of symbolism and abstraction and in the fluidity of its characters and representation. The two godlike characters operate to provide context, then confuse it, drive the action forward, then halt it. These two could be seen in realist terms as writers, translators or interpreters, or in historical terms as reminiscent of a Greek chorus. While espousing particular approaches in their discussions, they in fact emphasise the confused and oppositional beliefs at play in the situation at hand. This production draws heavily on the relationship between Holloway and director Matthew Lutton, who previously collaborated on Don't Say The Words. Lutton's work is striking, particularly in his direction of actors' movement. Belinda McClory, as the mother, exerts perfect control to steer between the admirable, violent and pitiful. The design aspects of the production are similarly significant. Water is used in different ways but primarily as a fine mist to create a fog-like effect while gradually soaking the actors. Without giving too much away, the introduction of a live animal to the stage similarly raises the stakes. While the overall tension does unfortunately tend to peter out before what should be the climax, this is an exceptionally brave and generous production. https://youtube.com/watch?v=5fgVdPusorU
Bringing together more than fifty artists in one exhibition might seem a little chaotic, especially when their backgrounds and practices are as diverse as the artists included here. Acrylics, oils, pastels, charcoal, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, metalsmithing - there are more disciplines here than in highschool art class. Yet Small is the New Big has an interesting cohesiveness to it, some kind of organic through line that makes it all work in flowing harmony. Size definitely matters and the smaller the better.Image: Helen Poyser, Shark 2
John Cale co-founded The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed.Well, that should be reason enough to want to see him, but if not...He's worked with such luminaries as Brian Eno, Terry Riley and Kevin Ayers, appeared on Nick Drake's beautiful Bryter Layter and participated in the first ever performance of Erik Satie's 18 hour piano piece Vexations. He produced the following iconic and brilliant albums: Horses for Patti Smith (Horses, goddamnit!), The Modern Lovers' debut record, The Stooges self-titled debut, and fellow Velvet Underground bandmate Nico's The Marble Index, Desertshore and The End. Just to name a few little accomplishments.As a solo artist, Cale has the traits of a wanderer, picking up new instruments here and there, and experimenting with genres that may have seemed like odd choices at the time, but looking back his work has a kind of cohesiveness, an ebb and flow of pattern and talent with a love of drone. While still a student in London, he organised an early Fluxus concert he titled A Little Festival of New Music in 1963. Later he played in famed avant garde composer La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music, and while he still delves into pop (the titular single from 1973's solo record Paris 1919 is a real pop masterpiece, see below), there's always an element straying from the path.John Cale will perform as a guest of the Sydney Festival, live in concert with his band, supported by Sydney's own Jack Ladder. He will also present the Keynote Address for Circa 1979: Signal to Noise. https://youtube.com/watch?v=_3ueIweuUvo
Much has been celebrated about the post punk and new wave scenes of New York, LA and London, but what of Australia? The exhibition Circa 1979: Signal to Noise, presented by Modular Records with the Sydney Festival, seeks to address this by uncovering and sharing information about the experimental local arts scene of 1979-1985. A time period when the avant garde, early electronica and "little band" scene was simmering in warehouses, crumbling estates and being pressed onto small editions of vinyl to released by new independent labels. With the growing interest in this scene, as evidenced by the Can't Stop It: Australian Post Punk compilations released by Chapter Records and a sell-out cinema program with a similar slant in 2009's Melbourne International Film Festival, it's high time we take a look at the creative movement in a panel and gallery setting. Particularly at a point in local underground culture in which many of the venues and small labels that support the modern-day counterparts to this scene are closing down around us. It's not just history but a contemporary call-to-arms. Before we delve into this extraordinary piece of local history, the inimitable John Cale will present the Keynote Address at the opening party (tickets $30), discussing his own experiences during the late 70s and early 80s in the endlessly interesting New York art and music world, his work with Andy Warhol and his time in the Velvet Underground and as a solo musician. John Cale also performs in concert at the Enmore Theatre as part of the Sydney Festival. The first of its kind, an exhibition of historical ephemera including fanzines, album art, photography and previously unseen films will be on display at the Seymour Centre. Alongside this curated work, Circa 1979 brings together influential figures to discuss their experiences and look at the legacy, over a series of three free panel sessions on January 16th, all at Seymour's Everest Theatre. Session 1: World Domination - The Australian Post Punk Movement 12pm. Moderator: Marty Wirth Presenter: Julian Knowles Panelists: Michael Tee, Jaimie Leonarder, Roger Grierson, Andrew Penhallow, Clinton Walker Session 2: Postmodern vs. Modern debate on Remixing and Recycling 1:30pm. Moderator: Marty Wirth Presenter: Tom Ellard Panelists: Steve Malinder, Julian Knowles, Phil Turnbull, Ross Harley Session 3: Experimental Film & Video 3pm Host: Jaimie Leonarder Presenters: Jaimie Leonarder, Ross Hartley, Ian Andrews, Tom Ellard, Stephen Jones Image: Voigt 465 https://youtube.com/watch?v=KofUP7jPkMc
How is it that a band can form in 1984 and still sound as fresh and invigorating two and a half decades later? What's more, Yo La Tengo just keep getting more interesting as time, records and tours pass by. Let's all applaud the news then, shall we, that Yo La Tengo return to Sydney in February — a dreamy alterna-rock chaser to the glut of the summer music season. No strangers to these shores, in Sydney they've played in-store acoustic gigs, numerous shows at the Metro, Q&A's at the Chauvel, and made truly heavyvibe festival appearances. The manner in which Yo La Tengo perform is about as surprising as their musical tangents, evident across their almost cripplingly extensive back catalogue. This includes pop classics such as Electr-O-Pura, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, instrumental film scores like The Sounds of the Sounds of Science, Old Joy, and rather mental covers records with the tittering titles Yo La Tengo is Murdering the Classics and the recent Fuckbook (released under the name Condo Fucks), right up to 2009's excellent Popular Music. They even have a Christmas EP. This time, on their way to the Perth International Arts Festival, they're playing two separate sets in Sydney. The first is at The Basement on 17 February, the next installment of their ongoing The Freewheelin' Yo La Tengo Tour wherein the audience is invited to request the songs they will play each night and ask questions. The other is at theMetro on 18 February, which is the regular Yo La Tengo show Sydneysiders have come to know and love (if building a whopping big wash of sound, covering Sun Ra and occasional marital bickering on-stage is regular to you). Truly, I can't recommend a Yo La Tengo live show more. If that doesn't convince you, consider this: it's impossible not to love a band that named one of their first records New Wave Hot Dog, no? https://youtube.com/watch?v=zDgpQBaziy0
In a world where the new is often demanded but rarely considered or discussed for any length of time, the Berlin-based Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is a memorable exception. A self-defined 'phenomenon-producer', Eliasson creates work from nature's supermarket: light, moss, water, ice and steam. He has summoned a geyser in Pittsburgh, erected waterfalls in New York, installed a sun inside the Tate Modern, and coloured rivers in Stockholm, Los Angeles, Iceland and Bregenz (Germany) a gaudy radioactive green. Renowned for his studio practice (where a small militia of assistants and collaborators specializing in anything from science, architecture and horticulture are employed), Eliasson is a serious manufacturer of experiences and one of those contemporary artists that art history won't be able to neglect. Here for his touring exhibition, Take Your Time, Eliasson will partake in a conversation with curator Madeleine Grynsztejn on his collaborations, past projects and current exhibition. And with much of Eliasson's work centered on shifting our perspectives through momentary and surprising encounters, you may well find that the mother nature of contemporary art has more to speak about than just the weather. If you miss the man see the show: Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson is on from December 10 - April 11, 2010.
A band plays by the side of an American highway in a music video. The musicians look kind of catatonically into what they're doing on a grassy patch, oblivious to both the traffic and the camera. The music they're making is catchy and familiar with a great big wash of fuzz over the top. That's a typical slice of Thee Oh Sees surf'n'turf pizza party that's here on tour from San Francisco this week, en route to play the Meredith Music Festival in Victoria.Formed by John Dyer (Coachwhips, Yikes, Burmese), Thee Oh Sees are a four-piece whose sound conjures up images of sixties maudlin college mixers that eventually turn into wild frat stompers. Somebody spiked the punch! That said, their garage band feel is free of boring revivalism, this group mean business...in a laid-back west coast kind of way. A band heard best live to feel their sun-soaked visions of teen dreams and keggers up close.Supporting are Concrete Playground faves Naked on the Vague playing their gothic pop, along with Circle Pit and Yes Mix.https://youtube.com/watch?v=VVL3mEwBhBI
I once stood in line for a really long time to get a book signed by David Sedaris. During the wait, he proposed that smokers go to the start of the line because they've been getting such a bad rap lately. When I, a non-smoker who had to stay at the back, finally reached the front of the line he was just about ready to go. He asked me when was the last time I had eaten a lamington, pronouncing it lamming-tohn. I explained to him the tradition of the 'lamington drive' as a fundraising tool and he took a little notebook out of his breast pocket and wrote it down. He used it the next day in a speech he gave. I WAS THRILLED. Life could not get better. Then I found out he was touring Sydney again.It's these kind of small thrills that make up David Sedaris' memoirs, tales mostly mined from his large family. The first time I saw him speak live he wondered aloud about why his kin might be annoyed by his liberal lifting of their speech, his line of thought being "well what are [they] going to do with it?". His family offer many stories, particularly pertaining to his genius sister Amy (Strangers with Candy) and a filthy-mouthed younger brother known affectionately as The Rooster. His books â€" New York Times bestsellers, all â€" draw directly from his childhood, and more recently include tales of life with boyfriend Hugh in the French countryside that would seem idyllic to many, but to Sedaris it is a hotbed of intrigue teeming with zombie threat and "swimming" mice. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker and the much loved NPR radio show This American Life, David Sedaris is, how can I say this without seeming too forceful, not to be missed. His voice and particular talent with the pregnant pause add a whole new level of dry wit and sensitivity to his books which you should probably run out and read if you've not already. This is his third reading tour of Sydney, and his first at the State Theatre. Run/click quickly for tickets.https://youtube.com/watch?v=upXWyZ9Pe3Q
Dirty Projectors, and front-man Dave Longstreth's pre-DP projects, initially copped more than their fair share of flack for being too intellectually obfuscative (read pretentious). Their fourth album Bitte Orca seems to have soothed the critics and it's pretty easy to see why. Dirty Projectors happen to be particularly good at what they do and in Bitte Orca they've made it all a little more likeable without giving up on complexity. Their slightly off-kilter arrangements and the occasionally choral-like vocals of Longstreth, Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian and Haley Dekle make for a remarkable sound. With Bjork, David Byrne and The Roots among their fans, they've well and truly won the 'darling' tag.By all accounts Dirty Projectors' live shows are an experience and they'll be in Sydney in March for their inaugural Australian tour. https://youtube.com/watch?v=YMPF6lpM0XM
To be or not to be? This is a question that every theatre company should ask of themselves whenever attempting to stage a classic text, for no quicker are old words rendered obsolete than through boring, unimaginative parroting. Brave is the company, Berlin's world-famous Schaubühne in this case, that takes its production of Hamlet to an international audience.Performed in a German translation by master playwright Marius Von Mayenburg, this Hamlet demands your attention. Six performers recreate the antics of over twenty characters, ghoulishly inhabiting a stage covered in dirt and overlaid with grainy, live video feeds. Director Thomas Ostermeier has unearthed the rotten heart of a Denmark not unlike the spasmodic lurching of our own, often tragic, political landscape. Prepare to fight for a ticket!Image by Arno Declair
From the opening intertitle of The Informant! (or even from the title’s exclamation mark) it’s abundantly clear Steven Soderbergh is gearing up to have a lot of fun. Though based on the bizarre true story of white-collar whistleblower Mark Whitacre, there’s no way Soderbergh is going to let the facts get in the way of a good yarn. And what’s more he has Marvin Hamlisch supplying Broadway-style tunes (BYO jazz hands!) to further heighten his stylised, corporate caper. A chubby Matt Damon positively revels in the role of the Machiavellian yet ludicrously naïve agri-businessman Whitacre. Outwardly the role (and the extra pounds) is similar to Russell Crowe’s Oscar nominated turn in Michael Mann’s The Insider. Perhaps due to the success of that film, Soderbergh takes a self-reflexive, ironic about face and presents us with an entirely unreliable protagonist, one whose dealings with the FBI feel like something out of a movie. Case in point: most exposition is muted by Whitacre’s voice-over, where he quite randomly muses on life rather than narrating the facts. 
Then there are the visuals. Soderbergh, his production designer Doug J. Meerdink and his trusty RED camera recreate the Midwest of the 1990s with some splashings of 1970s kitsch. It’s an amusingly cheesy mix only aided by Whitacre’s succession of truly terrible ties and requisite taupe walls. Like all of Soderbergh’s experimental films, The Informant! is exercise in style as well as a refashioning of generic conventions. At times, however, it feels like everyone on set is having a little too much fun, forgetting to move the story along. Consequently the third act drags and Damon’s character borders on becoming a cloying caricature. It’s worth sticking with The Informant! despite this; just enjoy a decidedly Coen-esque, darkly comic romp around corporate America with the delusional man who decided to cry wolf to the FBI. The Informant! screens at Sydney Theatre Company at 1PM on Sunday afternoon, followed by a talk with director Steven Soderbergh. Sodenbergh's STC production Tot Mom opens on December 18.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ph4x5yw_DMQ
When Luigi Pirandello's Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore premiered in Rome in 1921, the play introduced the idea that fictional characters could exist beyond their creator, lost out in the world as orphans craving attention. But if there's anything that reality television has taught us, it's that many real people want to take part in a story bigger than their daily life. Even flesh and blood needs an author, so it seems.Rupert Goold, artistic director of the British company, Headlong, has re-imagined Pirandello's tragicomedy for a world besotted with the media. As the title suggests, six people interrupt the filming of a docu-drama and claim that they are fictional characters seeking an author. So, of course, someone with a handy camera decides that the only solution is to record it all for the world to see.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Dx6ClxxJXGE
The Good Vibes line-up has become like one of those old, terry-towelling outfits you get out once a year - comfortable, fleeced with memories, and soooooo familiar. Luckily that outfit will go down a treat amongst the hundreds of thousands of partygoers (just be sure to add aviators and zinc cream) flocking to see Basement Jaxx, Armand van Helden, Gossip, Busta Rhymes (woo-haa!), Friendly Fires (we'll jump in their pool), Salt-N-Pepa (they may be pushing 50 but they can still Push It!), and some Naughty by Nature to prepare you for sweating all over other people's property. Just don't get any bindies stuck in your terry-towelling - they'll be a nightmare to get out when 2011 rolls around.
In most situations Concrete Playground would not advise heading back to an unknown person's hotel room that was going to be full of strangers. That way spells trouble, you would say. Especially when you know whipped cream is involved. But this Thursday, perhaps you should live on the edge a little, and head to the Darlo Bar where ten artists have taken over the seven hotel rooms to turn them into a series of gallery and performance spaces. Selected by Jesse Willesee himself, the artist behind Darlo Bar's May exhibition Paintings in Hotel Rooms, you will be able to wander inside private spaces, exploring the unknown, all to the tune of Sydney's newest musical discovery Whipped Cream Chargers. Don't forget your room key.
Is there anything Japan doesn't have? Department stores full of plastic food models and animal hats, the world’s biggest pedestrian crossing, brothels shaped like train carriages… and a whole lot of great films! The 13th Japanese Film Festival jumps from bittersweet comedies to interpersonal dramas to dystopic action films, with a bit of anime thrown in for good measure. Opening night film The Handsome Suit is a fantastical take on one man’s quest for love. Ohki (Muga Tsukaji) is all out of luck with the ladies until he finds a magical suit. At first it’s all good news as the suit transforms the hapless chef into a smooth fellow named Hikariyama, but the question of whether money or, in this case, a magic suit can truly provide happiness remains. Another standout is All Around Us. The 2008 film from director Ryosuke Hashiguchi saw Tae Kimura collect four separate awards for Best Actress for her portrayal of depressed wife Shoko. The refreshingly honest dynamic between Shoko and husband Kanao (Lily Franky) is something different for a Japanese relationship drama, and the distinctly modern problems the couple face endear them to us all the more. Franky is also well known in Japan as an author, illustrator, radio host and frontman of Tokyo Mood Punks. Evidently, the word “slashy†hasn’t hit Japan yet, and it seems they’re all the better for it.Possibly the most talked-about film of the festival is Detroit Metal City, based on a manga series of the same name. The premise is that sweet, bowl-cut-sporting Negishi (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) just wants to make Swedish pop, but somehow ends up fronting the death metal band of the film’s title. His boss extinguishes cigarettes on her tongue and Gene Simmons makes a cameo, but Negishi’s main concern is that his mother will find out about his reluctant success. It’s obvious to say that a film festival has something for everyone but, judging by the perfect combination of death metal, magic suits and depressed housewives, this one really does. To win a double pass to any film excluding the opening and closing events at the Japanese Film Festival, email your name and address to hello@concreteplayground.com.au with 'Japan' in the subject line.Image from Detroit Metal City
Love is as definable as a car parked in a clearway at peak hour. Scottish-based author Dan Rhodes knew this, and so bravely gave 101 stories about very different loves to the world in his 2000 book, Anthropology: 101 true love stories. Now, almost ten years later, Even Books is using their eleventh outing to honour the airing of Rhodes' soulful sighs.The challenge has been set for all attendants to pen their own 101-word tale of juices, tears and blushing for the night, which will be quoted and shared over oceans of free beer, siroccos of music and the other devastating explosions of hyperbole that usually accompany the talk of love. Also, there'll be a chance for you to speak through the medium of pop by dedicating a love song to that special someone (or yourself).Video by Victor Solomonanthropology - 'trick' from victor solomon on Vimeo.
Is there anything better than watching a movie outside? Seriously, you're watching a movie, but it's OUTSIDE. You would normally watch a movie in your living room. But thanks to Sydney Festival (and let's temporarily ignore all other outdoor cinemas that are operating this summer), you'll get to watch a movie outside. Did you hear that? Outside. With the added bonus of fresh air, moonlight, picnic rugs and the sounds of Sydney fruit bats flying overhead, Sydney Festival is putting on a bumper series of classic Aussie flicks to entertain us these balmy summer nights. Not only that though, you'll be watching these movies on a giant, inflatable screen down one end of Sydney University's iconic quad. Immerse yourself in the history of the architecture and be simultaneously entertained by a talking picture. Sydney Festival also understands the importance of music in cinema, and so accompanying every film will be a live musical act. Listen to Decoder Ring before seeing Somersault or The Pigram Brothers and Alex Lloyd croon prior to watching Mad Bastards. Also included in the program are Kev Carmody with One Night the Moon, Archie Roach with The Tracker, The Necks with The Boys, and Tex Perkins and Murray Paterson with Beautiful Kate. Starting January 18 this will be your favourite cinematic festival event.
Admit it. Everyone has dreamt, at least once, of starring in their own song and dance extravaganza. This, friends, is your chance. For one weekend only, Sydney's legendary Trocadero will rise from the ashes as the Trocadero Dance Palace. And all you need do is step out in your dancing shoes: as if in a dream, the rest has been taken care of. The dance floor has been cleared, the swing bands are booked, the bar is stocked up and the set is, well, set. Your lindy-hopping is not quite as rehearsed as you'd like? Dancers will be on hand to take you through the steps in a pre-evening dance class. All that is required is your attendance. Image: Royal Crown Revue, courtesy of Sydney Festival
In music, a nocturne is drawn from the night or other dusky moods. At the Object Gallery's Project Space, Janet Lawrence and Lee Mathers are exhibiting their own nocturnal visions. Lee Mathers' four pieces form a single image of sky and stars. She uses a series of clear, luminescent fairy lights to paint out words and objects. The most striking as you enter are lines from William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury written in fairy light across the black sky. The words spill down over the floor, and across a box full of the things they describe. On the other side white fairy lights push up from the floor, sprouting glass ashtrays. Between these lights, three tiny dandelions with luminescent bright cores shine, their LED globes stuffed with real dandelion pods. These three little tufts, with tough hearts glowing, seem to sit in midair with their own solemn purpose. Janet Lawrence's work sits on a white shelf, opposite Mathers' black wall. She presents smoky glass panes, fuzzy like an X-ray, which lean back between the black dead branches of one tree and the white-antlered limbs of another, a small owl trapped in the second's branches and both veiled in thin fabric. The work seems lost in itself — lost between trees, in strange tides or the spectre of creeping molds and fungi. Branching white tissue, forking limbs and the sensation of snow on a dead forest seem to overwhelm the individual parts of Lawrence's whole work. The cold and the shivers stay with you, despite the warm summer rain pattering on the roof of the object gallery in real life. And while the Object Gallery is beautiful in itself, up close the broad sweeps of these works fail to resolve into single pictures, as you can only back away from them so far. But edge back as far as you dare and you'll still see some little slices of night. Image by Steve Ryan.
Kwanzaa is an invented festival, but only in the sense that Australia Day got made up at some point. It's formed from a collection of real African traditions and seasons. And although you can rustle up kids books on it, it's no Christmas alternative. This festival isn't religion, it's heritage all the way. In the tumult of the festive season, Chocolate Jesus is putting on a party that sees the heritage of gangsta in Kwanzaa and in putting it on early, Chocolate Jesus has rolled all seven days of Nguzosaba themes into one big, principled omnibus of sound. The lineup includes the tranquil sounds of Domeyko/Gonzalez, the hypnotic Disco Club, electronic duet Piano is Drunk and Sick Python. The artist super-collage that is PING! will also make an appearance, as well as the Old Men of Moss Mountain — not the legendary hashish-eating killers, but the ethereal crooners said to have been discovered on an aging cassette in an apartment on the Pest side of Buda. If live music isn't enough for you, Moses MacRae, White Ox DJs and Penrith Oil + Leroy Madrid will be present on the decks.
It is too easy to be cynical at Christmas time. Yes, consumerism is bad. Yes, Santa in his red and white garb has been used as a mascot by an evil beverage multinational to sell their evil beverage. And, yes, celebrating the birth of a Jewish boy by eating pig meat and shellfish is culturally insensitive. But for all that, a lot of people still have a sense of magic associated with this time of year, and no amount of acerbic irony will quash the memories evoked by old TV shows, mince tarts and classic Christmas tunes. This year Opera Australia is presenting one of the higher quality Christmas memory medleys with its Great Christmas Caper. Hosted by The Wharf Revue's Jonathan Biggins, the Caper presents a story about Santa and his awry helper, starring the impressive baritone of Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the cabaret queen phenomena that is Meow Meow (who presented her own Christmas show earlier this year). Combining operatic virtuosity with cheeky humour and showy chutzpah, this event promises to be meatier than your usual night of carols. Image by Jeff Busby
If you remember that most of us were first fed from a loving breast, then it makes sense that we often turn to food for comfort. We each have our foibles, our cravings and there is, upon every tastebud, a grin waiting to be unlocked. Either putting the epic or cure back into epicure, art collective Bababa International will transform Goodgod Small Club into a comforting respite from the reality of a table-less Christmas Eve. Those without a plan are encouraged to find at least three other individuals and bundle together for a feast of delightful promise. Sources suggest the Bababas are preparing anti-gravity corn chips, gift-wrapped tamales and the kind of spiced rum that demands its own poetic saga. Expect the kind of meaningful fun that turned Old Scrooge from humbugger to Tiny Tim's favourite codger. Bookings can be made by emailing info@goodgodgoodgod.com. Doors open at 5pm and dinner is served promptly at 8pm.
Oprah and U2 might have been in town, but you'd better believe the hottest tickets up for grabs now are for the movies. The Open Air Cinema certainly pulls rock concert figures, selling 30,000 in the first hour last year and exhausting advanced tickets completely within 12 hours. So you'd better be on your toes today as this year's line up is set to impress. A gamut of Oscar favourites are heading to Mrs Macquarie's Point, with Darren Aronofsky's exquisitely terrifying Black Swan, David Fincher's Facebook fable The Social Network and the compelling true stories currently bowling over critics: The King's Speech and The Fighter. Other films befitting the stellar surrounds include David Michod's crime epic Animal Kingdom, James Franco's gobsmacking performance in 127 Hours, the pitch-perfect family dramedy The Kids Are All Right and Christopher Nolan's mind and architecture-warping Inception. Then there are those films most compatible to the event's well stocked bar and gourmet food. These include Cher and Christina Aguilera's opening night number Burlesque, Ange and Johnny's high gloss travels in The Tourist, as well as the array of comedies like Ben Stiller's The Little Fockers, Morning Glory, and Vince Vaughn's latest, The Dilemma. 36 nights of film in arguably Sydney's most envy-inducing location 3 IF you can score some tickets! 9am Thursday 15 December: you know what you need to do. Open Air Cinema season runs from 12 January - 19 February 2011 https://youtube.com/watch?v=5jaI1XOB-bs
Wretched and beautiful, devastating and passionate, Blue Valentine evokes every inch of its title's dichotomy. From the simple premise of juxtaposing the beginning and end of a relationship, the film takes you to the giddy heights of new love through to the yawning abyss of loss. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are Cindy and Dean, two people from opposite sides of the tracks who gleefully succumb to love at first sight, though this courtship plays out alongside an altogether different point of view of their marriage, some six years later. In lesser hands this cross-cutting might have seemed trite, but writer-director Derek Cianfrance rather appropriately achieves the polar opposite. In the past, Cindy and Dean meet — their youthful exuberance leaping off the screen. While in the present, a seething discontent emanates from Cindy whereas Dean opts for blase, and horsing around with their gorgeous daughter Frankie (Faith Wladyka). But when the pair winds up with an unforeseen night alone, Dean presses Cindy to visit a gimmicky motel and opts, ominously, for the 'future room'. Like the cross-cutting, Cianfrance works this conceit with a deft touch. The neon blue hues of the future room are captured on the RED camera and clash perfectly with the warm red tones of the past, shot handheld on super 16mm. Similarly each vignette is superbly crafted, with the screenplay and editing ensuring every juxtaposition pays off for the audience, while the soundtrack by Grizzly Bear provides a musical throughline that ties the film together. Williams and Gosling convince absolutely as both halves of this Blue Valentine. Williams succeeds her stripped down performance from Wendy & Lucy, and though his young Dean shares a faint resemblance to Noah from The Notebook, Gosling is able to temper that earnestness with deeper emotional tones and some stark, poignant questioning. "You always hurt the ones you love," Dean serenades Cindy in one of the film's moving portents. It's a testament to the power of Blue Valentine that this hurt extends to the audience, for watching these two cinematic slow dances of hope and heartache is to experience it all for yourself. Palace Cinemas is holding advanced screenings of Blue Valentine on Wednesday 8th December and Sunday 19th December. Visit their website for more details. https://youtube.com/watch?v=aw0NChcdQfQ
Mitch Cairns, Janet Laurence, Brown Council and Tom Polo are just some of the big names you could stand to collect if you front up to Queen Street Studio's fundraiser this Saturday. And, who doesn't love a fundraiser? Especially when it's raising funds for a non-profit organisation that supports artists by managing studio spaces, establishing and running artists' residencies and facilitating professional development programs. Throwing your money at SpaceAID 2010 means more studio space for more artists, with Queen Street's long-term view to secure permanent spaces. Queen Street Studio already runs four spaces, including FraserStudios in Chippendale and Heffron Hall in Darlinghurst, but it needs more. So, if you're in a benevolent mood, or your walls are just looking a little spare, get yourself to the fundraiser and help support Sydney's independent art scene. rsvp@queenstreetstudio.com RSVP essential Image: Tara Marynowsky: Piper
In particle physics, mu meson is the former name for muon, an elementary particle, hypothesized to be the force that binds protons and neutrons together. After it exhibited only a weak attraction to nuclear matter, mu meson was cast out from the meson family and renamed. As a ridiculously overextended metaphor, this is kind of like the films screened at Mu Meson Archives. Many of the films proved less than attractive to audiences upon release, while many more are considered awkward moments in cinematic history. But, luckily for us, that’s why Jay Katz and Miss Death of Mu Meson love them. Almost any night of the week you can catch the best of the worst under the corrugated iron roof at the back of their home, with homemade supper included in the ticket price.Program highlights in August include Pray of the Roller Boys featuring awesome '90s yuppies in rollerblades; a special double-bill pussy night featuring Puss n Boots (1957) and The Uncanny (1977); conspiracy theories on UFOs, Dianna and the dollar bill; the usual range of rare music documentaries and subversive political films, and the monthly curated trash pit Freaks Geeks and Almost X-rated Peeks. Remember, it takes two to make a chemical reaction, so take a friend and get reactive at the Archives.Image: Knitler from Miss Death's monthly craft gathering Stitch n Bitch
For many people living in the inner city, a night out in Campbelltown is the start of a hardcore camping trip. If you’re one of those dreamers, here is your chance to celebrate your amazing powers of judgement. Twice a night, The Tent invites twenty people into a scrap metal and canvas world to join two mates, Brett and Michael, as they mull over the juicier bits of life. Unlike the usual banter of 4am philosophers, however, these two tackle the big issues with the help of superb puppetry, evocative sound and audio components and good old storytelling. Fresh from sell-out shows at the Next Wave and Liveworks Festivals, The Tent is a great excuse to dust off that passport and explore a part of Sydney’s growing artistic fringe.Photo by Debra Jason
We love larks after dark. We love Campbelltown Arts Centre. We love their ace program this year. We love the artists they are commissioning new work from. We love the Sizzler down the road. We even love the little drive down the M5. Our sincerest apologies, but there seems to be pretty much nothing here we aren't excessively enthusiastic about. New work from some of Australia's most awesomest video artists - including Philip Brophy, Pete Volich, Elvis Richardson, David Haines and Joyce Hinterding, Minaxi May and Ms&Mr - presented as large-scale projections every night on the front of the Campbelltown Arts Centre building, with a new one screened every eight weeks until March 2010. What's not to love? Image: Slide Show Land Dorothy by Elvis Richardson
It was with no small sense of trepidation that I dragged myself to a screening of The Age Of Stupid. Not because I didn’t want to see the film â€" far from it. More because it’s difficult to resist the pull of arguments coming from a filmmaker like Franny Armstrong. While I wouldn’t consider myself a revolutionary, seeing her previous film, McLibel, changed my life. I started attending protests, joined a student socialist group and decided to become a teacher, since I was nurturing a strong but vague sense of wanting to ‘help people’.Fortunately or unfortunately for me, The Age Of Stupid is even more brilliant than her earlier work. How this film manages to be so reasonable, so accessible, so hilarious and so emotive at the same time is beyond my comprehension. You should see this film not because ‘you should’, but because it’s so darn enjoyable.https://youtube.com/watch?v=DZjsJdokC0s
Possibly the only person whose diaries have been read and analysed as often as Anne Frank’s, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara is no stranger. His face alone is one of the most world’s most recognisable images. Who he was, exactly, depends on your point of view: revolutionary, fanatic, hero, guerilla, theorist, poet, doctor, god, ruthless killer or the perfect icon for merchandise. Whatever your opinion, Che clearly has a fan in Benicio del Toro â€" who both starred in and produced these films, both full length epics in their own right. While it would be all too easy to turn the legend into a Hollywood blockbuster, director Steven Soderbergh has taken a more interesting approach. Presenting the narrative in fragments forces us to judge moments individually, and makes us work hard to piece together both the plot and an image of the entire man. Not always easy, but definitely worthwhile.We have 10 double passes (valid for both films) to give away, just email your details to hello@concreteplayground.com.au with "Free Che" in the subject line for your chance to win.https://youtube.com/watch?v=fqTw2dtVQzw
