Performing arts
Once again Bell Shakespeare’s King Lear isn’t quite right
The talent is there in the company’s latest production, but here’s why it doesn’t quite work.
- by Cameron Woodhead, Andrew Fuhrmann and Jessica Nicholas
Latest
John Waters might be seeing ghosts but he still doesn’t believe in them
The veteran of stage and screen is starring in a fresh adaptation of the long-running play The Woman In Black.
- by John Shand
A plumber from Tassie has brought more magic to Cirque du Soleil
Three performers now present their acts in a deluge of 10,000 litres of water, but first they had to learn to walk on it.
- by Nadia Bailey
Billy Joel says goodbye to New York after 104 shows over 10 years
The Piano Man has performed his final concert of a historic residency at Madison Square Garden.
- by Caryn Ganz
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll playwright Ray Lawler dies aged 103
One of Australia’s most celebrated playwrights, Melbourne writer, actor and director Ray Lawler, has died at the age of 103.
- by Debbie Cuthbertson
‘Anti-competitive’: Calls mount to break corporate live music domination
Australian musicians are calling for authorities to investigate the market power of major corporate players like Live Nation.
- by Linda Morris
Five days to get gala ready? ‘Yes it was stressful, but I’m a tenor’
Singer Young Woo Kim was two days into a holiday when a phone call saw him racing to Melbourne for a flurry of rehearsals and excitement.
- by Elizabeth Flux
Charming, awkward: This pop star’s joy is infectious
Girl In Red made her Australian debut in 2023 – and this year returns to play a venue seven times the size.
- by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, Cameron Woodhead, Tony Way and Sonia Nair
The ‘post-Millennial Mozart’ on contemporary opera’s most talked-about production
Missy Mazzoli was wary about turning a harrowing film by Lars von Trier into an opera – but it presented an opportunity that could not be missed.
- by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
★★★★★
Sydney live reviews
Eloquent and beguiling: Operatic Hamlet is a triumph
Our critics deliver verdicts on the latest shows around town.
- by Millie Muroi, Cassie Tongue, Shamim Razavi, Harriet Cunningham and John Shand
Two powerful performances in this Streetcar make it a bare-knuckle fight
In this MTC production Nikki Shiels plays a Blanche DuBois who isn’t mad – her Blanche is quite fun, witty, and as likely to self-deprecate as self-dramatise.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Barney Zwartz