MAN ABOUT TOWN

Expressionistic motifs are subtly referenced throughout the Malthouse Theatre's latest production, A Golem Story . Anna Cordingley’s stark wooden set, the stage jutting out into the audience, effortlessly evokes Prague in 1580 while simultaneously recalling the haunted streets of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari . Paul Jackson's exquisite lighting design is equally Expressionistic, but it is the sparse script by Lally Katz ( Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd , The Black Swan of Trespass ) which perhaps most successfully evokes the spirit of Expressionism though its focus on mood and emotion over fine detail, on archetypes over individuals. As the play opens, a young woman, Ahava (a compelling performance by Yael Stone) awakens beneath a candle-lit chandelier, questioning all around her. A recent exorcism to remove the dybbuk (a malicious spirit) that has possessed her – the spirit of her late fiancée, Israel Hasidim, a suicide – has rendered Ahava without memory, and more im...

Thanks to BBC Worldwide and UKTV I've now watched the first epsiode of Torchwood: Miracle Day twice, and I like it a lot. I'm still formally formulating my thoughts about the episode, what I enjoyed and what I disliked, so a proper review will be coming soon, I promise. But trust me, it's one hell of a ride and I can't wait to see what's in store for us in the rest of the series, which premieres in Australia on UKTV at 8.30pm, July 9th. Meanwhile, hear are some photos of the cast to enjoy:

If your perception of history is that it’s the dry and dusty domain of tweedy old academics, this accessible and engaging publication from the Australian Lesbian & Gay Archives (ALGA) will surely change the way you think about the discipline. An account of the travails and triumphs of Melbourne’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex – or ‘queer’ (to use the umbrella term that has grown in popularity since it was first introduced to Australia circa 1991) – community from the 18th to the 21st centuries, the book makes no claim to be a comprehensive history. Rather, as its editors acknowledge in their introduction, it is a series of ‘snapshots, fragments, vignettes’; a collage of histories told over 51 chapters, written by 12 separate authors. Having grown out of a series of history walks presented by the ALGA at Midsumma and similar festivals, the book’s tone is accessible, concise, and distinctly non-academic despite the qualifications and careers of its variou...

OK, so you probably know the drill by now: I've written up a review of J.J. Abrams' new film, Super 8 . The review in its entirety is over here , at Arts Hub, but here's an extract to whet your appetite: Like the young protagonists in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me (1986), the main characters in Super 8 are in their last days of innocence before puberty sends them raging into adolescence. Their precarious position, on the cusp between childhood and their teenage years, means a very specific – and deliberate – tone permeates the film; an awareness that something threatening, powerful, and irresistible is lurking just out of sight. This ‘puberty-as-monster’ subplot is by no means original – it’s a key theme of The Lost Boys (1987) for example – but here it’s played out subtly, more as a mood or a motif than as an overt theme of the film. Other films Super 8 references include The Goonies (1985) and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), but while the film is clearly c...

So, last week I had the pleasure of seeing the latest addition to the X-Men franchise. You can read my full review over here at Arts Hub, but here's an extract to whet your appetite: Set in the 1960s – the era in which Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee, together with artist Jack Kirby, originally created the X-Men comics – X-Men: First Class is a rollicking action movie, a thoughtful character study, a satisfying origin story, and a hell of a lot of fun. Directed by Matthew Vaughn ( Kick Ass ) the film focuses on the friendship between two young mutants, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy, in the role created by Patrick Stewart) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender playing a young Ian McKellen), and explores the origins of the intense rivalry between them that will drive later (earlier) films in the series... Briskly and efficiently told, X-Men: First Class feels a little disjointed and travelogue-like in its early scenes, but quickly settles down to tell its sto...