Occasional interludes
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Productions

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It’s the ‘best of the year’ season …

Between Christmas and New Year’s there’s always a sense of the big roundup. For years, network television grabs the ‘biggest’ ‘worst’ ‘best’ etc. of everything and rehashes a package to remind us of the biggest, worst and best of the past year. These programs always remind me of the leftover Christmas ham that is also

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I love a sunburnt country …

And so off I went today to see Australia Baz Luhrmann’s epic, epic movie about … OK, no spoilers here, but can I just say spearing, crocodiles, the bombing of Darwin, cattle stampedes, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, romance … the attraction of opposites, dyed-in-the-wool villains, redemption, the stolen generations, a wonderful young actor Brandon Walters,

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Thinking out loud in front of ourselves …

It’s been a busy busy week for this groundling. And it’s mostly been spent travelling to and from Brisbane for performances, showcases, launches, and other industry-related matters. It’s typical of the frantic pace that accompanies the last couple of months of each year, as we gather to mull over what’s been, plan what’s to come,

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Sunday Afternoon in the Park with Will

And so to Brisbane where one of the country’s newest experiments in outdoor Shakespeare had its second, annual 2-day event.  Shakespeare on Oxford in Bulimba Brisbane culminated in a one-off performance on Sunday afternoon of that most satisfying of Shakespeare’s plays, Much Ado About Nothing. The team of mostly professional actors worked on the project

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Words, words, words …

Spent an afternoon on Brisbane’s delightful South Bank cultural precinct yesterday. It’s site until today of the annual Brisbane Writers’ Festival. The joint was jumping. Author talks, panels, coffee drinking, book browsing (and buying) and readings have been the stuff of the past 4 days. And if you think that’s boring, think again. And it

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Auf wiedersehen Cabaret …

Theatre is a cruel mistress sometimes, and never more so than when she breaks up a tight-knit ensemble at the final curtain. Many (like me) deal with this psychic termination, the ending of a beautiful relationship by treating fond farewells as lightly as possible … ‘No goodbyes … see you around.’ It’s easier that way.

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Second night blues? Nope.

Tonight clicked. There’s an old theatre furphy about second night being less good than opening night … or at least they can leave the actor feeling a bit ‘off’ and thus the performance is less good. I’m here to tell you that our second night was better than the first. The acting ensemble are firing,

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Opening Night

Is there anything more glamorous in theatre jargon that the phrase ‘opening night.’ Heck Broadway show tunes (Another Opening Another Show: Kiss Me Kate) and even whole shows (42nd Street; A Chorus Line; maybe even The Producers) have been written about this particularly thrilling time in the life of a stage actor. Tonight was ours.

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