A colleague urged me to see this trailer for the new Batman movie The Dark Knight. It must have been shot and released before Heath Ledger’s death last week, and it’s hard to watch it without thinking of the tragic loss. What emerges here is however, an eerie focus on his character, the Joker, who
Continue reading ...Mostly I hate awards shows on television apart from the frocks and curiosity as to who will get the loot and who gives the best speech. I think you probably have to be there to appreciate the thrills involved at these dos. It was nice though to see the SAG awards ceremony today on cable
Continue reading ...Rhetorical power was the subject of some attention this week. One of the US Democratic Party’s hopefuls in the presidential primary race gave a marvellous ‘Yes We Can’ concession speech which used repetition to make its point. Barack Obama is a forceful, clear speech-giver. You can catch it here. I like this take on the
Continue reading ...No, this isn’t a reference to the silly season … most theatres are ‘dark’ at this time of year down-under. The exceptions are festival productions, chief of which is the Sydney Festival which has just romped in and taken over the town for a bit. No, what I meant was that nothing much is happening
Continue reading ...Occasionally a gem sparkles amongst the tailings of most journalism on the theatre. Such a piece was Kathleen Noonan’s All the World’s a Stage (Brisbane’s The Courier Mail 24-25 November). It was a very personal take on the power of theatre to move, shake, or soothe like ‘a warm cup of cocoa’ if that’s your
Continue reading ...Image: jgrantmac This is not the mulling that comes with spicy wine, the traditional Christmas drink in colder climes. It’s another kind of thoughtful musing that often fills the mind. During this season, we tend to go back over the past 12 months or so, sorting and sifting through the discoveries and shuddering perhaps at
Continue reading ...I was asked by some students recently how, or whether I exercised my own imagination. We had been talking about the ‘most important muscle’, and about keeping it limber. This conversation must have stuck with at least one of the class members, who emailed me a week back wanting to know how to keep working
Continue reading ...An old friend in the clergy called last week and asked me if I would like to read a poem at the Carols and Lessons ceremony on Advent Sunday evening. I am always honoured when these requests come to me, and of course flattered that I have been asked. The wonderful Cicely Berry in her
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