“Maths is a language created by humans to find the wonder and the transcendental about the world and the universe, as well as the beauty, power and fragility of the human soul. Like theatre, maths is another abstract way of explaining … Continue reading The Mathematics of Longing

It feels like forever since I’ve viewed the world through rose-coloured glasses. Idiot leaders, global financial crises, wars, environmental disasters, more idiot leaders…it’s hard not to worry that the planet is about to implode. But last night a troupe of feathery, … Continue reading Briefs: Close Encounters

Reviewing Blackrock by La Boîte Theatre Company was never going to be an easy task. Now something of an Australian theatre classic, it examines the social impulse to violence within Australian culture by delving into the aftermath of a young girl’s rape and murder during … Continue reading Blackrock by La Boîte Theatre Company

Opera Q is knocking it out of the park at the moment, and I say that as someone who doesn’t know enough about either sport or opera to use such metaphors. But I do know Gilbert & Sullivan because, well, who … Continue reading Opera Q’s Ruddigore at QPAC

I’ve been brainwashed. I didn’t realise it until last night, but I know every damn word to every damn song The Beatles ever released. I thought I was a fairly ambivalent consumer of their music – not because I dislike … Continue reading Lady Beatle at La Boîte Theatre Company

Whenever I’m researching opera (which I need to do a lot of when I write about it – I am to opera what Pauline Hanson is to elocution), it strikes me that the genre’s real tragedies are the ones that happened … Continue reading Bizet’s The Pearlfishers at QPAC

Children are maggots. I’ve always wanted to say that. Sorry, where was I? Oh yes… Matilda has arrived in Brisbane, and it’s just as revoltingly vile as Roald Dahl could have hoped. Coming to QPAC on an Australian tour that … Continue reading Matilda’s genius charms Brisbane

Um…did I just attend the ballet, or an extended routine at Love & Rockets (if you’re not from Brisbane, google it)? Yes, the Gaultier-designed costumes were a whole lot classier than a g-banger full of $10.00 notes, the scenery more subtle … Continue reading Ballet Preljocaj’s Snow White

Time really does stand still when you’re at the opera, doesn’t it? Or rather, it doesn’t stand still so much as shoot you way back to a time before finicky worries like cultural appropriation and pedophilia were considerations. I think … Continue reading OperaQ’s Madama Butterfly

When I was about four years old, I lost my mother in the ‘Ladies Fashion’ section of McDonnell & East. A good deal shorter than the racks of clothing that surrounded me, I was completely disoriented and just about to enter full meltdown mode when a lovely lady with a perfect French roll found me and took me back to her counter. As the call went over the PA system that a mother was sought for the child now in women’s lingerie, she appeased me with banana lollies, and I watched as she served customers and nattered with her coworker. … Continue reading Ladies In Black