Month: August 2025
Review: Elixir Revived 2025 Sydney Fringe Festival
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The boys from Head First Acrobats are back in town for the 2025 Sydney Fringe Festival, kicking things off with their latest offering, Elixir Revived. Head First Acrobats are a group from Melbourne that have been touring the world with their award-winning shows. In 2022, they won Best Circus at…
Review: Tarzan The Musical Brings Disney Magic And Jungle Energy
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Disney’s Tarzan: The Stage Musical has swung into the National Theatre St Kilda with an explosion of colour, soaring acrobatics, and heartfelt storytelling. Presented by James Terry Collective, this stage adaptation of the beloved 1999 film invites audiences deep into the jungle where soaring vocals, breath-catching aerial tricks, and family come together…
The Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2026 Is Open For Submissions
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One of Australia’s most prestigious theatre awards is preparing to unearth bold and captivating new work with submissions now open for the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2026 (QPDA). The biennial award program returns for its 13th iteration with an ambitious and innovative approach to discovering and sharing new Australian stories…
Review: Speaking In Tongues Lays Bare The Complexities of Love And Deception
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Seeing a play written by Western Australian playwright Andrew Bovell is almost a rite of passage in Perth. His works are renowned across the country and state. They often pop up (deservedly so) in conversations about the most impactful theatre pieces in schools, at WAAPA, and in professional theatre. No…
A.K. Wregg Reimagines Dorothy In Oz With Magic And Cocktails
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The emphasis is on the interactive and unpredictable as we count the minutes before the curtain rises on the 2025 Sydney Fringe Festival extravaganza. First animal off the ark this year is A.K. Wregg’s Dorothy in Oz: An Immersive Cocktail Adventure, which makes its world premiere run from 3…
Announcing Synthony No.5 For Perth: Where Electronica Meets Orchestra
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Perth is set to experience an orchestra like no other when SYNTHONY No.5 lights up RAC Arena on Friday 19 September. The groundbreaking live music experience, presented by Volvo, is back with a brand-new show that fuses the world’s biggest dance anthems with the full power of the Perth Symphony…
Review: Doomers Sydney Dramaturgical Co 2025 Sydney Fringe Festival
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It was high drama indeed when the curtain rose at Sydney’s gorgeously appointed new burlesque cabaret and theatre space Two80, for the Australian premiere of Matthew Gasda’s Doomers, playing as part of the 2025 Sydney Fringe. Tucked as we were deep inside one of the grungier pockets of Surry Hills…
Review: The Talented Mr Ripley Sizzles With Obsession And Murder
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Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr Ripley continues to hold a fascination. This Sydney Theatre Company production from director Sarah Goodes and playwright Joanna Murray-Smith follows some notable adaptations, including Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film and the recent 1960s-set Netflix series from Steven Zaillian. It is set, like the novel and film,…
Spiegel Haus Melbourne To Open In Heart Of The City
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Spiegel Haus Melbourne, a spectacular new two-level entertainment precinct in the heart of the city with multiple performance venues and a rooftop bar and lounge, will premiere in October with five-star, champagne-soaked spectacle Blanc de Blanc Encore. Golden Square car park on Lonsdale Street and Chinatown’s iconic Celestial Avenue will be…
Announcing Relaunch Of Acting Degree At Western Sydney University
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Western Sydney is set to reclaim its place at the forefront of actor training with the return of the prestigious Bachelor of Performing Arts (Acting), delivered by Western Sydney University and Actors Centre Australia (ACA) – part of the MindChamps group. After a hiatus of 18 years, the iconic training…
Greg Page Trades Wiggles For The Whitehouse In Annie
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Annie returns to Brisbane this December off the back of successful seasons in Sydney and Melbourne. The Scoop sat down with Greg Page, the original Yellow Wiggle, who is making his theatre debut playing Franklin D. Roosevelt. Greg talks all things Annie, including what he’s learned about working in musical theatre…
Film Review: The Thread Is French Cinema At Its Best
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That wonderful French cinematic aesthetic – let’s call it une certain lingering ecstatic agony makes a dynamite return to Aussie screens this week in Daniel Auteuil’s casually devastating legal thriller The Thread (Le Fil). Based on the real-life prosecution of accused murderer Nicolas Milik, The Thread reaches local audiences after the controversial…
Announcing Three Fan Events Ahead Of Back To The Future Opening Night
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Strap yourselves in and set your flux capacitors to 88mph, because BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical is landing in Sydney with three electrifying fan events that’ll take guests on a journey through time, music, and movie magic! Fans can purchase tickets to one or all of the dates below…
Review: Here You Come Again Sparkles In Perth
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It’s an age-old adage: “What would Dolly do?” As any country music and rhinestone enthusiast would know, Dolly Parton is a guiding light to many in tough times, and no time was tougher than the COVID-19 lockdown. This is the setting for Here You Come Again, a fresh new production…
QPAC Opens Next Sunday For Its 40th Birthday Party
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Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) will throw open its doors on Sunday 31 August 2025, continuing its 40th anniversary celebrations with free backstage tours, workshops and entertainment for all ages. The QPAC 40 Open Day marks a unique moment in QPAC’s packed calendar, when the public will have the rare opportunity to step behind…
Review: Secret Bridesmaids’ Business Proves That A Classic Never Dates
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Sitting in The Guild Theatre, watching Secret Bridesmaids’ Business, I feel instantly pulled into the heightened world of a girls’ night gone wrong. Within minutes, the audience is laughing and leaning forward in their seats, proving that Elizabeth Coleman’s beloved comedy still packs a punch after 25 years. Coleman first…
Review: The Face of Jizo Is A Tender Meditation On Memory And Survival
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The Face of Jizo by Omusubi Productions commemorates 80 years since the bombing of Hiroshima with a story that demands both reverence and attention. It is a show of remarkable tenderness, where grief and love are woven together with such quiet grace that I left the theatre carrying both sorrow and…
Review: Dance Nation Pulses With Fierce Energy And Raw Adolescence
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Clare Barron’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, Dance Nation, has been brought to the local stage by THAT Production Company at Metro Arts. Superbly directed by Timothy Wynn, it is a fearless reimagining of adolescence, in all its highs, challenges and messy contradictions. Dance Nation made its Australian premiere in February 2020…
Review: Little Women Sings With Sisterhood And Self-Discovery
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This story will never get old. There is such breadth and width to the tale of Little Women. There is something – a character or an interaction – that everyone can relate to. The Company of Dramatic Arts (CODA)’s production of the musical version is no different. For anyone who…
Review: Ordinary Days Sings The Poetry Of The Everyday
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Nestled beneath the hustle and bustle of Melbourne at peak hour, tucked away underground in the cosy walls of fortyfivedownstairs, we huddled together in the warmth for the opening night of Ordinary Days. It’s a musical dedicated to the little things, reimagined by Clovelly Fox Productions, one of Melbourne’s most…
Review: A Twist Of Fate Season 3 Scary Goats Theatre
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Scary Goats Theatre is a small Melbourne-based troupe that has been slowly building momentum over the last four years. This week at The Motley Bauhaus they have opened their third season of A Twist of Fate, a horror anthology of sorts inspired by the likes of Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone. A Twist…
Brisbane Festival 2025 Celebrates First Nations Culture And Storytelling
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Brisbane Festival 2025 proudly centres First Nations voices in a diverse and moving program of works that honour connection to Country, ancestral knowledge, cultural pride, and resilience. From bold dance theatre to intimate storytelling, community festivals to dazzling sky displays, the First Nations program features new commissions, returning favourites, and…
Film Review: Kangaroo Island Asks Old Questions In A New Light
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Timothy David’s Kangaroo Island, made in collaboration with wife, Sally Gifford, is a South Australian story that contemplates the universe. At its heart is a family on an isolated island, but the drama is pitched well beyond domestic quarrel. The film becomes a prism through which faith, science, and metaphysical…
Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Shimmers With Magic And Delight
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, and deservedly so. Simply put, the play demonstrates pure theatrical genius in how it weaves together four major storylines. Namely, Duke Theseus and Queen Hippolyta making preparations for their wedding. Four young Athenians whose relationships become complicated by mischievously…
Review: Julia Makes Its Thrilling Queensland Debut
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Joanna Murray-Smith’s acclaimed play Julia arrives at QPAC for the first time, presented by Queensland Theatre as part of the show’s second national tour. A co-production with Sydney Theatre Company and Canberra Theatre Centre, Julia reimagines the forces that built to that unforgettable moment in 2012 when Julia Gillard roasted…
Review: The Sleeping Beauty Has Brisbane Under Its Spell
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When The Australian Ballet comes to town, you don’t just walk to get a ticket; you run. Brisbane audiences are in for an absolute treat with the grand revival of David McAllister’s The Sleeping Beauty. Under the artistic direction of David Hallberg, this full-length, three-hour spectacle dazzles with opulence, marking…
Review: The Shark Arm Case Is Immersive True Crime at Its Finest
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In 1935, a tiger shark held in Coogee Aquarium regurgitated a human arm bearing a distinctive tattoo. This bizarre event kick-started an investigation that took 1930s Sydney by storm. Now this riveting tale of fraud, questionable morality and murder is being phenomenally retold by Deadhouse Productions. Masterfully written by Kyla Lee…
Review: Queensland Ballet Academy Gala Celebrates Emerging Talent
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The Queensland Ballet Academy Gala is a night of exquisite artistry and a captivating showcase of breathtaking talent. The stage comes to life with the heart and soul of the Queensland Ballet Academy’s emerging artists. On Friday night at the home of the Queensland Ballet, dancers from the Upper School and Pre-Professional…
Review: Lost & Finding Delights In Chaos And Savours Bewilderment
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Be sure to leave all expectations on order, logic and reality at the door and prepare to be plunged into the depths of tragicomedy, absurdity and puppetry in Emma Van Veen’s debut Lost & Finding by Liminal Productions. This jaw ajar production will have you disconcerted from start to finish, leaving you…
Review: Murray Whispers Dances With The River’s Spirit
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Adelaide Ballet’s first season arrives with real intent, with their debut work, Murray Whispers, taking the River Murray as both subject and stage, drawing from the place’s texture, wildlife and moods. Co-founders Sarah Humeniuk and Rejane Garcia have the experience to pull this off. Humeniuk, with a career that has seen…
