Author: Jacqui Moore
Review: A Beautiful Noise The Neil Diamond Musical
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★★★★★ If you only make it to one show this year, choose A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. Staged in Melbourne’s majestic Princess Theatre, this production demonstrates just how powerful a finely crafted jukebox musical can be. Conceived with Neil Diamond’s own guidance, the show carries a remarkable sense…
Review: Reservoir Dogs Meets Shakespeare In Playful Mash Up
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★★★½ The lyrical genius of Shakespeare collides with the razor‑edged storytelling of Quentin Tarantino in The Ghostlight League’s return to William Shakespeare’s Reservoir Dogs. Written by Sydney Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Steven Hopley and directed by The Ghostlight League Artistic Director Rob Lloyd, the production delivers exactly what its title…
Review: Funeral Flowers Is A Beautiful Solo Tour De Force
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★★★★★ I’ve got a riddle for you: where in Victoria can a single actor command a room so completely that an audience sits spellbound for an entire hour? The answer lies in St Kilda East at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. The Winter season of Funeral Flowers marks my first encounter…
Film Review: Obsession Is A Love Story Gone Horribly Wrong
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★★★★½ Obsession, the newest offering by Curry Barker, leans into the age‑old warning to be careful what you wish for, delivering an unexpected fusion of romance/horror that challenges the viewer’s assumptions about the nature of fixation. The film follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a music store employee who stumbles upon a…
Review: Losing Face Is Theatre Worth Your Time
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★★★★★ It is unusually easy to write about new Australian work, Losing Face. Melbourne Theatre Company has produced a comedy so expertly tuned and consistently funny that the review feels almost incidental beside the experience itself. The only responsible response is not to over-explain it, but to insist upon it:…
Review: Sainting Joan Brings Punk Energy To Joan Of Arc
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Independent theatre in Melbourne has always provided a safe space for bold risks, strange ideas, and the kind of creative bravery that rarely survives in bigger, more traditional institutions. Sainting Joan is a perfect example of why that ecosystem matters. Staged in Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory, tucked deep in the…
Review: Shoelace Chaser Races Through Grief & Growth
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★★★★★ Melbourne Theatre Company’s Shoelace Chaser understands that responsibility can arrive long before adulthood does. Written by AWGIE Award winner Madelaine Nunn and directed by Liv Satchell, this stunning new work explores the demands of family responsibility, the pressure of growing up too quickly, and the life-altering impact of meeting…
Review: Jeff Green – Jeff Jokes! 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
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★★★★☆ Jeff Green returns to the 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival with his newest crowd-pleaser, Jeff Jokes! After cutting his teeth on the UK comedy circuit in the late eighties, Green famously left a lucrative engineering career for stand-up. He went on to become a familiar face on British television,…
Review: Impromptunes – The Completely Improvised Musical Melbourne
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★★★★☆ Impromptunes: The Completely Improvised Musical returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2026 with a brand-new burst of fully improvised musical theatre mayhem. Since first appearing in 2013, the troupe has become a familiar and welcome fixture on the comedy circuit, popping up everywhere from Melbourne to Edinburgh…
Review: Mark Watson 20 Years Of Doing My Absolute Bloody Best Melbourne
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★★★★☆ Mark Watson toasts his twentieth year at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with 20 Years Of Doing My Absolute Bloody Best. This is a show that doubles as both celebration and hilarious self-interrogation. While Watson has spent plenty of time gracing comedy stages around the world, he’s perhaps best known…
Review: Emma Holland The Dog Dies At The Start 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
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★★★★★ Emma Holland returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with her latest work, The Dog Dies At The Start. It takes a very special artist to draw so much laughter from such a profound emotional loss. But somehow, Holland manages it. Perhaps it’s the 92.93 ATAR. Holland has been gracing…
Review: Hannah Gadsby The Evening Muse 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
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★★★★½ Hannah Gadsby returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with their newest offering, The Evening Muse. Described as “a talk show wrapped in a comedy show wrapped in an existential crisis,” Gadsby’s performance is chaotic and self-aware, blending razor-edged wit with disarming vulnerability. Few comics mine discomfort, intellect and…
Review: Shaun Micallef De’Ath Takes A Holiday Book Launch
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Shaun Micallef returns to Melbourne’s literary scene in 2026 with his latest release, De’Ath Takes A Holiday. To mark the occasion, Micallef die-hards gathered at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre for an event that blended book launch, comedy performance, and a sharp, Parkinson–style interview into one engaging evening, expertly hosted by ABC’s Jacinta Parsons. …
Review: Celia Pacquola Gift Horse 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
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★★★★★ Celia Pacquola returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year with her latest work, Gift Horse. As a woman hurtling towards her forties, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so seen! It was a muggy, will-it-or-won’t-it-rain kind of day in Melbourne’s CBD. After wandering past all of the…
Review: First Curtain Festival by Camberwell Grammarians Theatre Company
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How does one review the First Curtain Festival, comprising seven unique, contrasting, thoroughly entertaining plays in five hundred words? I’ll do it in six: the true meaning of community theatre. I attended the Clayton Community Centre Theatrette for the inaugural performance by the Camberwell Grammarian Theatre Company (CGTC). From the moment I…
Opinion: Why Are We So Quick To Judge Who Gets To Be Jenna?
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Last week, the much-awaited lead cast of the Australian tour of Waitress was announced. Across social media, disheartened fans have thrown shade on the decision to cast celeb Natalie Bassingthwaighte in the captivating lead role of Jenna. Concerns of Bassingthwaighte’s age, paired with accusations of her inability to do justice to the…
