Review: The Masque of the Red Death, Yibiyung

(Or: yes, there is life after MIAF...)The Masque of the Red Death, adapted from a story by Edgar Allan Poe, directed by John Bolton. Music b...

Quick notes

Brett Dean, artistic director of the Australian National Academy of Music, passionately defends the academy in today's Age against the f...

Sporrans of optimism

The Malthouse Theatre launched its first 2009 season last night, with a bunch of kilted bagpipers doing the full skirl. The pipers cued enou...

MIAF 2008: The Wrap

The Melbourne Festival this year had a surreal edge. As capitalism crashed about our ears amid headlines of financial doom, it had the air o...

MIAF: That Night Follows Day

Festival Diary #12: FridayThat Night Follows Day by Tim Etchells. Tim Etchells & Victoria. Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse. October 24. So...

Sunday morning

And I'm still standing! Quelle amazing! I can't match The Boyd's 30 shows - I have very definite limits before everything begin...

MIAF: Appetite

Festival diary #11: ThursdayAppetite by Ross Mueller, directed by Kate Denborough. Set design by Kennedy Nolan Architects, lighting design b...

MIAF: Romeo and Juliet

Festival diary #10: WednesdayRomeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, directed by Oskaras Koršunovas. Designed by Jurate Paulekaite, costu...

Rhubarb rhubarb

Talk among yourselves while Ms TN sits at her desk in strenuous attitudes of thought, wondering how to write about Oskaras Koršunovas's ...

MIAF: Endgame

Festival diary #9: MondayBeckett: Endgame/Bach: Chaconne by Samuel Beckett and JS Bach. Directed by Anne Thompson and William Henderson, des...

MIAF: Corridor

Festival diary #8: SundayCorridor choreographed by Lucy Guerin. Set design by Donald Holt, lighting design by Keith Tucker, costumes by Paul...

MIAF: The Grey Autombile, England, 7 Important Things

Festival Diary #7: Thursday, Friday and SaturdayEl Automovil Gris (The Grey Autombile), directed by Claudio Voldes Kurt. Teatro de Ciertos H...

MIAF: DJ Spooky, The Book of Longing

Festival Diary #6: Wednesday and ThursdayTerra Nova Sinfonia Antarctica by Paul D Miller aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, performed with A...

One week in...

...and taking a breather today. I'll catch up with DJ Spooky's Terra Nova Sinfonia Antarctica (hypnotically beautiful) and Leonard C...

The death of ABC Radio National

I've long contended that the arts are the canary in the coal mine of media quality. Healthy arts coverage signals a wider vitality and d...

MIAF: Food Court

Festival Diary #5: Sunday Food Court, devised by the company, directed and designed by Bruce Gladwin. Lighting design by Andrew Livingston (...

Today's essays for serious young insects

Matt Clayfield at Esoteric Rabbit on Elision Ensemble's The Navigator and his conversation with Jana on Chunky Move's Two Faced Bast...

MIAF: Two Faced Bastard, Interpreti Veneziani Baroque Ensemble

Festival Diary #4: Sunday and TuesdayTwo Faced Bastard, directed and choreographed by Gideon Obarzanek and Lucy Guerin. Set design by Ralph ...

MIAF around the blogs

Melbourne bloggers are out in force at the festival, many of them seeing things that Ms TN, despite her most heroic efforts, is missing. Tim...

MIAF: Patti Smith

Festival Diary #3: Sunday and MondayPatti Smith in Concert, Hamer Hall; Patti Smith and Philip Glass: A Tribute to Allen Ginsberg, Playhouse...

MIAF: The Big Game, Three, Kitten

Festival Diary #2: SaturdayThe Big Game, directed by Sue Giles. Designed by Geoff Kennedy, lighting by Richard Vabre, music composed by Ania...

MIAF: The Schönberg Ensemble, The Navigator

Melbourne Festival Diary #1: Thursday and FridayThe Schönberg Ensemble, Program 2. Conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw. Instrumental soloists Ger...

Patti Smith at Readings

The scene at Readings yesterday, where I was the "conversation" bit of "Patti Smith in conversation". Somehow Readings m...

On art, children and scandal

Before I dive into the maelstrom of the Melbourne Festival, which opens tonight, I thought I'd briefly revisit the latest Henson fracas,...

Crrritical oxygen

Pace my comments below on the air of the blogosphere, here's a reason why it matters, courtesy of a TN reader - a most interesting respo...

Review: Hitlerhoff/Villanus

Fringe Festival: Hitlerhoff, written by Tom Doig, directed by Erin Kelly. Video by Anto Skene and Puck Murphy, sound by Keith McDouglass. Wi...

The travails of PLA

I may have mentioned once or twice that I have a brutal muse. Its presence has the general effect of a large steel hammer being dropped into...

The Henson Case

My copy of David Marr's new book, The Henson Case, arrived this morning, and I have just finished reading it. Extracts are printed in to...

Getting heard: the realpolitik of arts advocacy

Robert Musil (1880-1942), the great German novelist and intellectual, observed once that if there was to be real social change of any kind, ...