Culture

  • Shadows of the past

    Vacant PossessionWritten and directed By Margot NashOpens May 23 Melbourne, August 9 HobartReviewed By Kim Linden Vacant Possession intertwines memories, dreams, reality, the past and the present, all culminating in a vivid story about the concept of

  • Poem: Batik Diplomacy

    An Australian mouse squeaks petulantly at the distant Lion as its bombs insult the peaceful ocean, degrading both the culture of origin and the hapless victims of "collateral" damage, deformed babies coral reefs and birds, mutant fish

  • Book documents the horror of Bougainville

    A Compilation of Human Rights Abuses Against the People of Bougainville, 1989-1996, Volume 2Compiled by Marilyn Taleo HaviniPublished by the Bougainville Interim Government, Sydney, 1996Available from PO Box 134, Erskineville NSW 2043 (fax/phone 02

  • Dreams don't cost much

    intro = Miracle AlleyDirected by Jorge FonsOpens in Sydney at the Verona Cinema on May 30; in Melbourne at Cinema Como on June 6Reviewed by Pip Hinman In Mexico City there is a place — called Miracle Alley — where miracles never happen, but

  • In the world of corporate carnivores

    The John Wayne PrincipleBy Tony McNamaraDirected by David BertholdSydney Theatre Company's New StagesWharf 2, Sydney, until June 8Reviewed by Peter Boyle "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do", but the man in question, Robbie, is a Harvard MBA who

  • Worth a second look

    Power Without Glory Published in the early 1950s, Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory has as its central theme the corruption inherent in capitalism. John West in the early 1890s sets up an illegal tote in the poor working-class suburb of

  • A story of truth

    And Now I Lay Me Down to SleepWritten by Frank OtisFootscray Community Arts Centre, 45 Moreland St.May 24-25, 8pm. $8/5 And Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep is a new play that takes a no holds barred look at how rape affects survivors. Directed By Andrea

  • Making (cyber)space for women

    Nattering on the Net: Women, Power and CyberspaceBy Dale SpenderSpinifex, 1995. $24.95Reviewed by Patricia Brien Dale Spender's most recent book deals with computer-based technology and its implications for women. Spender engages with a historical

  • Ireland's immeasurable loss

    James Connolly and the Irish LeftBy W.K. AndersonIrish Academic Press in association with National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University$39.95Reviewed by Bernie Brian This book is not an account of the life of the Irish socialist, James

  • From baseball to Frankenstein

    Dinosaur in a Haystack: Reflections in Natural HistoryBy Stephen Jay GouldJonathon Cape, 1996. 480 pp., $25 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon What do baseball, beeswax and yo-yo crazes have in common? They all serve as introductions in the latest

  • Coming to grips with the melancholy Dane

    HamletBy William ShakespeareDirected by Marian DworakoskiNew Theatre, Sydney, until July 6Reviewed by Jonathan Strauss The Sydney New Theatre, formed in 1932, has been a pioneer in presenting socially relevant and committed theatre and proclaims its

  • No peace without equality

    Peace and its Discontents: Gaza-Jericho 1993-1995By Edward SaidVintage Press, 1995. 197 pp., $14.95Reviewed by Adam Hanieh Edward Said has been a prominent Palestinian critic of the peace accords since the signing of the Declaration of Principles