Culture

  • The Fringe is back

    By Philippa Stanford ADELAIDE — The 1996 Fringe Festival opens on February 23. Launched with a street party and parade, the festival runs until March 17. This year the festival has grown significantly with around 4400 performers participating at

  • Poem: Bread and circuses

    Give bread to the people I guess we can afford it. Well, we must admit we live in some sort of decent luxury. Of course, we deserve it, thanks to the superiority of our enterprising mind and our special standing in the order of things. But let our

  • Sierra Maestra returns to Australia

    By Roberto Jorquera Sierra Maestra, a nine-piece Latin dance orchestra, is again bringing the essence of Cuban dance music to Australia after its successful tour in 1995. Since its formation in 1978, Sierra Maestra has played throughout Europe,

  • Simple but likeable

    Your Little SecretMelissa EtheridgeIsland through PolygramReviewed by Jen Power Your Little Secret is singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge's fifth album. The music is straight forward rock and roll. Her fans expect Etheridge to provide her familiar

  • Laying feelings bare

    Video Fool For LoveDirected by Robert GibsonProduced by George Miller and Doug MitchellOpens March 28 at the Chauvel Cinema, Paddington, Sydney with other states to followReviewed by Margaret Allan "I still don't know whether he is the bravest man I

  • The Night-Forests

    They wanted everything, so they took it: the leaves from the trees ... and the trees; movement and stillness and the light from the sun ... and from where I stand on the filthy beach outside the yacht-club, even the surface of the water. We are

  • When you least expect it, you're selected

    Front UpSBS, TuesdaysReviewed by Dave Riley Where would television be without its regular fodder of talking heads? In any given day, the console is visited by a fresh batch of chatty craniums. Generally, such company is warranted by reputation alone.

  • Powerful drama of betrayal and revenge

    A View from the BridgeBy Arthur MillerDirected by Adam CookBelvoir Street Theatre, SydneyUntil March 3Reviewed by Pip Hinman Arthur Miller described the story which became A View from the Bridge as a Greek tragedy. It's a story about compulsive,

  • How To Make Yourself Heard

    When you first begin to feel The disquiet you can't explain Discontent or sorrow; Anger — subversive inclinations; The thirst for some kind of justice! Personal, legal SOCIAL? — Heed it. Take note, Encourage it And let it grow — It is power.

  • Physical theatre at its best

    700 positionsA solo performance by Celia WhiteDirected by Gail KellyState Theatre 2, SydneyUntil February 17Reviewed by Kath Gelber 700 positions is a contemporary exploration of lesbian sexual practices, identities, behaviours, desires and

  • Leave your notions of gender at the door

    Shinjuku BoysMardi Gras Film FestivalReviewed by Jen Crothers Shinjuku Boys is a revealing look into the lives of women who live as men in Tokyo. The women work in the New Marilyn nightclub, where they host their (presumably) heterosexual, female

  • Poems of the grander vision

    Kissing Angels on the Eve of RevolutionBy Robin DavidsonBoris Books, PO Box 1388, Woden ACT 2606$9.95 Reviewed by Craig Cormick Robin Davidson wears many masks. He has been a performer, writer, clown, activist and poet. The poems collected in this