Where better to enjoy a stunning bird’s eye view of Melbourne’s summer sunsets than from 40 storeys high on the iconic Melbourne Star? Spinning on the star, you’ll get a 360 degree view of Melbourne from from the Dandenongs to the You Yangs, to Mount Macedon and nearby Port Phillip Bay. It’s a must-do experience to watch the ever changing colours of our
beautiful city’s sunsets.
As the days get longer, there’s no better way to enjoy the brighter evenings than heating up the barbie on an Aqua Donut, a circular floating device with a barbeque station secured in the centre of the vessel. The most unique dining experience on the water you can have in Melbourne.
Escape to the French countryside this January as So Frenchy So Chic in the Park returns to the Werribee Park Mansion for it’s fifth year. The day will be filled with music, food, wine and of course, plenty of joie de vivre.
This year’s line up of musical acts promises the perfect blend of sultry and folksy summer songs to dance your heart away to including Moroccan artist, Hindi Zahra, who has been likened to a modern day Billie Holiday; Brigitte (actually a duo, Aurélie Saada and Sylvie Hoarau) with heir unique sound of lounge-pop, and retro-folk sizzling disco; Lou Doillon, who needs no introduction; and Soviet Supreme, a Balkan-electro collective.
Bring a picnic or pre-order a basket filled with crusty baguettes, salad jardinière, and a petite four chocolate ganache tart. And if that’s enough gourmet French food for you, there’ll also be a banquet of tempting fare on the day including seafood, crêpes, macaroons and ice cream all served by the Frenchiest food artisans. To quench your thirst the finest champagnes from Laurent Perrier will be chilled and flowing all day, as well as French beer, rosé from Provence, reds and whites from Bordeaux, and special cocktails at the SFSC vintage caravan.
Round up your girlfriends, get lost among it all, and find yourself so Frenchy, so chic, once again.
As an exclusive for We Know Readers we are giving away a double pass to this ultimate garden party. Visit our Facebook page for details or enter here. (This competition is now closed)
When: Sunday, 10 January 2015
Where: Werribee Park
Visit the website here.
#SFSC16
Moonlight Cinemas is a quintessential summer event on the Melbourne cultural calendar. Based in the stunning Royal Botanic Gardens, the cinemas three month program screens a whole bunch of films every evening over summer, except for Mondays.
The We Know Melbourne team were invited along to the opening night last Thursday to watch an advance screening of Suffragette. Slightly worried about the cooler weather in the lead up, Thursday evening presented itself as a perfect balmy evening.
Red carpet arrivals kicked off the evening where each person could get their own paparazzi snap as they entered, before being ushered to the VIP section where we had sparkling wine, popcorn and bean bags to enjoy during the film.
The Moonlight Cinema Candy Bar offers up a range of hot food (including the delicious fried chicken sliders that we ate) and snacks, as well as of course, alcohol and other beverages.
The perfect way to spend a summer’s evening.
When: 3 December – 27 March
Where: Moonlight Cinemas, Royal Botanic Gardens
We Know Melbourne tip: Bring a picnic and also a blanket – even if you think it’s going to be warm – once the sun goes down it can get quite chilly.
Grab your swimsuits and your best pals! Slide the City™ is returning to Melbourne this summer, bringing with them 300 Meters of aquatic fun!
Starting in 2013, Slide the City™ began by producing slide events in just three cities in America its first year. This year, Slide the City™ is on track to produce more than 150 events in 15 countries including 10 in Australia, and one right here in Melbourne.Transforming Lansdowne Street (East Melbourne) into one giant water block party, sliders will be slipping their way down a 3oom giant slide which spans three city blocks. There’ll also be live music, food, drinks and giveaways on the day to make this one giant summer party to remember. Don’t forget the floaties!
When: 10 January, 2016
The We Know Melbourne team are long term fans of contemporary dance company, Chunky Move and were excited to attend their latest show, Miss Universal last week.
Upon entering the studios, we were told it was an open space and we were free to move between rooms, bars and couches. Unsure what to expect, we first entered the room where there were two tiny sculptures in the middle in amongst the rest of the audience. We had a brief introduction from one of the members of the Chunky Move board and also the artistic director, Anouk. We were told that the performance was going to a blend of theatre and gallery installations.
Proceeding to the other room, we could see the chairs but they were up against the wall so once again, we weren’t sure whether we’d be standing up the whole performance or whether the show would span across the two rooms. Soon we spotted the dancers (the only way we could tell was that they were barefoot) as they moved through the standing crowds. They walked from one spot to the next, taking a seat at the end of each walk with a portable shining light in hand. Was it part of the show? Were they setting up for something? We just weren’t sure.
Then, the seats from the wall started rolling up as the 4 women made their way up to the top. Dressed all the same, in mustard yellow Quiksilver wetsuits with long blonde hair, they formed a collective and wrestled their way down the rows to the soundtrack of a live manipulated harp and other distorted sounds. Suddenly each girl lost their sense of identity as they appeared to morph into one giant human ball of arms and legs and hair flowing everywhere. Eventually hitting the floor, they wrestled their way across the whole room, keeping together as a tight unit. The audience shifted and moved around the dancers, as they bounced from one corner of the room to another, before taking to the air in harnesses and ropes in pairs, one counterbalancing the other.
The next scene then brought that real sense of an art installation mixed with performance and was our favourite part of the show. Called ‘Love Talk’ the girls, lay on the floor with a range of props including sculpted bendy legs, a wig and a half torso while in the background, visual artist and sculptor, Claire Lambe got to work, welding behind a curtain. The girls voices were aurally distorted while they discussed what love meant to them.
Eke’s show was thought provoking and interactive, removing the usual separation of the audience and performer. The idea of identity and us collectively morphing into one unit before finding our own but still truly being connected through thoughts and movements. Miss Universal left us thinking about the ideas and concepts of the show long after the performance was over.
When: Until December 12, 2015
Where: Chunky Move, South Melbourne
Escapism: super fun, definitely a challenge
Working across the road from Strike Bowling at QV Melbourne, we’re often in there for a beer and a bowl to celebrate the usual occasions like birthdays, a new employee starting, people leaving and so on, but we’ve always looked curiously at the red doors dotted throughout – and wondered was behind them as we sipped our drinks.
This Christmas instead of killing off our brain cells with an afternoon of beers and bad-for-your-health junk food, we decided to put them to the test in one of Strike’s three, challenging ‘Escapism’ rooms.
Strike describe these red-doored conundrums as ‘one room. one team. 50 minutes. a bit of thinking and a lot of fun.’ Having chosen their ‘difficulty nine’ level Casino Heist room we definitely did a lot more than just a ‘bit’ of thinking, that’s for sure. Being under the constant pressure to solve riddles to get through each door in a series of rooms does interesting things to a team and brings the ‘leader,’ ‘follower’ and ‘problem solver’ dynamics out in a person.
I can’t tell you what happened behind the closed doors, but after being led, blindfolded through the premises and quickly being given our brief we eventually solved the riddles and made it out the other side (with a little help from the clues provided) and had an absolute ball.
Strike Bowling has three themed Escapism rooms – The Garden, Butchers Barrow and Casino Heist. Prices range from $100-$150 for teams of up to six, and can be booked via their website. Perfect for a corporate group or conference breakout.
And just what would have happened if we didn’t solve the puzzle? Legally they HAVE to let you out… eventually.
Where: Escape Room, QV,
Go on a wild African safari as Rhythm of Africa returns to Werribee Open Range Zoo this Summer.
Enjoy live music, African inspired food, dancing, drumming, kids’ activities plus so much more. There’ll be free drumming workshops led by Shabba Eshun and enjoy special kids’ activities in the African Village.
Rhythm of Africa is an all-weather event and entry is included in the general zoo admission price. Children under 16 receive free entry to Werribee Open Range Zoo on weekends, school holidays and public holidays.
When: From 4:30pm every Saturday evening, 9 January- 27 February 2016
Where: Werribee Open Range Zoo
A Melbourne-based company comprised of young, tenacious theatre-makers, Freshly Ground Theatre hits the stage this December with it’s latest premiere season; Affair Play. Running from the 9th to the 19th at the Mechanics Institute in Brunswick, audiences can expect a fast-paced, sharp, contemporary nod to the much- loved bedroom farce.
Ahead of the opening, We Know Melbourne had the opportunity to interview director Sam Floyd.
Where did you draw your inspiration from for the subject matter in Affair Play?
I’m turned on by a premise that brims with immediate conflict. That throws up a potent philosophical debate, boiled down into a cracking yarn. My imagination runs away with punchlines. The more I got to know the characters, the more I cared about them, the more the debate gained depth. For me the inspiration is the idea itself, and yields the more you unpack it.
One writes from experience, I believe it’s impossible not to. But I don’t write what I’d consider autobiographically. I take an observation and apply exorbitant imagination. Then craft is in exploring it every which way, then scrupulously shaping, distilling, and continuing to antagonise it.
It’s quite an intimate topic – what’s the dynamic like between the four of you, have there been any awkward moments in rehearsal?
We’re a tight unit. There’s an electric gelling of senses of humour. Freshly Ground Theatre co-producer Remy Coll and I have been working and drinking together since 2008. Director Max Barker and actress Anthea Greco have worked with us, now, on several productions and are key company fixtures. We’re thrilled to have found Lucy Norton, who completes our cast, through exhaustive auditions.
There’s been some getting to know each other, for those who weren’t already well acquainted. Awkward… but more fun than awkward, I think!
The themes have sparked the lively debates you’d expect, the ones we hope to hear over beers in the foyer afterwards. I take this as a sign that we are exploring salacious themes, and the team has their hearts and heads invested.
Have you got a favourite scene you can share with us (without giving the game away)?
The play is one long scene. No time lapse, no blackout, all confined to a small apartment. Nowhere to run or hide.
You discover immediately that one affair is already on the boil. Another is on the brew. Not a “spoiler” really, this is what you’re signing up for.
The writer, listener and armchair behavioural analyst in me is endlessly fascinated by the link between what people want, and what they do; the gap between what they say, and what they mean. So, I most love the conversations that are pregnant with subtext, that fill us with uneasiness. They work to set up the catharsis of the climactic scenes, when the disastrous truth starts spilling out.
If you could explain Affair Play in 5 words only ….?
Disastrously perfect mess of impulses.
We’ve been told you are a veteran juggler, any tips for the first timers out there?
Yes. Order your priorities strangely, with the learning of impractical skills close to, preferably at, the top. Start early in life and focus on this instead of distractions like academic achievement or losing your virginity. And catch them. Catch the balls.
What’s next on the horizon for you, and Freshly Ground Theatre?
The Fumbling Bumblers, a brand new duo circus act comprised of myself and fellow jester Tom Davis (Long Answers to Simple Questions), are primed to make our mainstream debut at the first event clever enough to hire us.
I plan to unleash my busking act, The Uku-Lady, on Christmas shoppers. (The Uku-Lady nails vocally ambitious retro pop songs. “She” stops you with her stunning visage, then rivets you with charisma and a powerful, distinctive voice.) This is a youtube sensation waiting to happen. Weddings, funerals, children’s parties… find it on facebook.
I have screenwriting projects on the slate (I am studying this at RMIT). A feature, and a narrative comedy series.
I want Freshly Ground Theatre’s next project to be the fruits of collaboration from its inception. Achieve the fun of improvising in the rehearsal room from the get go, rather than slog away alone in a café (which I do enjoy, but within reason).
When: 9 – 19 December, 2015
Where: The Brunswick Mechanics Institute: 270 Sydney Rd, Brunswick
Feel the love as the world’s largest short film festival, Tropfest makes a Valentine’s Day comeback.
Short film fans around Australia were heartbroken when earlier this year it was announced that the iconic event was cancelled, but thanks to the generous sponsor CGU Insurance, the Festival has received a lifeline and will be back on Sunday 14 February 2016 in Centennial Parklands, Sydney (with fingers crossed a live screening in Melbourne).
Twenty-one years on, Tropfest Australia attracted a live national audience of around 150,000 people on a single night and today more than 1.6 million people have attended a Tropfest event over it’s lifetime.
“As a free, outdoor event, Tropfest makes short film accessible to all. There’s nothing else quite like it and I think that’s what people love.. Tropfest is a great festival, providing unique platforms for talented filmmakers through its events and initiatives, and we are excited to be able to help them get back on their feet,” Mr Bessell said.
“Tropfest is about fostering the growth of the Australian film industry, and these Trop Jr finalists are a shining example of filmmakers whose career trajectories could be limitless.” said John Polson, Tropfest Founder and Director
An important date on budding filmmaker’s calendars, the festival has now spread globally to New Zealand, South East Asia, New York, the Middle East and elsewhere.
The Tropfest finalist films will premiere live in Sydney’s Centennial Parklands on Valentine’s Day, Sunday February 14, and will also be broadcast free-to-air from 9pm on SBS 2.
When: February 14, 2015
Where: Sydney Centennial Parklands (+ live screenings)
Visit the website here.
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