All posts filed under: arts

Fringe Review: “After Hours Cabaret Club”

Published by

Last night we were invited to check out the Fringe Festival edition of the After Hours Cabaret Club at the newly-relocated Wonderland Speigeltent – now located adjacent to Channel 7 Studios off Harbour Esplanade. You’d be excused for thinking you were in a twentieth-century underground cabaret club as you step into the intimate, slightly hazy confines of the Speigeltent, the jazz music cranks up, you take you seat and slip into their old-world style of classic ‘anything goes’ entertainment.  Hosted by a very talented Tash York (Desperettes, These Things Take Wine) – who also MC’s the club’s regular evenings at the Melba Speigeltent (in Collingwood) – the After Hours Cabaret Club mixes the best of old-world entertainment with a modern twist – offering a superb collection of talented, unique individuals for a top-value, highly entertaining Fringe collaboration.  The club features bite-size snippets of talent from some of the nations best burlesque, cabaret, vaudeville and old world sideshow, backed up by a fabulous five-piece band – it’s a little bit charming, a little bit naughty – …

Fish… not just another 4-letter word

Published by

We were lucky enough to be invited along to check out Fish, on it’s sold out opening night at the popular Melba Spiegeltent in Collingwood, and despite what the name may imply, this latest piece from the team at the Rollercoaster Theatre Company actually had little to do with, well… fish. Instead the theme focused on another four-letter word – fear. Not the kind of ‘clown under the bed’, ‘monsters in the closet fear’, – the real, everyday, average person fears. Things like spiders, car horns, terrorists, overzealous romantic pursuits from management, getting sick again… etc. All of these topics were tackled by the talented cast in a slightly quirky, off beat performance which was a mix of sketch, song and dance – and included a hilarious yet humanising parody of Donald Trump. All in all, the show was quite magical, with lots of laughs despite the heavy content covered. A little political, a little wonderful – and real shame it wraps up after only 3 nights. A little about Rollercoaster Theatre Company Rollercoaster is made …

Interview with the Danish artist – Tine Bech

Published by

Light / Play is the first installation in the new QV Laneway Series: a seasonal program of ongoing interactive outdoor events, festivals and activations in the QV Square and surrounding laneways. The celebration of light and play heralds the end of winter, with events and installations until Sunday 10 September 2017. We were given the chance to meet Tine Bech, the artist behind the program and got to know her a little bit better. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background? I am an artist and researcher. I am Danish, but I now live and work in London. I create interactive and playable projects where the human experiences are at the centre. Despite living in an age which seems to offer unlimited forms of media communication, we still fundamentally crave a human connection, to find expression in a community and in dialogue. I am interested in how this can be achieved through play, through the creation of a particular environment, and by recognising and exploring the ways that technology has informed our …

WIN: Nocturnal at Melbourne Museum

Published by

End your week the right way and kick off at Nocturnal, the indoor dance floor. Melbourne Museum’s massive indoor festival Nocturnal is a new adults-only event series held on the first Friday of every month. Shake off Winter and welcome Spring as it returns with the latest live and electronic music, expert talks, roving entertainment and collection curiosities.  This month featuring local electronic artists Kllo, Planéte and a live DJ set by Pjenné; there’ll be nail and whisky bars, mulled wine, curators talking fashion, birds and butterflies and special access to Weta Workshop’s Bug Lab Little Bugs: Super Powers for just $10 with your Nocturnal ticket. Just check out the photos, it says it all. We are happy to announce that you have a chance to win a double pass on us to the October session on 6th of October.  We have two double passes to give away and all you have to do is enter via below and get excited! Competition closes on 28th of September 2017 at 12.01am EST. Terms & Conditions here. Where: Melbourne Museum …

Light Play at QV by Tine Bech

Published by

QV Melbourne is thrilled to announce the QV Laneway Series: a seasonal program of ongoing interactive outdoor events, festivals and activations in the QV Square and surrounding laneways. To launch the series, QV has commissioned globally acclaimed Danish artist Tine Bech to complete her first Australian work, which will be the centrepiece of a new interactive program of events called Light / Play. The celebration of light and play will herald the end of winter from Friday 25 August – Sunday 10 September. With a PhD in ‘Play’, Tine Bech is a multidisciplinary artist who creates innovative interactive art that encourages participation and most of all, play. Her work has been exhibited in public spaces, galleries and at major festivals, transforming urban landmarks in cities around the world. Some of Tine’s previous work includes interactive artworks at London Bridge Live Art Festival, Denmark’s On the Edge Digital Art Festival, Israel Museum, Los Angeles’ SIGGRAPH Art Gallery and a ‘playable city’ on water in Recife, Brazil. Tine’s new work, entitled Colour Me Beautiful, will create a playful new …

Interview with Jessica Alice, Program manager of MWF

Published by

Each year, MWF bring together writers from around Program Manager of MWF the world to celebrate literature, to explore ideas and to inspire readers. We got a chance to have a chat with the Program Manager, Jessica Alice this year and she is ready to tell you all about literacy! 1. Tell us about your journey from being a writer to Program Manager at Melbourne Writer’s Festival 2017? It’s a little convoluted! Right out of high school I hit the slam poetry scene pretty hard, performing in pubs and theatres and at festivals. I became the poetry editor for several publications – notably, a feminist punk journal called Scum. I wrote an honours thesis on feminist poetry, and after university I used my writing skills to land jobs in arts marketing. I directed the National Young Writers Festival and felt really at home programing events, and after deciding marketing wasn’t my thing, I made the move to MWF, where it’s literature and creativity on a massive scale. 2. How did you celebrate after you were …

Experience life in the dark – brought to you by Dialogue in The Dark

Published by

Have you ever wonder what it is like if you have lost your vision or wonder what life is like if you were a vision impaired person? Dialogue in The Dark gives you a chance to experience how a blind person goes through their day in a 60 minutes walk in complete darkness. We are so honoured to have a chance to go through this challenge last Friday, and we know that you would love it too. The venue is located at Harbour town, the perfect location for shopping, delicious food, and get a ride on Melbourne Star before you do the challenge! Dialogue in The Dark is an immersive experience in total darkness through which, led by blind guides. Guests interact and communicate relying solely on their other senses during the entire 60 minutes walk in darkness, as you lose your sense of vision. Guests are armed only with a white cane while a blind guide provides skilled leadership through life’s everyday challenges and activities. Within a 60 min tour experience, guests will discover how …

Get Glowing at Stonnington’s Glow Winter Arts Festival

Published by

The winter darkness is spectacularly illuminated during the Glow Winter Arts Festival, across the City of Stonnington, from twilight until after-dark, 10 – 20 August 2017. Stonnington’s most iconic venues and public spaces will light up like never before with glowing neon installations, architectural projections and larger than life illuminations. Now in its fourth year, the festival will kick-off with a spectacular opening night unveiling new commissioned works for the Festival and works never before seen in Victoria. See buildings transform before your eyes, discover luminous butterflies on light posts, find glowing giant flowers and colossal mushrooms, journey through an enchanted village, discover multi-coloured and oversized neon Glow letters in corners, parks and gardens across Stonnington plus much more. Award-winning Melbourne based, lighting and visual design firm, Mandylights, will transform Central Park with Alice’s Garden. Ginormous flowers will bloom in fading, flickering rainbows, larger than life mushrooms will loom and little sprouts, not yet grown, will cover the landscape with trills of colour running between them. Dislocate will perform If These Walls Could Talk…?, an …

WKM Review: Fully Made Up

Published by

We were recently invited to the fabulous Butterfly Club to check out opening night of Fully Made Up – An Improvised Cabaret, starring multi-award winning comedian Jenny Wynter. Combining cabaret, comedy and improv, this performance brings to life a veteran cabaret starlet, who’s entertaining evening soiree is entirely comprised of stories, songs, memories and monologues – inspired (in true improv style) by the suggestions of the audience. Improv alone is hard enough, but throw in the added challenge of creating an on-the-spot, rhyming, reasonably relevant show tune to random suggestions like ‘squid’, ‘grapes’ and ‘eat the frog’ and you’ve got yourself a pretty darn entertaining premise. Slipping just once, with real class and a super quick redirection, Jenny absolutely nails her latest show in a satin draped display of raw, fabulous singing, silly monologues and general awesomeness. We would have loved a few more songs and less monologue in the first half of the show, as this woman sure can sing, but overall we loved the show, and laughed the whole way through. An enviously …

WIN: 10 x Double Passes to the Scandinavian Film Festival

Published by

The Scandinavian Film Festival is a highly anticipated event on the festival calendar, celebrating the best film from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Discover the magic of noir, comedy, poignancy and fun that is true essential Scandinavia – For free! We’ve got ten double passes to give away on our Instagram page. Follow us, tag the friend you want to take and tell them which of the fabulous films in the festival line up you want to see. Winners announced Wednesday 12th of July.   The Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival runs from July 13th – 2 August at Palace Cinema Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como and Palace Westgarth. Find out more here