Renowned HIV+ theatre maker and queer arts producer Jeremy Goldstein surveys Sydney WorldPride Arts for The Queer Review, and finds a radically inclusive multi-artform festival of gender, identity, and sexuality. Beyond the Mardi Gras and the usual circuit parties, WorldPride Arts reinvents the harbour city as one of the world’s greatest LGBTQIA+ cultural destinations. I... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: Blessed Union (Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney) ★★★★★
There’s a simple pleasure to be had in sitting back and watching everything on stage being done well. Belvoir’s new queer family dramedy, Blessed Union, is seamlessly terrific. Funny, emotive, and probing. Flawless. No notes. I could end the review here, but obviously I won't... Ruth (Danielle Cormack) and Judith (Maude Davey) have always upheld... Continue Reading →
Cultural highlights at Sydney WorldPride 2023
G'day from gay down under. WorldPride (yes, all one word - I imagine it's said like, "Just Jack!") hits Sydney, Australia February 17th - March 5th, and there's plenty more than the de rigueur circuit parties and Kylie gigs to enjoy. The vibrant local arts scene has a range of options to keep you entertained... Continue Reading →
Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival marks 30th anniversary during World Pride – full lineup announced
The lineup for the 30th anniversary of Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival—running February 15th until March 2nd, 2023—has just been announced including several world and Australian premieres. A total of 166 films will screen over 16 days in cinemas, outdoors, and on demand at home alongside a program of panel discussions, workshops, industry networking... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: End Of. (Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney) ★★★1/2
Ash Flanders' one-person show, End Of., is a mood. It’s a bizarre ride through death, grammar, and bad acid trips. I guess I’m trying to say that End Of. is a bit messy and incoherent, but then who said the destination had to be as good as the journey anyway? A succession of stories both... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: Become The One (Riverside Theatre, Sydney) ★★★★
With footballers like Australia's Josh Cavallo and the UK's Jake Daniels bravely coming out, the timing of the return run of Adam Fawcett’s 2019 play Become The One couldn’t be better. How does a relationship work when one of you stays in the closet? What’s the impact on your other relationships? How long can it... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2022 Review: Death and Bowling ★★★★
Outfest LA 2021 Audience Award winner, writer-director Lyle Kash Death and Bowling, which gets its Australian premiere at the Mardi Gras Film Festival, is a surprising, surrealistic look at a trans man’s grief and a mediation on trans lives, how gender trans folks are presented on screen and the complex motivation to be seen. Will... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: Dead Skin (Kings Cross Theatre, Sydney) ★★★★
Watching Dead Skin—which won the State Theatre Company of South Australia’s Young Playwright’s Award and had its world premiere at the Kings Cross Theatre Sydney this week—I was impressed by the complexity of the narrative structure, the ease and flow of dialogue that authentically captures the energy and angst of youth, as well as the... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2021 Review: My First Summer ★★★★ 1/2
There is something quintessentially Australian about finding privacy in a wide expanse of nature, and My First Summer uses the depths of Australian forests as a furtive playground for big emotions. A teenage girl, Grace (Maiah Stewardson), witnesses a reclusive writer, Veronica Fox (Edwina Wren), commit suicide in a local lake. She also spies another... Continue Reading →
Queer Screen’s 28th Mardi Gras Film Festival lineup revealed
Queer Screen’s 28th Mardi Gras Film Festival has announced its full lineup of queer treats that will debut both in cinemas in Sydney and online on-demand across Australia from February 18th to March 4th 2021. MGFF will screen 94 films including narrative features, docs, shorts, and episodics, with 70% of those available on-demand. The program... Continue Reading →