Reviews

In a world where we are more likely to have a conversation via social media or telephone, it is nice to be reminded how important it is to talk to each-other in person; to take the time to care about what people are saying and ultimately be heard. Talk Out Loud is an organisation that brings awareness to many social issues that are a product of our lifestyles. Topics such as depression, sexuality, self-esteem, cyber-bullying and suicide are given a voice through many programs including the arts.

There’s very little new under the sun, but Chelsea Plumley may just have discovered a new entertainment hybrid – a cross between a TV chat show and a cabaret. In fact, the whole show was filmed, so don’t be surprised if it pops up on late night TV. It would be a very welcome addition to the local TV scene.

The format is simple, Chelsea turns the follow spot onto three different artists every night and catches them off guard.

“There was a Boy, a very strange enchanted Boy…” Eden Ahbez wrote the song, though Nat King Cole made it famous and Adam Noviello has picked it for the title of his new cabaret show.

What do you do when you go through the harrowing realisation that you have testicular cancer? You survive and then tell the whole world about it in the form of a cabaret/musical theatre performance. Daniel Tobias was only 29 when he had to come to terms with his own mortality. As he came to the end of his chemotherapy, a nurse handed him a book about Lance Armstrong’s journey through the same illness. He was able to find strength through his reading and came out the other side a survivor.