Reviews

Have you ever wanted to walk inside a beautiful painting? Have you wished you could get up and close to the tiniest brush strokes of a masterpiece? Do traditional art galleries leave you wanting a little more? Don’t worry dear reader, Van Gogh Alive has got you covered. This isn’t your grandma’s reverentially quiet, controlled, security guarded gallery. This is an in your face, immersive, multi-sensory experience.

Be Our Family with Hannah and Gabriel Lee is the second Open Homes experience that I have seen. There are six in this extraordinary series, played in the privacy of the homes of real people who live in Adelaide and the surrounding regions, including Aldinga, Noarlunga, Klemzig, Athelstone, and Golden Grove. As with the previous one (Journey to the South) Be Our Family is a beautiful and uplifting experience.

Queer as Flux is a dynamic, fascinating and heartwarming solo show, written and performed by Stace Callaghan at the Blue Room Studio. 

The product of The Nest Ensemble, Queer as Flux is based on Stace’s life experience, including transitioning throughout life, from football-mad tomboy, to school captain of a Brisbane Girls’ School, to proud lesbian and now a trans man, who uses they/them pronouns, told with a realisation that everyone is transitioning at all times, including ageing parents, and society itself.

Charlie Conlon is trying to persuade the food van to give him a second pudding when he first meets Jake Quinn. They are both extras on a Hollywood movie set in the lush green south-west of Ireland, along with what seems like half the town, most of which are related to Jake in some way. With a film crew being the buffer between the US leads and the local extras keen to earn their ‘forty quid’ whether or not the sun shines, there are some fifteen characters here.