Lady Gaga’s return to Melbourne has been a long time coming. Eleven years since she last set foot on a local stage, she arrived at Marvel Stadium over two huge nights on Friday and Saturday with the Mayhem Ball, a show built to overwhelm, provoke and entertain in equal measure. With a reported 60,000 people filling the venue, each night, the scale matched the occasion, and Gaga delivered a concert designed to pull focus from the first cue to the last blackout. From the opening moments when she arrived atop of a large red birdcage-like structure, the tone was set…
Author: Caroline Duncan
Iconic Australian comedian, singer and drag cabaret performer Reuben Kaye held court on the stage of the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Saturday 29 November, as he delivered night two of his much-hyped show enGORGEd. Backed by an 18-piece orchestra, the performance was larger, louder and more daring than probably anything else the prestigious hall has hosted in recent years From the moment he stepped on stage for a hometown crowd, Kaye owned the room with his razor-sharp wit, glittering glamour and a voice as powerful as his stage presence. The night moved seamlessly between big-band…
It’s been four decades since Australia first fell in love with Bob Downe – Prince of Polyester, the Lounge Room Lothario, the human sequin himself. And in his new show 40 Ridiculous Years, which played a sold-out night at Memo Music Hall in St Kilda, Mark Trevorrow’s alter ego proves that time, like taste, means absolutely nothing when you’re this gloriously camp. From the moment Bob sashayed onto the stage wearing white pants, hush puppies and a t-shirt emblazoned with CHOOSE BOB, as well as his trademark perma-grin, the audience was his. The show was a love letter to variety, kitsch…
The Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne is pulsing with pure 1960s spirit as the Australian Shakespeare Company’s revival of Hair the Musical has landed in a swirl of fringe, protest anthems and communal energy. Directed by Glenn Elston, this reimagined version offers a fresh yet familiar take on the original rock musical while spotlighting a remarkably vibrant young cast. The story remains grounded in its original essence: a “tribe” of free-spirited hippies defy convention and celebrate love, peace and self-expression during the tumultuous era of the Vietnam War. Act I introduces the colourful commune, dancing barefoot and singing of Aquarius, and Hair. Act II brings…
Fiasco: A Burke & Wills Musical has kicked off at the Trades Hall this week – probably one of the most hotly anticipated shows of this year’s Melbourne Fringe festival. It turns one of Australia’s most infamous expeditions into comic theatre with a band, theatrical absurdity and some moments that are unexpectedly moving. Created by comedian Sammy J, this song-driven take on the 1860 expedition reframes the disaster as a chaotic, ego-fuelled journey filled with both laughs and sharp critique. The plot follows Burke, Wills and their small team as they leave Melbourne and push into the harsh interior (or, as…
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is a bold, sprawling film that dares to blend satire, action and emotional drama in a way few mainstream blockbusters attempt. Drawing from Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, Anderson brings to screen a modern-day fable of resistance, identity and generational legacy. At its core, the plot follows Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a washed-up former revolutionary living off the grid with his teenage daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti). For 16 years he has kept a low profile. But when Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) resurfaces and Willa is kidnapped, Bob is forced back into a dangerous world he once abandoned.…
Gideon D. Wilonja’s I Met An Angel Named Jacques is a striking, poetic play that blurs the line between theatre and confession. Presented at Footscray Community Arts it offers a raw and dreamlike study of fame, validation and vulnerability – a reminder of how powerful and unpredictable Melbourne’s independent theatre can be. Set in a world that feels both real and imagined, the story centres on L’or (played by Wilonja), a celebrated artist trapped in his own myth. His public image is flawless, but the weight of perfection leaves him restless and isolated. Enter Jacques (played by Ras-Samuel), a sharp-witted critic whose…
After touring across Australia playing regional gigs, Kate Ceberano’s Australian Made Tour came to Hamer Hall on 19 September 2025 – a fitting venue for the Melbourne native. The show was a powerful celebration of her four-decade plus career and Australia’s broader musical heritage. Ceberano delivered more than nostalgia -it was a vibrant, dynamic live performance illuminated by Ceberano’s unmistakable voice, personal storytelling and her sense of connection with the audience. The tour’s title is a nod to Ceberano’s early days, when, at just 20 years old, she performed with I’m Talking on the original Australian Made tour of 1986/87 alongside INXS, Jimmy Barnes,…
There are concerts, and then there are musical moments that unfold like cinematic revelations. The Whitlams with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall on 6 September 2025 was one of those rare evenings where everything aligned: light, sound, emotion, place. In Melbourne’s most sonically sumptuous room, frontman Tim Freedman and his band found themselves embraced by an 80-piece MSO storm, yet not overshadowed by its orchestral swells. This was their first seated Melbourne show since 2017, trading sweaty standing rooms for high-backed seats and a more muted, yet reverential audience. And it suited them. Freedman in a suit held…
Are You There? is a new play by Irene Koresten currently running at the Explosives Factory in St Kilda – a dark comedy that hits with both laughter and heartache. Walking into Explosives Factory feels like slipping into a tucked-away world in St Kilda. A narrow laneway entrance up flight of stairs takes you inside where you’re suddenly in the foyer of Autumn Dale Village: a small, intimate space where three women carry the weight of lives lived. And you’re a fly on the wall. Melanie Madrigali commands the stage as Pia, the ‘Director of First Impressions’. It’s Friday, and she’s…
Bringing back the slapsticky glory of Police Squad! and The Naked Gun trilogy, the 2025 reboot, The Naked Gun, has landed in cinemas like a comedic grenade of pure absurdity. Directed by Akiva Schaffer and produced by Ted and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, the film passes the torch to Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson), who steps into his late father’s shoes with surprising comedic finesse. The plot is improbably enjoyable: a chaotic bank robbery, a murder mystery, a tech billionaire’s planet-reshaping P.L.O.T. device, and a wild romance with true-crime writer Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson). It’s as ridiculous as it sounds – and intentionally so. What…
If you’re still recovering from Nobody (2021), Nobody 2 is a bruising encore that doubles down on the absurd. Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) returns as Hutch Mansell, the unassuming suburban dad with a lethal past, now hauling his family off on a long-overdue vacation. But, of course, it swiftly unravels into chaos. What he thought would be a peaceful getaway morphs into full-on mayhem when their trip hits a corrupt tourist trap run by a crooked sheriff and crime boss Lendina (Sharon Stone). Director Timo Tjahjanto delivers tightly choreographed carnage – chaos in a water park, a trap-laden finale and savage…