MAN ABOUT TOWN

Remember my excited post from last year about the excellent pilot episode for UK drama/genre series Being Human , about the tribulations of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost sharing a house together in Bristol? Well, episode one of the new series commissioned by the Beeb powers that be (partially recast due to scheduling issues) premiered in the UK on Sunday night. Ladies and gentlemen, start your torrents!

Now showing as part of the entertainment line-up at the 2009 Australian Open , Absinthe is a circus-burlesque show, of the sort made famous by The Famous Spiegeltent's La Clique . Like that show, Absinthe is also staged in a Spiegeltent, and also features a line-up of performers whose routines are edgy and erotic. Unlike La Clique , however, Absinthe isn't especially good. The faults begin with the Gazillionaire, the mustachioed MC whose belligerent comedy is of the confrontational kind. His hectoring humour lacks style and panache, and struck me as too American to translate well locally. Another problem with the show is its lack of cohesion; the assortment of acts don't flow well. Too, the overall standard of work lacks subtlety and style, especially in comparison to La Clique . The strap act by the muscular, shaven-headed Adil Rida is a case in point: he is impressive, but his act seems driven more by brute strength rather than refined artistry. A hip-hop style robot dan...

Although well known in the Sydney theatre scene, Socratis Otto is relatively unknown in Melbourne. But with the actor preparing for his Melbourne debut, in a new production of Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck at the Malthouse, that is about to change. Left unfinished when Büchner died in 1837, Woyzeck – a searing critique of the dehumanising nature of war – was first performed in 1913. Otto first encountered the play at university, some 16 years ago, and says he’s never forgotten it. “It kind of reminded me of the big Shakespearean plays like Hamlet , because it’s such an epic and a tragedy. There’s its theme – revenge – and you have this pure soul who is bombarded by everyone else’s disillusionment with themselves… I always remembered it.” Based on a true story, Woyzeck focuses on Otto’s character: a young soldier driven mad by his commanding officers’ exploitation and cruelty. “It’s exactly what happens to a soldier,” the actor explains, “what the rules and mechanisms of being a soldier in a...

Screening the best in new local and international LGBT cinema this March, the 19th Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) will showcase movies for every taste, from heart-pounding horror films to thought-provoking documentaries. Although most of the program is still under wraps, Festival Director Lisa Daniel has given CANVAS a sneak preview of some of the films that will screen this year. Opening night on Wednesday March 18 will see audience members treated to Tom Gustafon’s delightful Were the World Mine (pictured above), a magical high school musical in which unhappy gay student Timothy (Tanner Cohen) discovers a secret recipe for a love potion encoded in the pages of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Naturally, he uses it to make his school’s homophobes fall in love with each other! “It’s very, very similar to High School Musical ,” comments Daniel. “Think that kind of vein, take out Zack Efron, bump in a lovely-looking boy and that’s pretty much the opening night film. It’...

Two plays in two nights, both older works, both leaving me with very different impressions... Robert Chesley's two-man play Jerker - A Pornographic Elegy with Redeeming Social Values made its controversial debut as a radio play in August 1986, and was staged at Hollywood's Celebration Theatre later that same year. This new production for Melbourne's Midsumma Festival at Gasworks Arts Park opened on Thursday night, and is directed by Gary Abrahams, on a set consisting of two closely nestled single beds and their attendant lamps and telephones, with sound design by Kelly Ryall, lighting by Danny Pettingill, and costumes by Micka Agosta (who was also the costume designer for Holding the Man ). The play's full title, which is not used here, is also a deft summary of its plot: Jerker or The Helping Hand, A Pornographic Elegy with Redeeming Social Value and A Hymn to the Queer Men of San Francisco in Twenty Telephone Calls, Many of them Dirty . In brief, Chesley's pla...

Fuck, it's already the 13th of January and I still haven't blogged about some of the great art and performances I saw in late December! Where does the time go? (Answer: while you're sprawled on the couch watching DVDs, Watts - or have you forgotten you watched all 13 episodes of Underbelly on your week off from work?) Allow me to be concise for once. Or, to put it another way (and to channel my seven year old self): Things What I Did - both on my holidays, and more recently. How cool is the new National Portrait Gallery in Canberra? Answer: cool as fuck! Our latest national institution had only been open for a couple of weeks when I visited it with my mum the day before Christmas, but crowds have been flocking to the place, and I can see why. It's a superb collection that's manages to do a pretty good job of representing Australia's diverse history, highlighting the famous, the infamous and the everyday citizen simultaneously. From contemporary video portraits...

Feast your eyes upon the Baldwin-starring horror which is - dum-dum-dum - SHARK IN VENICE!

Ladies and gentlemen and non gender-specific lifeforms, please put your psuedopods together for Matt Smith , the youngest-ever actor chosen to play the role of Doctor Who. More details about Smith here and here . And you know what? I think he's going to be great. He's certainly got that eccentric, otherworldly charisma that all the best Doctors have shared... Piers Wenger, head of drama at BBC Wales, said that as soon as he had seen Smith's audition he "knew he was the one". "It was abundantly clear that he had that 'Doctor-ness' about him," he said. "You are either the Doctor or you are not. It's just the beginning of the journey for Matt. "With Steven Moffat's scripts and the expertise of the production team in Cardiff behind him, there is no one more perfect to be taking the Tardis to exciting new futures when the series returns in 2010." David Tennant, of course, still has four specials to go, shooting on which starts ...

This Saturday night at 5:35pm (UK time) the BBC will announce the name of the actor who is to play the latest incarnation of our favourite Time Lord on Doctor Who , once the character regenerates later this year with the departure of David Tennant from the role. In a special edition of Doctor Who Confidential (the behind-the-scenes program which usually details the makings-of the long-running TV program) entitled The Eleventh Doctor - retitled from The Ten Doctors only a few hours ago - the BBC will look at the various actors to have played the role since the program's inception in 1963, and now promise that: The name of the actor who will replace David Tennant in Doctor Who will be announced on Saturday. Tennant said in October that he would stand down from the show after filming four special episodes in 2009. His replacement - the eleventh Doctor of the TV series - will be revealed in a Doctor Who Confidential programme on BBC One at 17:35 on 3 January. The casting was confirm...