ENTERTAINMENT
LOCAL ARTIST DALE RHODES (THIS IS HIS SELF PORTRAIT) IS A FINALIST IN WEST AUSTRALIA’S BLACK SWAN PORTRAIT PRIZE. HE IS JUST ONE OF 40 CHOSEN FROM 484. FOR A FULL LIST OF THIS YEAR’S WA FINALISTS VISIT: WWW.BLACKSWANPRIZE.COM.AU
BLOODY FUNNY KEV
broken and the stage will sizzle. Don’t miss out. As always, bring grandma but leave the little ones at home. Friday and Saturday, 7pm at Brunswick Picture House, 30 Fingal St, Brunswick Heads. Tickets at brunswickpicturehouse.com.
WHAT’S NEW, THEATRE WORKSHOPS PUSSYCAT? FOR WOMEN WITH TRAUMA Public Act Theatre are launching a series of theatre workshops for women who have experienced domestic violence or trauma. It will run over 10 weeks and conclude in a public theatre forum. Fee is $120. Contact Philippa Williams on 0422 882 319.
CHEEKY CABARET AT THE PICTURE HOUSE Roll up, roll up … That’s right folks; it’s that time of month again. Watch on and let your jaw drop wide as this multifarious clique of circus superstars, tricksters, daredevils and extraordinary entertainers come from far and wide to present yet another, not-to-be-forgotten, cheeky cabaret weekend at The Brunswick Picture House. The laughter will be infectious, records will be
Named ‘cabaret diva of the highest order’ by New York Post, one of the Top Performers of the Year by The New Yorker, ‘The Queen of Chanson’ by the Berliner Zeitung and ‘a phenomenon’ by the Australian press, multi-award-winning Meow Meow’s solo works have been curated by David Bowie, Pina Bausch and Mikhail Baryshnikov among others.
PETE’S DRAGON BRIDGET JONES’S BABY Pete (Oakes Fegley – where DO they get these names?) is in the back seat of the family car when it crashes in a pine forest (set in America, the film was shot in New Zealand). Both of his parents are killed and fouryear-old Pete runs terrified into the woods. We meet him again six years later and he has evolved into a New World Mowgli with a bad wig and a bit of little Jackie Paper about him. His unlikely survival is owing to the kind nature of the enormous green dragon that has befriended him. So yes, it is a kids’ flick, but it has so much more heart and intelligence than you would find in most run-of-the-mill mainstream blockbusters – I’d rather watch this than Mad Max: Fury Road or a kill-athon any day of the week. Pete’s fairytale existence will come to an end – that is a given. It’s part of growing up, but dare any of us abandon the magic that is always out there? Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard – Ron’s daughter), the local park ranger, encounters Pete and takes him with her back to town. The dragon, Elliot, goes looking for his mate, setting in train the awful confrontation that you know is coming between ‘civilisation’ and ‘the other’. The bad guys are the loggers who are making ever deeper encroachments into Elliot’s pine-forested environment. When they become aware of Elliot’s existence they hunt him down with a view to making big bucks from exhibiting him. With her dad, the wise elder (Robert Redford), Grace and Pete must somehow save Elliot from entrapment and crass exploitation. The CGI creation of the dragon – it has friendly fur, not reptilian scales – is absolutely convincing, particularly when the often intrusive soundtrack is cut so that you can hear his grunts and hoary sighs. The dramatic climax is not as harrowing as King Kong atop the Empire State building, and its outcome is less tragic, but I was blinking back the tears. Wonderful.
BY JOHN CAMPBELL
Bitter experience has told cine tragics that sequels are usually rubbish – The Godfather: Part II (1974) stands forever as the exception to the rule. Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason (2004) was an absolute stinker, so this latest, an apparent afterthought from the franchise, didn’t overexcite. But despite a hastily construed and tackily constructed intro, it delivers with ebullience and warmth, and plenty of self-deprecating humour and savvy satire along the way. Adjusting after such a long time lapse, however, is not easy at first. To begin with, Bridget is now 43, and looks every day of it, while Mark is positively cadaverous in his dark barrister’s suit. After this initial shock, however (like bumping into old friends that you haven’t seen in ages and thinking how much the years have taken their toll), both Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth settle comfortably into their parts as if they had never been away. The ghost in the machine, naturally, is Hugh Grant’s Daniel, so he has been wisely killed off before Bridget, alone again, must own up to her latest emotional crisis. Convinced by a friend and fellow worker at the TV news show where she has made a formidable career for herself, Bridget decides that what she needs more than anything is a good rogering. She gets plastered at a music PRESENTED BY BYRON THEATRE festival, meets Jack (Patrick LIBERTY EQUALITY FRATERNITY Dempsey), and has sex with SATURDAY 1 OCT, 3PM him. The following week, TICKETS: FULL $25 | CONC $23 | GROUP 10+ $15 under different circumstances, LOUDER THAN BOMBS she finds herself in the arms LOUDER SATURDAY 1 OCT, 6.30PM THAN TICKETS: FULL $15 | CONC $13 BOMBS of Mark. A month later, Bridget discovers that she is WAR HORSE pregnant – but to whom? It SUNDAY 9 OCT, 3PM TICKETS: FULL $25 | CONC $23 | GROUP 10+ $15 is a clever, entirely believable setup and director Sharon HAMLET WEDNESDAY 2 NOV, 11AM Maguire maintains the mystery TICKETS: FULL $25 | CONC $23 | GROUP 10+ $15 of fatherhood throughout. You want it to be Mark but, THE AUDIENCE WEDNESDAY 16 NOV, 1PM unlike Grant’s caddish Daniel, TICKETS: FULL $25 | CONC $23 | GROUP 10+ $15 Jack is an honourable man FRANKENSTEIN whose feelings for Bridget are WEDNESDAY 30 NOV, 11AM TICKETS: FULL $25 | CONC $23 | GROUP 10+ $15 genuine. The pleasing subtext is that Jack has made his THE DEEP BLUE SEA fortune through an app that WEDNESDAY 14 DEC, 1PM TICKETS: FULL $25 | CONC $23 | GROUP 10+ $15 can eradicate love’s fickleness online, when we all know it THREE PENNY OPERA SUNDAY 1 JAN, 1PM can’t. A lovely contribution TICKETS: FULL $25 | CONC $23 | GROUP 10+ $15 from the peerless Emma Byron Community Centre 69 Jonson Street Byron Bay Thompson as Bridget’s doctor Phone 6685 6807 | www.byroncentre.com.au is the icing on the cake. Â
WHAT’S ON MOVIES
SEPT ‘16 - JAN ‘17
Without traditional media support, all of Kevin Bloody Wilson’s albums and DVDs have achieved gold sales status globally, with many reaching platinum, and one, Kev’s Back, awarded an amazing quadruple platinum. Ironically, twenty-five years ago, Kevin Bloody Wilson was arrested for performing his songs in public yet, on Australia Day in January 2010, he was officially nominated for Australian of the Year for doing exactly the same thing. Don’t miss your chance to see Kevin Bloody Wilson in your own backyard – Club Mullum at The Ex-Services, Friday 8pm. Tickets $55 available now online at www.clubmullum.com and at the door.
INTERNATIONAL WORLD MUSICIAN DAVID BROZA PRESENTS EAST JERUSALEM/ WEST JERUSALEM FILM AND CONCERT AT THE BYRON THEATRE ON SUNDAY 20 NOVEMBER
cinema Reviews
In a 5-star review of her recent performance of Feline Intimate at the 2016 Adelaide Fringe Festival, The Advertiser writes, ‘Meow Meow reels us in with mock production dilemmas, uses us to meet her diva whims and manipulates masculine limbs to accommodate her needs… Some acts raise the bar so high it requires Olympic training to clear it. In the world of cabaret that delightful diva is Meow Meow.’ Friday 30 September and Saturday 1 October, 7.30pm. Diner and bar open from 6pm. NORPA at Lismore City Hall. $22–56, Bookings: www.norpa.org.au or 1300 066 772
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
The Byron Shire Echo September 21, 2016 35