Spectrum
From disco hits to space: The return of Sarah Brightman
The world’s best-selling soprano makes her return to the stage for the first time in 34 years in Sunset Boulevard.
- by Lenny Ann Low
Latest
Worried you’ll nod off during this eight-hour show? You won’t be alone
Just as in real life, REST happens between 9pm and 5am. Audiences can even wear their PJs.
- by John Bailey
A clever novel that isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself
Kaveh Akbar’s book Martyr! is a delight because it manages to embrace seriousness and irreverence, darkness and light.
- by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
How a new generation embraced the complex sounds of the ’70s
Fifty years since peak prog, streaming has resurrected what punks tried to bury.
- by Michael Dwyer
This Australian psychological thriller examines death penalty with a horrific twist
Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction releases, including an engaging account of the seven Cleopatras and Geoffrey Robertson’s crisply argued case for prosecuting Putin.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
★★★★ ½
Review
Colin From Accounts returns for an excellent second season of hilarity and chaos
Two weeks on from the end of season one, Ashley and Gordon are determined to get back the mutt that brought them together. It’s easier said than done.
- by Karl Quinn
This retelling of Huckleberry Finn is a masterful satire of race
Percival Everett tells the story of Mark Twain’s classic from the point of view of Jim, the runaway slave who befriends Huck.
- by Declan Fry
The star of this shocking play about rape wishes you hadn’t been warned
Carolina Bianchi will be drugged and probed while on stage in her Rising performance. But that’s not what she’s annoyed about.
- by Stephanie Bunbury
This memoir on grief is a treasure chest of honesty and raw humanity
When her partner of 25 years died, Nova Weetman found the necessity of work and her two children kept her connected to reality.
- by Michael McGirr
They say nothing good happens after 2am, and I’m beginning to think they’re right
I’ve locked myself away for a while. With no day job to show up to, time warps. The longer I’m alone, the wilder my stream of consciousness becomes.
- by Genevieve Novak
Play School continues to affect everything I do: Noni Hazlehurst
The prolific actor has done everything from theatre, film to lifestyle presenting. But the beloved children’s show was one of the toughest.
- by John Bailey