John Shand

Concert Hall, June 15 8/10 Well, that answers that question. In the four years since the Concert Hall’s major acoustic revamp, I haven’t sat up in the seats that seem nearer the Lower North Shore than the CBD. In case you’re wondering, the sound is equally pristine. Every note had absolute clarity, from the tiniest

Belinda Bromilow sprang into the world's imagination wrangling butterflies. Such was the impact of the Sydney actor's performance as the eccentric

The Sydney actor discusses raising a family amid a mad life in showbusiness.

Belinda Bromilow sprang into the world’s imagination wrangling butterflies. Such was the impact of the Sydney actor’s performance as the eccentric Aunt Elizabeth (whose hobby was training butterflies) in Stan’s series The Great that she’s been mobbed by fans from an airport in Zimbabwe to a restaurant in Portugal. Created and written by Bromilow’s husband,

Ensemble Theatre, June 23 6.5/10 “There’s a great liberty in being bad,” Sharon tells us, with all the zeal of the reformed do-gooder. She’s only come to mischief in her mid-50s, having “retired” from her marriage (preceded by her husband), and advertised for a housemate – or “roommate”. Sharon (Lucy Bell) lives in Iowa City,

Hayes Theatre, June 24, 8/10 Finally! Theatre that embraces the bizarre! It makes you realise how just mundane so much art of all stripes really is; how it sets about fulfilling expectations, rather than subverting them. House of Rot is Uber-theatrical, as it dances between Dada, theatre of the absurd and musical cabaret. Like a

Roslyn Packer Theatre, July 4 8.5/10 We all suffer from doubt. Even the politicians. They’ve just perfected hiding theirs behind a veneer of certainty. John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2005 Doubt makes most plays seem absurdly one-dimensional. It was true of Sydney Theatre Company’s 2006 staging, of Shanley’s 2008 film with Meryl Streep and Philip

Old Fitz Theatre, July 12 6.5/10 Like a single parent and a teenager sharing a cupboard-sized flat, this is two clashing plays trying to inhabit the same stage. British playwright Martin Crimp’s wrote it following the 1986 unsolved disappearance of young London estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, presumed murdered. But he frames the play as a

Hayes Theatre, July 14 8.5/10 They’re still creepy and kooky, but they’re also infinitely more of a scream than in the ’60s TV series, of which this 2009 musical is the lovechild. Common to both shows is the centrality of Morticia, on TV played by the lustrous Carolyn Jones, and here by Erika Heynatz in