City Hub 24 July 2014

from Bondi to Balmain...

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July 24, 2014

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FLicker of hope Vigil in support of women’s services Page 4

Unauthorised backpacker accommodation uncovered in Bondi

BY Lucia Osborne-Crowley Following an investigation into a large ring of illegal boarding houses in the city last week, City Hub has discovered a collection of similarly unauthorised backpacker accommodation in the Bondi Beach area.

While posing as a prospective tenant, a City Hub reporter was shown around a series of overcrowded apartments and houses on Bondi Road, O’Brien Street and Lamrock Avenue that had been sublet to large numbers of backpackers for between $125 and $170 per week.

The properties visited accommodated up to four people in bunk beds in each room. One room combined a kitchen with two sets of bunk beds, resulting in an obvious cockroach infestation and overall lack of safety and hygiene.

One single storey five bedroom house accommodated 16 backpackers. The shared bathrooms appeared unsanitary and the house itself was filthy. A rat ran across the kitchen floor while City Hub inspected the property.

City Hub was told the man who owns the apartments, who goes by the name Thomas, also operates a “large number” of other houses and properties in the Bondi Beach and Bondi Junction area. It appears the man hires backpackers who move in to his properties to manage his boarding houses and ensure all beds are full at all times.

Waverley councillors acknowledged that illegal overcrowding is an ongoing problem in the area, but also noted its frequency has reduced significantly following a crackdown by council last year.

In 2011, Waverley Council conducted an investigation into a large ring of illegal boarding houses operated by a single owner. The investigation resulted in a case heard by the Land and Environment Court, which ordered the operator to stop using his properties as backpacker accommodation immediately.

When the operator did not comply, Waverley Council launched another case against the operator in th NSW Land and Environment Court, this time for

contempt of court. Waverley Council won the case in June of 2013.

Waverley councillor Ingrid Strewe said this case demonstrated to all operators that Waverley Council would go to great lengths to stop homeowners in the area from creating illegal backpacker housing.

“That court case has become well-known in the area and people now know council is prepared to go to those lengths to protect the neighbours and protect the people being housed in substandard conditions,” Cr Strewe said.

“The problem is not as bad as it once was in Waverley because we managed to set up very effective

processes to deal with it.”

Councillor John Wakefield said he also feels council’s response to the problem has helped reduce danger to residents but does feel it is an ongoing issue in the area.

“Illegal backpacker accommodation is a continuing issue in Bondi and Waverley,” Cr Wakefield said.

“However, because of the crackdown by council it impacts on residents less.”

“What we have noticed is the type of illegal backpacker rental in Bondi has become more upmarket. We are seeing fewer people per house and less dangerous living conditions.”

A small room for four people in Bondi

Councillor Bill Mouroukas told City Hub he also feels the problem has been largely solved in the Waverley area.

“I haven’t had anyone approach me about this issue in recent times and I think it has largely been dealt with.”

While Waverley Council is using the Land and Environment Court to take action against operators, the City of Sydney continues to cite lack of council powers for their inability to police this issue.

“The City urged the NSW Government to consider giving council officers greater powers to investigate and enforce breaches of the (Environmental Planning and Assessment) Act,” said a City of Sydney spokesperson.

An illegally overcrowded boarding house on Quarry Street in Ultimo has still not been inspected by the City of Sydney Council as of July 22, despite a series of reports released last week regarding this property and several others involved in the same operation.

While posing as a prospective tenant, City Hub was told the Quarry Street property was still operational housing approximately 50 people on July 22. It appears neither the City of Sydney nor Fire and Rescue NSW have inspected the property as a result of last week’s reports.

A resident of the property who preferred not be named said no one had come to inspect the property in the last week.

City Hub returned to a property on Regent Street in Chippendale, which was also the subject of last week’s investigation, and can confirm the apartment was still functioning as an illegal boarding house as of July 19.

When asked whether action had been taken to address complaints about these properties, a spokesperson for the City of Sydney said: “The City of Sydney takes all complaints seriously and we currently have more than 65 investigations underway.”

The spokesperson also said the City was unable to comment on ongoing investigations.

Jacaranda tree campaigners comdemn City response

ABN 48 135 222 169 Group Publisher: Lawrence Gibbons Group Manager: Chris Peken Group Editor: Lucia Osborne-Crowley City Hub Editor: Joshua Tassell Contributors: Joshua Tassell, Emily Contador-Kelsall, Elliott Brennan, Christopher Harris, Edmund Kirkwood Arts Editor: Leigh Livingstone Live Music Editors: Chelsea Deeley & Alexandra English Dining Editor: Jackie McMillan Advertising Managers: Toni Martelli, Robert Tuitama, George Tinnyunt & Mike Contos Design: Joanna Grace Cover: Chris Peken - Summer (candle holder courtesy of The Works, Glebe) Email: question@alternativemediagroup.com Advertising: sales@alternativemediagroup.com Contact: PO Box 843 Broadway 2007 Ph: 9212 5677 Fax: 9212 5633 Web: altmedia.net.au

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this would definitely not happen.”

Approximately five weeks later, however, petition signatory Michelle Perry received an email from Lord Mayor Clover Moore outlining the reasons council would be going ahead with the removal of the tree.

“I refer to the petition you signed about the jacaranda tree at the corner of Myrtle and Abercrombie Streets,” the letter read.

“We will replant the jacaranda tree during the current cool weather to give the tree maximum opportunity to establish itself in the new location.”

Ms Perry said she felt this was cause for concern.

“I feel my privacy has been severely breached by the Office of the Lord Mayor as I was assured the Office would not use my contact details in this way,” she told City Hub. A spokesperson for Lord Mayor Clover Moore said it is council’s policy to contact petitioners and that the Lord Mayor’s office is not involved.

“The Lord Mayor’s office has no involvement in replying to petitions.”

“Under the City of Sydney’s petition guidelines, we are required to respond to all petitioners, especially if their petition has been tabled at council as this one had.”

Ms Bergstrom is also concerned about council’s response to the community’s initial complaints.

“Council told me the matter

was to be determined by Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) and resolved to write to RMS to request advice on whether it is necessary to remove the tree, however when I spoke to RMS they said they knew nothing about the tree,” Ms Bergstrom said.

Correspondence from RMS provided to City Hub reads: “There has been no indication of the need to remove any trees as part of the installation of RMS traffic signal

hardware.”

In a map provided to RMS by the City of Sydney Council detailing the intersection in question, the tree is not marked.

This week the City of Sydney Council placed a notice on the jacaranda tree informing residents of the tree’s removal.

“The tree will be removed and transplanted to its new position in approximately 4-6 weeks,” the sign read.

Photo: Danelle Bergstrom

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BY Lucia Osborne-Crowley Community members fighting for the preservation of a jacaranda tree in Chippendale are concerned about the conduct of the City of Sydney during the campaign.

Residents mobilised when council resolved to remove the tree in order to accommodate a set of traffic lights to assist the use of the Broadway Link Cycleway.

Construction of the cycleway will begin in October, with a set of traffic lights to be installed on the corner where the jacaranda tree currently stands in order to help cyclists cross the busy intersection.

Chippendale resident Danelle Bergstrom has been heading the campaign to save the tree since June of 2013. Ms Bergstrom submitted a petition of over 1100 signatures to council last month.

Ms Bergstrom expressed concerns about the manner in which council dealt with the petition.

“I originally submitted the petition with all contact details partially obscured to protect the privacy of the signatories, however I was advised that only an original copy would be accepted with all email addresses shown in full,” Ms Bergstrom said.

“Before agreeing to submit the original document, I asked Mayoral staff to confirm the contact details would not be used as any more than a reference and that no one who signed the petition would be contacted. It was stressed to me that

The jacaranda tree on Abercrombie Street in Chippendale

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Students host vigil for women’s services

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feel have not been considered in the implementation of the Going Home Staying Home reforms.

One group the vigil will focus on is Sydney’s culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse women, who organisers feel are disproportionately affected by the reforms.

“People of culturally diverse backgrounds are at higher risk of intimate partner abuse and homelessness and we really wanted to highlight that,” said Phoebe Moloney, SWOS spokesperson.

Women’s Officer for the NSW branch of the National Union of Students Amy Knox echoed this

concern and also expressed concern for women of religiously diverse backgrounds who may be unable to access independent refuges following the cuts.

“It will be very hard for these women to feel comfortable approaching large faith-based organisations,” said Ms Knox.

“Women from non-English speaking backgrounds are already not comfortable accessing these services so the cuts will hit these women especially hard,” said Anjana Regmi, the Convenor of Asian Australian Alliance Women’s Forum.

Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC of the NSW Greens,

Photo: Chris Peken

BY Lucia Osborne-Crowley A candle-lit vigil to protest upcoming closures of women’s homelessness services in Sydney has been organised by activist group Students for Women’s Only Services (SWOS). The vigil was organised in response to the NSW Government’s Going Home Staying Home reforms.

The vigil will be used to gather supporters for the signing of a petition asking the NSW Government for “restoration of all funding to NSW women’sspecific homelessness services”.

Summer, a university student who has been involved in organising the event and who has spent most of her life in homelessness facilities told City Hub she feels women’s only services are essential for the safety of young women.

“I have spent time in all kinds of homelessness services. I personally had very traumatic experiences in mixed gender services, which really highlights why it is so important to have women’s only options,” she said.

“When I was very young, a man threw a pot and a pan at me because he thought I hadn’t done the dishes and I was injured as a result. I have never experienced that kind of violence in a women’s refuge.”

“In the women’s refuge I felt safe from violence and I felt comfortable asking for help.”

Summer said she hopes her personal experience will highlight the importance of the vigil.

“People don’t like to think about things that make them uncomfortable, so no one is recognising what is at stake here.”

“I guarantee that if anyone had experienced what I have, or if their daughters or sisters or mothers had experienced what I have, they would understand why we are fighting these reforms.”

“Women’s refuges are simply the only safe option for us.”

Thursday’s vigil also aims to highlight the impact of the closures on groups of women the organisers

Summer

who will be attending the vigil, agreed with this concern.

“A ‘one size fits all’ approach to such a sensitive issue will lead to already vulnerable women and children being isolated and marginalised,” she said.

“I believe funding for specialist programs is essential for culturally diverse women who are at risk of domestic violence and homelessness.”

The vigil also aims to highlight the disproportionate impact of the reforms on students and young women.

“The first women’s refuge was started by Anne Summers when she was a student,” said Ms Knox.

“Students were at the forefront of this movement at the beginning so now that these services are facing closure we need to make sure that we, as students, fight to keep them open.”

Summer said her experiences growing up in homelessness shelters have highlighted the importance of refuges that are able to cater to the specific needs of girls and young women.

Also attending the vigil is City of Sydney Councillor Linda Scott.

“It is impossible not to see a future for Sydney where more people, women children in particular, will be sleeping rough as a result of these reforms,” Cr Scott said.

A spokesperson from the Department of Family and Community Services said all women would be catered to under the reforms.

“Each of the organisations that will play a part in Going Home Staying Home is required to deliver services that are sensitive to the needs of clients in the community in which they operate.”

“Client groups that were supported under the specialist homelessness services program will also be supported under Going Home Staying Home.”

Ms Moloney said she hoped the vigil would help to raise awareness about the issue.

“We need to send the message that Sydney must be safe for women.”

The vigil will take place this Thursday July 24 at 5.30pm in Pitt Street Mall.

Backlash against Bays Precinct development unfolds

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spokesman Mark Wallis said that whilst development of the Bays Precinct was “inevitable”, the government must take on board community concerns.

“Any development must be appropriate to the rest of the area. Our greatest worry is that what we are promised in the initial stages will not end up as the final result.”

President of the Glebe Society John Gray welcomed the government’s announcement but warned against letting

private interests win out.

“The government must ensure that the public interest is protected. Sustainable development must have precedence over economic development,” said Mr Gray.

“We are determined we will not permit another Barangaroo – with little consideration of community wishes, secret decision making and a development outcome which blatantly favoured private interests over that of the

Photo: NSW Government

BY Joshua Tassell Resident groups and local politicians have criticised the NSW Government’s Bays Precinct development announcement on the grounds it favours private development with little community input.

On Thursday July 17, two years since The Bays Precinct Taskforce released its Strategic Framework Report, NSW Premier Mike Baird and Planning Minister Pru Goward announced a 30year strategy for the revitalisation of 80 hectares of Sydney’s inner harbour.

The Bays Precinct comprises Blackwattle Bay, the Sydney Fish Market, Rozelle Bay, Rozelle Rail Yards, and the heritage-listed White Bay Power Station.

Part of the proposed redevelopment includes new housing and areas for recreation, retail, tourism, commercial and maritime use along the 5.5 kilometre stretch of waterfront in the Bays Precinct.

“The Bays Precinct is just two kilometres west of the Sydney CBD, and presents possibly the most exciting and ambitious urban renewal and city building opportunity in the world today,” Mr Baird said.

Mr. Baird labelled the land “an urban wasteland that is four times the size of Barangaroo”.

“Our plans to regenerate The Bays Precinct will deliver vibrant and dynamic places for cultural, maritime, recreational, retail, residential and commercial use,” Ms Goward said.

UrbanGrowth NSW, the government’s urban renewal authority, is leading the revitalisation of The Bays Precinct.

Rozelle Residents Action Group

The Bays Precinct

community.”

“We will not be Barangaroo’ed.”

Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne also demanded the NSW Government avoid repeating the mistakes of the Barangaroo development in the Bays Precinct.

“The people of Sydney will be concerned that when Mike Baird says he wants to undertake ‘urban renewal’ of the Bays Precinct, this is code for letting developers run rampant through harbour front land,” Cr Byrne said.

Greens MP Jamie Parker also cited Barangaroo as an example of the NSW Government’s problematic attitude to development.

“This precious public waterfront land must not be another Barangaroo where deals for mates and behind-closed-door negotiations deliver profit for developers at the expense of the community. When it comes to development in this state we have seen time and again developer greed trump community need.”

Cr Byrne also expressed his desire to see social benefits for low-income earners and those displaced by the Millers Point evictions.

Property development industry group The Urban Taskforce believes the development will be a boon for Sydney’s burgeoning population.

“The Bays Precinct has been struggling for many years and it is a credit to UrbanGrowth NSW that a way forward is now occurring,” said Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson.

The City of Sydney warned that the NSW Government must deliver detailed plans for public access, infrastructure and building controls.

“The City of Sydney will be working with UrbanGrowth and the NSW Government to find the best outcomes for the future of this site over many years,” said a City of Sydney spokeswoman.

“The State Government should deliver a diverse mix of social and affordable housing in the area. An integrated public transport strategy should be developed, which examines the expansion of ferry services and light rail, while also maximising the opportunities of the future heavy rail.”

Mr Baird and Ms Goward also announced an international summit for November, inviting urban renewal experts from across the globe.

“By bringing together the best local and international expertise, we believe we can achieve a great outcome for the people of Sydney, while setting a new benchmark for what is possible in the regeneration of iconic urban destinations,” said Mr. Baird.

“The public and other stakeholders will also be asked to provide input as we develop plans to revitalise this area.”

Urban Taskforce noted that local expertise must be enlisted.

“While international experts are a good way to begin a project we also need to build in local experts who understand the climate and character of Sydney Harbour.”

The outcomes of the international summit will be put to the community at a stakeholder event to be held in February 2015.

The Glebe Society will be collaborating with other groups to convene a community meeting to protect the public interest in the Bays Precinct urban renewal project on Monday August 4.

Millers Point housing dispute heightens

BY Christopher Harris Local politicians have joined the opposition to NSW Government’s plan to sell public housing in Millers Point to fund a Housing NSW property shortfall and maintenance backlog.

The significance of the Millers Point housing was highlighted

by Lord Mayor Clover Moore last Friday as she opened Sue Rawlinson’s exhibition that documents the plaques of protests and simple yellow ribbons, which now hang in residents’ homes in the suburbs.

The Lord Mayor reiterated her support for low income housing in the CBD. “We’re funding Redfern Legal Centre to assist residents in their fight,” she said.

It is understood the mayor has donated $100,000 to assist the community in pursuing legal avenues to combat forced eviction notices, which were delivered to residents last March.

The government has maintained that the relocation of Housing NSW tenants is necessary because of the high maintenance costs of the properties.

“I recognise some tenants have lived in public housing in Millers Point for decades, and moving to a new location may be difficult.

This decision was not taken lightly, but it is the right decision in the interest of a sustainable, fair social housing system which currently has

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more than 57,000 families on the waiting list,” said NSW Minister for Planning Pru Goward.

Member of the Save Millers Point Community group Wendy Ford believes the Government’s action is about short-term revenue raising and could affect more people than Millers Point.

“I think its quite strange when [Pru Goward] set up a commission to look into public housing across the state, she goes and announces before this commission has finished - that she’s going to sell these houses off.”

Last year Housing NSW sold 1386 houses and built 536.

Minister for Housing Gabrielle Upton did not respond to questions

but referred them to a departmental spokesperson, who said the sell-off is more equitable.

“For each Millers Point precinct property sold, the government can build three modern, purpose-built houses which are better suited to social housing.”

The Shadow Minister for Housing, Sophie Cotsis, doesn’t believe there is any provision for new property acquisition.

“When you subtract how many they’ve built from how many they’ve sold, we’ve got about 800 less houses. The housing portfolio is in crisis. They’ve had three ministers since August last year.

It is very clear there has been no planning and no strategy from the

Lord Mayor Clover Moore addressing gallery-goers on the millers point sale

government.”

“In the last budget that Labor handed down in 2010, the budget for building housing was $240 million. In 2014 its $120 million; that budget has been halved. Its not sustainable,” Ms. Cotsis said.

In a NSW Government inquiry into social, public and affordable housing in May, Anne Skewes, Deputy Director General of NSW Land and Housing Corporation was unclear about how many new houses the sale proceeds would afford. “[The sale] is money back to the Land and Housing Corporation to support the maintenance backlog and also to support new supply.”

Sydney MP Alex Greenwich echoed concerns about provision of affordable housing.

“The government is removing 293 low cost homes with 511 residents. The minister has not made a commitment to more housing from selling these homes and it is not identified in the state budget.”

Mr Greenwich said he believes the Government’s decisions are motivated by the development of the nearby casino.

“The government changed the rules to allow fast-tracking of a second casino. Many people have identified that badly-maintained social housing is not the right image to attract big spending gamblers to a new casino and hotel.”

Mr Greenwich has pledged his continued support to retain inner city public housing.

news in brief

BY Emily ContadorKelsall

By Emily ContadorKelsall

Babi Yar commemorated at Waverley Waverley Council has agreed to erect a plaque in Waverley’s memorial gardens to commemorate the Babi Yar Massacre for the first time ever in Sydney.

Babi Yar, a ravine in Kiev, was the site of a series of massacres carried out by German forces during their WWII campaign against the Soviet Union. Mayor Sally Betts said Waverley has a very large Ukrainian population and it is fitting that this massacre is remembered. On September 28 2014, there will be a commemoration ceremony for the Babi Yar Massacre in Waverley Gardens.

Waverley parking dispute heightens Labor Councillor John Wakefield has proposed significant parking reforms for Waverley Council without success. Cr Wakefield said that now council has significantly increased rates and laid off a large number of staff, there was no

financial reason why council could not return some of that economic benefit back to the community. “The Liberal party on council is attempting to continue to perpetuate a parking system which takes money from residents.” Cr Wakefield said he has put forward these reforms on various occasions and Mayor Betts and her colleagues have rejected them repeatedly.

“If [Mayor Betts] wanted the parking reforms she could have approved them on the spot.” Mayor Betts said she was confused by the suggestion that Cr Wakefield’s proposed reforms had been rejected. “Cr Wakefield was attempting to have his suggestions looked at by the review committee - of which he is part - by resolution of council. This is completely unnecessary as he, and all councillors, have been invited to submit any suggestions to the Director.”

Mayor Betts said council had previously unanimously agreed to review the pricing structure of parking and councillors were asked to send suggestions to the Director.

Chinese New Year celebrations in Sydney 2014

MEET THE LOCALS

Barnardos Australia named charity partner for Chinese New Year This week the City of Sydney Council and the Chinese New Year Festival Advisory Group has appointed Barnardos Australia as the official Charity Partner of the 2015 Sydney Chinese New Year Festival, which will celebrate the year of the sheep. The City of Sydney nominated Barnardos Australia

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leaders.

“It is very worthwhile to build relationships with China, but going to like-minded provinces and discussing like-minded policies is not productive. A lot of these policies – light rail, bicycle networks, carbon emissions reductions – are already being pursued in Sydney,” Cr Forster said.

“A lot of these discussions are outside the purview of her role as Lord Mayor. They’re just about projects that she is pushing, or wants to implement in Sydney.”

Professor Kerry Brown, director of the China Studies Centre and professor of Chinese Politics at Sydney University, said that the visit targeted a mixture of well-

based on its compatibility with the City of Sydney’s core values as well as its status as a not-for-profit, non-religious and non-political charity. The charity provides long-term protection for Australian children who are at risk and in need of care.

Barnardos Australia, 1800 061 000

Concerns build over University Games in Sydney

BY Elliott Brennan With Sydney set to host the annual Australian University Games in September, concerns have been raised that The City of Sydney and the NSW Government have not done enough to prepare.

As the games is the largest yearly multisport event in Australia, a source at a Sydney university told City Hub there are growing concerns that the seven thousand estimated participants would not receive adequate return for the $10 million they are expected to put through Sydney coffers.

Traffic and congestion is an obvious concern surrounding any major tourism event and the lack of visible action from both the City of Sydney and Transport for NSW was the catalyst for the majority of concerns raised, according to the source.

In dialogues held with both the Queensland Government and the Gold Coast City Council, who hosted the event last year, City Hub found that this apparent inaction was not unusual.

The Gold Coast Council worked as a sponsor of the games and on small logistics, and the Queensland Office of Transport and Main Roads played no organisational role.

“We were not a part of the transport options for the games,” said a spokesperson for Scott Emerson, Minister for Transport and Main Roads.

The games’ founding body Australian University Games (AUG) will take on the majority of the responsibility for transporting the athletes to and from the events with an extensive shuttle service to all of the sporting venues not within walking distance from a major railway station. The shuttles will run on loops, some as often as every 25 minutes.

“As in previous years’ AUGs, we will be providing a bus loop from the particular social

venue each night past the accommodation locations. This transport option will be available to all AUG accredited participants,” said Mark Lockie, project manager at AUG. Accommodation arrangements for the seven thousand athletes has also been a cause for concern among students.

“Each university is responsible for making its own accommodation arrangements for the AUGs. From the booking information we have to date, the accommodation booked by universities is almost entirely in the CBD and Darling Harbour area,” Mr Lockie said.

A Transport Management Centre (TMC) spokesperson said Transport for NSW is working on ensuring the Games do not cause congestion problems in Sydney, however it

appears plans have not been finalised.

“Transport for NSW’s Transport Management Centre helps coordinate the traffic and transport arrangements for hundreds of events across the state each year and is currently developing plans for the Australian University Games,” the spokesperson said.

“There are already well-established public transport links with the Sydney Olympic Park precinct where many of the sports will be played, and the TMC is working with event organisers and other relevant government agencies to ensure transport arrangements contribute to the overall success of the AUGs.” The 2014 Australian University Games will be held in Sydney from September 28th to October 3rd.

Photo: Sydney University

establish closer ties between the two cities in education, trade, culture, business and sustainability.

The Lord Mayor also met with Ding Wei, Vice Minister from the National Ministry of Culture, who spoke positively about the strong relationship between City of Sydney and the Chinese government, noting especially Sydney’s Chinese New Year Festival and confirming his continuing support for the festival.

Liberal City of Sydney councillor Christine Forster is very positive about building trading relationships with Chinese provinces, but is sceptical about the Lord Mayor pushing her own agenda too heavily by exclusively meeting with similarly minded Photo: City of Sydney

BY Edmund Kirkwood Lord Mayor Clover Moore has recently returned from a two-week long visit to China and Singapore, in an effort to strengthen economic, political and cultural connections between Chinese provinces and the City of Sydney.

Visiting five different Chinese provinces as well as attending the World Cities Summit held in Singapore, Ms Moore met with local politicians and public to discuss a range of shared policy issues – including carbon emissions, light rail networks and education and university partnerships.

When visiting the city of Shenzen, the Lord Mayor met with city Mayor Xu Qin, where he informed Ms Moore of his low carbon plan for Shenzen from 2011 to 2020. Shenzen has already established a successful emissions trading scheme, with the Lord Mayor noting “it’s not hard to draw the conclusion that China could introduce a national emissions trading scheme before Australia, putting them at an economic advantage”.

Meeting with the Mayor of Guangzhou, Chen Jianhua, Ms Moore oversaw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) – a symbolic bilateral agreement between governments expressing a common line of action and cooperation – that aims to

developed cities with a combined population of roughly 100 million people.

“Many of these people fall into China’s middle class. They are important potential tourists, consumers of Australian and Sydney services, and investment partners. Raising the profile of Sydney as a distinctive economy amongst this group is important.”

One of the recommendations arising from the diplomatic visit was the establishment of a Friendship City relationship with Wuhan, as agreed under a second MOU signed by Moore and Mayor of Wuhan, Tang Liangzhi.

“Friendship cities relationships create an awareness of what places might have that they can offer each other, and a means of promoting their economic, cultural and other offerings,” said Prof Brown.

“Sydney is widely known in China as a tourist destination, but probably not as a finance centre or a service centre. So this sort of visit helps to change perceptions amongst Chinese and start to view Sydney in a different way.”

Cr Forster criticised the outcomes of the mission as “all abstract, nothing practical and not a lot of concrete actions”.

Prof Brown expected more precise agreements between these cities and Sydney to be formulated in the coming months to carry forward educational, environmental and financial cooperation.

Cartoon: Peter Berner

Clover Moore creates China ties

University students concerned about this year’s University Games

Cheap theatre tickets: who really pays?

Company (SITCO) has $21 cheap ticket Tuesdays and New Theatre charges a mere $17 on Thrifty Thursdays.

Sydney Theatre Company (STC), the city’s largest and most renowned theatre company, has led the charge, teaming up with insurance and banking corporation Suncorp to release a limited number of $20 subsidised tickets for every show. A night of Macbeth at STC now costs less than a movie ticket.

According to STC executive director Patrick McIntyre, the Suncorp Twenties sponsorship scheme has attracted a whole new audience to the theatre. “It has generated a lot of attention, and the tickets made available through the scheme are snapped up quickly.

In the first year of the scheme, 39 per cent of Suncorp Twenties buyers were new to our database,” he says.

In the race to make the arts more accessible, corporate sponsorship certainly seems like a win-win tactic – more patrons are able to enjoy more affordable theatre while STC recoups forfeited ticket revenue from Suncorp, whose brand reputation thrives.

With the recent $28 million budget cut to the Australia Council, the federal government’s arts funding body, we are likely to see local theatre companies looking more to philanthropy and sponsorship, and less to government subsidies. There is speculation in the cultural sector that project funding and support to the small to medium sector will bear the brunt of the cuts.

Healy says, “While any reduction in an already small pool of government grant support will have an effect on performing arts practice in Sydney, a great deal of activity already occurs without federal funding support.

“Competition for stagnant or shrinking government funding sources has meant most theatre companies – small and large – know that government subsidies must be augmented by income from other areas.”

McIntyre notes that sponsorship and philanthropy have become important revenue sources for STC. He says, “Philanthropy has been growing rapidly over the past decade in response to a mix of factors: leadership

by individuals, a growing awareness of philanthropy and its importance to the non-profit sector, and the fact organisations are learning fast about how to do it well.”

But corporate sponsorship is not a one-size-fits-all funding solution. Small, independent theatre companies often lack the cultural clout that is needed to attract substantial corporate or philanthropic backing.

SITCO co-artistic director Julie Baz says, “With a 60-seat theatre [at The Old Fitzroy Hotel], we are limited to relatively small audiences. Compared to larger arts organisations our audience base, social network, and website exposure are small. Working on this scale, we’re less attractive to corporates than other

Photo: Emily Watson

By Carmen Cita With its sky-high rents and inflated living costs, Sydney is considered to be one of the world’s most expensive cities. Twenty dollars doesn’t go very far: a packet of cigarettes, a taxi fare, maybe a bottle of wine.

Sydney’s budget-conscious theatre buffs, however, are in luck. Twenty dollars will secure a seat at some of the city’s big-ticket shows. On any given night, Sydney theatregoers can nab tickets to first-class productions for a fraction of their usual price.

It is a new direction for Australian theatre – one that suggests the industry might be struggling to retain audiences. Beyond the economic function of covering high production costs, prohibitive pricing used to elevate the theatre as a hi-brow pursuit, reserved for the social elite. Now, it seems, all are welcome.

But this new democratisation of theatre is not a sign of decline; it is part of a concerted citywide effort to enhance the cultural fabric of the city. In its Sustainable Sydney 2030 action plan, the City of Sydney identified cost as a barrier that prevents participation in Sydney’s cultural and creative life.

Rachel Healy, the executive manager of culture at City of Sydney says, “Sydney is blessed with many brilliant artists and creative workers developing original and engaging theatre in both the independent and established professional companies, and ensuring the work of our artists is accessible to everyone in the community is an important priority in the City of Sydney’s new cultural policy and plan.”

Local theatre companies have taken up the challenge to make the arts sector more inclusive and affordable.

In a bid to draw wider audiences and promote deeper engagement, most Sydney theatres have implemented ticket discount schemes, including lucky dip cheap tickets, student rush concessions and discounts for locals.

Hayes Theatre Company welcomes neighbouring residents for $20, Griffin Theatre Company offers $15 Monday Rush tickets, Sydney Independent Theatre

organisations. It’s challenging – if we had more money, we could increase our exposure.”

Whereas STC is an icon of Australian theatre, and a promising value proposition for any potential sponsor looking to boost their brand, a small-scale, communitybased theatre company such as SITCO cannot deliver the same level of return on investment.

“Any cuts to arts funding makes it harder for small independents like us to break into and receive funding opportunities. A catch-22 situation arises – without government funding it’s hard to get sponsorship, and without sponsorship it’s hard to get government funding,” says Baz. With or without corporate backing, small theatre companies have to keep ticket prices competitive. For now, companies such as SITCO wear the cost of discounted tickets. (CC)

David Jeffrey (left) and Julie Baz (right), co-artistic directors of SITCO with Garry Pasfield from The Old Fitz

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EAT & DRINK

Chica Linda You’d be forgiven for thinking designer Mike Delany dropped a tab of acid before choosing this riotous colour scheme. It’s alarming, that is until a few Panamargaritas ($17) get your lips tingling with jalapeno, aloe drink, agave and tequila, and ease you into the swing of things. Start your mock South American vacation with arepas. They’re dense, mitt$ - mains less than $15

$$ - mains between $15-$22

DARLO, KINGS X & SURRY HILLS

The Soda Factory The Prohibition era vibe comes through strongly with white shirted, apron-clad barmen at your beck and call.Wanting to stay adult with my cocktail selections, I skipped the soda syphons for a black pepper-spicy Mexican Standoff ($19).The menu has expanded from hotdogs to Harlem heart attacks: Fried Chicken and Waffles ($16) with pots of clarified butter and maple syrup.The Pulled Pork Burger ($15) is not too wet, but not too dry; the Texan BBQ Pork Ribs ($14) are equally delightful, while Cheeseburger Spring Rolls ($9) offer some finger food fun with tomato and mustard.This sort of food calls for beer, and the best beer here is the on-

12

By Jackie McMillan sized corn flatbreads stuffed with Soft Shell Crab ($6) or Smoked Pork Belly ($6) with honey chipotle glaze and pickled ‘slaw. And even if you’ve been burned by chewy Chicken Hearts ($6) before, trust me when I tell you to order one of these skewers each, accentuating them with a squeeze of chargrilled lemon. Asado Prawns ($15/3) are also worth ordering, particularly if you avail yourself of the ontable fiery scotch bonnet sauce. Pineapple, coconut sugar and cachaca ensure the Caipirinha Amazonica ($17) puts out any remaining fire as you head into mains. They’re served Latino family feast style, so expect sharing platters of juicy Puerto Rican Roast Pork ($35) dripping in colourful tomato, corn and black bean salsa. A side of Coca Cola Rice and Beans ($9) is all your really need to make a meal for three, perhaps with a schooner of Kosciusko ($7) apiece?

The Guava Empanada ($14) is a nice way to finish.

The Carrington, 563 Bourke Street, Surry Hills (02) 9360 4714 drinkndine.com.au/chicalinda/ South American $$-$$$ $$$ - mains between $22-$30

tap Monteiths American Pale Ale ($9).

16 Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills (02) sodafactory.com.au American, Cocktails $ The Farmed Table Comforting and homey – two words I don’t usually associate with the dining offerings in Surry Hills.Yet it’s exactly what Chef Brendan Cato achieves when he takes over Bangbang Café with a healthy Saturday night pop-up called The Farmed Table. Brendan’s a keen forager, and this Menu ($55/ head) was inspired by visiting the Hawkesbury/Hunter region.With two shared dishes, and three individual dishes, it’s good value, even with (bottomless) biodynamic Wine ($80/ head).Tip-top vegetables shine in charred broccoli shoots with cured mullet roe and Meyer lemon. Beautiful Hawkesbury calamari cooked gently

$$$$ - mains over $30

in its own ink is presented with river prawns and chickweed before a dessert of rhubarb with lavender cream takes me back to Grandma’s house.

Bangbang Cafe, 113 Reservoir Street, Surry Hills (02) 9281 0018 facebook.com/thefarmedtable Modern Australian $$ INNER WEST Rocketboy Pizza Dan Luxford is a man “on a mission” - taking four of the five Doughboy stores in a new direction. Inspired by appearing on Matthew Evans’ Gourmet Farmer, Dan took a look at the products he was putting on pizzas, and decided to make a sustainable switch. First in line: the prawns.They’re now wild-caught Aussie prawns, best

The Colonial Some Indian restaurants celebrate authenticity; some celebrate a particular region; this one celebrates the time period of the British Raj. Television screens depicting the period of British colonial occupation clue you in, though a chat with owner Harmohit Singh is even more illuminating. Singh was inspired by the evolution of Indian cooking that occurred during this period, where collective cuisine became the against fresh parsley, garlic, lemon and baby spinach, on the simple Chilli Prawn Pizza ($17/M, $22/L, $26/XL).

You’ll also find organic Inglewood Farms chook popping up on the new Chicken Gorgonzola Pizza ($15/M, $21/L, $25/XL). On your accompanying crisp Caesar Salad ($10) you’ll find free-range eggs and bacon, with an Organic Chicken ($2.50) option.

Shop 3, 88-94 New Canterbury Road, Petersham (02) 9550 9988 rocketboypizza.com Pizza $$ GREATER SYDNEY Spakka-Napoli Positioned at the end of a weirdly shaped arcade and saddled with a quirky spelling of Spaccanapoli (the road that bisects Naples), this

individual made-to-order dishes the British favoured.

Jump to today where Chicken Tikka Masala ($17) is now a staple in the British military’s meal packs in Afghanistan. Expect to find it, and a range of curries inspired by London’s Brick Lane, including a bright Chicken Chettinad ($16) with coconut, mustard and chilli. Breads, from Naan ($2.50) to wholemeal Roti ($2.50), are well handled and nicely presented. Lowpriced entrees are divided into vegetarian and nonvegetarian “tapas”. The resulting portions however are quite generous, from a trio of fat chicken drumsticks Tangari Kebab ($10) marinated in mint yoghurt, spices and cheese, then cooked in the clay oven, to plump (bought-in) Coconut Kachori ($8). Best dish I tried were cottage cheese-stuffed Paneer Jalapenos ($10).

While the Tamarind Martini ($14) piqued my interest, neither it, nor the Imli Mirchi ($14) featuring tamarind, Tabasco and tequila, drank well. I’d advise you stick to the well-worn curry and Kingfisher ($8) combination.

118 Crown Street, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6700 thecolonialrestaurant.com.au Indian $$

restaurant makes you work for your reward: lightly charred, puffy-crusted Neapolitan pizzas.The Monday/ Tuesday special – three “tapas” dishes and a cocktail for thirty bucks – makes me rethink my ambivalence toward limoncello with The Amalfi ($14.50).

Robust namesake Spakka Napoli ($13.50) sangria is guaranteed to complement their terracotta pots of Meatballs ($9.50), Eggplant Parmigiana ($10.90) and my favourite – Pollo Alla Cacciatore ($9.90).The Eggplant Sausage Pizza ($22.90) special is further improved by chilli sauce, which should come with a warning label, or at least imported red-label Peroni ($7) to ease the pain.

Shop 13, 166-174 Military Road, Neutral Bay (02) 9908 7045 spakkanapoli.com.au Pizza, Italian $$

Royal Cricketers Arms Thirty minutes and thirty years from Sydney is a pub where strangers chat, and Bar Manager John Mundy uses common sense and conversation to enforce the rule of law. Over an Old Speckled Hen ($11.50/pint) you might enquire after his jar of Pickled Eggs ($1.10/each). Eat “the manager’s hangover cure” doused in Worcestershire and Tabasco right at the bar.Tuck into traditional Toad in the Hole ($21) - three good-quality English pork sausages baked in a Yorkshire pudding with mash and onion gravy; or flex your cooking prowess on the high-tech grill.There’s Grass-fed Sirloin ($27/250g), grain-fed beef and Snags ($20/3) – best have a James Squire The Chancer ($9/pint) while you decide.

Cricketers Arms Road, Prospect (02) 9622 6498 mycricketers.com.au Pub Bistro, British $$-$$$

EAT & DRINK

Paperplanes

By Alex Harmon It’s been two years since I visited PaperPlanes and like catching up with an old friend, things quickly fell back into place. The purple lighting, skateboard paraphernalia and Tokyo pop kitsch are all still there, and the menu remains largely unchanged. We munch EASTERN SUBURBS Light Brigade Hotel At its heart, the Light Brigade is a sports bar.The classic pub menu here comes out of the La Scala On Jersey kitchen, and I suspect that now Chef Massimo Mele has bedded in his Italian sharing menu upstairs, we’ll see some movement down here. Now that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with a 250g Char-Grilled Rump Steak ($22), especially on Wednesday nights when they knock ten bucks off the price.

It sings against one of the best green peppercorn sauces I’ve tried in a pub.

Mushroom isn’t bad either, especially with a plump Chicken Breast Schnitzel ($19). Accompany them with toasty Matilda Bay’s Ruby Tuesday ($6.80/ schooner) or the 2012 Partisan

By Jackie McMillan on some Edamame with Chilli Salt ($6) a perfect match for the dizzyingly sweet cocktails: Tokyo Pop ($16) with popping candy for an extra sugar high and the Chee Chee Mule ($16), a cheeky lycheebased mule. Two perfectly formed Lettuce Cups ($5/ each) loaded with roasted duck go down a treat.

As does the Pork Belly Bun ($6.50), a standout dish and my hot tip for the next food craze – the humble bao. Cho Cho San may have made Japanese buns cool again, but you had it here first! Of course you cannot go wrong with sushi and the Teriyaki Chicken ($15) brings it home. If you really love it, grab some friends and share a skateboard deck’s worth of Sushi ($160/50 pieces). My old favourite, the Gyoza Panfried Dumplings ($16) with creamy lemon wasabi foam and crushed wasabi peas, stands the test of time, still with the high notes of drunken karaoke. It just goes to show, when you’re onto a good thing, why change?

Shop 15, 178 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach (02) 9356 8393 paperplanesbondi.com Modern Japanese $-$$

‘Trenchcoat’ GSM ($44/bottle, $9/ glass).

2A Oxford Street,Woollahra (02) 9357 0888 lightbrigade.com.au Pub Bistro $ Luxe Woollahra Located in Queens Court, or as it appears to be, downtown Provence, the pink stone walls, al fresco dining and designer shops surrounding this café make you feel far from Sydney.

The café’s artisan baked goods are now a perfect side order to the new dinner menu of seasonal share plate specialties from Grilled Peppers ($12) with yuzu salt and creamy goats’ curd; to Scotch Eggs ($12) made with Italian pork sausage and quail eggs; to deliciously soft Miso Eggplant ($8) blanketed in crunchy kale. Match a fleshy tail of Grilled Lobster ($34) dripping in saffron butter with a bottle

Casa Ristorante Italiano “I’d come here for espresso martinis and the chocolate tart,” declares my dining companion at the end of our meal. She’s not wrong – the smooth Sovereign Espresso Martini ($18) with Patrón XO Café and Grey Goose would make an affable post-meal companion for their standout Warm Chocolate Tart ($12). I’m sipping Old Smokey ($18) another martinistyle drink uniting Remy Martin VSOP Cognac and Ardbeg 10-year whisky using a dash of Disaronno Amaretto. It’s a cut above what I’d

expect to be drinking in Darling Harbour, at the site formerly known as Casa di Nico; and testament to the success of their shift from a family-style red and white tablecloths joint, to a more sophisticated eating and drinking venue.

And if you’re after drinking snacks, the pumpkin and smoked mozzarella Arancini ($16.90) here, eat better than most. Paul Papadopolous’s (DS17) redesign included making space for a traditional wood fire pizza oven, so do try out Sicilian-born pizzaiolo Salvatore D’Avola’s work, perhaps alla Gamberi ($27.90) dotted with prawns, goat’s milk fetta, semi-dried tomatoes and rocket? You’ll also find a charry 400g Angus Bistecca Alla Fiorentina ($34.90) cooked on the bone and served with lovely rosemary potatoes; plus Lobster and Crab Ravioli ($29.90) in a shellfish butter sauce – pasta a shade thick for my taste, but decadent none-the-less.

42-48 The Promenade, King Street Wharf, Sydney (02) 9279 4115 lovecasa.com.au Italian, Pizza, Cocktails $$$-$$$$

black sesame seeds. Cocktails shine – perhaps a cleverly designed absinthe float on a gin The Spice Cellar and pink grapefruit-based Good This sunken cellar cleverly rolls Voodoo ($18) or Keep On everything you want from a small Keeping On ($18) with bananabar - food, wine and cocktails infused Tennessee whisky.

- in with a nightclub vibe. Fuel Basement, 58 Elizabeth Street, your mini-club adventure with Sydney (02) 9223 5585 a better than average bar food thespicecellar.com.au selection, from Tuna Crudo Cocktails, Bar Food $-$$ ($15/3 pieces) dusted with fresh Ananas Bar & Brasserie horseradish to freshly shucked Executive Chef Paul McGrath has Oysters ($8).Vegetarian dishes populated the menu with dishes are well represented on the fitting of a French brasserie, short menu, from baked fetaincluding some harking back stuffed Filo Cigars ($9/4 piece) to to Bistro Ortolan days, like golden slabs of Grilled Haloumi (reconstructed) Salade Niçoise ($12/4 piece).The standout is a ($27) with seared yellow fin Warm Cauliflower Salad ($8) tuna. Hearty Lamb Navarin with chickpeas, parsley, tahini and ($35) with gremolata-crumbed ROCKS & CBD

of King Valley ‘Holly’s Garden’ Pinot Gris ($54) before finishing with a Tahini Biscuit Ice Cream Sandwich ($12).

Queens Court, 118 Queens Street Woollahra (02) 9363 8828 luxesydney.com.au Café, Modern Australian $$$ La Scala on Jersey While we wait for a table, somebody’s ‘Nonna’ arrives with a basket of heirloom tomatoes, and is greeted by a handsome denim-apron clad young waiter.This is the new look La Scala, with Tasmanian-born, Naples-raised Massimo Mele at the helm. Order the Chickpea Pancakes ($18) – crunchy cigars filled with mushroom and spinach, topped with Gorgonzola sauce. Even mains are presented with big scissor-like servers, though you might consider keeping the whole

brain will help keep winter at bay, as will Seared Scallops ($33) with caramelised sweetbreads.

Pear and cashew notes from the 2012 Patrick Piuze ‘Terroirs de Chichée’ Chablis ($96) provide an elegant foil, and won’t overpower your raw bar selections either, be they Sydney Rock ($4.50/each) or Angasi ($5/ each) oysters, fresh Tasmanian uni on a bed of trumpeter, or Yellowfin Tuna Tartare ($20/100g) with fresh horseradish. Cold dishes show great finesse across the board.

18 Argyle Street,The Rocks (02) 9259 5668 ananas.com.au Modern French, Cocktails,Wine $$$$

Centennial Parklands Dining

By Alex Harmon What’s winter good for if it’s not for loosening the buckles and putting on some festive kilos? Having said that, Sydney isn’t a hibernating kind of city, we’d much rather go out and have home-cooked feasts prepared for us. That’s just what Trippas White Group is encouraging with the launch of Winterlicious menus across their iconic Sydney restaurants. We bowl of Oxtail Ragu ($28) to yourself.

The Barossa Elderton “Estate” Shiraz ($69/bottle, $14.50/glass) smugly cuts in on the dance; also suiting melt-inyour-mouth Slow-Cooked Suffolk Lamb Shoulder Chops ($38) with salsa verde. However Witlof, Radicchio and Pickled Beetroot ($12) almost steals the show…

Corner Jersey Road & Melrose Lane,Woollahra (02) 9357 0815 lascalaonjersey.com.au Italian $$

NEWTOWN & ENVIRONS Botany View Hotel The front bar feels like a scene from Cheers - for locals, it’s clearly a place where everybody knows your name.

Drink specials abound: from ten-buck Aperol Spritzes “all day every day” to

checked out Centennial Parklands Dining, albeit on a rather sultry winter’s day, with sweet anticipation of a Sunday Roast. The Chef’s “Special” Roast ($65) (rotates weekly) comfortably serves 3-4 people on Sundays. We had the lamb – cooked to pink perfection and served with roasted potatoes, turnip, beetroot, carrots, onion and gravy. Matched with a Phillip Shaw merlot, it’s the kind of meal you need to schedule a nap after, especially if you’re going to start with a Ploughman’s Lunch ($23). It’s basically the prettiest tradie’s meal ever, with ham hock terrine, a cute jar of green tomato chutney, cheese, egg, apple salad and grilled sourdough. Or, if winter feels like wishful thinking, try the very fresh and summer-esque Poached Chicken Quinoa Salad ($22). But we do suggest a piece of the cosy winter dessert Pumpkin Pie ($15) served with cinnamon ice cream; because, even though it doesn’t snow, it doesn’t mean you can’t gain a winter coat.

Grand Drive, Centennial Park (02) 9380 9350 cpdining.com.au Modern Australian $$

twelve-buck jugs of mainstream beers, to quirky Absolut Vodka ($25/4) mixes.

On the menu put out by Darley Street Bistro, the regulars are divided.

One tells me:“it’s a bit over-rated, they put too many things on the plate,” but others swear by it. Greek Style Chicken Breast ($23) with skordalia, feta, oregano, tangy mash and a well-dressed tomato and cucumber salad was beaten by Beef Fillet ($31), loaded with bacon/thyme hash-brown, eschallot puree, garlic spinach, truffle brisket croquette and jus.

597 King Street, Newtown (02) 9519 4501 botanyviewhotel.com Pub Bistro $$$ Three Williams In a part of Redfern not overflowing with great brunch options,Three Williams made a splash. Despite the stripped-back minimalism of concrete,

ramps and plywood, it’s welcoming to people who stretch beyond hipster clichés, including little people.The yummy Mummy set select slick salads like Chicken, Spice Roasted Carrots, Avocado, Cashew and Citrus Dressing ($14) with house-made Pineapple and Mint Soda ($12/jug). On naughty days it’s Crunchy Brioche French Toast ($14) with roasted pecans, blueberries, yoghurt and maple syrup, or Beef Brisket,‘Slaw ‘n’ Gerkins ‘Narnies’ ($14). I’m all about egg cartons of creamy Fish Croquettes ($3/each) with lemon, aioli and dessert in a glass: Banana, Medjool Date and Walnut Praline Smoothie ($7).

613a Elizabeth Street, Redfern (02) 9698 1111 threewilliams.com Café $

FOOD NEWS The Rocks Aroma Festival on Sunday July 27th represents the culmination of a month-long program of coffee workshops and tasting events all designed to get you better informed about the beans behind your favourite brew.As you stroll the historic streets of The Rocks, you’ll find it’s a great opportunity to try a number of different coffees side by side, what with local business owners like Russell Beard from Paramount Coffee Project setting up shop between 10am-5pm. www.therocks.com

BAR FLY

While we’re talking coffee, this week I tried two coffee bean roasts from Griffiths Coffee. Just Fair and Mundial 14 [RRP $12.99/250g] both come in reusable and recyclable tins, and are available in independent supermarkets.While they don’t compare to my regular at-home bean – Golden Cobra – they do make a credible cup that’s smooth with robust nuttiness and a chocolate edge.Throw in that they are fair trade, using organically certified Arabica beans sourced from Honduras and Peru, roasted in Melbourne, and you finally have a supermarket coffee that in a pinch I’d buy. justfaircoffee.com.au

By Rebecca Varidel

THE CUBBY HOUSE

Word on the street (and in our Facebook streams) is that Mordeo is the new Sydney CBD hot spot. I concur. First up, I’m always really happy when I get friendly and accommodating service.Tick.Then there is the wine list – all wines are available by the glass:Australian sparkling, Italian Prosecco, G. H. Mumm (I don’t have to write French or Champagne do I?).Tick again.

Whites and Reds are well thought out and also available by 450ml carafe. For something different try the 2009 Alpha Estate SyrahXinomavro from Florina Greece ($9.50 / glass; $28.50 / carafe).

I’m keen.And of course, yippee, there are elegant cocktails.The food is yummy Southern European. In the morning, before the office, there is a terrific breakfast menu, plus single origin coffee.

Hungry? Yep.We might even stay on for lunch then dinner…

69 Perouse Road, Randwick (02) 9398 7994 facebook.com/pages/ The-Cubby-House/31736654172739

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Outhouse Theatre Company was formed in New York City by Australian actors Jeremy Waters and Nick Stevenson, and now they present American playwright Joel Drake Johnson’s Four Places.

Have you ever been to a family event and suddenly everything starts to deteriorate?

“It’s a very funny play but dealing with really big themes in a really restrained and delicate way,” says Jeremy Waters, “it looks at emotional bonds that bind a family and it shows what can repair and damage those emotional bonds.”

Johnson’s darkly funny play introduces local audiences to American writing and audience

Ugly Mugs

members deserve the chance to see high quality work from acclaimed international playwrights.

“I wanted to find the right sort of play outside of the more mainstream theatre avenues that would showcase a really great American playwright,” says Waters.

With three US premieres of Australian plays now under their belt, Outhouse returns home for this, their inaugural Australian production.

Under the direction of Bad Boy Bubby’s Nicholas Hope and starring some of Sydney’s highest calibre actors, Four Places is an acclaimed, award-winning work from one of America’s most compelling playwrights. (CT) Jul 29-Aug 10,The Tap Gallery, 278 Palmer St, Darlinghurst, $20$30, outhousetheatre.org

Review

Thom Pain (Based on Nothing)

Pantsguys break the surface this year with their newest provocative play, David Gieselmann’s Mr Kolpert. Directed a decade after conception by James Dalton, this production is buzzing with maddening anticipation.

“I found that underneath it all, although it’s quite a madcap play for an audience to experience, there’s some exciting ideas in there. Where we have added our own signature to this piece is more through cosmetic ideas, as well as updating the music that appears in the show,” says Dalton.

“There are so many things that are happening in our world, that we can’t actually justify logically, and sometimes that’s how reality works, things just happen. In the play there’s an attempt by

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certain characters to find some kind of question of order, and then at the same time revelling in the chaos that seems to be found everywhere,” says Dalton.

This wild and eccentric display will challenge the audience as they realise what they’re reacting to, and perhaps therein lays the message of the show.

“Learning that no matter how violent and extreme circumstances can be sometimes, all you can do is just let it happen to you and laugh it off afterwards. It’s a play you need to experience. Come in with an open mind, and just be prepared to accept the ride, because the logic is very mad,” he says. (RBM) Jul 30-Aug 16, ATYP, Studio 1, Pier 4/5, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, $20-30, atyp.com.au

a&e

15 STAGE 16 SCENE 17 SOUNDS 18 SCREEN

A Doll’s House

Renowned theatre director Adam Cook has sunk his teeth into the critically acclaimed 1879 Henry Ibsen play A Doll’s House and will be showing his efforts at the Seymour Centre.

“It’s set in the original period so the audience can see how the world was like 135 odd years ago, and can then compare it to what the world is like now. Have we changed? Have we developed? Have we evolved? What are the problems and challenges? Are they the same? Are they different? It’s a wonderfully exciting, intense and claustrophobic play,” Cook says.

After 25 years in the industry Cook has chosen this old gem, but has made

sure to respect it by staying true to the primary story.

“The only thing I’ve varied in my adaptation is I’ve made it sound contemporary; it won’t sound like 19th century British actors doing a Norwegian play, it will sound like it’s happening right now – just not using iPhones and laptops,” Cook explains.

“A Doll’s House has a really exciting, riveting plot, surrounding the relationship between men and women. [It’s] a play that has truly stood the test of time.” (RM) Until Aug 2, Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre, City Rd & Cleveland St, Chippendale, $25-36, seymourcentre.com

Photo: Takaya Honda

Mr Kolpert

The undefined time and space, reinforced by the minimal staging, is conceptually interesting.Though, this is weakened by the rambling self-indulgence of a script that leaves one feeling like they’ve seen a performance poem drag on.

David Jeffrey manages to carry the piece with his spirited performance and excellent comic timing. His presence and wide range give the moments in which the fourth wall is broken an engaging immediacy.

(CM) Until Aug 2, Old Fitzroy Theatre, 129 Dowling St, Wolloomooloo, $21-39, sitco.net.au

Photo: Kate Williams

Photo: Katy Green Loughrey

Julie Baz directs the energetic David Jeffrey in the one-man stream of consciousness monologue that is Thom Pain (based on nothing). Exploring existential ennui and the inner turmoil of the everyman, this tedious one-act play pays an unoriginal homage to Beckettian humour.

Will Eno’s use of language is at times clever and richly vivid. It is, however, weighed down by the tired cliché of the disillusioned middle-aged male nostalgic for boyhood and his two-dimensional lost lovers.

“Sex workers deal with a lot of stigma and I’m worried – why don’t we value someone’s life equally?” asks actress Peta Brady, referring to St Kilda sex worker Tracy Connelly, who was murdered in July last year.

Brady, who splits her time between working as an actress and a drug and safety outreach worker in St Kilda, was commissioned to write and star in the raw and evocative theatre performance, Ugly Mugs.

Recognised for her roles in Australian drama series Neighbours, Kath and Kim, and most recently The Slap, Brady was one of the last people to see Connelly alive before she was murdered.

Combining her love of acting and writing with her important outreach work, Ugly Mugs “raises awareness about the current inequalities existing in Victoria,” Brady says.

Borrowing its title from the ‘big sister’ pamphlet that was founded by the Prostitute Collective of Victoria in 1986, Ugly Mugs emerged in response to the abusive and violent underbelly of illegal sex work in Melbourne.

“I want people to be aware that a program like Ugly Mugs exists and ask

what and why is this happening, and have a discussion about the violence around misogyny.” (EC) Jul 18-Aug 23, SBW Stables Theatre, 10 Nimrod St, Kings Cross, $32-49, griffintheatre.com.au Photo: Brett Boardman

Four Places

Arts Editor: Leigh Livingstone Music Editor: Chelsea Deeley Live Wire: Alexandra English

For more A&E stories go to www.altmedia.net.au

Contributors: Alexis Talbot-Smith, Anita Senaratna, Catherine Knight, Cheryl Northey, Ciaran Tobin, Craig Coventry, Elise Cullen, Georgia Fullerton, Greg Webster, Hannah Chapman, Jamie Apps, Laurie Hackney, Leann Richards, Marilyn Hetreles, Mark Morellini, Mel Somerville, Melody Teh, Michael Muir, Michelle Porter, Peter Hackney, Rocio Belinda Mendez, Ruth Fogarty, Sean May, Sharon Ye, Shauna O’Carroll, Siri Williams

Review

El’ Circo Blanc

Photo: Crea Crea Studio

THEATRE &

PERFORMANCE THE EFFECT Connie and Tristan are polar opposites who sign up for a new antidepressant drug trial. As the dosage goes up they fall in love – but is this the real thing or just an adverse side effect? Is love the drug? This is a new play by young English playwright, Lucy Prebble.

Rising star Anna McGahan (House Husbands) plays Connie while Mark Leonard Winter (Thyestes) plays the unemployed

Macbeth as a villain, the audience begins to disassociate themselves with his behaviour by the end of the play. In Williams’ version, there’s an “openended identification with the terrible downfall of this individual,” he says.

Despite the blood and brutality of Macbeth, it’s a play Williams believes is relatable to all.

“We’re all forced with the quandary that our lives begin and end. And that’s it,” he says. “That’s the essential question of this play: what do you do in that limited amount of time? Do you behave morally or not? Do you act or wait for things to happen to you?”

(MT) Until Sep 27, Sydney Theatre, 22 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, $50-109, sydneytheatre.com.au

drifter, Tristan. One is a ‘thinker’ and one is a ‘feeler’. The contrast drives much of the play. A play about depression could be, well, depressing – but director Sarah Goodes (Vere) is upbeat. “Lucy Prebble writes with such a fabulous sense of humour, so she is able to reflect the dark side of life with this wonderful warmth and sense of the ridiculous.”

(GW) Until Aug 16, Sydney Theatre Company, Pier 4/5 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, $50-99, (02) 9250 1777, sydneytheatre.com.au

El’ Circo Blanc is back for another season at Slide and both the show and menu have been revamped this winter to be better than ever.

The one-of-a-kind production is set to a Russian theme, as ‘Anastasia’ reminisces on her days as a young woman in the circus. Her tale comes alive above and around the audience while they enjoy a five-course menu featuring warm vodka cocktails, melt-in-your-mouth lamb goulash and delicious beetroot sorbet.

Contortionists, aerial artists and

pole performers are delightful and the action is so close in this intimate venue that the audience cannot help but be whisked away to another world with Anastasia’s stunning singing as accompaniment. The musical production and choices in this extravaganza are spot-on.

Be enthralled but be aware of the ‘snow’ falling in your drink, the paper version is magical but the ‘icy’ version can leave a bad taste. (LL) Jul 30, 31 & Aug 7, Slide, 41 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, $89+bf, slide.com.au

National Geographic Presents: Coral, Fire, & Ice For National Geographic photographer, David Doubilet, a picture is worth a thousand words: “...images have to transcend that storytelling medium and be more or less iconic,” he says.

“They need to have the ability to grab people by their hearts and their eyes and later, by their minds. It is an emotional reaction... pictures have an immense amount of power.”

Doubilet is hoping to put that power to good use with his latest National Geographic Live series lecture, Coral, Fire, & Ice, which took him to some of the ocean’s most ecologically precarious environments. These included the frigid waters of Antarctica as well as the “coral triangle” of Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, a place which with every dive, Doubilet explains, “reveals a tremendous concentration of life”.

Doubilet hopes that the pictures from these journeys will capture the extent to which global warming has threatened these vulnerable ecosystems.

“Change is coming,” he notes, and for Doubilet, these photographs represent not just captured moments from a “voyage of exploration”, but documentation of these ecosystems

STRICTLY BALLROOM: THE MUSICAL Baz Luhrmann’s latest creation is bursting at the sequined seams of the Lyric Theatre in an explosion of colour and feathers.

Luhrmann’s holistic creative approach and boundless imagination means his hand is involved in every aspect of the production, from the design, to the direction and the music.

The notes feel like they were written for the stunning co-lead Phoebe Panaretos (Fran) who outshines all except the hilarious Heather Mitchell (Shirley

Hastings). The talented Thomas Lacey (Scott Hastings) gives a solid performance as the male lead but is sometimes underwhelming on a very busy stage.

Catherine Martin’s costumes are yet another ‘win’ for the designer, referencing familiar elements from the film and successfully amplifying them for the stage.

Strictly Ballroom:The Musical is an entertaining, lively night at the theatre that will delightfully overload the senses. (LL) Until Sep 14, Lyric Theatre,

as they are now, and as they will, likely, never be again.

“It still has the infinite joy that it has always had,” Doubilet notes, but it is also a “very sad experience and an enormous challenge and responsibility. That is the difference right now.” (SW) Jul 27, Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, $29-124, (02 9250 7777), sydneyoperahouse.com

Pirrama Rd, Sydney, $55-145, strictlyballroomthemusical.com MOTHER BARE Comedienne, Denise Scott, is baring it all on the stage and exploring motherhood in her hilarious production.

Based on her personal experiences, Scott explores all the phases in life of being a parent: toddlers, kids, adolescents, adults and death.

The Aussie icon doesn’t hold back in her 90-minute show, telling stories about all things motherhood, from giving birth to losing her own mother to

Photo: David Doubilet

The classic tale of ambition, betrayal and brutality, Shakespeare’s Macbeth has been imagined onstage many, many times before. However, director Kip Williams of Sydney Theatre Company’s new adaptation has a keen determination to set his production apart from the rest.

In a complete reversal of all theatre norms, the audience will sit on the stage itself while the play unfolds in the abandoned auditorium. But Williams’ innovative staging design is just one ambitious decision of many in his bold vision of Macbeth.

“When I’ve seen [Macbeth] done, I often find the play is rendered as a fable with an element of moral prescription,” says Williams.

For Williams, in characterising

to help raise awareness about infertility. AccessA is a notfor-profit organisation that provides life support for men and women who experience difficulties conceiving their families.

(CT) Until Jul 27, Darlinghurst Theatre, 39 Burton St, Darlinghurst, $30-43, darlinghursttheatre.com Photo: Wendell Teodoro

Darlinghurst Theatre Company and AccessA (Access Australia) present this new Australian production – a daring yet witty play.

Every Second depicts the common issue of infertility and the struggles of starting a family.

“It has the personal struggles and the strain of relationships through it emotionally,” says Simon Corfield, who portrays Tim, “while it’s doing that it still manages to be rather funny and lighthearted.”

Every Second is a very personal production to playwright Vanessa Bates, as she experienced these same issues not long ago when she found out that she and her husband were infertile. Personal experience coupled with wry observations and bitter truths illustrate a common problem in society today.

“You can tell it’s quite personal, the way she (Bates) handles the shifts in relationships in the structure of the play,” says Corfield, “it is such a current issue and problem that doesn’t really get spoken about in the artistic world.”

Darlinghurst Theatre Company has partnered with AccessA

Photo: Greg Barrett

macbeth

Every Second

Alzheimer’s. After a successful run in Melbourne, which saw families of up to three generations attending together, Scott says she is looking forward to bringing her show about family to Sydney. Laying out her life on the stage, Denise goes back to the fundamentals of great theatre, simple storytelling, with a few surprises along the way. (SOC) Until Aug 3, $44.90-49.90, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, sydneyoperahouse.com

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THE NAKED CITY

A Spiritual Connection – Graham Toomey

Future shock in Sydney!

‘‘Dreaming Warriors’, by Graham Toomey

Graham Toomey combines Aboriginal imagery with modern motifs in A Spiritual Connection.

The reds, blacks and whites of his pieces leap off the canvas with startling force. However, it is the contrast of dark silhouettes floating upon a kaleidoscopic vision of sky, redolent of the view from the Hubble telescope, which makes them unique.

In Dreaming Warriors, shadows perch on a tightrope stretched across the stars, walking a bridge between old and new, and in Dreamworld, animals surf on slices of white netted clouds barely aware of the earth below.

By Coffin Ed, Miss Death & Jay Katz Back in the early 1970s the Dr Who annuals liked to make daring predictions about the future, thirty or forty years down the track. In their 1974 edition they forecasted that in the year 2003 relatives at Christmas would speak to each other using a videophone.They were obviously spot-on.Their techno-prophesy should stand as a challenge to us all and we ask – what will Sydney be like three or four decades from now?

If sci-fi tickles your mind we could well have daleks fulfilling many of the roles now occupied by Council inspectors and rangers. In dalekpatrolled zones, illegally parked vehicles would be shown no mercy and simply “exterminated” to make way for yet another of the thousands of vehicles that have reduced the traffic flow to almost total gridlock.

Daleks would also replace lollypop men at school crossings and “exterminate” the rubbish in your council wheelie bin.

If that all sounds a bit far-fetched let’s reflect on a story which appeared in this publication recently about a series of 150 unauthorised boarding houses throughout the city cramming 12 or more students or backpackers into apartments designed for three or four people.

It’s a scandal that’s been going on for years and one that the Sydney Council seems almost impotent in dealing with.

In the year 2050 overcrowding in boarding houses and city apartments could well become the norm as the urban population swells and total deregulation takes over. A Councilimposed bed tax will rake in millions, as dodgy landlords are encouraged to pack more and more bunk beds into their sleazy rundown dwellings.

The city will throw open all manner of spaces for backpacker and student

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housing from the St James station tunnels to hastily clad bus shelters.

The Lower Town Hall will be turned into a factory, churning out hundreds of bunk beds, right around the clock.

Daleks might even be entrusted in delivering them to the latest slumlord hovel.

If the videophone seemed improbable back in 1974, then a form of anarchic laissez-faire capitalism might seem equally implausible for the year 2050, but isn’t that the way we are heading?

The Bladerunner style dystopian world where technology and greed combine to form a stultifying force is just around the corner. Forget about the NSW police having access to your Opal card records or Facebook exploiting your personal data. That kind of surveillance will pale into insignificance when everybody is implanted with a global positioning device at the local tattoo and piercing shop.

If you’re not one of the privileged few you’ll probably be living in a container at Alexandria and if you are unemployed you’ll more than likely be ‘working for the mole’, informing on any potential dissidents to an intrusive, state-run Stasi. Sure there will be a bunch of Jetsons-style techno-gadgets to keep us preoccupied, much like smartphones and iPads, but in 2050 you could well be sleeping on a bunk bed, stacked high on top of four others, in an old detention centre in Villawood. Hey, that what’s they call progress!

THE HIT LIST: Vince Jones is one of Australia’s leading jazz vocalists, composers and musicians and the original ‘Mr Cool’ of the local music scene.Vince Jones’ latest recording is The Monash Sessions, a recent album of the week on Eastside Radio, released on Jazzhead Records. Catch Vince and his all-star band this Saturday July 26 at Sydney’s newest and hippest jazz club Foundry 616 in Ultimo. foundry616.com.au

The paintings are complemented by bird sculptures with eyes that gaze warily at the onlooker, their striped wings seemingly ready to fly.

Toomey’s works are inspired by his ancestors and they are bathed in the light of a creative spirit which spontaneously tumbles from the heavens. Startling and honest, they are a monumental fusion of traditional and modern Australian art. (LR) Until Jul 26, Art Atrium, 181 Old South Head Rd, Bondi Junction, free, artatrium.com.au

Life Interrupted: Personal Diaries from World War I

Before the end of the great war of 1914-1918, the State Library began collecting personal accounts of the battlefields. One hundred years later, Life Interrupted presents these words and images in an exhibition that is poignant, confronting, astounding and sad.

These reminiscences show all the complexities and vagaries of wartime experience. Pictures of smiling young men surrounded by the mysteries of Egypt sit beside stark black and white photos of bodies strewn across the sands of Gallipoli.

Flowered silk postcards, their colours still vibrant, jostle for space next to descriptions of the conflict as ‘a disgrace to Christianity’.

The humour of the troops is displayed in their many sketches and water colours and their courage shown in the restraint and integrity of their journals.

This is an honest attempt to balance a national mythology with a brutal history and an apt commemoration of those whose lives were forever haunted by the horrific war that changed the world. (LR) Until Sep 21, State Library of NSW, Macquarie St, Sydney, free, sl.nsw.gov.au

“577” Writing Home. Henry Charles Marshall (1890-1915). Kensington to Cairo and from Cairo to Gallipoli. Album of photographs (1914-1915)

Performance Space: Score

Score: The Maximum

You may think you’ve seen everything that Sydney’s festival scene has to offer – but according to Performance Space artistic director Jeff Khan, you haven’t seen anything like Score.

“We were noticing a really amazing community of contemporary dance-makers in New South Wales, but no dedicated platform that celebrates them,” he explains.

“We thought it would be interesting to bring them together with sound and music. Looking at the commonalities they share in terms of the way they score their works... that was the genesis of the idea.”

Score celebrates dance and sound art – and no, that’s not quite the same thing as music. “It’s a blurry line and the definition isn’t watertight,” admits Khan. “Sound artists are more interested in the particular composition in a traditional scoring system [and] in the textural or immersive quality of sound. They use sound almost like a material, like a sculptor would use plaster.”

If that sounds a bit abstract to you, Khan assures that this is the perfect venue to dip your toe in the sound art water.

“It’s actually very accessible and open. I hope [audiences] will be inspired... to really embrace this kind of risky work that they might not have felt comfortable with at the start.” (SW) Aug 1-Sep 7, Carriageworks, 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh, free-$35, (02 8571 9111), performancespace.com.au/score

Anberlin – Lowborn Despite each member of Anberlin working independently, Lowborn is masterfully crafted with each track having its own distinct flair whilst keeping to a clear flow throughout.

This is exemplified by the contrast between Stranger Ways which has a softer alternative rock sound and Dissenter which is a heavier punk-rock style track employing screaming vocals.

Experimental electronic techniques are employed occasionally which blend with the traditional rock instrumental sound seamlessly.

Other standout tracks are We Are Destroyer, Birds of Prey and Hearing Voices.

Sadly this is the final album from Anberlin and it is a truly great effort that begs for a follow-up. (JA)

Dusty Ravens Stories of Love and Death The beauty of Dusty Ravens’ debut album Stories of Love and Death is hearing musicians play the music they love to make.

The band members report a shared fascination with Mexico and have created a blend of folk, country and Mexican Mariachi. Flamenco guitars and French horns meet acoustic guitars, resulting in passionate, original songs. Maggie Raven’s ethereal vocals complement Andy Meehan’s Nick Cave-like drone, making highlights of radio-friendly tracks Send My Heart and Before You Go. The eccentricity of Mexicano and mellow folk music from a Sydney band is intriguing and suggests Dusty Ravens might be onto the next big thing just by being themselves. (LH)

Tim Hulsman

We catch Tim Hulsman as he is booking accommodation for his pending tour. It may seem a simple task to undertake on a Wednesday afternoon, but if you snuck a peek at his itinerary, chances are you would be baffled by some names. But as Hulsman explains, it’s all part of the plan.

“I went for more of the alternative places where you get a good listening crowd and they are really there to listen to the music,” he says simply.

A man with a rock ‘n’ roll past, Hulsman and his music have evolved into a mould of sweet acoustic flows with a bluesy flourish. Inside the mind of his third album Dead Man’s Garden, the vision for the finished product is blatant.

“I really wanted to make a cohesive album that would set a mood,” Hulsman says. “[I wanted it to] take you on a journey and really keep you there. [Producer Tristan Bird and I] were both very adamant that we wanted to create an old-time feeling album, so we recorded it in analogue.We wanted to get some of that graininess into it with the really raw live sound.

We left little mistakes in there to keep the idea of real people playing real instruments in real time.”

The input of his frequent musical partner and wife,

LIVE WIRE London Grammar: This three-piece’s music can be described in one word: ominous.Their trippy, airy dance beats build slowly, teasing listeners with a climax that never comes, but rewarding their patience with an equally-satisfying, reverb-heavy pop sound, laced with emotive lyrics.

They prove that there is power in restraint when it comes to conjuring emotions.

Thu, Jul 24th, Hordern Pavillion.

Nina Grant, is something that when asked about Hulsman can’t help overflow with pride and pure love.

“She brings style, grace and this beautiful spooky talent that she has to the music,” he says. “I really miss it when she doesn’t play with me. I’m really looking forward to the day when we can sit down and write a whole album together. I think that would be really amazing.”

Their future musical exploits aside, it seems for Hulsman that their personal future together is clearly overshadowing his past darker experiences. He was ex-communicated from a strict Jehovah’s Witness family and community at the age of 18 because he wanted to pursue his love of making music, and the man we speak to today could not be further from that devastated guy disconnected from everyone he knew.

“It’s always been one of those things that I have tossed up whether or not to talk about, but I kind of got to the point where I was realised that this is my story,” he says. “I’m not upset about it anymore. I have a twoand-a-half year-old son, I have my wife and I’m just enjoying taking on the role of being a father.” (CD) Jul 30, Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice, 50 Hunter St, Sydney, free, frankiespizzabytheslice.com

Sydney Live Music Guide

Sky Ferreira: Since she was discovered online at the ripe young age of 15, Sky Ferreira has been a musician, actress, and model for Calvin Klein. She is also proof that Myspace can do big things for a teenager with a webcam.

Ferreira admits to being a Britney Spears fan, but also discloses an appreciation for Sonic Youth and Brian Eno, which gives her pop melodies and simple lyrics about teenage romance a

seductive, dark edge.

Fri, Jul 25th,The Metro.

Donny Benet: For the sake of sanity, it’s always a good idea to have an alter ego. Ben Waples, a highly respected jazz bassist and ex-member of Jack Ladder’s Dreamlanders, is Donny Benet; a middleaged balding man who could be wearing a stereotypical Hawaiian shirt when he rips it up on stage with a band of accomplished and highly

trained musicians. It’s ‘80s synth-driven, jingle-inspired pop-rock, but in the best way.

Sat, Jul 26th, Lansdowne Hotel.

Sheppard: This is a sibling band that could give the Partridge Family a run for their money.

Their single Geronimo is currently the highest selling Australian single of 2014, and now they are following it up with Something’s Missing from their debut album Bombs Away. The song is consistent with the band’s explosive pop sound that is becoming somewhat of a trademark.

This album launch show is an all-ages gig.

Sat, Jul 26th, Luna Park Big Top. First Aid Kit: They’re a little bit country, a little bit melancholic, completely mystical, and totally down to earth.These Swedish sisters and their four-piece band delicately interlock vocal harmonies, strings, keys, and light drumming to create stories and soundscapes that put you in the back of a rundown two-door sedan on a long, dusty highway that leads anywhere but here.

Tue, Jul 29th,The Metro.

Cabins: The band has very clear touchstones, but rather than impersonate or copy musicians from bygone eras, they take the best bits, chop them up, put them through a blender, and stir until smooth.The resulting concoction is a melting pot of intricate and repetitive riffs, hypnotic rhythms, and lyrics that toe the line between poetry and absurdity.

Wed, Jul 30th, Newtown Social.

(AE)

Scandinavian Film Festival 2014 The inaugural Scandinavian Film Festival comes to Sydney, screening a curated selection of 21 films from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark.

The critically acclaimed selection of comedies, dramas and documentaries ensures there’s a film for all tastes. Scandinavian films rarely receive cinematic releases in Australia and this festival allows audiences to experience them as they should be seen, on the silver screen.

Special events including opening night after parties, dress-up screenings, Q&A sessions with the film’s stars, food, and music promises a memorable and ongoing event. Not to mention the wealth of Scandinavian films getting their Australian premiere.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is the Swedish blockbuster which opens the festival. This comedy centres on an elderly man who escapes from his nursing home and embarks on a hilarious journey.

Waltz For Monica is the extraordinary biopic of Swedish Jazz singer Monica Zetterlund, highlighting the dark side of fame and success.

Ego revolves around a conceited young man’s obsession with partying, girls and sex.

Once My Mother is a powerful and moving documentary produced by Australian filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz, which explores the unspeakable hardships her mother, Helen, endured during the occupation of Poland in World War II. The adverse effects on their relationship are also detailed.

Living on the streets at 13, Helen was unjustifiably jailed, survived prison camps in Siberia and travelled to refugee camps in Rhodesia before arriving in Australia.

Helen incredibly survived the horrors of war only to be betrayed by the man she loved,

become estranged from her daughter and suffer with dementia.

Audiences will follow Sophia as she travels to Poland to learn who her mother was and ultimately reconciliation is achieved.

Captivating and poignant this documentary contains insightful interviews and original war footage of Stalin and Hitler which should also fascinate history enthusiasts.

(MM) WWW½ Limited release, Cremorne Orpheum & Chauvel Cinemas, Sydney

Once My Mother REACHING FOR THE MOON is a biographical drama set in the 1950s when same-sex relationships were unacceptable.

When poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) travels to Brazil to regain her poetic flair, she meets famed architect Lota De Macedo Soares (Glória Pires) and a decade-long romance flourishes, restoring her literary brilliance.

Performances are faultless and the production stylish, with visually stunning exotic locations, but the story is initially tarnished by the unrealistic and hasty commencement of the romantic entanglement.

Reaching For The Moon lacks substance and only audiences who are familiar with the poetry

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Charlie’s Country

Flow is the arresting rags-to-riches story of a young man’s rise from labourer to rapper and stars Danish rapper Kian Rosenberg Larsson.

August Fools is an uplifting comedy based on real political events and stars Finnish actress Laura Birn who will be attending the Q&A screening.

Pioneer is the much anticipated suspense thriller starring Australia’s Jonathan LaPaglia, who will also be in attendance for the Q&A screening.

(MM) Until Jul 27, Palace Norton Street, 99 Norton St, Leichhardt; Palace Verona, 17 Oxford St, Paddington, $20-75 (5 film pass), scandinavianfilmfestival.com.au

of Elizabeth Bishop will find this mandatory viewing. (MM) WWW THE LUNCHBOX A one-in-a-million mix-up with Mumbai’s famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a neglected housewife (Nimrat Kaur) with a curmudgeonly accountant (Irrfan Khan). What follows is a series of increasingly honest hand-written notes through which the two strangers find a new lease of life.

Don’t be fooled by what is, on paper, a somewhat cheesy premise. The debut feature from Indian writer/director Ritesh Batra is a bitter-sweet romance that offers cinéma vérité-style realism, goodnatured humour, and relatable

This Australian film is the story of Charlie (David Gulpilil), an elderly aboriginal living in a remote community. He is unable to conform to change and is forced to live under the “whitefella way of thinking”.

Charlie feels he is being stripped of his Aboriginal culture and ventures into the wilderness to live the “old way”, and ultimately returns all the wiser. Beautifully filmed in Arnhem Land, this is

a pessimistic but realistic depiction of life for Aboriginals in communities, highlighting the discrimination, the alcohol abuse, and the low standards of living.

Gulpilil is captivating as Charlie, a role inspired by his own experiences, for which he justifiably won Best Actor at Cannes with his powerful and heartfelt performance. (MM) WWW½

Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) are a yuppie couple who do things like write motherhood blogs and host family barbeques. In a bid to spice things up they make a sex tape, which accidentally makes it into the hands of all their friends.

Diaz and Segel are usually great at couple comedy, but it’s difficult for them to shine when Sex Tape appears to be nothing more than a 90-minute commercial for iPads. Plot

points include accolades about the amazing pixel capabilities of the device able to capture all the details of their gory sexcapade. Segel also marvels at the iPad’s construction after the tablet has been thrown out the window.

Exploring the appeal of filming sex acts is worth doing, as is an interest in maintaining a sexual zing in long-term relationships. But the way Sex Tape does it is facepalm bad.

(HC) W

The Selfish Giant

Childhood naïveté and the stark reality of poverty come head to head in Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant.

After they are expelled from school, young Bradford teens Arbor (Conner Chapman) and Swifty (Shaun Thomas) meet scrap dealer Kitten (Sean Gilder). With the opportunity to make money in a community with no prospects, the boys begin to collect scrap metal, at times resorting to illegal means.

But when Kitten recognises Swifty’s talent for horseriding, Arbor becomes increasingly greedy and volatile and the two boys’ infallible friendship is set to burn.

A haunting and tragic reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s fable; it is beautifully understated and brilliantly portrayed.

It is a shame that the ending is so rushed when the rest of the film is paced so delicately. (ATS) WWW

Sex Tape

characters as well as thoughtful observations on the human condition, including the value of companionship. (JH) WWWW

cast members were plucked from the award-winning stage show, and translating them to the screen is boring. (LL) WW

Audiences will largely ignore the flaws to appreciate it for the easy, entertainment that it is. (LL) WWW½

themes with gallows humour.

The film is an ode to Gleeson, whose expressive face governs the screen. (RF) WWWW

JERSEY BOYS This film is the true story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, from their spectacular rise to fame in the ’60s with hit songs such as Big Girls Don’t Cry, and Sherry, to their eventual tempestuous disbanding.

The list of recognisable hits is longer than you might think and sadly, for a musical, they don’t get enough screen time.

Songs have been cut or shrunk to make way for lingering looks and close-ups. Even big events in the original story are skipped over in cursory fashion.

Three out of the four main

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION The fourth instalment in this franchise is much of what audiences expect from the action-packed films.

Though, this time they’ve switched Shia Lebouf’s Sam Witwicky for Mark Wahlberg’s single father/inventor Cade Yeager, and thankfully, it’s a massive improvement.

Disappointingly the character arcs are non-existent, the half-realised subplots are plentiful, and sadly, most of the female characters are either underutilised or irrelevant.

CALVARY Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is a priest, striving for decency on Ireland’s west coast. His parishioners present daily moral tests of his faith and he confronts their rage, grief and cynicism with humane compassion and wit.

During a confession he’s threatened with murder – retribution for a sin he didn’t commit – and he must decide if he’ll face up to the penance.

This small, powerful tale, stunningly shot against the wild and craggy setting of the Atlantic, deftly handles dark

22 JUMP STREET The inevitable sequel to 2012’s parody of the hit ‘80s television series has arrived. This time Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) are going undercover in college to investigate the distribution of a new killer drug.There is no stretch of the imagination here and they don’t even try to hide it. It’s the same story, with the same characters and similar jokes.

Stick around for the spoof sequels in the credits – arguably the best bit of the film. (LL) WWW