Melbourne Observer. December 5, 2018

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● Kelley Kerr Young, Constance Washington, Shanon Kulupach, Emma Jo McKay and Lisa Dallinger in A Christmas Tale. Photo: Jennifer Monk ■ Girls Act Good present their verbatim show A Christmas Tale at The Butterfly Club from December 17-22, so grab your Santa hat, festive earrings and a cocktail to celebrate the end of the year and welcome in the silly season in GAG style.

Girls Act Good is an all female ensemble of actors, writers, directors, producers and designers based in Melbourne.

The focus of GAG is providing creative opportunities to women and giving a voice to people and their stories that normally go unheard and unnoticed. Projects for women by women.

This new work is inspired by real-life conversations and stories about Christmas from women across Australia.

The play takes a comedic and heartfelt look at the Aussie festivities and celebrates how we can come together to remember the Magic of Christmas.

Directed by Jennifer Monk, the show is performed by Constance Washington, Kelley Kerr

Young, Lisa Dallinger, Emma Jo McKay, Shanon Kulupach and Tegan Jones.

Performance Dates: December 17, 19, 20, 21, 22 at 7pm. Venue: The Butterfly Club, 15 Carson Place, Melbourne. Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com/show/a-christmastale-2018 - Cheryl Threadgold

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 9

Showbiz News

What’s On Bombshells

Her Majesty’s book launched National Gallery

■ Escher X nendo - Between Two Worlds is the first exhibition in the world to feature the extraordinary work of Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher in dialogue with the work of acclaimed Japanese design studio nando led by designer Oki Sato.

Seamlessly presenting two worlds on one of the 20th century's most recognisable artists and one of the 21st century's most inventive designers, the exhibition will feature more than 150 of Escher's most renowned prints and drawings from the collection of Gemeentemuseum in The Hague.

National Gallery of Victoria 150 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne - Peter Kemp

Gruffalo’s Child

■ For those who enoyed The Gruffalo, the show’s sequel returns from a new West End production.

Join the Gruffalo’s Child on her adventurous mission in this musical adaptation of the picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, when it plays at the Athenaeum Theatre from December 11-22.

The Gruffalo said that no Gruffalo should ever set foot in the deep dark wood.

One wild and windy night the Gruffalo’s Child ignores her father ’s warnings about the Big Bad Mouse and tiptoes out into the deep dark wood. After all, the Big Bad Mouse doesn’t really exist... does he?

A trio of bright new performers fill the forest with colourful characters and foot-tapping, sing-along songs.

Audiences will be dazzled with brand new costumes when the return season entices fans with the magic of the deep dark wood.

The team behind The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and The 13-, 26-, 52- and 78Storey Treehouses return with The Gruffalo's Child, bringing together physical theatre, music and puppetry to deliver songs, laughs and scary fun for children aged threeand up, and their adults. Don’t miss it.

Venue: Athenaeum Theatre - 188 Collins St, Melbourne Dates: Tuesday December 11 -Saturday December 22 Tickets: All tickets - $35, Groups 6+ - $31; School Groups - $19 (plus one free teacher per 20 students); PreSchool Groups - $19 (plus one free teacher per 12 students) Bookings: Ticketek 9650 1500

● Theatre historian Frank Van Straten. Photo: Joshua Cowie

Hamlet Apocalypse

■ Her Majesty’s Theatre was the venue on Monday (Nov. 26), for Melbourne author and historian Frank Van Straten to launch his new book Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, The Shows, The Stars, The Stories.

Frank’s book celebrates Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre, and is packed with evocative text and hundreds of rare, nostalgic images.

I t documents the shows and stars who’ve entertained theatregoers over the past 14 decades.

From Show Boat, Oklahoma! and Fiddler on the Roof to Les Misérables, Mamma Mia!, Mary Poppins and The Rocky Horror Show – hundreds of shows, including an intriguing few that were not exactly box office bonanzas.

Its dressing rooms have been home to Dame Nellie Melba, Anna Pavlova and Dame Joan Sutherland as well as Peter Allen, Dame Edna, Jerry Hall, and even Bananas in Pyjamas.

Her Majesty’s has survived two world wars, two serious depressions, the introduction of talkies and television, and a disastrous 1929 fire.

Seventy years later it escaped almost certain demolition when it was purchased and completely refurbished by entrepreneur Mike Walsh.

Frank has mined not only the treasures in the theatre’s extensive archive, but also the memories and memorabilia of many showbiz veterans.

The result is a landmark publication for everyone who loves the magic of the theatre – and, especially, The Maj. Recommended retail price: $65 plus postage.

Orders can be made via Her Majesty’s Theatre website: https://www.hmt.com.au/product/the-shows-the-stars-the-stories/ - Cheryl Threadgold

Ancestry

● Polly Sará, Peta Ward, Chris Beckey, Mitch Wood and Nicole Harvey in The Hamlet Apocalypse .

Photo: Morgan Roberts ■ “More matter with less art” simulates the countdown to deis the quote that comes to mind struction. after watching The Hamlet For most of the audience it was Apocalypse. uncomfortable and disconcerting.

Resting on the assumption that Equally erratic were the aca performance of Hamlet is in tions of the alter egos of the charproduction before an apocalypse acters.

– hence the title – we watch the They all kept their own names performance descend into a ca- stepping into and out of characcophony of noise and meaning- ter. less action.

But there was an inconsistency Ostensibly, the co-opting of here as well.

Shakespeare’s play is to highlight The motivations for their acissues of life, death and purpose tions and the changeability of conbut the Bard’s work is about in- duct while themselves didn’t seem action and procrastination as to have any foundation or conmuch as it is about the substance stancy. of life.

There was no accounting for The ensemble cast plays them- the way they behaved or when selves and their character role. they acted out.

There might have been opporThe Danger Ensemble stagtunity here to draw connections ing this piece under the direction between the persona they were of Steven Mitchell Wright will inplaying and their own identity but evitably divide audiences. this is never really developed other Those unfamiliar with than when Hamlet (Mitch Wood) Shakespeare’s Hamlet might well declares his real life love for have difficulty following the Ophelia (Nicole Harvey). piece.

Her rejection of him turns the The foreknowledge of an imBard’s play on its head. Unfortu- pending holocaust is also necesnately, the cast give over to er- sary and remains an assumed ratic actions which are meaning- notion rather than a developed less and pointless while other char- idea making this play an acquired acters are trying to play their roles. taste for those in the know.

This is disruptive and disconPerformance Season: Until certing especially when the two November 18 things are happening simultaVenue: Theatre Works, 14 neously. Both actions are lost.

Acland St., St Kilda Blasts of light directed at the Bookings: http:// audience periodically throughout www.theatreworks.org.au/prothe production come as a jolt and gram/hamlet-apocalypse/ - Review by David McLean

■ Gypsy Fire presents Ancestry on Sunday, December 10 at 2 pm at Temple Beth Israel, St Kilda.

Featuring 10 string guitarist Matthew Fagan and CzechviolinistRomana Geermans (Prague), the duo will be performing works from classical masters Rimsky Korsakov, Mozart, Paganini and Vivaldi.

The Spanish Classical and Flamenco and Celtic Music is composed by Matthew Fagan and also music is composed by Frantizek Domazlicky- the last Czech Jewish orchestral composer to survive internment in Nazi concentration camps including Camp Terezin.

Ancestry is a celebration of the rich musical ancestry of two leading virtuoso musicians Matthew Fagan of Ango-Celtic, Jewish, German, Spanish lineage on unique 10-string Spanish guitar and six-string Godin guitar, and Czech violinist Romana Geermans from Prague who met in Melbourne and formed a profound musical partnership.

Performance Details: Sunday, December 10 at 2pm. (Doors open 1.30pm) Venue: Temple Beth Israel, 76 Alma Rd, St Kilda. Tickets: Adult $35,Conc $30, TBI Members $25, U18 $20, Group 10+ $20pp

■ Bombshells by Joanna Murray-Smith is The Basin Theatre’s fantastic choice for ending their 2018 season.

Bombshells is a collection of monologues presenting six women, at different stages of their lives, struggling with expectations, crisis, and, well, life.

Directed by Sharon Maine, with set design by Evie Housham, the cast give a confident performance. However, literal interpretations that don’t work hold the production back from being great.

Julia Day plays mother of three trying desperately to please everybody, including the nasty thoughts in her head. Day’s manic pace works in places but she is stuck in that one gear, steamrolling over any nuance of emotion and never stopping to sink into how those inner thoughts actually make her feel.

Kylie Rackham raises the bar as heartbroken Tiggy. Rackham is very engaging and funny and shows a rare ease with the monologue form. Her convincing vulnerability and pain holds the audience captive from the moment she steps on stage, keeping us laughing and reflecting the whole time.

Grace Cairnduff’s character’s unswerving confidence is tested when she has to improvise a dance performance - to Shaft. As Mary, Cairnduff is appropriately upbeat and animated and her routine provides some funny moments.

Mindy Fyfe is outstanding as delusional bride-to-be Theresa. Fyfe is funny and thoroughly entertaining, giving constant energy and emotional nuance to her character.

Denise Kuchmar gives an honest, courageous, and endearing portrayal of Winsome the dear widow who reads for the blind. Winsome reminds us life doesn’t end at 60, and Kuchmar delves deliciously into showing us why.

Janet Reid is wonderfully cast to portray Zoe Struthers, the quintessential cabaret diva. With a rich, bold voice and playful humour, Reid’s performance is a solid close to a good show.

Performance Season: Until Saturday December 1 Times: Thurs-Sat at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm Venue: The Basin Theatre, Doongalla Rd, The Basin Bookings: www.thebasintheatre.org.au or 1300 784 668.

- Review by Deborah Marinaro

Burrinja Gallery Black Mist Burnt Country: Testing the Bomb, Maralinga and Australian Art In the 1950s Australia became the nuclear testing ground for the British Government. A total of 12 atomic tests were conducted. Sixty years after the events Black Mist Burnt Country revisits the history of the test program at Maralinga, Emu Field and Monte Bello Island.

Exhibition: December 1 - February 10.

Burrinja Gallery 351 Glenfern Rd, Upwey - Peter Kemp

Mike McColl Jones

Top 5

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We could fill up on the way back.”

1. "Look who's already here ...

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Page 10 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Melbourne

Observer

Entertainment and Arts North of Eight Strata Inc.

■ North of Eight Strata Inc. by Laura Lethlean and Faran Martin at The Burrow in Fitzroy from November 20 – December 8.

Frank Strata, successful investment tycoon, is dead. Suddenly his son Andrew is set to inherit Strata Inc. and all the perks that come with it: whisky, stunning views, the corporate tracksuit.

But before the ink dries, the previously impenetrable CEO’s office is taken captive by a caped crusader.

Enter Lysa, the other Strata heir, and she is not leaving until her father's legacy is unapologetically obliterated, whatever the cost.

Fire fights fire in this brazen, funny and unflinching war against entitlement.

In a world that sees people for all of their value and none of their worth, must we all become worthless to become equal?

Lethlean and Martin pitch status against progress, gender and family, and ask whether we can ever truly be selfless in the pursuit for equality.

The play ultimately looks at all the things that hold power over us, as flawed human beings, and what we do when we feel we gain the upper hand, or what we do in situations where we’ve always expected to have it.”

Strata Inc. is created by Laura Lethlean and Faran Martin, produced by Mark Salvestro, and stars Siobhan Connors, Jordan FraserTrumble, Jessica Martin, Pat Moonie, Mark Salvestro, Jessica Stanley and Phoebe Anne Taylor.

Production Season: November 20 - December 8 at 7.30pm Venue: The Burrow: 83 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy Bookings: www.northofeight.com.au Content Warning: Strong Language, sexual references,references to death, depictions of day drinking and outrageous corporate greed.

- Cheryl Threadgold

Pass The Butler

■ Sir Robert Charles, Minister of Defence, lies comatose in the drawing room of his country home hooked up to life support.

Lady Charles declares that her soon-to-belate husband’s demise can’t come quickly enough and has decided to put him out of his misery and pull the plug.

To mark the occasion, Lady Charles (Julie Arnold) is joined by her gormless children, Annabelle (Kirsty Hall), Hugo (Xavier Ryan) and Nigel (Liam Gillespie).

Throw in the family nanny (Linda O’Grady), the Butler (John Locke) and a lurking journalist (Adrian Gertler) and what follows is a dark farce of a whodunnit.

Brighton Theatre Company’s production of Pass the Butler, written by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame, is a politically incorrect, satirical look at British social mores that creaks a little showing its 1980s bones.

That said, the terrific ensemble cast delivers Idle’s many jokes that cover a laundry list of subjects: sex, politics, the British upper crust and more at a cracking pace.

Directed by Gaetano Santo, who instilled excellent comedy timing in his cast, there were some stand-out performances from Ian Wilshin as bumbling Inspector Harris and Eric Heyes as Ronnie.

A spot-on English drawing room set, courtesy of the director, complete with casement window with the glimpse of a Tudor manse in the distance, was a perfect compliment to the comings and goings of the cast through multiple entrances and exits.

There are mishaps, mistaken identities, coincidences, incest, murder and some trouserdropping in this show. Above all, it is very, very silly.

Performance Season: Until November 24 Venue: Brighton Arts and Cultural Centre, Wilson St., Brighton Bookings:1300 752 126 www.brightontheatre.com.au - Review by Kathryn Keeble

Demolish

■ This December, Bendigo Showgrounds will become the platform to th premiere of Demol

● North of Eight’s Strata Inc. a moving theatrical spectacle featuring an enthralling combination of dance, theatre, lighting effects, video projections and music.

Created by local theatre-makers Rebecca Russell and Ken Evans from the Goldfields township of Clunes, Demolish explores how the landscape has changed since colonization covering themes of nature, landscape, environment and our future and delving into the ravages of the goldrush, farming and now urban development.

Performed on Dja Dja Wurrung Country, the work has been creatively inspired by the Dhelkunya Dja Country Plans description of the disrupted landscape being ‘upside down country’, touching on the destruction of our land through mining and development.

Creator Rebecca Russell said the performance carried varying themes, many of which are close to our home and heart.

“Demolish starts with the land on which we live, work and play. This performance piece is a familiar place for all of us, beginning with our environment and home, then venturing into destruction.”

Ken Evans, co-creator on the special event, said it was an honour to bring this work to life in this specific space.

“While the themes are serious, this show is about experiencing what is happening around us in a different format.

“Set in the framework of a house with atmospheric lighting, vivid imagery, the specially curated music score and heavy machinery, this is theatre that is poetic, visual and visceral,” said Mr Evans.

Demolish will take place at the Bendigo Showgrounds, Regional Events Centre, Holmes Road from December 11-15 at 8.15pm.

Tickets start at $20.

- Cheryl Threadgold

School of Rock

■ Melbourne’s elegant Her Majesty’s Theatre has been kicking up her heels to play host to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s smash hit musical School of Rock.

From pint-sized patrons (officially recommended from age five) to the young at heart, all can enjoy this intergenerational rock show which, as described by Webber in the program, “is a story about the empowering force of music”.

Directed by Laurence Connor and choreographed by JoAnn M Hunter, School of Rock tells of unemployed guitarist Dewey Finn (Brent Hill).

Dewey is so desperate for work that he impersonates his best friend, musician and teacher substitute Ned Schneebly (John O’Hara), to work at the elitist private school Horace Green.

Bringing his world of hard rock to a classroom of classical music students, Dewey motivates the students to compete in a local Battle of the Bands.

Ned eventually discovers Dewey’s impersonation and his furious girlfriend Patty Di Marco (Nadia Komazec) takes matters into her own hands.

Prim and proper school Principal Rosalie Mullins (Amy Lehpamer) is a delightful antithesis to scruffy, laid-back Dewey, but is she really as straight-laced as she seems?

Thought-provoking social commentary entwined with the lyrics and music includes par-

ents imposing personal interests on their children, no hugging from teachers, parents not listening to their children, and parking illegally outside the school. Perhaps Dewey’s music project might turn things around a little.

Three casts of children portray the students and if as talented as the opening night cast, then the future of musical theatre in Australia is well assured. Competent instrumentalists, singers, movers and actors – these talented youngsters are a joy to see.

Hill’s portrayal of Dewey is believably naturalistic, delivered with mega energy that permeates through the show.

Lehpamer’s powerful vocals enhance her commanding stage presence. O’Hara as mildmannered Ned and Komazec as domineering Patty are terrific in their roles.

Dewey boomed out to the audience: “The School of Rock is open for business!’ If audience reaction on opening night is any indication, business will definitely be booming while this show is in town. www.schoolofrockthemusical.com.au - Review by Cheryl Threadgold

Woolworths when Tom Casamento is behind your check-out. His needle-like powers of observation will infiltrate your body and mind, extract useful material, discard the dross and, after his imagination has been let loose, you may be lucky enough see a version of yourself in his show.

Tom wrote and presented Don’t Judge Me in cabaret supported on the stage by a pianist, and a dress-ups clothes rack.

Minor wardrobe switches bolstered ruthless mimics of his mother, his aunt and the Kardashians, all of whom he admitted to having a strong affection.

His impersonations of The Voice hopefuls and the survival techniques and treachery of an aged care resident while less sympathetic were still incisive.

Anecdotes of experiences of the Millennials saw Gen Y audience members explode into riotous laughter.

It’s a delight to be in the audience of a performer whose comfort on the stage is palpable.

His presence consumed the space while deftly moving to avoid the squeaking floorboards and occasional technical hiccups.

He sustained engagement with his audience by making subtle mood modifications through ■ An hour of feel-good entertainment in a trib- measured changes in eye and facial expressions ute to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong had and gestures. the Hamer Hall filled with a recent performance In future performances he could capitalise by jazz group, The Syncopators, with vocals by on his skilful dance moves and physical stage Yvette Johansson billed as the best interpreter antics which at times were hilarious. of Ella Fitzgerald.

Casamento wove a medley of ABBA songs For some three decades The Syncopators and Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now with an array formerly known as Society Syncopators founded of fresh, clever original lyrics into his show, noby trombonist Chris Ludowyk have an interna- tably his song about his judgment of a stranger tional reputation performing at most major world who he visualised excessively loving a woman jazz festivals and here in Australia. named, ‘Clare’.

With an extensive repertoire in jazz and blues Tom proposed that we all judge others to varyperformance this was one that took us back to ing degrees, begging the question, Why not? some of the hits of Louis ‘Satchmo’Armstrong Don’t Judge Me was presented at The Butwith an opening set including Heebie Jeebies terfly Club.

(1926),” and Mack the Knife (1955) with Peter - Review by Sherryn Danaher Gaudion, demonstrating his vocal versatility bringing Armstrong’s renditions to life while Chris Ludowyk on trombone added resonance ■ The timelessness of Samuel Beckett’s play, to the set.

Among the highlights were the renditions of Krapp’s Last Tape, lies in its understanding of Peter Gaudion with Yvette Johnasson in Let’s both human nature and the power of the stage.

The 70-year-old Krapp (Max Gillies) listens Call the Whole Thing Off the 1937 hit by George Gershwin for the film Shall We Dance featur- to a recording he made when he was 39. The dialogue that takes place is between the past ing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

They further combined for Irving Berlin’s and the present, between a regretful old man and his conceited former self and between the Cheek to Cheek from the 1935 film Top Hat. Individual segments by Stephen Grant on eloquence he could once command and the piano, Richard Millar on clarinet and saxophone strangled expression of his current life.

Indeed, Krapp is virtually silent for the first and Rod Gilbert on drums and vocal varied the half of the play but for the physical reactions he tempo throughout the performance.

As is the case with most jazz groups there has to what he hears on the tape.

Gillies expressions here speak volumes dovewas much patter between numbers that kept us travelling back to the roots of jazz, while at times tailing as they do with the sentiments on the tape. it did appear they were uncertain of the next set. It is no mean feat to capture just the right degree Finishing on a strong note was Rod Gilbert’s of intensity.

Beckett also challenges theatrical convenvocal of Cole Porter’s Now You Has Jazz , the song that describes what instruments are needed tion which director, Laurence Strangio, has acto create jazz from the 1956 film High Society, knowledged.

There is action that takes place off stage but with remaining band members James Clark on Bass and Peter Baylor on guitar supporting for Krapp also has to negotiate the pillars in the open space that is 45 Downstairs Flinders Lane. an upbeat finish.

Ironically, Gillies performed this piece fifty The next Morning Melodies will be Christmas Melodies at Hamer Hall on Monday, De- years ago when he was 26. He can truly see what Krapp is grappling with in reflecting on cember 10. past glories. www.artscentremelbourne.com.au The main difference, of course, is that Gillies - Review by Graeme McCoubrie has lost none of his vigour, stage presence or power to engage with an audience.

Krapp was presented at fortyfivedownstairs.

■ Rest assured that it’s not safe rocking up to - Review by David McLean

The Syncopators

Krapp’s Last Tape

Don’t Judge Me

● The Syncopators

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

Melbourne Arts Lean On Pete

■ A coming of age film, Lean on Pete, is based on Willy Vlautin’s 2010 novel of the same title. Andrew Haigh combines insightful direction with a masterfully written film script.

The film opens with 15-year old Charley unpacking and placing his running trophies on a shelf.

Representative of adolescent dreams, we discover that his schooling has ceased due to his negligent, alcoholic, itinerant father, Ray, (Travis Fimmel) having to move town from Spokane to Portland Oregon.

There is love between father and son and, apart from childhood memories of a kind, now estranged aunt, Ray is Charley’s only family.

Charley finds work at a local racetrack to help his floundering father. However, after being stabbed by a jealous husband, Ray dies in hospital.

Hungry and homeless, Charley covertly sleeps in the stables and places all hope in working for racetrack boss Del (Steve Buscemi) with his burnt out racehorse, Lean on Pete.

On discovering that Pete’s fate is the knackery, Charley steals the horse commencing a road trip and dialogue with his only friend, Pete.

Bad luck and desperation see him invest in the goodwill of petty criminals and the marginalised only to be continually let down.

When a good-natured cop offers him a way-out, his previous experience of betrayals steers him to take the flight option. The film ends with an open-ended glimmer of hope.

Charlie Plummer’s performance is remarkable, given that he is only nineteen. He portrays Charley with convincing, understated reality of a boy grappling with survival while trying to dodge disaster.

We ride the seesaw throughout Charley’s saga, driven by empathy for a decent kid crying out for guidance and lost in his brutal world.

I don’t think it is possible to view this film without giving thought to the plight of the many young, homeless people on our streets.

Opens in cinemas across Australia November 29.

Duration: 121 minutes - Review by Sherryn Danaher

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 11 Melbourne

Observer

Showbiz News

‘Lamb’ at Red Stitch

■ Tracing the generational arc of a farming family, Jane Bodie’s Lamb initially fits the trope associated with inheritance; the son, Patrick (Simon Maiden), who stayed on the farm, arguing with the daughter, Annie (Brigid Gallacher), who sought a career in the city.

The narrative, unfolding as it does in reverse order, reveals so much more, however, about the emotional and psychological legacy gifted to them by parents whose hopes and desires were also compromised.

It is in returning to the farm and negotiating what must now happen with their intellectually challenged older sister, Kathleen (Emily Goddard) that each individual must grapple with the ghosts, grief and grievances that haunt them.

Bodie’s craft can be seen in the nuanced references that link the separate scenes. We discover the reason for certain family traditions and word games.

But Bodie has also incorporated Mark Seymour’s music and lyrics which unite the family generationally.

Their father Frank composed and sang, Annie sought a singing career and Patrick plays his father’s tunes.

The music also serves as a metaphor for both discord and harmony with a sentimental trio serving as a resolution to each individual’s disparate frustrations and uncertainties.

The cast were superb – we would expect nothing less from Red Stitch. Simon and Brigid must both sing and act and are required to also play their own parents.

Emily’s portrayal of Kathleen is endearing and, at times, provides a sense of touching comedy to ease the tense undercurrent of a family trying to keep a struggling farm viable, of choices thwarted and of the ever present bitterness of recrimination.

● Brigid Gallaher and Simon Maiden in Lamb. Photo: Jodie Hutchinson Julian Meyrick’s direction tackles the challenges of the limited Red Stitch stage which is dressed in packing crate chic and split between the local pub and the farmhouse kitchen.

Greg Clarke has done well to incorporate both locations in one and the rural, rustic nature is inescapable.

This is the premiere of a play that takes a traditional story to another level and is well worth any effort you make to see it.

Red Stitch, Rear 2 Chapel Street, St Kilda East.

Until December 13.

– Review by David McLean

Lambs of God

Nutcracker

■ The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet is presenting one ofTchaikovsky's most famous compositions and popular Christmas ballets, The Nutcracker.

Chorography is by former Principal Artist of theAustralian Ballet, Christine Walsh.

This well-loved, traditional Christmas ballet will be performed by 65 dancers of the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet, featuring international guest artists and 65 musicians of the ACB Orchestra with a unique on-stage setting.

Season: Thursday December 20 at 7.30pm, Friday December 21 at 11.30pm and 7.30pm Venue: Hamer Hall Arts Centre Melbourne.

- Peter Kemp

● Tennessee Baz Jeffrey and Angela Trakula in Lambs of God, playing in Strathmore. Photo: Shane Anthony ■ An Australian play, seldom performed, by ents have their problems as do Jim and his mate Australian playwright John Summons was Mick. Catholic education gets a whack with corgiven a solid showing by STAG under director poral punishment all the rage back then. ParGeorge Benca. Full marks to both for giving us ents with rebellious teenagers will relate to certain scenes. the opportunity to see the work.

For a play first staged in 1978, it had a preIt’s about a teenage boy growing up during scient approach to young and old giving religion the Vietnam War and how he deals with God, and the Almighty a two-fingered salute. love, war and the whole damn thing. Jim’s parThe cast was well rehearsed, well directed and consistent throughout.

The director was responsible for costumes and props which worked a treat. The mother, Ruth (Angela Trakula) had hair to die for in 1968.

The playwright gave her son lines at the end where the lad complained his Ma wouldn’t look him in the eye.

She could have done more of that in other parts of the play.

The father, Jack, (Christopher Grant), had a limp which gradually got worse over time. He needed a shirt with a pocket as matchboxes and Velcro were not in vogue back then.

The mate, Mick, (Max Gettler), underplayed perfectly against his manic mate allowing the son, Jim, (Tennessee Baz-Jeffrey) to strut his stuff.

Tony Leatch’s set, Rob McDonald’s lighting and George Benca’s audio choices all gave strong support to the cast.

The performance by Tennessee Baz-Jeffrey was worth the price of admission alone.

– Review by Cenarth Fox

Melbourne Observations

with Matt Bissett-Johnson

What’s On Mildura Arts Wes Walters: The Art of the Precursor Born in Mildura in 1928, Wes Walters was an artist who practised many disciplines.

Throughout a long career he was at once a graphic designer, portrait painter, sculptor, abstract expressionist and landscapist.

In the post-war era in Australia, Walters defied the linearity of the specialist stance that mostAustralian artists took up, revelling instead in manifesting visual and artistic ideas in whatever discipline he decided would articulate them.

Exhibition: Friday, December 7 - Sunday, March 3. ★ Collected Vision II: Recent Acquisitions A diverse range of paintings and works are presented in this exhibition.

The artworks are recent acquisi6tions for MilduraArts Centre's permanent collection.

Exhibition: Thursday December 13 Sunday March 3. ★ Portraits and Pottery A chronological survey of portraiture from the permanent collection which spans a variety of mediums and styles.

Among this selection of what is one of the most biographical forms of visual art, familiar local faces, such as Dudley Marrows and Bill Downie, mingle with favourites from the Elliott Bequest.

Exhibition: Thursday, December 20 Sunday, March 31.

Mildura Art Centre 199 Coreton Ave, Mildura - Peter Kemp

Burrinja Gallery Black Mist Burnt Country testing the Bomb, Maralinga and Australian Art. Black Mist Burnt Country is an awardwinning national touring exhibition of artworks by over 30 indigenous and non-indigenous artists commemorating the British atomic tests in Australia in the 1950s and 60s.

After an intensive tour of nine public galleries and museums in four states and territories since September 2016 the exhibition finally comes to Melbourne for its last show and back to Burrinja Cultural Centre, its home gallery.

Black Mist Burnt Country reveals the history of the British atomic test program at Maralinga and examines the long-lasting impacts on people and land, as well as ongoing legacies.

At the heart of the exhibition is a familiar story: the dispossession, dislocation and cultural disconnection of Aboriginal people.

The artists provide some remarkable insights into a chapter of Australian history that is little known and has had immense consequences.

The exhibition opened December 1 and closes February 19. Daily 10am - 4pm. Except Mondays.

Burrinja Gallery 351 Glenfern Rd., Upwey - Peter Kemp

Callout ■ KingstonArts is currently seeking applications for both solo and group art exhibitions in 2019.

Kingston Arts aim to provide a dynamic program of visual arts by local emerging and established artists to explore contemporary art in a supportive environment which pioneers thought-provoking and professional exhibitions.

Eligible artistic practices include painting, drawing, sculpture, video, performance and sound..

For further information contact Michelle James on 9556 4462.

Venues: G3 Artspace Shirley Burke Theatre 63 Parkers Rd. Parkdale and G1 & G2 Kingston Arts Centre 979 Nepean Hwy. Moorabbin.

- Peter Kemp

Page 12 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Melbourne Obser ver - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 13

Observer Magazine

Stateside with Gavin Wood in West Hollywood

Going Green: WeHo leads the way ■ Hi everyone, from my suite at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Suites comes this week's news.

Out and About

Now, ask for a straw

■ US. consumers use an estimated 20 billion plastic straws annually. Many plastic straws used in Southern California end up in the ocean.

The straws are not biodegradable and stay in the oceans clogging up the waterways, harmful to fish and all sea creatures.

The City of West Hollywood is dedicated to sustainability and preserving the environment. A city with over 200 restaurants, bars and nightclubs West Hollywood can make a difference.

The City of West Hollywood encourages dine-in and drink-in businesses to provide plastic straws to customers upon request.

Patrons are encouraged to do their part and Go Green for the environment.

$1.73bn for tourism ■ West Hollywood Travel + Tourism Board announced 3.59 million visitors to West Hollywood spent $1.73 billion in fiscal year 2017-18, according to a study by Destination Analysts.

These record-breaking findings and more were shared at the West Hollywood Travel + Tourism Board Tourism Summit 2018 held at the hotel.

"Our job is to raise awareness and responsibly drive demand for our 1.9 square mile city," says Tom Kiely, WHTTB President and CEO. "Working collaboratively with our businesses and industry partners is the key to maximising our visitor economy and having the effective tourism industry we see today."

The $1.73 billion tourism industry in West Hollywood supports 7958 jobs and creates $49.9 million dollars in taxes generated for the city.

The city's largest single source of revenue is the Transient Occupancy Tax, with a recommended amount of $31.75 million in 2018, according to the City of West Hollywood Open Budget 2018.

West Hollywood Travel + Tourism Board is the official marketing organisation that invites visitors to West Hollywood, California, a walkable, 1.9 square mile/4.9 square kilometre city in the heart of Los Angeles.

Located at the base of the Hollywood Hills and adjacent to Beverly Hills, West Hollywood is a creative and progressive city that embodies the quintessential L.A. lifestyle.

West Hollywood is home to 17 hotels and comprised of three main districts: the world-famous Sunset Strip with unparalleled nightlife, eclectic and LGBTQ-friendly Santa Monica Boulevard, and the Design District known for its sought-after shopping and dining.

West Hollywood enjoys a year-round moderate climate and thanks to its prime location and hip atmosphere, West Hollywood serves as home and playground to many celebrities.

Black Mask talks

■ Ewan McGregor is in final negotiations to play Gotham City mob boss and Batman foe Black Mask in Warner Bros' Birds of Prey, individuals with knowledge of the project advise that McGregor will join Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Mary Elizabeth Winstead who have been cast as Black Canary and Huntress.

Also, Rosie Perez is playing Renee Montoya. The female superhero team-up film will be released on February 7, 2020 via Warner Bros.

Black Mask made his first appearance in the comics in August 1985's Batman issue #386. The Black Mask is a brutally sadistic kingpin in Gotham City's criminal underworld who has a fixation with masks.

Sinead now Shuhada

■ Sinead O'Connor has announced she has converted to Islam and changed her name to the Arabic word for "martyr”.The Nothing Compares 2 U singer, 51, tweeted a picture of herself wearing a hijab.

A Catholic sect ordained mum-of-four O'Connor a priest during the 1990s. But the Irish singer has changed faiths and her name to Shuhada Davitt.

Sinead, who has struggled with mental health issues, told fans: "This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim.

This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian's journey."

Game of Thrones

● Pictured at the launch at Kitchen 24 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Suites on Santa Monica Boulevard are Ramada M.D. Alan Johnson, international Aussie film director Rod Hardy, David Dickerson from Kitchen 24 and Ramada General Manager William Karpiak.

■ The secrecy around the final season of HBO's fantasy epic Game of Thrones would make even Marvel Studios jealous.

But we finally know at least a few details about how the climactic eighth season will start, courtesy of a massive cover story on the final season in Entertainment Weekly and it will kick off with a ton of callbacks to the show's first episode.

The season will open at Winterfell, but this time instead of King Robert's (Mark Addy) procession arriving, it's Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and her army.

This leads to an intermingling of many of the show's main characters, with some reuniting, others meeting for the first time.

But they all have one common goal: To prepare for the invasion of the Army of the Dead led by the Night's King.

"It's about all of these disparate characters coming together to face a common enemy, dealing with their own past, and defining the person they want to be in the face of certain death," co-executive producer Bryan Cogman said.

"It's an incredibly emotional, haunting, bittersweet final season, and I think it honors very much what writer George R.R. Martin set out to do which is flipping this kind of story on its head."

Audrey’s secret past

GavinWood

From my Suite at the Ramada Plaza Complex on Santa Monica Blvd

Declining trust ■ Trust in America is on the decline, and it may be preventing many people from living longer lives.

A new study finds that people who are more trusting of others tend to have longer life spans than those mired in suspicion.

Researchers from Stockholm University and Lund University turned to data from a nationally representative survey of more than 25,000 Americans between 1978 and 2010 for their work.

Participants took part in the US General Social Survey between, which measured individuals' levels of trust through questions such as, "Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you cannot be too careful in dealing with other people?"

The authors then checked to see which participants were still living by the end of the study period in 2014, and found 6424 participants had passed away.

They found that people who exhibited higher levels of trust tended to enjoy longer lives.

Show for Mike Tyson ■ Mike Tyson is shopping a new TV show, based on the boxer's life as a marijuana grower and marketer. Tyson will star in the scripted comedy, called Rolling With the Punches. The former heavyweight champ is shooting the show at his Tyson Ranch office in El Segundo, Calif., with Chuck Zito reprising his reallife role as Iron Mike's bodyguard and Russell Peters playing his "useless best friend." Tyson told me the show, like Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, is loosely based on his life.

www.gavinwood.us

■ Audrey Hepburn was heartbroken by the execution of her uncle by the Nazis worked for the Resistance in World War II, an upcoming book will report.

Hepburn was a preteen ballerina in England when the war broke out in 1939.

Her mother, a baroness, took her home to Holland hoping the Netherlands would stay neutral. But the Third Reich soon occupied the country.

In Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II (due in April from Good Knight Books), Robert Matzen presents proof that the Breakfast at Tiffany's star worked directly for Resistance leaders.

The execution of her uncle, Count Otto van Limburg Stirum, was traumatic.

Matzen discovered a 188-page diary Otto wrote during the four months he was imprisoned before his heroic death.

Energy drinks dilemma ■ Getting adequate sleep is increasingly rare among the active duty military population, as frequent deviations from the body's natural circadian rhythms due to a demanding operational tempo pit personnel in an ongoing struggle against the ever-persistent sandman.

To combat the sleep deprivation unique to this demographic, service members often turn to energy drinks, a prominent component of combat deployments that has become as paramount to mission success as any piece of protective gear or weaponry.

The prevalence of energy drink use in these settings is extraordinary. The lifeblood is virtually everywhere and tends to cost nothing resulting in an environment in which nearly half of deployed troops down at least one readily available crack can per day.

Come and visit us

■ If you are considering a move to Los Angeles or just coming over for a holiday then I have got a special deal for you.

We would love to see you at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Suites, 8585 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood.

I have secured a terrific holiday deal for readers of the Melbourne Observer and The Local Paper.

Please mention 'Melbourne Observer' when you book and you will receive the 'Special Rate of the Day'.

Please contact: Jennifer at info@ramadaweho.com Happy Holidays, Gavin Wood

Page 14 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

People

● David Anderson was announcer at the Yea Show.

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au Yea Show Photos: Ash Long

● Vicki White and Sue Newcomen

● Blake Kirley and Vicky Carbis.

● Judy Watts at the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network stand.

● The Ironbark Clydesdale team in the Grand Parade.

● Greg Garlick and Ross Coad

● John Boulton with Best Bird in Show.

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

People

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 15

Yea Show Photos: Ash Long

● Pjhil Pond and Matt Kells at the Yea CFA stand at the Yea Show.

● Birthday pair: Judd Hargreaves, 5, and Jill Hargreaves, 30.

● Twisty The Clown (Dan Stewart)

● Hugh Freeman, Melissa Freeman, Bernie Teasdale, Ryan O’Connor, David Elford of O’Connor Farm Machinery, Shepparton

● Ewan Tait and Stuart McLeish in the Wool Pavilion

● Lynette Johnson with Lynbarry Spike, Champion Bull.

● Jaime Bosper with Webb Nobleman.

Page 16 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Observer Magazine

■ Ronalde Charles Waldron was born in Islington, England ,in 1923.

Ronalde grew up in a poor but supportive Islington home and developed a talent for singing, whistling and bird impressions.

At the age of 15 he joined Arturo Steffani's Silver Songsters and became a part of a choir of twenty one boys.

When the group disbanded, he took the stage name of Ronnie Ronalde and worked as a solo variety performer under the management of Arturo Steffani.

Ronnie Ronalde became famous throughout the world when he recorded an old Irish folk song If I Were ABlackbird in 1950.

Such was his popularity that all went quiet in a noisy London pub when the song came on the radio.

Ronnie was a whistler, singer and yodeller.

In 1949 Ronnie filled the Radio City Music Hall in New York every night for 10 weeks.

Marilyn Monroe came back stage after one of his shows and told Ronnie that his whistling made her shiver.

His version of In a Monastery Garden sold millions of copies.

Ronnie had his own BBC radio show from 1949 called The Voice of Variety.

In 1949 Ronalde filled Radio City Music Hall in New York City every night for ten weeks.

He also performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the Royal Command Per-

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Whatever Happened To ...

Ronnie Ronalde

By Kevin Trask of 3AW and 96.5 Inner FM

formance at the London Coliseum. In 2000 my family and I were the overnight guests of Ronnie and his beautiful wife Rosemarie in New Zealand.

I will never forget that candlelight dinner as we heard stories about Ronnie's career and the British stars such as Flanagan and Allen, Joseph Locke, George Formby and film stars such as Laurel and Hardy.

He showed me a little statue of a blackbird given to him by Laurel and Hardy during their season together at the Hippodrome Theatre in the UK. Ronnie and Rosemarie moved to Queensland and we visited their home. I present at one of his Sydney concerts - my friend the late Tony

● Ronnie Ronalde Osborne who was a famous English musical ers up until the day he died. I am still in touch director was with me. It was wonderful to see with his widow Rosemarie and we remain good Ronnie performing to a packed house at the friends Sydney Town Hall.

Kevin Trask For many years at Christmas time I did an Kevin can be heard on 3AW interview with Ronnie on 96.5 Inner FM. The Time Tunnel - on Nightline - ThursRonnie published his autobiography Around days at 10pm with Philip Brady and The World On A Whistle in 1998.

Simon Owens.

Sadly, my dear friend passed away at the age Mike Till Midnight - Saturday nights at of 92 in 2015. Ronnie had suffered a stroke two 9pm with Mike Brady and Chris Ryan. years earlier and was living at Brinsworth House, And on 96.5 FM the retired entertainers' home in Twickenham.

That's Entertainment - Sundays He was still entertaining his fellow entertainat 12 Noon for two hours.

Greek islanders live on and on OK. With John O’Keefe Ho Ho Ho

● Greg Champion ■ Santa’s Elves are an industrious lot. They have launched Elf Radio on the Facebook ihearradio.com.au Elf Radio is Christmas carols 24/7. Seven days a week with the elves spinning in all the latest Yuletide greetings from the likes of Justin Bieber, Michael Buble, Taylor Swift and all the rest of the gang. No listing of some of the Aussie Christmas classics by Greg Champion. Come on Elves, lift your game.

Putting a cap on Sco Mo

■ Seems everyone is trying out to earn a baggy green cap. The annual Pollies v Media Personalities cricket match failed to unearthed any prospects. Karl Stevenovic bowled a wicked one that sent ScoMo back to the clubhouse. For reason we are not sure Guy Sebastian was awarded Man of the Match. All in all it was a day of laughs, plenty of frothies to sample and the punters contributed $25,000 to help local Canberra charities. There were no standout player worthy of critics raving ‘he’s the next Warnie’. ● The people of the little Greek island of Ikaria claim to have more healthy residents living amongst them who are 90 years of age or over, than percentage-wise any other place on earth.

■ The 8500 people of the little Greek positives to lowering depression and island of Ikaria in the Aegean Sea, body weight, and ultimately also help say they have more healthy residents increase that lifespan. amongst them who are 90 years of The Ikarians also boast diets high age or over, than percentage-wise any in vegetables and beans, low in meat other place on earth. and sugar, and with extensive use of And they say they can thank being Extra Virgin Olive Oil whose antioxiinsulated from mechanised convedants, they say, lower the risk of heart niences and gadgets and the fast-food disease and cancer, while those who culture of modern society elsewhere, live to 90 or above also drank goat’s for helping them preserve age-old milk almost weekly as it was easier to customs and lifestyle habits to explain digest than cow’s milk, and was high their exceptional average longin tryptophan that reduced stress and lifespans. again lowered the risk of heart disPlus the fact that a daily 30-minute ease. afternoon nap is a cherished custom They also use goat’s milk to make of Ikarians in reducing stress and decheese, incorporate some 150 varietcreasing the chance of heart-attack, ies of wild- growing green vegetables while they say that few of them wear rich in antioxidants in their general watches, and that showing-up late is cooking, and drink teas they make both socially acceptable and a help in from herbs they grow themselves to reducing stress and wrinkles. lower blood pressure, and to in turn And family and community supfurther lower the risk of heart attack with David Ellis

Struth

Too big for the town

■ John Farnham can still pull a crowd. His management put a proposal to Queenscliff Council to hold a concert at the ‘cliff next March. Just think of the economic benefits to their struggling town, but Council said ‘no’ on grounds of possible damage to the local environment. Not a concern to concert organisers and the estimated 6000 concert goers will relocate and enjoy John perform at Leura, a Geelong vineyard.

Legal battle over name

■ Even at this time of year when it’s meant to be happy time with Christmas and holidays on the horizon the legal profession are going hammer and tongs. Fairfax Media is in pitch battle with Ten over the likeness of the Boss logo. Fairfax reckon they were first to use Boss in the logo of their monthly insert magazine. Then along came Ten using Boss as part of their rebranding of the station. The big media boys love a legal scrap that promises to play out in 2019.

Now for the news

■ Geelong listeners to K-Rock and Bay 98.9 are in for a bigger, better expanded news service effective immediately. Their news coverage takes in world, national , Geelong, Bellarine and Surf Coast happenings as they occur 24/7.

- John O’Keefe

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 17

Antiques and Collectables

JACK’S ANTIQUES Open 7 Days

After 30 years of trading in Sandringham we have moved to a new showroom, jam packed with interesting quality items, and constantly changing items including lots of antiques and modern furniture, bronze, clocks, vases, displays, French, leadlight, lots of colourful art, etc.

We always buy anything of quality.

368 Reserve Rd, Cheltenham Ring Jack on 9583 7099, 0419 303 861

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Santorini on Mudjimba Beachfront accommodation on the Sunshine Coast 4 STAR ACCOMMODATION IN MUDJIMBA, SUNSHINE COAST, QUEENSLAND This four star resort offers you the opportunity to get away from it all. You can do as much or as little as your heart desires. Come and experience Mudjimba, the way the beach used to be.

Just 5 minutes from Sunshine Coast Airport, Santorini Resort on Mudjimba Beach is a favourite for families, sporting groups and romantic escapes. The Mudjimba surf patrolled beach is on your doorstep and the parkland opposite comes complete with barbecues, shaded picnic areas and children’s playground. The beach captures the very essence of what makes the Sunshine Coast so special; with golden sands stretching as far as the eye can see.

In keeping with its prime beachside location, Santorini on Mudjimba will meet all your expectations for a holi-

This Month’s Sale Item is a ready-to-hang Limited Edition Art Print of Melbourne in 1882.

This is a stunning Melbourne aerial view showing the historical development of the 1880's era. It is a beautiful reminder of our wonderful past and development.

day to remember. The apartments are spacious and well appointed.

Santorini’s onsite facilities include a resort style swimming pool, half court tennis and a large BBQ & entertainment area. The resort is a non-smoking facility.

Come and experience this unique and convenient location on the Sunshine Coast’s pristine coastline.

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Page 22 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Homemaker

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 23

Best Places

Page 24 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Port Melbourne

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 25

M & A McCormack FUNERALS Also trading as Bamfords F.S. Murrindindi 1800 080 909 Family owned and operated

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Observer Classic Books

Bleak House - by Charles Dickens “An orphan. Ain’t she?”

“Yes.” “But knows a quantity, I suppose? Can dance, and play music, and sing? She can talk French, I suppose, and do geography, and globes, and needlework, and everything?”

“No doubt,” said I. “I can’t,” she returned. “I can’t do anything hardly, except write. I’m always writing for Ma. I wonder you two were not ashamed of yourselves to come in this afternoon and see me able to do nothing else. It was like your ill nature. Yet you think yourselves very fine, I dare say!”

I could see that the poor girl was near crying, and I resumed my chair without speaking and looked at her (I hope) as mildly as I felt towards her.

“It’s disgraceful,” she said. “You know it is. The whole house is disgraceful. The children are disgraceful. I’M disgraceful. Pa’s miserable, and no wonder! Priscilla drinks — she’s always drinking. It’s a great shame and a great story of you if you say you didn’t smell her today. It was as bad as a public-house, waiting at dinner; you know it was!”

“My dear, I don’t know it,” said I. “You do,” she said very shortly. “You shan’t say you don’t. You do!”

“Oh, my dear!” said I. “If you won’t let me speak — ” “You’re speaking now. You know you are. Don’t tell stories, Miss Summerson.”

“My dear,” said I, “as long as you won’t hear me out — ” “I don’t want to hear you out.”

“Oh, yes, I think you do,” said I, “because that would be so very unreasonable. I did not know what you tell me because the servant did not come near me at dinner; but I don’t doubt what you tell me, and I am sorry to hear it.”

“You needn’t make a merit of that,” said she.

“No, my dear,” said I. “That would be very foolish.”

She was still standing by the bed, and now stooped down (but still with the same discontented face) and kissed Ada. That done, she came softly back and stood by the side of my chair. Her bosom was heaving in a distressful manner that I greatly pitied, but I thought it better not to speak.

“I wish I was dead!” she broke out. “I wish we were all dead. It would be a great deal better for us.

In a moment afterwards, she knelt on the ground at my side, hid her face in my dress, passionately begged my pardon, and wept. I comforted her and would have raised her, but she cried no, no; she wanted to stay there!

“You used to teach girls,” she said, “If you could only have taught me, I could have learnt from you! I am so very miserable, and I like you so much!”

I could not persuade her to sit by me or to do anything but move a ragged stool to where she was kneeling, and take that, and still hold my dress in the same manner. By degrees the poor tired girl fell asleep, and then I contrived to raise her head so that it should rest on my lap, and to cover us both with shawls. The fire went out, and all night long she slumbered thus before the ashy grate. At first I was painfully awake and vainly tried to lose myself, with my eyes closed, among the scenes of the day. At length, by slow degrees, they became indistinct and mingled. I began to lose the identity of the sleeper resting on me. Now it was Ada, now one of my old Reading friends from whom I could not believe I had so recently parted. Now it was the little mad woman worn out with curtsying and smiling, now some one in authority at Bleak House.

Lastly, it was no one, and I was no one.

The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog when I opened my eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me.

Peepy had scaled his crib, and crept down in his bed-gown and cap, and was so cold that his teeth were chattering as if he had cut them all.

ChapterV— AMorning Adventure Although the morning was raw, and although the fog still seemed heavy — I say seemed, for the windows were so encrusted with dirt that they would have made midsummer sunshine

made over to the public and Africa, I suppose!

Then let the public and Africa show duty as a child; it’s much more their affair than mine. You are shocked, I dare say! Very well, so am I shocked too; so we are both shocked, and there’s an end of it!”

She walked me on faster yet.

“But for all that, I say again, he may come, and come, and come, and I won’t have anything to say to him. I can’t bear him. If there’s any stuff in the world that I hate and detest, it’s the stuff he and Ma talk. I wonder the very paving-stones opposite our house can have the patience to stay there and be a witness of such inconsistencies and contradictions as all that sounding nonsense, and Ma’s management!”

I could not but understand her to refer to Mr. Quale, the young gentleman who had appeared after dinner yesterday. I was saved the disagreeable necessity of pursuing the subject by Richard and Ada coming up at a round pace, laughing and asking us if we meant to run a race.

Thus interrupted, Miss Jellyby became silent and walked moodily on at my side while I admired the long successions and varieties of streets, the quantity of people already going to and fro, the number of vehicles passing and repassing, the busy preparations in the setting forth of shop windows and the sweeping out of shops, and the extraordinary creatures in rags secretly groping among the swept-out rubbish for pins and other refuse.

“So, cousin,” said the cheerful voice of Richard to Ada behind me. “We are never to get out of Chancery! We have come by another way to our place of meeting yesterday, and — by the Great Seal, here’s the old lady again!”

Truly, there she was, immediately in front of us, curtsying, and smiling, and saying with her yesterday’s air of patronage, “The wards in Jarndyce! Ve-ry happy, I am sure!”

“You are out early, ma’am,” said I as she curtsied to me.

“Ye-es! I usually walk here early. Before the court sits. It’s retired. I collect my thoughts here for the business of the day,” said the old lady mincingly. “The business of the day requires a great deal of thought. Chancery justice is so very difficult to follow.”

“Who’s this, Miss Summerson?” whispered Miss Jellyby, drawing my arm tighter through her own.

The little old lady’s hearing was remarkably Charles Dickens quick. She answered for herself directly. dim — I was sufficiently forewarned of the with a smutty parlour candlestick, throwing the “A suitor, my child. At your service. I have the discomfort within doors at that early hour and candle in to make it burn better. Everything was honour to attend court regularly. With my docusufficiently curious about London to think it a just as we had left it last night and was evidently ments. Have I the pleasure of addressing angood idea on the part of Miss Jellyby when she intended to remain so. Below-stairs the dinner- other of the youthful parties in Jarndyce?” said proposed that we should go out for a walk. cloth had not been taken away, but had been left the old lady, recovering herself, with her head “Ma won’t be down for ever so long,” she said, ready for breakfast. Crumbs, dust, and waste- on one side, from a very low curtsy. “and then it’s a chance if breakfast’s ready for paper were all over the house. Some pewter Richard, anxious to atone for his thoughtlessan hour afterwards, they dawdle so. As to Pa, pots and a milk-can hung on the area railings; ness of yesterday, good-naturedly explained that he gets what he can and goes to the office. He the door stood open; and we met the cook round Miss Jellyby was not connected with the suit. never has what you would call a regular break- the corner coming out of a public-house, wiping “Ha!” said the old lady. “She does not expect a fast. Priscilla leaves him out the loaf and some her mouth. She mentioned, as she passed us, judgment? She will still grow old. But not so old. milk, when there is any, overnight. Sometimes that she had been to see what o’clock it was.

Oh, dear, no! This is the garden of Lincoln’s there isn’t any milk, and sometimes the cat But before we met the cook, we met Richard, Inn. I call it my garden. It is quite a bower in the drinks it. But I’m afraid you must be tired, Miss who was dancing up and down Thavies Inn to summer-time. Where the birds sing melodiously.

Summerson, and perhaps you would rather go warm his feet. He was agreeably surprised to I pass the greater part of the long vacation here. to bed.” see us stirring so soon and said he would gladly In contemplation. You find the long vacation “I am not at all tired, my dear,” said I, “and share our walk. So he took care of Ada, and exceedingly long, don’t you?” would much prefer to go out.”

Miss Jellyby and I went first. I may mention that We said yes, as she seemed to expect us to say “If you’re sure you would,” returned Miss Miss Jellyby had relapsed into her sulky man- so.

Jellyby, “I’ll get my things on.” ner and that I really should not have thought she “When the leaves are falling from the trees and Ada said she would go too, and was soon astir. liked me much unless she had told me so. there are no more flowers in bloom to make up I made a proposal to Peepy, in default of being “Where would you wish to go?” she asked. into nosegays for the Lord Chancellor’s court,” able to do anything better for him, that he should “Anywhere, my dear,” I replied. said the old lady, “the vacation is fulfilled and let me wash him and afterwards lay him down “Anywhere’s nowhere,” said Miss Jellyby, stop- the sixth seal, mentioned in the Revelations, on my bed again. To this he submitted with the ping perversely. again prevails. Pray come and see my lodging. best grace possible, staring at me during the “Let us go somewhere at any rate,” said I. It will be a good omen for me. Youth, and hope, whole operation as if he never had been, and She then walked me on very fast. and beauty are very seldom there. It is a long, never could again be, so astonished in his life “I don’t care!” she said. “Now, you are my wit- long time since I had a visit from either.”

— looking very miserable also, certainly, but ness, Miss Summerson, I say I don’t care-but if She had taken my hand, and leading me and making no complaint, and going snugly to sleep he was to come to our house with his great, Miss Jellyby away, beckoned Richard and Ada as soon as it was over. At first I was in two shining, lumpy forehead night after night till he to come too. I did not know how to excuse myminds about taking such a liberty, but I soon was as old as Methuselah, I wouldn’t have any- self and looked to Richard for aid. As he was reflected that nobody in the house was likely to thing to say to him. Such ASSES as he and Ma half amused and half curious and all in doubt notice it. make of themselves!” how to get rid of the old lady without offence, What with the bustle of dispatching Peepy and “My dear!” I remonstrated, in allusion to the she continued to lead us away, and he and Ada the bustle of getting myself ready and helping epithet and the vigorous emphasis Miss Jellyby continued to follow, our strange conductress inAda, I was soon quite in a glow. We found Miss set upon it. “Your duty as a child — ” forming us all the time, with much smiling conJellyby trying to warm herself at the fire in the “Oh! Don’t talk of duty as a child, Miss descension, that she lived close by. writing-room, which Priscilla was then lighting Summerson; where’s Ma’s duty as a parent? All Continued on Page 31

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From Page 29 It was quite true, as it soon appeared. She lived so close by that we had not time to have done humouring her for a few moments before she was at home. Slipping us out at a little side gate, the old lady stopped most unexpectedly in a narrow back street, part of some courts and lanes immediately outside the wall of the inn, and said, “This is my lodging. Pray walk up!”

She had stopped at a shop over which was written KROOK, RAG AND BOTTLE WAREHOUSE. Also, in long thin letters, KROOK, DEALER IN MARINE STORES. In one part of the window was a picture of a red paper mill at which a cart was unloading a quantity of sacks of old rags. In another was the inscription BONES BOUGHT. In another, KITCHEN– STUFF BOUGHT. In another, OLD IRON BOUGHT. In another, WASTE–PAPER BOUGHT. In another, LADIES’ AND GENTLEMEN’S WARDROBES BOUGHT. Everything seemed to be bought and nothing to be sold there. In all parts of the window were quantities of dirty bottles — blacking bottles, medicine bottles, ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, pickle bottles, wine bottles, ink bottles; I am reminded by mentioning the latter that the shop had in several little particulars the air of being in a legal neighbourhood and of being, as it were, a dirty hanger-on and disowned relation of the law. There were a great many ink bottles.

There was a little tottering bench of shabby old volumes outside the door, labelled “Law Books, all at 9d.” Some of the inscriptions I have enumerated were written in law-hand, like the papers I had seen in Kenge and Carboy’s office and the letters I had so long received from the firm. Among them was one, in the same writing, having nothing to do with the business of the shop, but announcing that a respectable man aged forty-five wanted engrossing or copying to execute with neatness and dispatch: Address to Nemo, care of Mr. Krook, within. There were several second-hand bags, blue and red, hanging up. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. I could have fancied that all the rusty keys, of which there must have been hundreds huddled together as old iron, had once belonged to doors of rooms or strong chests in lawyers’ offices. The litter of rags tumbled partly into and partly out of a onelegged wooden scale, hanging without any counterpoise from a beam, might have been counsellors’ bands and gowns torn up. One had only to fancy, as Richard whispered to Ada and me while we all stood looking in, that yonder bones in a corner, piled together and picked very clean, were the bones of clients, to make the picture complete.

As it was still foggy and dark, and as the shop was blinded besides by the wall of Lincoln’s Inn, intercepting the light within a couple of yards, we should not have seen so much but for a lighted lantern that an old man in spectacles and a hairy cap was carrying about in the shop.

Turning towards the door, he now caught sight of us. He was short, cadaverous, and withered, with his head sunk sideways between his shoulders and the breath issuing in visible smoke from his mouth as if he were on fire within. His throat, chin, and eyebrows were so frosted with white hairs and so gnarled with veins and puckered skin that he looked from his breast upward like some old root in a fall of snow.

“Hi, hi!” said the old man, coming to the door.

“Have you anything to sell?”

We naturally drew back and glanced at our conductress, who had been trying to open the housedoor with a key she had taken from her pocket, and to whom Richard now said that as we had had the pleasure of seeing where she lived, we would leave her, being pressed for time. But she was not to be so easily left. She became so fantastically and pressingly earnest in her entreaties that we would walk up and see her apartment for an instant, and was so bent, in her harmless way, on leading me in, as part of the good omen she desired, that I (whatever the others might do) saw nothing for it but to comply. I suppose we were all more or less curious; at any rate, when the old man added his persuasions to hers and said, “Aye, aye! Please her! It won’t take a minute! Come in, come in! Come in through the shop if t’other door’s out of order!” we all went in, stimulated by Richard’s laughing encouragement and relying on his protection.

“My landlord, Krook,” said the little old lady, condescending to him from her lofty station as

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 31

Observer Classic Books she presented him to us. “He is called among the neighbours the Lord Chancellor. His shop is called the Court of Chancery. He is a very eccentric person. He is very odd. Oh, I assure you he is very odd!”

She shook her head a great many times and tapped her forehead with her finger to express to us that we must have the goodness to excuse him, “For he is a little — you know — M!” said the old lady with great stateliness. The old man overheard, and laughed.

“It’s true enough,” he said, going before us with the lantern, “that they call me the lord chancellor and call my shop Chancery. And why do you think they call me the Lord Chancellor and my shop Chancery?”

“I don’t know, I am sure!” said Richard rather carelessly.

“You see,” said the old man, stopping and turning round, “they — Hi! Here’s lovely hair! I have got three sacks of ladies’ hair below, but none so beautiful and fine as this. What colour, and what texture!”

“That’ll do, my good friend!” said Richard, strongly disapproving of his having drawn one of Ada’s tresses through his yellow hand. “You can admire as the rest of us do without taking that liberty.”

The old man darted at him a sudden look which even called my attention from Ada, who, startled and blushing, was so remarkably beautiful that she seemed to fix the wandering attention of the little old lady herself. But as Ada interposed and laughingly said she could only feel proud of such genuine admiration, Mr. Krook shrunk into his former self as suddenly as he had leaped out of it.

“You see, I have so many things here,” he resumed, holding up the lantern, “of so many kinds, and all as the neighbours think (but THEY know nothing), wasting away and going to rack and ruin, that that’s why they have given me and my place a christening. And I have so many old parchmentses and papers in my stock. And I have a liking for rust and must and cobwebs.

And all’s fish that comes to my net. And I can’t abear to part with anything I once lay hold of (or so my neighbours think, but what do THEY know?) or to alter anything, or to have any sweeping, nor scouring, nor cleaning, nor repairing going on about me. That’s the way I’ve got the ill name of Chancery. I don’t mind. I go to see my noble and learned brother pretty well every day, when he sits in the Inn. He don’t notice me, but I notice him. There’s no great odds betwixt us. We both grub on in a muddle.

Hi, Lady Jane!”

A large grey cat leaped from some neighbouring shelf on his shoulder and startled us all.

“Hi! Show ’em how you scratch. Hi! Tear, my lady!” said her master.

The cat leaped down and ripped at a bundle of rags with her tigerish claws, with a sound that it set my teeth on edge to hear.

“She’d do as much for any one I was to set her on,” said the old man. “I deal in cat-skins among other general matters, and hers was offered to me. It’s a very fine skin, as you may see, but I didn’t have it stripped off! THAT warn’t like Chancery practice though, says you!”

He had by this time led us across the shop, and now opened a door in the back part of it, leading to the house-entry. As he stood with his hand upon the lock, the little old lady graciously observed to him before passing out, “That will do, Krook. You mean well, but are tiresome. My young friends are pressed for time. I have none to spare myself, having to attend court very soon.

My young friends are the wards in Jarndyce.”

“Jarndyce!” said the old man with a start.

“Jarndyce and Jarndyce. The great suit, Krook,” returned his lodger.

“Hi!” exclaimed the old man in a tone of thoughtful amazement and with a wider stare than before. “Think of it!”

He seemed so rapt all in a moment and looked so curiously at us that Richard said, “Why, you appear to trouble yourself a good deal about the causes before your noble and learned brother, the other Chancellor!”

“Yes,” said the old man abstractedly. “Sure!

YOUR name now will be — ” “Richard Carstone.”

“Carstone,” he repeated, slowly checking off that name upon his forefinger; and each of the others he went on to mention upon a separate finger. “Yes. There was the name of Barbary, and the name of Clare, and the name of Dedlock, too, I think.”

“He knows as much of the cause as the real

salaried Chancellor!” said Richard, quite astonished, to Ada and me.

“Aye!” said the old man, coming slowly out of his abstraction. “Yes! Tom Jarndyce — you’ll excuse me, being related; but he was never known about court by any other name, and was as well known there as — she is now,” nodding slightly at his lodger. “Tom Jarndyce was often in here. He got into a restless habit of strolling about when the cause was on, or expected, talking to the little shopkeepers and telling ’em to keep out of Chancery, whatever they did. ‘For,’ says he, ‘it’s being ground to bits in a slow mill; it’s being roasted at a slow fire; it’s being stung to death by single bees; it’s being drowned by drops; it’s going mad by grains.’ He was as near making away with himself, just where the young lady stands, as near could be.”

We listened with horror.

“He come in at the door,” said the old man, slowly pointing an imaginary track along the shop, “on the day he did it — the whole neighbourhood had said for months before that he would do it, of a certainty sooner or later — he come in at the door that day, and walked along there, and sat himself on a bench that stood there, and asked me (you’ll judge I was a mortal sight younger then) to fetch him a pint of wine.

‘For,’ says he, ‘Krook, I am much depressed; my cause is on again, and I think I’m nearer judgment than I ever was.’ I hadn’t a mind to leave him alone; and I persuaded him to go to the tavern over the way there, t’other side my lane (I mean Chancery Lane); and I followed and looked in at the window, and saw him, comfortable as I thought, in the arm-chair by the fire, and company with him. I hadn’t hardly got back here when I heard a shot go echoing and rattling right away into the inn. I ran out — neighbours ran out — twenty of us cried at once, ‘Tom Jarndyce!’”

The old man stopped, looked hard at us, looked down into the lantern, blew the light out, and shut the lantern up.

“We were right, I needn’t tell the present hearers. Hi! To be sure, how the neighbourhood poured into court that afternoon while the cause was on! How my noble and learned brother, and all the rest of ’em, grubbed and muddled away as usual and tried to look as if they hadn’t heard a word of the last fact in the case or as if they had — Oh, dear me! — nothing at all to do with it if they had heard of it by any chance!”

Ada’s colour had entirely left her, and Richard was scarcely less pale. Nor could I wonder, judging even from my emotions, and I was no party in the suit, that to hearts so untried and fresh it was a shock to come into the inheritance of a protracted misery, attended in the minds of many people with such dreadful recollections. I had another uneasiness, in the application of the painful story to the poor half-witted creature who had brought us there; but, to my surprise, she seemed perfectly unconscious of that and only led the way upstairs again, informing us with the toleration of a superior creature for the infirmities of a common mortal that her landlord was “a little M, you know!”

She lived at the top of the house, in a pretty large room, from which she had a glimpse of Lincoln’s Inn Hall. This seemed to have been her principal inducement, originally, for taking up her residence there. She could look at it, she said, in the night, especially in the moonshine. Her room was clean, but very, very bare. I noticed the scantiest necessaries in the way of furniture; a few old prints from books, of Chancellors and barristers, wafered against the wall; and some half-dozen reticles and work-bags, “containing documents,” as she informed us. There were neither coals nor ashes in the grate, and I saw no articles of clothing anywhere, nor any kind of food. Upon a shelf in an open cupboard were a plate or two, a cup or two, and so forth, but all dry and empty. There was a more affecting meaning in her pinched appearance, I thought as I looked round, than I had understood before.

“Extremely honoured, I am sure,” said our poor hostess with the greatest suavity, “by this visit from the wards in Jarndyce. And very much indebted for the omen. It is a retired situation.

Considering. I am limited as to situation. In consequence of the necessity of attending on the Chancellor. I have lived here many years. I pass my days in court, my evenings and my nights here. I find the nights long, for I sleep but little and think much. That is, of course, unavoidable, being in Chancery. I am sorry I cannot offer chocolate. I expect a judgment shortly and shall then place my establishment on a superior

footing. At present, I don’t mind confessing to the wards in Jarndyce (in strict confidence) that I sometimes find it difficult to keep up a genteel appearance. I have felt the cold here. I have felt something sharper than cold. It matters very little.

Pray excuse the introduction of such mean topics.”

She partly drew aside the curtain of the long, low garret window and called our attention to a number of bird-cages hanging there, some containing several birds. There were larks, linnets, and goldfinches — I should think at least twenty.

“I began to keep the little creatures,” she said, “with an object that the wards will readily comprehend. With the intention of restoring them to liberty. When my judgment should be given. Yees! They die in prison, though. Their lives, poor silly things, are so short in comparison with Chancery proceedings that, one by one, the whole collection has died over and over again. I doubt, do you know, whether one of these, though they are all young, will live to be free! Ve-ry mortifying, is it not?”

Although she sometimes asked a question, she never seemed to expect a reply, but rambled on as if she were in the habit of doing so when no one but herself was present.

“Indeed,” she pursued, “I positively doubt sometimes, I do assure you, whether while matters are still unsettled, and the sixth or Great Seal still prevails, I may not one day be found lying stark and senseless here, as I have found so many birds!”

Richard, answering what he saw in Ada’s compassionate eyes, took the opportunity of laying some money, softly and unobserved, on the chimney-piece. We all drew nearer to the cages, feigning to examine the birds.

“I can’t allow them to sing much,” said the little old lady, “for (you’ll think this curious) I find my mind confused by the idea that they are singing while I am following the arguments in court.

And my mind requires to be so very clear, you know! Another time, I’ll tell you their names.

Not at present. On a day of such good omen, they shall sing as much as they like. In honour of youth,” a smile and curtsy, “hope,” a smile and curtsy, “and beauty,” a smile and curtsy.

“There! We’ll let in the full light.”

The birds began to stir and chirp.

“I cannot admit the air freely,” said the little old lady — the room was close, and would have been the better for it — “because the cat you saw downstairs, called Lady Jane, is greedy for their lives. She crouches on the parapet outside for hours and hours. I have discovered,” whispering mysteriously, “that her natural cruelty is sharpened by a jealous fear of their regaining their liberty. In consequence of the judgment I expect being shortly given. She is sly and full of malice. I half believe, sometimes, that she is no cat, but the wolf of the old saying. It is so very difficult to keep her from the door.”

Some neighbouring bells, reminding the poor soul that it was half-past nine, did more for us in the way of bringing our visit to an end than we could easily have done for ourselves. She hurriedly took up her little bag of documents, which she had laid upon the table on coming in, and asked if we were also going into court. On our answering no, and that we would on no account detain her, she opened the door to attend us downstairs.

“With such an omen, it is even more necessary than usual that I should be there before the Chancellor comes in,” said she, “for he might mention my case the first thing. I have a presentiment that he WILL mention it the first thing this morning” She stopped to tell us in a whisper as we were going down that the whole house was filled with strange lumber which her landlord had bought piecemeal and had no wish to sell, in consequence of being a little M. This was on the first floor. But she had made a previous stoppage on the second floor and had silently pointed at a dark door there.

“The only other lodger,” she now whispered in explanation, “a law-writer. The children in the lanes here say he has sold himself to the devil. I don’t know what he can have done with the money. Hush!”

She appeared to mistrust that the lodger might hear her even there, and repeating “Hush!” went before us on tiptoe as though even the sound of her footsteps might reveal to him what she had said. Passing through the shop on our way out, as we had passed through it on our way in, we found the old man storing a quantity of packets of waste-paper in a kind of well in the floor.

To Be Continued Next Issue

Page 32 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Quantity Surveyors

Property depreciation services Just Depreciation is always going the extra mile to help all our clients whenever we can. We have decided to answer some of our frequently asked questions to help give you some advice and get a better understanding of our services to save you time and money.

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Yes, all properties regardless of age have some form of depreciation. The fixtures and fittings in the property must be valued at the date that you first make the property available for rental. Just Depreciation recommend reports for all residential properties no matter how old the building may be.

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 33

Exceptional Lifestyle Property

This unique lifestyle property blends a serene private country lifestyle with the breathtaking views of the Gippsland Lakes. Situated on the Great Alpine Road, just five minutes from Bairnsdale, the property is accessed by a long tree-lined drive. The current owners have maintained the property at the highest level. The modern very open plan design is perfect for entertaining and takes advantage of the 300-degree vista with expansive terraces overlooking rolling lawns and sweeping views of the Gippsland Lakes to the south and snow-topped mountains to the west.

Immaculately maintained park-like gardens surround the home, providing a peaceful environment to spend time watching the sunset, and enjoying a wine by the campfire. There are six well-fenced paddocks, two dams, town water, solar power and on-the-grid power. Ample shedding with bathroom and toilet enclosed.

The residence is approx. 42 sq., four large bedrooms, main with walk-in robe and ensuite, office and large main room, open plan design for entertaining. Picture windows to enjoy the views of the Gippsland Lakes. There is also a country shack with kitchen, barbecue, and toilet faciolities for real country cook-outs.

Five minutes drive from Bairnsdale CBD, train station, easily accessible to buses, an abundance of cafes and restaurants, supermarkets, boutique shops, hospital, quality schools and the beauty of the Gippsland Lakes close by.

The only way to fully appreciate what this property has to offer is by “having a look yourself �

The owners will make you most welcome for any viewing. Contact: Kim Ashwood, 0421 868 147; Greg Carter, 0409 418 332.

$1.79 million

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Killingworth Hill Cafe & Whisky Bar 36 Killingworth Rd, Killingworth (Yea) Open 11am-8pm Friday-Sunday

The café and whisky bar wil be open each day from 11am between Wednesday December 26 and Sunday January 13 Today’s Menu Charcuterie Boards: Your choice of a meat platter, cheese platter, terrine platter or fish platter all accompanied with fresh home grown and made produce, for example, vegetables, gluten free pesto’s, chutneys, nuts, etc,

Fresh Gourmet Pizzas Fresh Homemade Pies Dessert: As per display cabinet Teas/Coffee: Assortment of Herbal Teas and classic Teas & Coffee, Cappuccino, Latte Mug Short/Long Black or Plunger Coffee

Don’t forget our Famous Devonshire Tea We strive for excellence, we do not rest until our best is better We guarantee our products 100%.

If unsatisfactory, please advise staff who will replace or refund immediately

Are you arranging your staff Christmas party or a get-together before the big day? The team at Killingworth Hill Café & Whisky Bar will happily host your party Why not call Chris to discuss your requirements and make a booking?

Killingworth Hill Cafe & Whisky Bar Phone: 0455 266 888 www.killingworthhill.com.au

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Crossword Solution No 35 C O N S A O L U M O N O M S M A N S O R I O U C N E A R T R E M A I D G S U E A A P E M M A M R M O C K A A C O R K H N E O B E Y O E T O E D O P U W H I P E C D I S M R E J A V A N L B G R E O I V A C U E A R A B B A R L E A S L U C K R Y S O M E E I T N S L I G

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MELBOURNE OBSERVER MEGA 035S- ( X grid) MEGA.eps. © Lovatts Crosswords 21/12/06 - Artist - JT

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R E N I L D A C E E D D D Y I O N G L A B S E T S O O P P G Y A G S O A L V C E U B Y E S G G Y P L S I N E I S L E D I N N G

Church

Looking for a Professional to run the show? ★ Compere/Host ★ Auctioneer ★ Promotions ★ A-Grade Journalist ★ Voice-Over Commercials ★ Race Caller All Sports, Race Nights ★ TV, Radio, Press ★ Respected Member of the Media

Ted Ryan Phone 9876 1652 Mobile: 0412 682 927 E-Mail: tedryan@australiaonline.net.au ted.ryan@optusnet.com.au

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 43

Observer Victorian Sport Melbourne

Winter conditions at Bendigo ■ Bendigo raced on Tuesday November 27 in wintery conditions and local Lockwood trainer/ driver Ron Wicks scored a strong victory with first starter Gooroc Gambler in the Ranvet Trotters Mobile for T0 class over 2150 metres. Bred and raced by long time participant Len Scarce, Gooroc Gambler a 5Y0 Tennotrump-Purple Passion gelding raced in the open from gate four, striding clear in the straight to register a 2.8 metre margin over Melpark Major which followed him all of the way, with Photo Boy (three back the markers) third 3.8 metres back after an early break. The mile rate 2-08.1.

Trotters highlighted the program, with Percydale trainer John Hurrell taking the 2150 metre T0 class Great Ocean Road Real Estate Trotters Mobile with a 4Y0 Armbro InvasionWhatta Tussle mare by the name of Do Ya Wanna Donna. With Chris Alford in the sulky, Do Ya Wanna Donna first up since May led throughout from gate three, scoring by 2.1 metres in advance of Lohi Lindy (one/one) and Majestic Pinevale (three back the markers). The mile rate 2-05.3.

Cardigan trainer Anton Golino provided the quinella in the Share Media Trotters Mobile for T1 & T2 class over 2150 metres with 5Y0 Credit Winner-Continentalvictory mare Continentallady which defeated Cadenas Damour in a mile rate of 2-01.2. Driven by Kima Frenning, Continentallady starting from the extreme draw went forward at the start to arrest the front running away from stablemate Cadenas Damour (Rod Petroff) shortly after the start, before blitzing her rivals to register a huge 25.2 metre margin. Aldebaran Prince came from a mile back to be third 2.5 metres away.

Kilmore owner/trainer Bruce Kennedy has a habit of winning races at big odds and 9Y0 ModernArt-Armbro Prevails gelding Art Prevails did exactly that in the Sheahan Plumbing Pace for C2 class over 2150 metres, paying Supertab odds of $51.20. Taking a concession for in-form Darby McGuigan, Art Prevails settled three back in the moving line from gate four and when eased three wide at the straight entrance, sprouted wings to register a runaway 1.1 metre victory over a death-seating Machs Gold which looked all over a winner on turning. The pacemaker Satans Outlaw was third 3.7 metres away. The mile rate 2-00.1.

On a mixed night for punters at Bendigo, Maryborough (Timor) trainer Tony Berg combined with Mark Hayes to land the last l;eg of the quaddie - the Hygain Pace for C1 class over 2150 metres with 5Y0 Grinfromeartoear-Inaugural Ball gelding Inaugurate ($44.80) in a rate of 2-00.8. Given a sweet trip one/one from gate five, Inaugurate when eased three wide on the final bend, ran home best to blouse the two favourites Father Judge which led and Here Come Sharkie who trailed. The margins 1.9 by 2 metres.

Cosy passage

■ Monday racing was at Horsham where local trainer Rod Carberry's smart Four Starzzz Shark-Ballapur 4Y0 gelding John Richard landed The Weekly Advertiser Pace for C1 class over 2200 metres. Given a cosy passage three back in the running line from gate two on the second line by Hamilton's Jackie Barker taking a concession, John Richard was eased three wide running into the final bend and finished best to prevail by 1.2 metres from Jilliby Mako which followed him all of the way. Deadly Assassin was third a head away after racing exposed from the bell and dashing clear on turning. The mile rate 1-59.1.

Harness Racing

Melbourne

Observer

len-baker@ bigpond.com

with Len Baker to the front in the shadows of the post to prevail by a metre from 30 metre backmarker Als Law which joined the leader on the home turn after going forward three wide from mid-field in the last lap, with Sherrif Brown holding down third 6.5 metres away.

Without cover

■ South Australian trainer Ray Holberton made the trip across the border worthwhile when 7Y0 Shadow Play-Ace High Miss gelding Ace To Play scored a tough victory at Horsham in the Auckland Reactor @ Alabar Pace for C2 & C3 class over 1700 metres.

Driven by Darby McGuigan, Ace To Play (gate two) raced without cover for the entire trip, rallying strongly in the straight to record a one meter margin over the leader Braghetta, with Lifeasweknowit (one/two) a head away in third place. The mile rate 1-58.

Beyond doubt

■ Melton part-owner/trainer Dianne Giles received a terrific birthday present when her 4Y0 Western Terror-Jackieola mare Sassyola greeted the judge in the Rich River Auto Body - Max Keeble Pace for C0 class over 2160 metres at Echuca on Wednesday.

Driven by Jason Hackett, Sassyola began swiftly from gate five but was unable to head off Village Art (gate 2) resulting in her being caught uncovered, When Wongalea Jatz went forward mid-race from the back of the field to park in the open, Sassyola received the cover she had been waiting for, taking a breather for at least a lap.

Easing three wide approaching the final bend, Sassyola put the race beyond doubt in a couple of strides as she raced away in the straight to record a 8.3 metre margin over a game Wongalea Jack which battled on gamely in a mile rate of 2-02.2. Aimforthestarzzz (three wide last lap from mid-field) was third a head away.

Three-wide trail

■ Ardmona duo Donna Castles (trainer) and Doc Wilson (driver) landed the 2130 metre Kyabram Tyre & Battery Service Trotters Handicap at Echuca for T0 or better class with 6Y0 Straphanger-Golden Antigone mare Antiope.

Stepping safely from a 20 metre equal backmark, Antiope settled three back in the moving lane as the well supported MajesticTime (barrier 3) strode past Kerry Success in the front straight on the first occasion to assume control leaving Aldebaran Poppy in the open.

Gaining a beaut three wide trail in the last lap as Spiders Devil ahead of her went forward, Antiope finished determinedly to nail MajesticTime by 2.1 metres, with Kit Keller ■ Horsham's Janet Exell snared the Pegasus using the sprint lane from three back the markSpur @ Woodlands Trotters Handicap for T0 or ers for third 10.7 metres away. The mile rate 2better class over 2200 metres at her home track 05.7. with 9Y0 Yankee Paco-Truscott Dream mare Keepthedream in 2-06.7. With Kerryn Manning in the sulky, Keepthedream led out from barrier two, before surrendering to Sherrif Brown en- ■ Popular Maryborough was the venue for Thursday racing and comeback trainer/ driver tering the straight on the first occasion.

Using the sprint lane, Keepthedream dashed Chris Lang was in the winners stall following

Used sprint lane

Sixth success

the victory of 5Y0 Bacardi Lindy-Gluteus Maximus mare Derrie Aire in the Aldebaran Park Trotters Handicap for T3 or better class over 2190 metres.

Bred by Nick Hooper and Paul Graydon who race her along with other partners, Derrie Aire from barrier four enjoyed a lovely passage trailing the polemarking front runner Nica Macdonon as the hot favourite Egee Money worked forward from barrier three to race without cover.

Using the sprint lane, Derrie Aire gained the day by a half neck from 20 metre backmarker Mr Sundon (three wide last lap from mid-field), with Fatouche 1.7 metres away in third place after trailing the runner-up home. The mile rate 2-05.6.

It was Derrie Aire's sixth success in 29 race appearances.

3.1m margin ■ Mount Gambier border hopper Steven Fennell combined with Terang's Paddy Lee to capture the HRTC Bendigo Concessional Drivers Pace for C0 class over 1690 metres at Maryborough with Bezza, a much travelled 7Y0 daughter of Modern Art and Doris Jay who's last win was at Broken Hill in February.

Beginning swiftly from the pole, Bezza led throughout to register a 3.1 metre margin in 158.9 over Cranky Franky (gate 2) which trailed, with Bettor B Nice 2.3 metres back in third place off a one/one trip.

Sent forawrd ■ At Mildura on Thursday, local trainer and Mildura HRC committeeman Geoff Lucas landed the 2190 metre T2 class Collie & Tierney First National Pace with smart Rocknroll Hanover-Without Guile 5Y0 gelding Rocknroll Eyes.

Driven by Darby McGuigan, Rocknroll Eyes starting from gate four on the second line was sent forward to race outside the leader Macray Muchacho before proving much too classy for his rivals to score by 15.8 metres in 1-59.3 over the leader, Jayedgar was third 7.9 metres away from well back at the bell.

Sulky Snippets This Week

■ Wednesday - Charlton/Shepparton, Thursday - Bendigo, Friday - Melton, Saturday Cranbourne (I-D), Sunday - Shepparton, Monday - Melton, Tuesday - Mildura.

Horses to follow

■ Satans Outlaw, Lifeasweknowit, Shadow Justice, Im Sir Blake, Flingandwingit, Jilliby Mako, Maxines Delight.

Won by half-neck

■ Another Mildura local Geoff Bottams was also a winner on the night when 6Y0 Art Official-Cam But Try gelding Renaissance Art with Ballarat's Nathan Weightman in the sulky, led throughout from gate four to defeat Terry Gange's Superstar Xpress by a half neck after trailing, with Escape The Fate (four back the markers) third a neck away. The mile rate 158.4.

Coasted to the wire

■ Scotts Creek duo Anthony and Xavier O'Connor's 5Y0 Skyvalley-Maori Road mare Aldebaran Kiri has better things to come after an easy 3.5 metre victory in the Laser Electrical Ballarat Industrial Trotters Handicap for T1 or better class over 2200 metres at Bray Raceway Ballarat on Friday. Despite a skip at the start from barrier three as the tapes released, Xavier soon had the mare in front after crossing polemarker Express Yourself. Allowed to bowl around at her leisure, Aldebaran Kiri coasted to the wire ahead of Express Yourself which made no impression along the sprint lane in a rate of 2-03.4. Bad Boy Jay Jay ran home late from mid-field for third 26.8 metres away.

Observer Overmatter more than 30 years of Wegman's prolific caTarrawarra reer.

Patricia Puccinini and Joy Hester: Through Love Love and intimacy is the focus of a landmark exhibition at the Tarrawarra Museum of Art for the first time pairs the work of Patricia Puccinini with that of important Australian modernist Joy Hester.

The exhibition is curated by Victoria Lynn and presents more than 50 works , including Sanctuary, a major new sculpture by Puccinini, and rarely seen works by Hester.

He exhibition explores the incredible spectrum of human and non-human relationships, from romantic love and maternal devotion through to the connections formed between humans and animals and animate and inanimate objects.

Exhibition closes March 11.

Tarrawarra Museum of Art 313 Healesville-Yarra Glen Rd, Healesville - Peter Kemp

National Gallery William Wegman: Being Human Renowned for his iconic photographic works featuring Weimaraners in contemporary and historical composition, costumes and poses, William Wegman is the subject of a major solo exhibition at the NGV. Presented by the NGV and the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, William Wegman: Being Human is the artist's first major exhibition in Australia and will survey

Since 1970, Wegman's work has centred on photographing his Weimaraners, including Main Ray, Fay ray, their various offspring, relatives and companions Being Human explores Wegman's rich archive in depth, it features 100 works, chosen in close collaboration with the artist, and includes 50 photographs which are being shown publicly for the first time.

Exhibition opened December 7 and closes March 17.

National Gallery of Victoria 150 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne - Peter Kemp

ABC radio line-up ■ ABC radio Melbourne beakfast presenters Jacinta Parsons and Sami Shah will return from 5.30am – 7.45am durinbg 2019.

Morningspresneter Jon Faine returns along with the popular Conversation Hour.

From 12.30pm – 2pm, there will be music, art and culture with Myf Warhurst.

Richelle Hunt will present weekdayAfternoons and co-host of The Friday Revue with Brian Nankervis.

Journalist Raf Epstein is back behind the wheel of Drive between 4pm - 6.30pm, ahead of current affairs program PM at 6.30pm.

Master wordsmith and crossword guru David Astle will present Evenings in 2019, picking up the baton from Lindy Burns, who announced last month that she wouldn’t be returning to the station in 2019.

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Visit Daylesford

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Melbourne Obser ver - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 57 e urn lbo Me

Every Week in the Melbourne Observer

ver N ser O Ob TI C SE 3

Observer Showbiz

Theatre: Comedy slapstick ........................................ Page 59 Arts: Come From Away ....................................................... Page 58 Country Music: Canyon and Friends .............................. Page 58 Jim and Aar on: Rourke’s Reviews, Jim’s Top 10 ............. Page 60 Aaron: Cheryl Threadgold: Local theatre shows, auditions ............ Page 61 PL US THE LLO OVATT”S MEGA CRO PLUS CROSSSWORD

ENTERTAINED, NOT INSPIRED End-of-year show

● The Australian Ballet School ■ The Australian Ballet School presents its end of year performance, La Sylphide and Other Works on December 7 and 8 at the Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne.

Featuring over 100 students, the program of classical and contemporary works will transport audiences to a realm of artistry and emotion.

This season is the result of a year of exploration, learning and inspiring dedication by the talented students and a unique experience not to be missed.

Enter a world of romance and refinement as The Australian Ballet School presents its highly anticipated end of year performance.

Featuring over 100 students, the program of classical and contemporary works will transport audiences to a realm of artistry and emotion.

This season is the result of a year of exploration, learning and inspiring dedication by the talented students.

The Summer Showcase program features: Wolfgang Dance choreographed by Simon Dow using Mozart’s wonderful, well-loved first movement Allegro from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

Waltz from Birthday Celebration, choreographed by Mark Annear, was created for The Australian Ballet School’s 40th Anniversary Gala in 2004 and highlights the flow and beauty of the classical ballet technique.

Heart Strings with choreography by contemporary teacher and resident choreographer Margaret Wilson and performed by Level 6 students, is a suite of short dances, each with its own characteristics.

The piece depicts “the group” and its dynamics whilst coinciding with one person’s search for identity and belonging. Heart Strings offers a closer look at personalities and some of the possible issues, real or imagined, in adolescent life.

La Sylphide, choreography after August Bournonville, is an adaptation of an 1832 French ballet of the same name.

The original work showcased the technique of the great ballerina Maria Taglioni and announced a new romantic era of dance. The preeminent 19th-century Danish choreographer August Bournonville was the first choreographer to recreate La Sylphide and it remains one of his most celebrated works.

In La Sylphide, the human realm of a small Scottish community – evoked by folk songs in Herman Løvenskiold's score – meets a spiritual realm, with James a classic romantic hero, bewitched by a beautiful and otherworldly sylph.

The matinee performance has two additional pieces – Character Dance and Haydn Symphony withAfter School students.

Performance Details: December 7 at 7.30pm, December 8 at 1.30pm and 7.30pm Venue: Arts Cetre Melbourne, Playhouse Bookings: Phone 1300 182 183 or online at Arts Centre Melbourne.

- Cheryl Threadgold

● Jessica Martin, Pat Moonie, Mark Salvestro and Phoebe Anne Taylor. Photo: Sare Clarke ■ With a few twists, turns, some intrigue, discussed issues of importance along with mayhem, North of Eight production of Strata Inc. is an entertaining piece of theatre.

The plot centres around a deceased CEO of a multi-million dollar company of whom the day of his funeral the inauguration of incoming CEO is to take place.

Train/ennial c3's Annual Fundraiser Exhibition The problem - just who is that? Various company employees The highly anticipated fifth project in the c3 annual gather in the former CEO’s office to discuss the appointment, fundraiser, Train/ennial gives audiences a unique insight the direction of the company, the man himself and clean. into arts practice in the age of the spectacle.

With a large cast in a small venue it is easy to feel a part of Passive consumption, artists labour, commodification, the show. I could have placed my own glass on the set and box ticketing, revenue raising and the very nature of the caught myself doing ‘cheers’ with the cast. fundraiser as exhibition format.

There are a few surprises and a modern slant yet overall the The exhibition features curated projects, performances, plot is predictable with a great deal of dialogue yet not much to say. I was entertained throughout, yet not inspired. writing and a huge range of individual works from artists The performance of Patrick Moonie was outstanding. He wishing to support c3's community. was visually and vocally interesting to watch, a very believable Train/ennial looks at the form of the mega-blockbuster character performed well. and contemplates arts practice in the age of the spectacle.

A terrific actor whom I will look out for in the future. Whilst Using the train as a metaphor for the professional jourthe other cast members portrayed their characters with energy, ney, as artists now do, how do we navigate the power strucknew their part well and showed camaraderie of an ensemble tures of the art world? some of the dialogue and mannerisms were too ‘loud’ for the All works will be available for purchase at the gallery intimate space. throughout the exhibition period. This is a fantastic opporThe set was functional yet busy ,more could have been done tunity to acquire collectable works by emerging and estabto convey a wealthy man’s space, perhaps less furniture with lished Australian artists. more attention to finishing touches.

All contributions will also provide essential support for The venue The Burrows is quaint, hidden away well worth c3 and participating artists, with proceeds to be split evenly the visit. The show entertaining with some creative, ideas. between the artist and c3.

- Review by Elizabeth Semmel Exhibition closes December 9.

Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St. Abbotsford - Peter Kemp ■ Cataract by Daniel von Sturmer is an ambitious work with 81 screens playing short videos of small-scale 'events'. Featuring a combination of impromptu recordings and stage scenarios, There is no there the work will present a dynamic array of moments that docuGabriella Mangano and Silvano Mangano. ment everyday physical progress and occurrences, spinning, Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano collaborative falling, breaking, burning, growing, allowing, starting, stopping video works explore the relationship of the body with matethe world is full of happenings but it is only through selective rial objects, space and time. Their works emphasise imattention that meaning is fond. provisation process, gesture and the sculptural There is no Cataract constructs an experience where the viewer is prethere, 2915, was inspired by the early Soviet Union Blue sented with a proposition about the world as a complex, Blouse theatre collective (1924-32), an influence troupe synthesised totality, through its assemblage of discrete atomised established under the auspices of the Moscow School of moments. The work emphasis the limitations of our cognitive perception-things are more readily available either/or, this or Journalism, that created a type of performance called Livthat-rather than accepted as discursive, rhizomic, and refracted. ing Newspapers based on topical news events. Each perCataract instead presents a series of unfolding contradictions formance, while designed to entertain, had a political mesand juxtapositions as a dynamic field of relations in time, space sage, which expressed the opinions of the Soviet regime to and perception. the working class and reinforced the power of the collecExhibition opens February 2 and closes March 23. tive. Geelong Gallery, 55 Little Malop St, Geelong.

Anna Schwartz Gallery, 185 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.

- Peter Kemp - Peter Kemp

Latest arts events

Anna Schwartz Gallery

Geelong Gallery

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Observer Showbiz

Country Music, Radio, Theatre, Almanac Country Crossroads

By Rob Foenander info@countrycrossroads.com.au

Love grows ■ Frankston singer and entertainer Michael Read has released his long awaited second solo CD. Love Grows features a mix of 16 popular tracks that he performs as part of his busy Piano Magic concert schedule.

Bonus tracks include duets with his Band o' Gold singing mates. michaelread.com.auGood Friday Appeal.

Canyon & Friends ■ Melbourne group Canyon will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the formation of Crosby, Stills & Nash on Saturday, December 29, with a show at The Flying Saucer Club, Kingston City Hall, Moorabbin.

The band will be joined by Stars and Raw Britt singer/front man Mick Pealing and along with Tracey Kingman, they'll pay their musical respect to a band that were "politically fierce and musically even better," said band spokesman Peter Chapman.

More information and tickets www.flyingsaucerclub.com.au

Country sessions ■ Morwell Club will host a Country Sessions music afternoon on Sunday, March 24, commencing 1pm.

Well known Moe singer Evan Platschinda and Tamworth’s Dale Duncan will join forces for an enjoyable mix of bush ballads, country classics plus some original material also.

Tickets:$20 from Elaine, 563 54292 - Rob Foenander

Come From Away ■ Has Melbourne snared an exciting show to lift the spirits in 2019? The Australian premiere of the Tony Award winning Come From Away opens in July at the refurbished Comedy Theatre and is an exclusive to Melbourne.

Jennifer Hansen hosted the unveiling of the show with an introduction to the producer Rodney Rigby and an onstage interview with the husband and wife creators Irene Sankoff and David Hein.

The couple wrote the story and lyrics after conceiving the idea of a musical to celebrate the generosity of the citizens small town Gander, Newfoundland, who took in, housed and fed 7000 air passengers the day after the 9/11 disaster.

After receiving a Canadian Government grant, they travelled to Gander to interview seemingly most of the 10,000 population who all had a story to tell of their experience.

Irene and David succeeded in condensing the material into a book, music and lyrics.

At the launch we were treated duets from Irene and David as well as four songs sung by the Australian cast with a memorable solo by the extraordinary vocalist Zoe Gertz.

Zoe plays female flight captain Beverley Bass whose lifelong aspirations to become a pilot and the effects of 9/11 are revisited in song.

The writers, cast and the entire room were visibly affected by this moving, story of real characters.

One can only guess how the audience will respond to the actual show.

The Comedy Theatre has been chosen as a suitable venue for its intimacy, reflecting the nature of the story of Gander and its warmth in welcoming fellow humans ‘from away’ and who were suffering immense trauma.

First produced in 2015 in La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego the musical then toured North America always to full houses until it won a Tony on Broadway in 2017.

Now touring London then Dublin, Melbourne will present the show in its fifth production.

It has been chosen for the 2019 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies playlist.

- Sherryn Danaher

Melb. Symphony Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Concert.

The Force will be with the MSO this December as they present Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Concert under the baton of conductor, Nicholas Buc. John Williams legendary score paired with one of the most critically-claimed films of all time will make this screen and sound extravaganza one not to forget.

r Obser vbeiz On This Day Show

Wednesday Thursday December 5 December 6

■ American cartoonist Walt Disney was born in 1901. He died aged 65 in 1966.

US rock and roll singer Little Richard (Richard Penniman) was born in 1932.

Australian TV star Denise Drysdale is 70.

She started at GTV-9 as a child.

Frankie Muniz is 33.

■ American jazz pianist Dave Brubeck was born in California in 1920.

US born Australian actress Chelsea Brown was born in Chicago in 1947 .

Australian actress Alexandra Fowler was norn n 1961 (57).

She is with the Chantoozies.

● Zoe Gertz (Beverley Bass) in Come From Away. Photo: Sherryn Danaher

Melbourne Arts After the destruction of the Death star, the Empire has regrouped-with Darth Vader leading the hunt for Luke Skywalker. Enjoy the most memorable moments from the film, including Darth Vader's instantly recognidable theme, The Imperial March in full symphonic surround sound.

Venue: Plenary Theatre. Friday December 1414 - Sunday December 16.

Handel's Messiah Since its triumphant premiere in Dublin in 1742, Messiah has remined Handel's most frequently performed work. This year, Handel's epic setting of biblical texts features Dutch early music specialist Jan Willem de Vriend and a cast from Australia, Belgium and Germany.

Most audience are familiar with the strident refrains of the Hallelujah Chorus, some may not be acquainted with the larger work.

Venue: Hamer Hall. Saturday Dec. 15 and Sunday Dec. 16.

- Peter Kemp

Mixology

● Elizabeth Evans as Mini Marilyn ■ Mini Marilyn is hitting the stage, January 7-12, at The Butterfly Club for her Melbourne premiere.

Mini Marilyn is ready to toast to the women we know and love. Mixology is an evening for celebrating women, and those that love women.

With a dash of Minnelli, a splash of Fosse and just a touch of 90s spice, Mixology with Mini Marilyn is a night to remember.

Whether you’re a cabaret aficionado or Mini Marilyn will be your first, get excited to discover something tantalizingly new.

In a world where Beyoncé, Gaga and Swift reign supreme, let us sit back for a night of glitz, curves and classics while toasting to the sisterhood.

Mixology was created by and stars Elizabeth Evans, a dancer, musical theatre director and performer. Fresh from Channel 7’s All Together Now, Evans is excited to bring her cocktails, girls, and flair to Melbourne.

Evans has brought Mini Marilyn to life to bring some of the old-world cabaret panache back to the stage.

After being a member of the 100 on All Together Now, Evans’ show is a more intimate affair.

Performance Season: January 7-12, 8.30pm Venue: The Butterfly Club, Melbourne Tickets: Full: $36 ,Concession: $30 Group (+6): $27 Member: $27 Booking: https://thebutterflyclub.com/ show/mixology-with-mini-marilyn - Cheryl Threadgold Melbourne

Observer

Friday Saturday December 7 December 8 ■ The original Marie Tussaud, founder of the wax museum, was born in France in 1760.

She died at age 89.

American actress Ellen Burstyn is 86.

We remember actor Ron Frazer who was born in 1938. He died aged 44 in 1983. He was a regular in the Mavis Bramston Show.

■ US singer, actor, dancer and mimic Sammy Davis Jnr was born in New York in 1925. He died aged 64 in 1990.

Jim Morrison, lead vocalist with The Doors, was born in 1943. He died aged 27 in 1971.

Australian promoter Paul Dainty is 71.

Sunday Monday Tuesday December 9 December 10 December 11 ■ Actor Kirk Douglas was born as Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam in 1916.

He is 102.

Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke was born in 1929 (89).

Dame Judi Dench was born in York, England, in 1934 (83).

Actor Beau Bridges is 77 (1941).

■ English singer Peter Sarstedt was born in New Delhi, India, in 1941 (77).

Irish-born actor and director Kenneth Branagh was born in Belfast in 1960 (58).

American actress and singer Dorothy L amour was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1914. She died aged 81

■ Italian film producer Carlo Ponti was born in Italy in 1912.

He died aged 93 in 2007.

Australian fashion designer Maggie Tabberer is 80 (1936).

Singer, dancer, TV presenter and writer Reg Livermore was born in Parramatta, in 1938 (80).

Thanks to GREG NEWMAN of Jocks Journal for assistance with birthday and anniversary dates.

Jocks Journal is Australia’s longest running radio industry publication.

Find out more at www.jocksjournal.com

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 59

Observer Showbiz

TV, Radio, Theatre

Midsumma Extravaganza Midsumma Extravaganza After last year’s sold out Comedy Extravaganza, Arts Centre Melbourne has upsized to an all-star variety show of epic proportions. Set in the grand dame that is Hamer Hall and hosted by Rhys Nicholson, the Midsumma Extravaganza will feature Zoe Coombs Marr, TrevorAshley, Carlotta, Joel Creasey and more.

A celebration of Australia’s diverse and talented LGBTI artists; the 2019 Midsumma Extravaganza is set to be the queer event of the year. Hosted by Rhys Nicholson (Gay Crashers, MICFBarryAwardnominee) with guests including Yummy (Bank SA Best Cabaret, Adelaide Fringe), Steven Oliver (Black Comedy), Mama Alto (GlobeArtist Of The Year), Joel Creasey (Take Me Out, Show Me The Movie), Trevor Ashley (Les Misérables, Fat Swan, Diamonds Are For Trevor), Zoe Coombs Marr (MICF Barry Award winner) and the divine Carlotta.

Gender Euphoria Joined by a cavalcade of transgender legends, cabaret icons Mama Alto and Maude Davey embark upon a new variety adventure - nothing less than the pursuance and promulgation of Gender Euphoria, the state of being deliriously happy with one’s own and everyone else’s gender identities, gender choices and gender expressions. Song, dance, poetry, burlesque and variety meld for one night of utter fabulousness under the direction of Maude Davey with MamaAlto belting her heart out in true gender transcendent diva panache, the stellar grand piano stylings of Ned Dixon, Bailee-Rose Farnham’s dance movement and Mahla Bird’s aerials soaring above the audience.

Merciless Gods Fresh from a sold out Sydney season, Arts Centre Melbourne presents Dan Giovannoni’s Green Room Award winning adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ Merciless Gods. The two-hour production is a brutal and tender examination of queer immigrant experiences in Australia, and will take over the Fairfax Studio from February 6-10. This collection of eight vignettes based on Tsiolkas’ work shows how humans are prey to the cruel and capricious Ancient Gods, taking audiences into worlds both strange and familiar.

Queen Kong Arts Centre Melbourne’s Fairfax Studio will be transformed into an intergalactic stratosphere from January 16-20 as Australian cabaret performer Sarah Ward, the artist behind Yana Alana, brings her latest stage creation The Legend of Queen Kong Episode II: Queen Kong in Outer Space to life.

With complete disregard for conventional chronology, the narrative starts in the middle and is part of a greater trilogy called The Legend of Queen Kong – a silly rock show. Prodigal protagonist Queen Kong – part rock, part ape, immortal being – has been imprisoned by humans for being too large. She calls on a passing meteorite and breaks free, embarking on a journey of transmutations and bicurious encounters through time and space.

The Miss Behave Gameshow Direct from Las Vegas, The Miss Behave Gameshow comes to Arts Centre Melbourne from January 22-27 with its chaotic brew of variety, competition and disco that has made it an international smash hit. Join Guinness World Record holder and one of the stars of Olivier Award-winning La Soirée, Miss Behave, and her assistant Tiffany, for a night of fun and games that have even the most conservative audience turn unruly. In 2014, The Miss Behave Gameshow was devised in a little sideshow tent at Adelaide Fringe. Since then, it has been playing all around the world including Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, Sydney, Las Vegas and now, Melbourne.

- Cheryl Threadgold

Comedy slapstick ■ The National Institute of Circus Arts annual third year ensemble event has always been momentous, showcasing the hard-earned skills in acrobatics, balancing, endurance and strength (and a whole lot more), that the students have trained and perfected during the course of their studies.

The 2018 production, Qu’est-ce Que C’est?

(QQC), billed as a ‘comedy slapstick mystery’, definitely delivered on that.

A parody of 1970s American police television drama - think Charlie’s Angels (the original), the Mod Squad – or Working Dog’s hilarious Funky Squad for another great parody and you get the vibe.

Camp, tongue in cheek and genuinely funny.

Highlights included the slippery floor sequence, the waltz and lizard scene.

Set and costume design by Emily Barrie was spot on, and sound by Carl Polke made it all so 70s real.

Director Charlotte Saliou’s motivation was to bring the ‘instinctive actor’ out of her performers, and she succeeds on that score, but it was disappointing that the acting took precedence over the circus.

A better balance could have made this a really unique work. Instead we got frustratingly brief snippets of pretty phenomenal circus artistry - a fleeting but unique hoop routine (Geogia Deguara), a momentary glimpse of a striking synchronized duet on straps (Jordan HensleyTwartz and Liam Dummer), amazing diabolo work (Hensley-Twartz) and super cool Roue Cyr wheel (Samuel Whelan).

A narrative is important and adds depth and cohesiveness to a traditionally otherwise episodic circus production, but QQC just didn’t showcase enough the talent that these third year graduates have worked hard to achieve.

That said every performer should be congratulated for their commitment and passion to their craft and for delivering on the director’s brief. QQC? is a fun show well executed with plenty of laughs but ultimately it failed to give the students their well deserved time in the spotlight.

● Ellen Henry, Brooke Duckworth and Lyndon Johnson in Qu’est-ce Que C’est? Photo: Aaron Walker Performance season: 7.30pm, until December 8 Venue: NICA, 39-59 Green Street, Prahran Cost: $30, concession $23 Bookings: www.nica.com.au - Review by Beth Klein

Madame Nightshade ■ Madame Nightshade’s Poison Garden will be presented January 23-26 at Gasworks Arts Park.

Madame Nightshade’s Poison Garden is a playground where vegetables are transformed into semiautomatic weapons, Snow White becomes a spring-onion wielding assassin and Mars Bars represent the waste of the world.

Tarantino meets Marie-Antoinette: this is queer, feminist clowning with a thought-provoking social conscience.

In the dystopian world of the Poison Garden, Beatrice (a devilish shape-shifter), lurks in the shadow of her alter ego Madame Nightshade (a princess-like assassin) as she digs beneath the world’s ‘everything’s perfect’ façade, and serves up the messy truths of our ailing planet.

Created and performed by Anna Thomson and directed by Sarah Ward (Yana Alana) and Maude Davey (My Life in The Nude).

“I delight in creating highly visual and visceral physical comedy that uses grotesque, bizarre, larger than life characters to parody pop culture tropes and playfully confront environmental and social politics,” says Thomson.

Venue: Gasworks Arts Park, Studio Room Date: January 23 - 26 Time: 9pm Tickets: Full $30/Conc. $27/Group (6+) $25 Bookings and more information: www.gasworks.org.au (8606 4200) or www.midsumma.org.au - Cheryl Threadgold

● Anna Thomson as Madame Nightshade. Photo: Theresa Harrison.

Very Hungry Caterpil ar ■ Arts Centre Melbourne offered young theatregoers a quality theatre experience with delightfully staged adaptations of four of author/illustrator Eric Carle’s stories, in The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show.

Stories brought to life include The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, Mister Seahorse and The Very Lonely Firefly.

The show’s Content Warning advises patrons that the popular star character with the insatiable appetite will not appear until the final quarter of the 50-minute production, but the wait is worth it.

During the Caterpillar’s familiar food adventure, littlies enjoy sharing the catchcry “He was still hungry!”, and then gasp at the the Caterpillar’s transformation into a beautiful butterfly.

Created by Jonathan Rockefeller and directed by Naomi Edwards, the show’s four talented performers are not only skilled puppeteers who work cohesively to bring 75 different puppets to life, but are also articulate, expressive storytellers.

Their work is enhanced by impeccably timed music, effective mood-changing lighting and creative use of minimal staging and props.

Although pitched at ages three to eight, the narrative does not always sustain engaging this broad age-group at the same time.

For example, Mister Seahorse dragged for our three-year-old who curled up for a nap, but on the other hand, the educational aspect in this story about the male sea-horse carrying the baby’s eggs would engage with older children.

Without doubt, all ages from three to over 93, loved seeing the re-enactment of Carle’s best-seller book, first published in 1969.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, stylishly presented and with strong production values, is an excellent introduction to theatre for young children .

And our three year old’s final verdict? “I loved all of it.”

- Review by Cheryl Threadgold

National Gallery

■ Escher X nendo: Between Two Worlds is the first exhibition in the world to feature the extraordinary work of Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher in dialogue with the work of acclaimed Japanese design studio nendo, led by designer Oki Sato.

Seamlessly presenting the worlds of the 20th century's most recognisable artists and one of the 21st century's most inventive designers, the exhibition features more than 150 od Escher's most renowned prints and drawings from the collection of Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, presented in an immersive exhibition space designed by nendo, alongside never-before-seen work from the design studio.

Acknowledged as a master of optical illusion, Escher created some of the most iconic images of the 20th century which intrigue viewers with their visual puzzles and challenge established notions around space, time and the everyday world.

Escher's work depicts impossible architectural structures, endless staircases and seamless transformations of form and pattern. His fantastical constructions and repetitive infinity patterns reveal a technical and inventive genius that in recent years has become increasingly revered and celebrated.

Building on Escher's optical illusions to create an otherworldly spatial installation, nendo has taken cues from Escher's manipulation of space and his use of shifting perspectives and playful visual devices.

Exhibition opened December 2.

National Gallery of Victoria 150 St Kilda Rd. Melbourne.

- Peter Kemp

Page 60 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Observer Showbiz

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Movies, DVDs with Jim Sherlock, Aaron Rourke What’s Hot and What’s Not in Blu-Rays and DVDs FILM: INCREDIBLES 2: Genre: Animated/Action/Adventure.

Cast: Holly Hunter, Craig t. Nelson, Catherine Keener, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabella Rossellini.

Year: 2018.

Rating: PG. Length: 118 Minutes.

Stars: **** Review: "Incredibles 2" resumes where "The Incredibles" (2004) ends, with the introduction of the villain The Underminer, and as the Parr (Incredibles) family struggles to maintain normal lives, Helen/Elastgirl continues to fight crime while Bob/Mr. Incredible, stays at home caring for the children, discovering their baby's secret powers in the process, but all is threatened, and they must battle a new villain, who goes by the name of Screenslaver.

Wildly energetic without being frenetically silly, as the first respectfully spoofed everything from 'Citizen Kane' (1941) to '2001: A Space Odyssey,' to 'Raiders of the Lost Art' (1981) and numerous 007 films, most 'You Only Live Twice' (1967), this also does so with being repetitious or repetitive, and like the first adventure, adds tremendous value to the mix.

The original voice cast are all back, along with a few new ones, and all are absolutely perfect: Holly Hunter as Helen Parr/Elastigirl, Craig T. Nelson as Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible, Samuel L. Jackson as Lucius Best/Frozone, and director Brad Bird Incredibles, a delight tribute inspired by the late, great legendary fashion designer Edith Head.

As much fun for the elders, like a blast from the past and straight out of the '60s, sprinkles or 'Easter Egg' inspirations include the original 007 series, most notably 'Thunderball' (1965), and 'Moonraker' (1979), 'Our Man Flint' (1966) and 'In Like Flint' (1967), and the original 'OSS-117' series (1957-1970, and 'OSS-117: Cairo, Nest of Spies' (2006) and 'OSS-117: Lost in Rio' (2009) with Jean Dujardin, to name a few.

A stylish visual roller-coaster ride, Oscar winning director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant/ 1999) has created a fast, sophisticated, intelligent, witty and charming thrill for everyone of all ages, another Pixar Animated Studios intoxicating achievement that retains the comfortable familiarity of the original characters and forces that retains the much loved legacy.

This is not about one gender being better or superior than the other, just a hilarious, family fun adventure about family that delivers something for everyone!

FILM: Cast:

THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (Streaming): Liam Neeson, Tim Blake Nelson, Tom Waits, Tyne Daly, Brendan Gleeson, Zoe Kazan, James Franco, Clancy Browm.

Genre: Western/Comedy/Musical/Drama.

Year: 2018.

Rating: MA15+ Length: 132 Minutes.

Stars: ***½ Verdict: An anthology film from Oscar winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, each dealing with a different aspect of life in the Old West and differing dramatically in mood and content.

The Coen Bros. have compiled a selection of six short stories written over a period of 25 years, and in true Coen Bros. fashion they have delivered richly textured mosaic through creeks, canyons and valley's of biting wit, savage cynicism, striking sentimentality, haunting surrealism, laugh out loud humour and a song or two that sweeps across the American Frontier with wicked delight.

However, the main problem with anthology films is that some segments stand above others, and there are many that have succeeded in becoming classics, and in the case of "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs," it all depends on the individual frame of mind as to whether some, or as a whole, succeed, but either way, as their work has well proven, a journey with Joel and Ethan Coen is an elaborately embroidered experience, as it is here.

The cast all shine with sparkling delight, some darker than others, beginning with an ode to the old western movies and TV shows with Tim Blake Nelson as the singing cowboy in white, then moving on to other colourful characters with Brendan Gleeson, James Franco, Tyne Daly, Clancy Brown and Zoe Kazan, however, one of the great highpoints is a scene stealing Tom Waits as a lone gold prospector in the segment "All Gold Canyon," filmed with breathtaking beauty as if lifted from the vaults of Walt Disney, yet as harsh and brutal any depiction of the old west by Sam Peckinpah. ided with a rich and haunting music score by Coen Bros. regular Carter Burwell, it's time to put the boots, spurs and ten gallon hat on, get the baked beans out and saddle up for a deliriously rich, bizarre, quirky, bleak, sardonic, unique, dazzling, violent, ambiguous and exciting ride, six western adventures laced with true grit, an exceedingly stylish, intelligent and entertaining reflection of the old west, its myths, heroes and legends.

Consists of six segments: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs", "Near Algodones", "Meal Ticket", "All Gold Canyon" (from a story by Jack London), "The Gal Who Got Rattled" and "The Mortal Remains".

FILM: THE MEG: Cast: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose.

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller.

Year: 2018.

Rating: M. Length: 113 Minutes.

Stars: **½ Verdict: A deep-sea submersible-part of an international undersea observation program-has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific…with its crew trapped inside.

With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is recruited to save the crew from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-footlong shark known as the Megalodon, but what no one could have imagined is that the creature will not let go, and soon local beachgoers also end up on the menu.

Mega budget B-Movie-Creature-Feature popcorn pot-boiler borrows unashamedly from B-Movie-Kings Roger Corman and William Castle, and such films as "It Came From Beneath The Sea" (1955), "The Abyss," "Moby Dick," the TV series "Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea," and of course the grand-daddy of them all, Steven Spielberg's "Jaws," among many others, and even though it gets off to a good start, it soon spirals into tedious repetition in which there is no depth in how low this will sink.

However, there is some fun to be had, as you just know that no matter how big the creature is that is going up against Jason Statham it hasn't got a chance, and there are a few moments of genuinely effective frights, but suffers from a way overstretched near two hour running time, and the straight laced, humourless heroics of an almost CGI drawn Statham will soon have you rooting for the shark and a very hasty and welcome conclusion.

With CGI effects leaping from very impressive to mediocre, if you like your actors every character a caricature, movies with too much padding and plodding, screenplays devoid of any intelligence and riddled to deepest depths of cliché, it's hard to give a hoot who ends up on who's menu here in the end, then this homage to the BMovies of the past, or not, is for you, but for me, this blandly calculated $150 million "internationalized" US/Chinese co-production is drained of any human drama, plausibility, respectability or personality, and the end here can't come quick enough.

Rourke’s Reviews Climax ■ (R). 95 minutes. Opens in selected cinemas December 6.

For those who are unaware of Gaspar Noe's previous work as a film-maker, then they should approach Climax with caution.

Those who are will be in for one hell of a ride, a sensory assault made with Noe's usual mix of technical brilliance and thematic nastiness, and one which will leave most audiences completely exhausted.

A group of 20 dancers, rehearsing at a closed-down boarding school located next to an unknown forest, begin a journey into darkness when they discover that the sangria they are drinking has been laced with LSD. Everyone reacts differently, but as their inner desires start to surface, it seems as if not everybody will survive this growingly aggressive experience.

Noe invests a number of cultural, social, and gender-based themes in his uninhibited characters, and like Irreversible, I Stand Alone, and Enter The Void, totally immerses us in the unsettling world he has created.

Visually astounding (an early one-take dance sequence is truly jaw-dropping), with a pounding 90's EDM score to match, this is inventive, confronting cinema at its best, for those who can take it.

RATING - ****½

Overlord ■ (R). 110 minutes. Opens in cinemas December 6.

What should be a fast-paced, cleverly referential splatterfest, instead becomes a needlessly protracted, clumsily written, ludicrously self-serious misfire, with the film-makers unwisely believing they are somehow examining the ethics of war, Zero Dark Thirtystyle, and how they are abused for nefarious means.

It's 1944, and a squad of soldiers are ordered to take out a heavily fortified German radio tower, so Allied forces can successfully land at Normandy.

Shot down by enemy gunfire, the soldiers who survive continue on their mission, teaming up with a French scavenger, and facing off against a young, egomaniacal Nazi officer, who knows the secret, ReAnimator-like experiments being carried out that will ensure victory over the good guys.

Though technically wellcrafted, this is hollow stuff, and the most unnerving aspect of this tiresome retro exercise is how much co-star Wyatt Russell looks and sounds like his father Kurt.

An inauspicious Hollywood debut for Aussie director Julius Avery (Son Of A Gun), but is at least better than Ben Young's US debut, following his excellent Hounds Of Love with the execrable Netflix scifi/thriller Extinction.

RATING - **

Hostiles ■ (MA). 133 minutes. Opens in selected cinemas December 6.

Given its pedigree, it's odd that this superbly crafted, extremely

well-acted drama has taken nearly a year to reach our shores, but the wait has been well worth it.

Set in 1892, the story follows Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale), who is assigned the task of escorting ailing Cheyenne chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) back to his homeland in Montana, and though filled with a seething hatred for the Indians, Blocker reluctantly agrees.

During the journey, Blocker's group first pick up Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike), whose family have been massacred by the Comanche, then Philip Wills (Ben Foster), a soldier who will soon be tried for murder.

As the mission continues, Blocker's outlook on his captives will slowly change.

Co-writer/director Scott Cooper (Out Of The Furnace, Crazy Heart) vividly recreates a time and place, helped considerably by magnificent cinematography and a strong music score.

The film's main flaw is the lack of depth given to the Native American characters, which somewhat unbalances Cooper's ambitious vision.

A strong cast also includes Stephen Lang, Peter Mullan, Timothee Chalamet and the late Scott Wilson.

RATING - ***½

The School ■ (M). 88 minutes. Opens in selected cinemas December 6.

Embarrassingly awful Aussie horror/thriller that is devoid of style, ingenuity and imagination.

Renowned heart surgeon Amy Wintercraig (Megan Drury) wakes up in an abandoned school, and soon finds herself under siege from a multitude of apparitions, but is helped by young Timmy (Jack Ruwald), who warns of other horrors to come.

Determined to find her missing son, Amy will take on any opponent as she works her way through the maze of creepy corridors.

Terrible performances proliferate throughout (including one from Bad Boy Bubby star Nicolas Hope), and debutant writer/director Storm Ashwood borrows from a slew of films, including Jacob's Ladder, The Others, Dark Water, Real, Stay, Silent Hill, Paperhouse, Insidious, Mad Max : Beyond Thunderdome, and Lord Of The Flies.

Its secrets and twists are poorly handled, making its destination easy to guess in the first few minutes.

Excruciatingly bad, and definitely one of the worst films to come out this year.

How it has managed to secure a cinema release is anyone's guess.

RATING - * - Aaron Rourke

Top 10 Lists

DECEMBER 2-8 THE AUSTRALIAN BOX OFFICE TOP TEN: 1. FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD. 2. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. 3. ROBIN HOOD. 4. A STAR IS BORN. 5. WIDOWS. 6. THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS. 7. THE CHILDREN ACT. 8. THE OLD MAN & THE GUN. 9. BOY ERASED. 10. A COOL FISH. NEW RELEASES AND COMING SOON TO CINEMAS AROUND AUSTRALIA: NOVEMBER 29: CREED II, LEAN ON PETE, NORMANDY NUDE, THE GRINCH, THE KING AND I: FROM THE LONDON PALLADIUM. DECEMBER 6: ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? CLIMAX, ELLIOT THE LITTLEST REINDEER, HOSTILES, LIFE ITSELF, MORTAL ENGINES, OVERLORD, SECOND ACT, STUDIO 54: THE DOCUMENTARY. THE DVD AND BLU-RAY TOP RENTALS & SALES: 1. INCREDIBLES 2 [Animated/Action/ Adventure/Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson].

2. THE MEG [Action/Horror/Sci-Fi/Jason Statham, Li Bingbing].

3. MILE 22 [Action/Crime/Adventure/Mark Wahlberg, Ronda Rousey, John Malkovich].

4. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP [Action/ Fantasy/Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly].

5. MANDY [Thriller/Horror/Action/Nicolas Cage].

6. THE EQUALIZER 2 [Action/Thriller/ Denzel Washington, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo].

7. JIMMY BARNES: Working Class Boy [Music/Biography/Documentary].

8. THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME [Action/ Comedy/Thriller/Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon].

9. MARY SHELLEY [Biography/Drama/Elle Fanning, Stephen Dillane].

Also: HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3, SOLO: A Star Wars Story, THE BREAKER UPPERERS, SKYSCRAPER, HOTEL ARTEMIS, FUNNY COW, THE WIFE, ESCAPE PLAN 2, BEIRUT, SUMMER OF 84.

NEW HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK: BLACKkKLANSMAN [Biography/Crime/ Drama/John Washington, Adam Driver].

KIN [Comedy/Sci-Fi/James Franco, Dennis Quaid, Gavin Fox].

LUIS AND THE ALIENS [Animated/Family/ Adventure/Ian Coppinger].

FIRST REFORMED [Drama/Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried].

BOOK CLUB [Comedy/Romance/Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen].

DARKEST MINDS [Sci-Fi/Thriller/Bradly Whitford, mandy Moore].

THE FLIP SIDE [Comedy/Eddie Izzard, Vanessa Guide].

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE [Thriller/ Joaquin Phoenix].

DVD AND/OR BLU-RAY NEW & RE-RELEASE CLASSIC MOVIES HIGHLIGHTS: THE BOUNTY: Special Edition [Drama/ Adventure/Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson].

THE KILLERS [Crime/Drama/Thriller/Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson].

THE LAUREL AND HARDY Collection [Comedy/Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy].

NEW RELEASE TELEVISION, DOCUMENTARY AND MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS: WHITNEY (2018).

McQUEEN. BARRY: Season 1.

SPITFIRE. THE ORIGINALS: Season 5.

WESTWORLD: Season 2 - The Door.

SCHITT'S CREEK: Series 4.

HAILEY DEAN MYSTERIES: Collection 1.

DEMOLITION MAN: Season 1.

THE RECRUIT: Season 2.

INSTINCT: Season 1.

JAMESTOWN: Season 1.

THE RESIDENT: Season 1.

WAYNE: The Wayne Gardner Story.

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

Melbourne Obser ver - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 61

Observer Showbiz

Local Theatre with Cheryl Threadgold and team RED STITCH THEATRE ■ Red Stitch Actors’Theatre has announced its 2019 season - including five Australian premieres and another world premiere from the company’s INK program - exploring some of the highest hopes and the darkest undercurrents of humanity.

From pre-teen dreams and dance routines, to an exploration of the oil industry through one woman’s quest, a suburban backyard filled with surreal summer stories, to an underground city filled with horror, the season questions who we are and who we might become.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Michael Gow’s play, Sweet Phoebe, director Mark Wilson directs this sharp and disturbingly funny study of relationships in the modern world.

Clare Barron’s prize-winning Dance Nation makes its Australian debut, directed by Maude Davey. It follows a troupe of pre-teens working on a brand-new routine with their dance teacher in a study of power, puberty, friendship and ambition.

In a work that has been compared to Samuel Beckett, Will Eno’s Wakey Wakey makes its Australian premiere. Directed by David Myles, it sensitively examines human dignity, delving into life’s most important markers, and reminding us to re-examine our relationship with the world.

In its first Australian production, Caryl Churchill’s new work Escaped Alone explores the stories of four older women who reflect on their lives over the course of many summers together. Jenny Kemp returns to Red Stitch to direct this stunning play which is, in turn, a linguistic joy ride, a car crash and a theatrical marvel.

The Australian premiere of Alistair McDowell’s dark and genre rich horror story, Pomona, will grip audiences from start to finish. This powerful modern thriller asks what secrets lie beneath the veneer of contemporary civilisation and the price you must pay to find out.

From Red Stitch’s new writing program, INK, comes the world premiere season of Control by Keziah Warner, directed by Julian Meyrick.

Set across several decades, from Melbourne to Mars, this startling, funny and provocative new play follows Nicki and Caroline on the eve of a revolution as they attempt to gain control over their lives while their A.I. superior, Alex, dances the night away.

The Australian premiere of Ella Hickson’s Oil follows May and her daughter Amy through the evolution of the oil industry, forging through the world as it transforms around them, through lands, empires and centuries.

Back by popular demand is Red Stitch’s much anticipated site-specific event of the year, Playlist. For one night only, audiences can experience a moving festival of music and theatre, where you are invited to join the ensemble and guests and rub shoulders with the actors and musicians.

“Each play in the 2019 season is driven by a powerful need to understand who we are, why, and where this might lead. These works are all vastly different, but what they have in common is that each one defies expectations.

They dare us to think again,” said Artistic Director Ella Caldwell.

Bookings for the Red Stitch 2019 Season are now open. Visit www.redstitch.net

AT WARRNAMBOOL Prints, Drawings and Paintings

by Damon Kowarsky Contained within the many structures that man has built across the earth for habitation, ritual and gathering is an inherent power.

Each tower of stone or brick, steel, concrete or plaster is an embodiment of social.

Political, individual or collective decisions t6hat describe narratives of culture, power and agency. Exhibition closes May5.

Warrnambool Art Gallery 26 Lieberg St, Warrnambool

It’s Definitely You ■ Dating has changed, and so has breaking up.

Everyone can handle the truth these days, right?

Join Lisa Woodbrook as she explores the ever-evolving dating world in her show It’s Not Me, It’s Definitely You at The Butterfly Club on December 14 and 15 at 8.30pm.

Offering sound advice for those looking for love in the age of swiping right, ghosting and when meeting someone ‘organically’ is similar to finding a dinosaur in your backyard.

Set to the soundtrack of Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, with Dominic Woodhead on piano. Favourites are included such as Smile , Not Fair , Tears Dry On Their Own and Back to Black.

Lisa has performed in many stage productions including the Australian premiere of High Fidelity, Paris: A Rock Odyssey and toured in Shine a Light.

Lisa co-wrote, produced and performed in the The Art of Being a Wingman, a musical comedy which had sell out seasons across Australia and internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Lisa is currently Melbourne's ‘Eye in the Sky’ reporting live on Ten News First and on Melbourne's KIIS101.1.

As a musician Lisa regularly gigs around Melbourne with her acoustic duo and jazz trio, amazing audiences with her smooth warm tones and fun banter.

It’s Not Me, It’s Definitely You opens on December 14 for two nights only.

Dates: December 14 and 15. Time: 8:30pm.

Cost: $25-34. Venue: The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne. Tickets: thebutterflyclub.com

● Lisa Woodbrook

Heide Museum of Modern Art Festive French Feast Enjoy a twilight tour of the exhibition Mirka Mora: Pas de Deux-Drawings and Dollswith Senior Curator Kendrah Morgan, followed by Festive French feast at Café Heide inspired by the recipes from Mirka & Georges:ACulinary Affair.

Thursday December 6 at 5.30pm Wreath-Making with Vivien Hollingsworth Meet the team bespoke floral studio Flos Botanical Studio in this unique sculptural wreath-making workshop

utilising a range of materials sourced from the Heide gardens and the Melbourne Flower Market.

Sunday December 9. 1pm 4pm.

Workshop: Mirka MoraInspired Dolls.

A loved and central figure in the cultural life of Australia, Mirka Mora long captured the public imagination with her distinctive art and inimitable personality.

In addition to paintings and works on paper, Mora made dolls and fantastical sculptural creatures derived from fairy

tales, folk art, surrealism and her own vivid daydreams.

Join Heide for a crafternoon of dollmaking and decorating inspired by the colourful artworks in Mirka Mora: Pas de Deux-Drawings and Dolls.

Saturday December 15 at 1 -4pm Saturday February 23 at 1 4pm.

Heide Museum of Modern Art 7 Templestowe Rd., Bulleen - Peter Kemp

Latest shows, auditions SHOWS ■ The 1812 Theatre: The Pink Panther Strikes Again based on the film by Blake Edwards.

November 15 - December 8 at 3 Rose St., Upper Ferntree Gully. Director: Dextor Bourke.

Bookings: 9758 3964.

■ Ballarat National Theatre: Natural Causes (by Eric Chappell) December 1 - 8 at The Court House Theatre, :Lydiard St. South, Ballarat.

Director: Peter Nethercote. Bookings: 5333 5888 or www.bnt.org.au ■ Playhouse Players: National Playwright Competition 2018, December 6, 7, 8 at Rentoul Theatre, Livingston Close (off Elgar Rd.)., Burwood. Tickets; all one price $25. www.playhouseplayers.org.au ■ Heidelberg Theatre Youth Group: Alice in Wonderland (by Erich Fordham and Ryan Purdey) December 7 - 15 at 36 Turnham Ave., Rosanna. Director: Rhys Purdey. Tickets: $10, Bookings: www.htc.org.au

SHOWS ■ Brighton Theatre Company Youth Group: Bad Auditions By Bad Actors December 13 - 15 at Brighton Arts and Culture Centre, Brighton.

Director: Carina Field. Bookings: www.brightontheatre.com.au

AUDITIONS ■ Wyndham Theatre Company:Stepping Out (a play with tap dancing by Richard Harris) December 15 at 1.00pm and December 17 at7.30pm at Crossroads Theatre, Cnr Synnot St and Rd., Werribee. Director: Renee Belsey.

Enquiries: 0401 932893.

■ Essendon Theatre Company: Suite Surrender (by Michael McKeever) January 15 and 17 at the Bradshaw Street Community Theatre, Bradshaw St., West Essendon. Director: George Benca.

Audition enquiries: georgebenca@gmail.com

CONFETTI

● Ashy Rose ■ Written and performed by Ashy Rose, who previously starred as Delilah in the hit fivestar award winning show The Desperettes: Guide to Being a Wingman, performed at Midsumma, Perth and Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Confetti is a collection of stories and takes on every-day life in the social media, anxiety ridden, crazy, workaholic fuelled world we live in today.

How always comparing how busy we are, is something to be upstandingly proud of. How most of our generation is sitting around wondering why we haven’t been delivered the world yet when we’ve actually done nothing, because we were consistently awarded trophies for participating.

It’s a telling of crazy dating stories, drinking vodka for breakfast whilst dressed as Cinderella, being so petty you throw out out someone’s vitamins as revenge, putting a phone in a freezer, ageing, dealing with fear and procrastination and being such a mess you’re not actually sure how you’re still a functioning human.

Tied together with pop bangers from the late 90s, early 00’s and today, it’s a fun uplifting night of celebrating your insecurities because just like Confetti, it’s being a mess but not being ashamed of it because that’s what is truly beautiful."

COLLINS PLACE GALLERY Summer Salon In the tradition of the great salon exhibitions of Paris and London, Collins Place Gallery Summer Salon promises to be a vibrant and diverse celebration of contemporary art.

From 170 entries from around Australia's 65 finalists have been selected in a range of media, styles and themes.

Independent judges will select three winners: Dr Jacqueline Healy, Curator of the University of Melbourne Medical History Museum; Deborah Klein, highly regarded artist well known for her prints and artist books; and Shane Jones, a leading visual artist.

Visitors to the gallery can vote for their favourite entry. The most popular artwork will receive the People's Choice Award at the enc of the exhibition.

Exhibition closes January 31.

Collins Place Gallery Shop 19, 45 Collins St., Melbourne - Peter Kemp

BOROONDARA ARTS Domestic Flight by Nicole Cairns Nicole Cairns’s work offers viewers an opportunity to take a pause, and concentrate on a simple object of common scene that they would otherwise pass by without a second thought. She is influenced by the colours and shapes of packaging, utensils, crockery and all things we use everyday an how we use them. Expanding on her practice of still life painting, Nicole began to wonder what might happen if she invited local birdlife into her home.

Exhibition closes Sunday December 16.

Boroondara Arts 360 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn - Peter Kemp

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

Page 62 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Melbourne

Observer

Lovatts Crossword No 35 Across

1. Saved 6. Dental hole 11. Victorious cheer 15. Waterfront worker 20. Module 21. Strangely 22. Horse's neck hair 23. Edition 25. Discuss 26. Arctic sea bird 27. More pleasant 29. Single eyeglass 32. Small duck 34. Uncontrolled slide 36. Green gemstone 39. Hide away 41. Ticked over 43. Crème de la crème 46. Snooped 48. Once the ninth planet 49. Provides with personnel 51. Tiny amount 52. Symbolised 55. Widespread 56. Step 59. Hunter star formation 61. Soft-drink flavour 62. False god 63. Doled (out) 64. Beholden 67. Wander 68. Floor-cleaning liquid 70. Close at hand 71. Scrape together (4,2) 72. Chefs' smocks 73. Cure 74. Park seat 75. Guaranteed 77. Bereaved wife 78. Sends via Internet 79. Sufferer for cause 82. Golf hole scores 86. Scientist, Sir Isaac ...

87. Jacob's Old Testament twin 89. Social expulsion 92. Furtive peek 94. Velvet-like leather 96. Indecent material 98. "No" votes 100. Backless chair 101. Cat's cries 103. Dairy drink 105. Oily fruit 106. Stages of journey 108. Prepare path, ... the way 111. Outlaid money 112. Adopted (policy) 114. Of bone system 116. In proportion, pro ...

119. Actress, ... Thompson 120. Cup edges 121. Greenwich Mean Time (1,1,1) 123. Minuscule particle 124. Crowds 125. Less detailed 126. Hotel check-in desk 127. Experimental models (4-3) 130. Egg cells 131. Street stalls 135. Car smash 138. Gullible folk 139. Prude 141. Dorky youths 144. Bottle stopper 146. Donkey 147. Bring up (kids) 148. Drink daintily 149. Reminder 150. Cut into shape 151. Meat cutlet 152. Tidier 153. Trifling 155. Therefore 157. Shoe lining 158. Follow orders 160. Each year, per ...

161. Incidental comment 162. Sturdy 163. Unrestrained revelry 165. Standards 166. Possess

Across

Down

Down

167. Grow old 168. Come in 169. Conformed, ... the line 171. Oscillate 172. Increased 175. Uses straw 176. Henpecks 179. Made play on words 180. Ready for picking 182. Body fluid lump 184. Glimpses 185. Flog 186. Information 188. Shut loudly 189. Zilch 190. Tennis ace, ... Sampras 191. Commercial breaks 193. Lentil dish 194. Come next 196. Principal 197. Pronto (1,1,1,1) 198. Patron saint of France 200. Disheartens 205. Boxer, Muhammad ...

207. Concentrated flavouring 210. Break from rule 211. Sorrowful 212. Main Indonesian island 213. Brief calm 214. ... the season to be jolly ('3) 216. Verbal exam 218. Fabled whale, ... Dick 219. Cargo 220. Witty remark (3-5) 224. Comprehended 227. Speaks 229. Please reply (1,1,1,1) 230. Friend in war 231. Phantom Of The ...

232. Cycled 233. Valley 235. My Big Fat ... Wedding 237. Active Sicilian volcano 239. Brink 241. Festivities 244. Famed lioness 246. Pretended (4-5) 249. Poems 252. Appliance, ... cleaner 254. Of poor quality 256. Muddled (up) 258. Model for public ridicule 259. Tibet's ... Lama 260. Meatball 263. Hindu land 264. Jewish scholars 265. Swiss cereal 267. Arrested 270. Opponents 271. Become sparser (4,3) 272. Went sour (of milk) 273. Beastlier 274. Rent 277. Dad 279. Red-skinned cheese 281. Devonshire tea item 284. Fortune 286. Off-limits, ... area (2-2) 288. Liver sac (4,7) 292. Chinese gooseberry, ... fruit 294. Author, Leon ...

295. Immature 298. Tribal senior 300. W African nation, Sierra ...

301. Metric length unit 303. Police informers 306. Unspecified person 308. Shallowest of the five Great Lakes 309. Grasp 311. Colonised 314. Hymn, Ave ...

315. Self-love 316. Rope (off) 317. Different 318. Kidney fat 319. US naval port, San ...

320. Stitched 321. Merest 322. Greek island 323. Chatter 324. Charming

1. Windless 2. Naming word 3. Eject from home 4. Flower jars 5. Song for two 6. Drumming insect 7. Circular coral reef 8. Heathen 9. Low-bowled cricket delivery 10. Beautiful youth 11. Dash 12. Cultured 13. Out-of-order 14. Yearn 15. Transmit 16. Do well (at) 17. Kind of heron 18. Killer whale 19. Writer, ... Blyton 24. Reprimand, ... on the wrist 28. Large birds 30. Actor, ... Sharif 31. Knuckle of veal stew, ... bucco 33. One or the other 35. Local sayings 37. Strong cord 38. Delicate fabric 40. Tropical shrub 42. Wear down 44. 24-hour car race (2,4) 45. Sore to touch 47. Stench 48. Hair bleach 49. Climbed up on 50. Central American republic 53. Spoils rotten 54. Angry outbursts 57. Alertness 58. Swirling 60. Disabled (racehorse) 63. Inflatable life jacket (3,4) 65. Cricketing extras 66. Facts 68. Raise stakes, up the ...

69. Steam press 76. Reactor fuel 79. Tight-lipped 80. Relative sizes 81. Egg yellows 83. Stroll 84. Leap forward 85. I ... with my little eye 88. Insurance estimators 90. Trampled, ... on 91. Frosts (biscuits) 93. Beachfront mall 95. Arabian prince 97. Countless 99. Straddling 100. Coal vein 102. Revises (manuscript) 104. Stagger 107. Flee with lover 109. Formula One car sound 110. Bullets 111. Light industry area, business ...

113. Gourmet 115. Booting (out) 117. Go berserk, run ...

118. Aid in crime 121. Earns before tax 122. Captured 127. Exaggeratedly masculine 128. Chilli con ...

129. Aptly 132. Punctuation marks 133. Early anaesthetic 134. Sentimental 135. Type of pheasant 136. Murderers 137. Pompous

138. Breast x-ray 140. Stiff-legged march (5,4) 141. Left untended 142. Dog, ... ridgeback 143. Haste 145. On edge (5-2) 151. Played the fool 154. Incurred (expenses) (3,2) 156. All set 159. Derisive shout 164. Suppress 169. Hauled 170. Lengthy movies 173. Tapering flag 174. Choux pastries, chocolate ...

177. White-faced 178. Get to the bottom of 181. Mentally picture 183. Sequin 187. Letter sleeves 192. Shook loose 195. Impure 199. Poured forth 201. Iraq's neighbour 202. Breakfast or dinner 203. Skims swiftly 204. ... Fools' Day 206. Pablo Casals' instrument 207. Obliterate 208. Shady trees 209. Square-sided prism 213. Songbird 215. Frozen regions 217. Mining magnate, ... Hancock 221. Peruvian mammal 222. Sprite 223. Staff roster 224. Spellbound 225. Paris landmark, ... Triomphe (3,2) 226. Brainwaves 228. Curios (4-1-4) 234. Planner of ship's course 236. Well-read 238. Revenge, tit for ...

240. Deity 242. Matters 243. In general 245. Schooling 247. Romantic & poetic 248. Corrected (text) 250. Physicist, Albert ...

251. Caravan nomads 253. Dish, bangers & ...

255. Crushing defeat 257. Smooth 258. Ireland (Gaelic) 261. Pulsing light 262. Lubricant container 265. Street assailant 266. Actor's platform 268. Trumpet sound 269. Actor, ... MacPherson 275. European currency unit 276. Wiry-haired dog, ... terrier 278. Blocked (blow) 280. Black mark 282. Zodiac crossover 283. Egyptian river 285. Salad fish 287. The Naked Chef, Jamie ...

289. Famous insurance body 290. Encircled 291. Church lay officer 292. Danish monetary units 293. Independent 296. Enthusiasm 297. Courage 299. End of life 302. Neither these nor ...

304. Greenfly 305. Asian republic, South ...

306. Congeals 307. Short skirt 308. Compass point 310. Performed 312. Jeans pioneer, ... Strauss 313. ... dong dell

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 63

Solution on Page 42

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Page 64 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Observer Victorian Sport Melbourne

Record entries for Blue Diamond

■ The Melbourne Racing Club is over the moon with the record entries received for one of their jewels in the crown, the Blue Diamond Stakes, run in February each year for two-year olds.

A record 812 juveniles remain in contention for next year's $1.5 million Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes over 1200 metres. The figure shatters last year's total of 706.

Leading trainers David and Ben Hayes along with nephew Tom Dabernig, are again top the list of first acceptors with 101.

The training partnership are well ahead of the next represented trainer, another leading trainer Tony McEvoy with (65), while topSydney trainers, Peter and Paul Snowden have nominated (54).

Two times Blue Diamond Stakes winner, Mick Price, has entered (51) while the combination of young trainers, Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, also have nominated (51) youngsters.

Champion sire, I Am Invincible, with (49), who sired 32 individual two-year old winners last season, is just in front of another great stallion in Snitzel, with (47), among the best represented stallions, with another up and coming young sire, Zoustar, a close third with (41).

Zoustar's representation among first acceptors, include Tony McEvoy's, Sisstar, a full sister to superstar filly, Sunlight, who won the Ottawa Stakes at Caulfield in great style.

Other notable first acceptances include By A Whisker, the Lindsay Park trained colt, who is a full brother to 2017 Blue Diamond Stakeswinner, Catchy, and unbeaten colt, Time To Reign, prepared by leading Sydney trained, Gary Portelli, a half- brother to champion sprinter, She Will Reign.

Early season Victorian two-year old winners among the first acceptors include Gai Waterhouse and Andrew Bott's Inglis Banner winner,Espaaniyah, and Maribyrnong Trial winner, Unite and Conquer.

Mick Price's Merson Cooper Stakes winner, Steal My Kisses, and Ciaron Maher and David Eustace's Ottawa Stakes winner, Bella Rossa, have also been entered.

Anaheed's dominant four length victory in the Vein Plate win on debut has convinced Peter and Paul Snowden to pay the late $5500 first late entry fee for their Fastnet Rock filly, while connections of unraced Zoustar filly, My Blue Wings, to be trained by Chris Meagher, have also paid the late entry fee.

The 2019 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes series commences with the Blue Diamond Previews over 1000 metres a Group 3 race for two year-0ld fillies, and listed for colts in January 26.

This will be followed by The Group 2 for fillies over 1100 metres, and a Group 3, for Colts and Geldings on February 9, culminating two weeks later in the Group One Blue Diamond Stakes over 1200 metres at Caulfield on Saturday February 23.

All horses nominated for the Blue Diamond next year, will remain eligible for the 2019 Group 3 Catanach's Jewellers Blue Sapphire Stakes, even if their nomination lapses at the first, second third or final acceptance stage.

Second declarations for next year's Blue Diamond, close at 12 noon on Tuesday January 8.

How good is she?

■ Racing scribes were quickly looking for their record books, when Japanese filly, Almond Eye, streeted them in the Japan Cup. In doing so she broke the track record, running an astounding 2 minutes, 20.6 seconds, for the 2400 metre trip.

Her trainer, Sakae Kunieda, said after her great win that the world is now her oyster.

I would say Gold, on checking the record for the Caulfield Cup run over the same distance, it is held by Diatribe, who ran 2 minutes 25.2 seconds winning in 2000.

That is an incredible time recorded by Almond Eye, and considering the fact if they set her for the Caulfield Cup next year she would

● Cross Counter, with Kerrin McEvoy aboard, wins the Melbourne Cup. Racing Photos. become a mare and even be much stronger.

This is after a very successful Spring RacAlond Eye finished second at her first out- ing Carnival. ing, and has won her last six starts.

Racing Victoria's full year results, published On the time run in the Japan Cup, she would at the end of October this year, show that watake a power of beating. gering revenue increased to $355.37 million off The Japanese galloper, Admire Rakti, won the back of record turnover of $6.39 billion durthe Caulfield Cup back in 2014, before suffer- ing the 12 month period ending June 30 this ing a heart attack in the Melbourne Cup in the year. same year.

This drove RV's overall revenue up 3.25 per I am pretty sure that Melbourne Racing Club cent to $424.25 million and saw it deliver an Racing Manager, Jake Norton, would have al- FY18 net surplus of $5.65 million, while faciliready been on the phone to Almond Eye's con- tating a targeted increase in expenditure, prinections about next year's Caulfield Cup. marily to service multi-year Club funding agreeWhat a drawcard she would be providing ev- ments and major prizemoney increases. erything swings along prior to the big day.

Customer engagement has continued to thrive during the Spring Racing Carnival which launched on September 1, this year, with the $1 million Memsie Stakes at Caulfield and offi■ Racing Victoria officials will have to suck a cially concluded with the Ballarat Cup. lemon for six months to get the smile off their Total turnover on the 26 metropolitan and faces, after figures on betting Victoria Racing country meetings held from Memsie Stakes day was up. to the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival had increased by 8.8 per cent year-on-year.

Wagering records were broken across many feature race days with total domestic turnover reaching an all-time high for the Caulfield Guineas meeting, with a record $100.3 million invested across all areas on October 13.

A great effort considering that was the same day as the Everest in Sydney.

Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Eve delivered another milestone reaching $44.1 million - the highest for an Australian race meeting.

This was followed the next day with the Cox Plate meeting, which topped $115 million, the next day.

There was plenty more to come, with Derby Day turnover at Flemington surging to $153 million, while the final stakes day reached $109 million up 11.8 per cent on year-on-year.

The Lexus Melbourne Cup remains the biggest wagering meeting in Australia racing with over $312 million in domestic turnover.

While this represented a 6.8 per cent yearon-year decline as a direct result of the outages experienced by major online betting sites on Cup Day, and the impacts of the downpour, strong bookmaker margins saw wagering revenue grow by 2.2 per cent.

Despite the much publicised impacts on Cup Day wagering, total domestic turnover on the four day Lexus Melbourne Cup Carnival grew by 1.5 per cent to $656.7 million.

Country meetings continued to thrive during the Spring Racing Carnival with three Cup Meetings, Cranbourne, Geelong and Bendigo, all attracting in access of $20 million in turnover.

Only the Geelong Club achieved this feat in 2017.

- Ted Ryan

Happy chappies

Ted Ryan

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

Wine Column Delicious 'natural' wines: quite an achievement

● Jason O'Dea ■ The wheel has certainly for organic or 'natural' wines.

Just a few years ago winemakers who took on this task were labeled by the industry as crackpots dicing with failure chasing a tiny, very fickle market.

No longer. Improvements in technology and a rising awareness from consumers has really turned things around. " The rise of organic, low intervention and 'natural' wines has been a real testament to the increasing quality of these wines," said vigneron Jason O'Dea, who helps run Canowindra's Windowrie and is a key part ofThe Natural Wine Co, a collective of winecommunity professionals who initially banded together to fill a niche for an organic, preservative-free, low-intervention, fruit-driven shiraz. " Historically, organic wines were 'fringe' wines, with the quality being questionable and distribution almost non-existent.

"With our Natural Wine Co wines, we are aiming to produce high-quality organic wines and make them accessible.

"These are low in sulphur, organic and vegan-friendly wines. We are creating valuebased wines simply for people to enjoy - wines to have on a picnic, with a meal or just to enjoy with friends as the sun sets."

"We have learnt a great deal about growing grapes organically over the past 30 years.

It's what we do." Visit www.natural-wineco.com.

WINE REVIEWS The Natural Wine Co 2018 Sauvignon Blanc ($18): A fresh, delightful young dry white which avoids some of the commonly seen excesses of sauvignon blanc. It's made from three parcels of grapes harvested for their diversity of flavour profile, and exhibits none of the oxidized flavours traditionally associated with low-sulphur whites.

The Natural Wine Co 2018 Rosé ($18): Made from the Italian red variety sangiovese, as are so many modern Australian rosés, this is a perfect tipple for the veranda on a sunny summer afternoon.

Or wash down some good pizza with this dry, refreshing pink wine.

WINE OF THE WEEK The Natural Wine Co 2018 Shiraz ($18): Let's listen to Jason O'Dea regarding this excellent full-flavoured dry red: "The 2018 vintage was warmer than average in our region with mostly dry days leading into harvest.

Conditions for flowering were ideal and we experienced an excellent fruit set.

The ripening period was ideal, with some rain prior to harvest. The shiraz's varietal dark berry fruit flavours became evident at 13.5 baumé and increased in intensity until harvest at 14.5 baumé." Well made and well said.

- John Rozentals

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 69

Deck-Doc

Local company chosen as best in the world

For many years Deck-Doc has been supplying retailers throughout Australia with their premium range of timber and decking oils.

For the past three years, Deck-Doc has been predominantly selling their products online to service the whole of Australia as well as international customers.

Deck-Doc was recently chosen over other companies to supply their oils to an international company and is in the process of sealing an agency agreement for exclusive distribution and selling rights in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Deck-Doc timber oil is environmentally friendly and the business has been manufacturing unique, lanolin-based timber oil in Geelong for 15 years.

The formula was developed by Robert Hylands to preserve the natural oils and tannins in the timber.

The timbers oils and tannins determine the colour of the timber.

If the tannins dry out, the timber will lose its own natural colour.

The formula is made up of many different plant oils, waxes and lanolin and designed to stay soft and pliable when absorbed into the surface layers of the timber, therefore will not solidify and form a hard membrane of the surface.

It will move with the timber during all weather conditions preventing water absorption and drying out of the tannins.

Mr Hylands first developed the timber oil when he noticed there was nothing on the market that preserved the timber and protected the timber’s natural colour.

Before his time at Deck-Doc, he gained experience when he owned a factory making hand carved, handpainted wooden decoy ducks for duck hunters.

The timber used for the ducks had to maintain its natural colour and stay on the water without absorbing moisture.

After extensive research, he found lanolin (wool grease) gave excellent water repellency as well as UV protection.

Mr Hylands developed lanolin-based timber protection oil and found the water-repellent protection and preservative way far superior and says lanolin is “Nature’s natural UV protection”.

Lanolin comes from the wool of sheep and is extracted from the fleece.

It is a substance that waterproofs, insulates, and protects sheep from the cold, wind, rain and harmful CV sun rays.

Deck-Doc uses the best merino wool to extract lanolin.

Throughout history ancient mariners such as the Vikings used lanolin to protect, waterproof and preserve the wooden boards on their ships.

Many of the ships were away from their home bases for many years and their ships were subjected to wild storms at sea.

They survived thanks to the protection of Lanolin.

Deck-Doc invites all to visit their showroom in Moolap for free advice in a number of important issues concerning timber care.

There is a large selection of timber types that have been exposed to severe weather conditions, enabling people to understand the importance of choosing a suitable timber type. for the right application.

Also know what happens to the different types of decking stains and coatings, how they weather, and the maintenance required.

The friendly staff have useful hints for anyone preparing to build a new deck.

Page 70 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

Rural News

SUMMER IS HERE, ORDER YOUR TANK NOW

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - Page 71

Page 72 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Learning to Ride

Balance Bikes from Ivanhoe Cycles Balance Bikes (also called training bikes) are pedalless bikes designed to provide fun and exercise and to teach the basic skills of steering, balance and co-ordination.

They are suited to a child from 2 to 5 years of age.

The child simply sits astride the balance bike and "walks" while steering with the handlebars.

It effectively allows them to learn balance without having to learn to pedal at the same time. It cuts the learning "gradient" down. They are also called pre bikes or first bikes.

Balance bikes are becoming increasingly popular, as it is so much easier to learn to ride. Learning to ride can be achieved at their own pace. A less confident child can “walk� it around for as long as they like, then

when ready, they can gradually lift their feet and scoot along until they are ready to simply push off and just roll along.

More confident kids will be flying around with huge smiles in no time at all.

Because they have a sturdy aluminium or steel frame and well constructed wheels they are virtually trouble free, and can be passed down from child to child.

BYK E250L PURPLE $219

GIANT PRE BIKE - RED $199

Mongoose Lilgoose WNR Girls Balance Bike 12 Inch $179

Byk E250L Purple - Girls 14inch Balance Bike

12 inch boys balance bike that is a perfect gradient for learning to ride a real bike

The low stand-over height makes it very easy to get on and off the bike,

LIL ZOOMER BALANCE BIKE - GREEN $99

BYK E200L $189

Little Zoomer Balance Bike in any colour. A fun way to teach balance and coordination! Suitable 2-4 years.

Byk E200L. Balance Bikes make it so much easier for your child to learn to ride.

MONGOOSE LILGOOSE WNR BOYS BALANCE BIKE 12 INCH $179 The Mongoose Lilgoose Balance bike is not only one of the cutest designs we've seen on a training bike.