THIS year’s Over the Fence Comedy Film Festival, The (Un) Making of Relationships! is all about making and breaking up. “We put the ‘Un’ in brackets because some movies are about the destruction of relationships, but some are not,” says organiser Greg Coffey. He describes the 15 short films from Iran, Turkey, France, Australia, the…

THERE is literally magic in the air halfway through Aladdin when a flying carpet soars across the stage. When the curtain fell I thought the star of the show must be set designer Bob Crowley, but Jim Steinmyer, who devises the illusions, was also a strong candidate. The audience gasped when Aladdin entered a cave…

BIRDS, frogs and possums peep hesitantly from inside jars, while other animals are etched onto pages torn from old, mysterious books. Bird in a Bell Jar is Kati Thamo’s latest exhibition, and the walls of Turner Galleries are lined with her muted canvases. Born in Perth to Hungarian parents, Thamo taps into her ancestral past…

Fly By Night Club and Starr Special Events present Albert Lee on August 12 at the Charles Hotel Perth Grammy winning legendary guitarist for Emmylou Harris and Eric Clapton returns for first Australian shows this decade. “He’s the greatest guitarist in the world. The ultimate virtuoso. His skill is extraordinary, his ear is extraordinary and…

SEQUINS will fly and nipple pasties will twirl, boys will be girls and girls will be boys… No, I’m not talking the upcoming Liberal Party conference, but the final of Miss Burlesque Australia at the Astor Theatre next Saturday (July 28). Guest performers include Karl Kayoss from Nollamara, who last year won Mr Boylesque Australia,…

THE beguiling and hypnotic Watch Me Read You washes through the office, prompting a young colleague to ask; “Is that Odette? She’s awesome”. Opening with a stanza more lyrical poem than song, the power, complexity and passion Odette (Georgia Odette Sallybanks) brings to Watch Me Read You belies her 20 years, even more so when…

REVELATION Perth International Film Festival kicked off on Thursday (July 5) with a cinefile’s paradise of 180 movies from Australia and around the world over two weeks. WA’s leading international film festival, Revelation is dedicated to presenting independent movies and documentaries,”in a context that explores film’s great traditions, its contemporary movements and its future directions,”…

MUSIC lovers are counting down the days to Perth’s newest jazz festival – King Street Corner Pocket. The boutique festival will be held in venues in and around King Street from July 5-7, and is named after the Count Basie song Corner Pocket. “And this is a corner pocket of Perth,” says Simon Keen, general…

IN most people’s eyes, Superman Returns was a phenomenal success. The 2006 blockbuster starring newcomer Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel was praised by critics, adored by fans, nominated for an Academy Award, selected in Empire’s top 500 films of all time and was the best-selling DVD of that year. But Warner Brothers thought…

MUSICIANS are a hardy breed if jazz drummer Michael Pignéguy is anything to go by. Not only has he been liaising with musicians across the globe to form The Awakenings Ensemble for an international tour, he’s also been preparing to move back to Perth after living in Qatar for 10 years. The Ensemble is an…