This English-language multi-discipline theatre production combines visuals, dance, music with a Hitchcock-like thriller ambience to tell the tale of a simple woman with simple needs. The audience enters her world where she controls everything that happens her – namely, her kitchen. If you’re nice to her then she will play you her favourite Bollywood songs and maybe fix you something to eat… Directed by Grainne Delaney, this play stars its author, Krishna Kaur.
New rock and roll space adventure blasts off quite fittingly at the Apollo Theater. Best suited to ages five and up, this musical odyssey follows the adventures of Nova Squadron, earth’s elite interstellar heroes, as they seek the powerful and elusive magical Space Rock. The good guys, headed by Captain Kirrack, include an alien named Stella, the robot Simon and outlaw-turned-hero, Ferret. This new outer space adventure comes from Emerald City Theatre Company’s creative team of Alyn Cardarelli and Grammy-nominated Steve Goers, who created the Emerald City hit, ‘Frosty’.
Every Sunday evening from October to March you can catch a film at the ‘Espace Senghor in Etterbeek. The chosen films come from all over the globe and are shown in their original language. A short film precedes every feature and after the screening you are invited to have a drink at the bar to discuss the evening’s entertainment. Occasionally there’s music as well – recently the Cuban group ‘Doble Impacto’ performed prior to a showing of the ‘Buena Vista Social Club’.
Was the future of rock and roll born in a Texas border town? Possibly not, but storming El Paso punks At The Drive-In are doing a mighty fine job enlivening the musical present. Returning to Barcelona after a sensational gig in the city last year, their Garatge date is sure to fill up quickly, thanks to word of mouth and the success of their third album. ‘Relationship of Command’ is full of tunes that creep up on you from behind – and then hit you very hard over the head.
The famed Sir Peter Hall returns to the Ahmanson, after last season’s critically acclaimed ‘Amadeus’, to direct the ultimate love story. The play, based on Arthur Brooke’s ‘The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet’, is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and enduring plays. After the phenomenal success of Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation starring Leonardo Di Caprio, it will be interesting to see how theatre luvvie Hall manages to keep the audience entertained.
Billing itself as ‘DC’s best sports bar’, The Rock is probably telling the truth, but more from lack of competition than excellence. Still, situated directly across from the MCI Center, The Rock’s three lively floors and rooftop bar are good places to hang before or after the game. With the arrival of the rival ESPN Zone next door, the Rock has upgraded the key element of any sports bar – the number of televisions, which currently is at 50 regular screens and five jumbos.
For a traditional Florentine meal, you could do worse than catch the bus or take a taxi up to Pian dei Giuliari, a quiet little village on the hill just south of the city. This old-fashioned trattoria has now moved up-market from its modest origins and it enjoys fabulous views over olive groves and down to the city centre. Dishes include pasta with tasty rabbit sauce, traditional soups, ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta and tossed in melted butter, crispy deep-fried chicken or rabbit, steak, roast pork; all good, wholesome dishes and typical of simple Tuscan fare.
One music crit warns parents to lock up their sons if this four-member teen girl band come their way, it’s not hard to see why. The tight leather trousers and t-shirt clad Donnas, named A, B, C and D, sing lines like ‘I’m looking for some fresh meat’ and boast of sizing up hot dudes down at the minimart. From Palo Alto, the Donnas launched themselves while still at high school, their third album, ‘Get Skintight’, came in 1999. Garage-like power pop sound with scorching guitar solos and a metal feel.
Judging by the number of weekly illegal contraband seizures by the Customs Department, one would think that smuggling anything is Australia’s favourite pastime. A quick tour of this exhibition won’t dispel that notion. A simulation of the giant $400 million heroin haul grabbed by Customs agents in 1998, a bizarre armadillo handbag and a mannequin will be on view in a display of smugglers’ preferred hiding places, while real shipping containers recreate the smuggler’s environment.
