John Shand Posts

March 2, 2026 / Concert Reviews

Chatswood Concourse Concert Hall, February 25 8.5/10 Martin Hayes excels at enunciating the exquisite sadness of being. Like the trumpet playing of Miles Davis or the singing of Billy Holiday and Jose Carreras, it’s ever present in the great Irish violinist’s sound and phrasing. Beyond the airs and laments in…

February 27, 2026 / Features

A young Simon Burke saw the poster for Nimrod Theatre Company’s The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin, showing a young boy smoking a cigarette, and wondered why he hadn’t been cast in the role. After all, he’d recently done Nimrod’s Kookaburra with The Elocution’s director, Richard Wherrett, and had since been…

February 24, 2026 / Theatre Reviews

ART

Roslyn Packer Theatre, February 19 8/10 Imagine if where you are reading this review was just white space. No words. What if, rather than missing words, the white space constituted a work of visual art? Nothingness would be just as valid as much else that passes for art, after all.…