Olivia Ansell has proved a shrewd appointment as Sydney Festival’s artistic director. If arts festivals are intended to surprise us and present performances we’d otherwise be unlikely to see, then Ansell’s three events accumulatively outshine all since Fergus Linehan’s 2006-09 burst. But 2024 was not her best. It’s not just…
Category: Features
It’s 1978, and Ireland is on its back. War ravages the north, and the south suffers rabid inflation and crippling unemployment. U2 are yet to dominate the world, and it seems there’s little that’s Irish to raise spirits or spark pride. Then Munster, an amateur rugby union team from Limerick,…
F Scott Fitzgerald could never have imagined the avalanche of adaptations that would cling to the starched shirt-tails of his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. Plays, films, musicals, an opera and even a ballet have milked and re-milked the characters, the opulent setting and the tale of failed love. Now…