John Shand Posts

March 12, 2025 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

The Playhouse, March 5 8.5/10 There are glimpses of greatness here. In making his professional stage debut, JK Kazzi does not just perform Shakespeare, he tackles this play’s epic title role. Plucky. While his performance is flawed, when he spears the part, he humanises Henry and lifts him far above…

March 10, 2025 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Concert Hall, March 3 8/10 The lights go down, and Luis Guerreiro’s dazzling Portuguese guitar splinters the silence. Mariza first appears as a silhouette: only her platinum hair and sparkly gown catching the dim light. Then she unleashes the phenomenon that’s her contralto voice; a voice that may have darkened…

February 27, 2025 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Drama Theatre, February 21 6.5/10 Joan Lindsay’s fantastical 1967 novel told of colonial Australians trying to tame a land they didn’t understand, and which therefore seemed hostile. Two schoolgirls – a charismatic and a swot – invaded Hanging Rock with a stitched-up teacher and were consumed: unknowing sacrifices to an…