John Shand Posts

April 27, 2026 / Theatre Reviews

Hayes Theatre, April 15 7/10 For those of you who are reading this on a screen and didn’t know there was another way, about 586 years ago a German bloke named Johannes Gutenberg rather shook things up with a device called a printing press. While this did a thorough job…

April 24, 2026 / Concert Reviews

People’s Republic of Australasia, April 12 9/10 I first wrote about Jon Rose 43 years ago. While I have the misfortune to be 43 years older, his art is not. It is still just as fresh, funny, surprising, beautiful, subversive, inventive and defiant. The defiance is intrinsic. Rose has devoted…

April 22, 2026 / Theatre Reviews

Reginald Theatre, April 11 8/10 “When you speak another language… you go years without making anyone laugh,” Marjan says towards the end of this play, in which she helps four Iranian students in Karaj prepare for their Test of English as a Foreign Language exam. Her statement is mildly ironic,…