John Shand Posts

August 29, 2024 / Theatre Reviews

Belvoir St Theatre, August 22 8/10 Christopher doesn’t do non-verbal communication. Nor does he do metaphors or lying – so he’s deeply suspicious of plays and acting. And he hates being touched so much that he instinctively lashes out at the offender. What he does do is maths and physics.…

August 28, 2024 / Concert Reviews

Goethe-Institut, August 9 8/10 Flying is miraculous not because of altitude, speed, precision or aerodynamics, but because of earth and gravity. So in creating music to celebrate birds and flight, Matthew Ottignon ensured that airiness and velocity are only part of the equation: he also often grounds the music in…

August 27, 2024 / Album Reviews

Empty Voices 9/10 What a shrewd way to draw you in. Hamed Sadeghi begins Empty Voices with a musical supplication, simply entitled Please. Lasting only two-and-a-half minutes, it sets Sadeghi’s ringing tar (a steel-stringed Persian lute) against a simple drone, and yet the sense of entreaty is palpable – as…