John Shand Posts

March 10, 2025 / Concert Reviews

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

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…

February 23, 2025 / Theatre Reviews

Belvoir St Theatre, February 19 7/10 What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done, by yourself or as part of a collective? Can you say it out loud? Does anyone else know? Do you resent them for knowing? Will you ever forget this thing you did? Can you ever forgive yourself?…