Friday night and I saw my two final shows at Wonderland for 2018 on assignment with Scenestr, one I was eagerly anticipating Two Man Tarantino and the other Claire Healy: (Get A) Real Job interested me with its subject matter.
The week was one of those weeks that you dream about as a freelance writer, Wednesday night I was on assignment for a preview screening of a movie with one publication and then I was due to see three shows at Wonderland on Thursday and Friday night. They were good shows, all with something to offer it is true but there are criticisms I have. One thing that struck me about both shows that concluded my attendance at the festival this year was how they got better as they went along and finished strongly. I walked out of Claire Healy’s one-woman show late Friday night and felt a little bit better about the movie I’d seen Wednesday, a little bit better about the shows I’d seen at Wonderland that week and a little bit better about life in general. Not bad.
You can read my review for Two Man Tarantino here http://scenestr.com.au/arts/two-man-tarantino-brisbane-review-wonderland-festival-2018-20181203 and Claire Healy here http://scenestr.com.au/arts/claire-healy-get-a-real-job-brisbane-review-wonderland-festival-2018-20181203
The five shows I saw at Wonderland 2017 I enjoyed more but I felt with a lot of the shows this year I was seeing artists earlier in their careers taking it to the next level, doing more with less, refining their art and figuring out what they want to achieve. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
At Wonderland 2017 I felt like seeing Nath Valvo gave me an insight into what Melbourne already knew, that here was a comedian about to go national. Love/Hate Actually in 2018 returned triumphantly to Wonderland following a tour that took in amongst other places Ipswich, the Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne and Fiji. Michelle Zahner has taken A Modern Guide to Heroism and Sidekickery to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Who knows where we will see Claire Healy, Anisa Nandaula, Adam Koudi, Kayne Falkiner, Vashti Hughes, Matt Abell-King, Emily Kristopher, Stephen Hirst and Sam Bowden next.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Celebrating 25 years in 2018 of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and now Victoria! every month too.
-Lloyd Marken
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 
I enjoyed both reviews, Lloyd, and like the sound of ‘Two-Man Tarantino’ a lot.
Well done with getting all those critic gigs. Great work!
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks Pete, I was really happy to get 5 gigs again at Wonderland. It’s a magical time of the year. I’d be hard pressed to pick a favourite out of those that I reviewed but I saw Love/Hate Actually again and that was the best for me.
I’d submit for consideration that out of the 5 reviews I wrote, the Claire Healy one was maybe the best if not The Grass Is Dead. What do you reckon?
It’s interesting that I don’t know the artists, and read the reviews with no knowledge of their work. As a guide, I use them to wonder who I would pay to watch. In the case of Claire Healy, I doubt I would buy a ticket, but I would be tempted by Two Man Tarantino, as it seems like something different. I believe that your reviews have become more critically balanced over time, and provide real information to let the reader decide on talent choices.
That is nice to know, I’d say the bulk of what I get to review I enjoyed but it should be obvious if I liked Dunkirk more than Kingsman 2. More importantly though is if you read my review do you get an idea of whether you’d enjoy it based on why I am critical of it or championing it. Sounds like I’m doing that so that’s good. Thanks Pete and best wishes. 😉
What fun! You are rising in the world. 😉 Offical film critic. It has a nice ring to it!
That would be nice. 🙂 It’s good work if you can get it. How are you going mate? Been a busy year for you.
Hiya! Busy. Too busy this year. I took on an extra job so I could buy stuff and pay for my granddaughter to to go to England/Scotland with me next July. I finished my book! I hired an editor who combed through it and now I’m cleaning up the manuscript. I’ve written my query letter and am about to go fishing for an agent. Fingers crossed.
Family from South Africa is coming for a 2 week visit. Yikes!
You seem happy.
Fingers crossed Cindy and I look forward to the post about the UK and hope you and your granddaughter have a wonderful time. I am happy mostly. One’s blog like all social media is a chance to cultivate the life you wish to project. I try to be honest with references to a day job and so forth. But essentially I do feel very lucky and I plod along. We all have our challenges, I’m no different. As Pete would say, best wishes Cindy.
Lloyd, you are a fine man and I wish I could meet you face-to-face one day. I enjoy your post and feel blessed with your friendship. 🙂
Thank you Cindy and right back at you. Thank you for the kind words and Merry Christmas my friend.
🙂