The night of my first assignment for Scenestr magazine 21MAR207. Copyright Karen Marken.
Last Friday I reached a milestone with Scenestr magazine, I have now had 100 posts published with them online or in their printed copies on the street. This all started with a review I submitted to them of Hidden Figures that Karen had won tickets to see. The review was published 23 February, 2017.
Best film of 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At New Farm for the first screening I attended where I needed to sign a review embargo agreement. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The first film I reviewed on assignment for Scenestr magazine. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Within a couple of months I realised if I wanted to make the most of my opportunities there I would have to put my hand up to do interviews. Despite having done this in the past at university I was still quite nervous when I did my first interview with the stars of Grease: The Arena Spectacular Meghan O’Shea and Drew Weston almost two years ago. Knowing it scared me made me confident it would be truly rewarding and that turned out to be true.
In 2018 there were 50 posts published online of my work, it is doubtful I will match that output moving forward, there are things I am currently pursuing away from Scenestr but I am grateful to continue my work for the biggest street press magazine in the country.
The Purple Cinema at New Farm Cinemas the night I went to them for the first time to see Valerian 08AUG2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Warm-up act for Cher 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Outside Metro Arts night of seeing Lord of the Thrones in 2017.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Young Australian Filmmakers Awards 14OCT2017as part of Byron Bay Film Festival 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas December 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Outside Crete Street Theatre following the great Beenleigh Theatre Production of ‘Lord of the Flies’ 19JAN2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The delicious menu from SABA at the Cine Latino Film Festival Opening Night 2017.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Italian Film Festival Opening Night 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Blue Room Cinebar for the first time to attend a critics’ screening of ‘The Breaker Upperers’ 03JUL2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At QPAC for the Queensland Symphony Orchrestra 12MAY2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Myer Centre Cinemas in Brisbane CBD for ‘Captain Marvel’ 05MAR2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Italian Film Festival Opening Night 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Brisbane Comedy Festival 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas after seeing ‘Wonder Wheel’ 04DEC2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Pretty neat having my own Media pass at Byron Bay Film Festival 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
‘Uncle Vanya’ 18AUG2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
19AUG2017 ‘Lord of the Thrones’. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
About to see Tom Gleeson at Brisbane Comedy Festival 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At Chermisde for ‘Godzilla II: King of the Monsters’ 29MAY2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BIFF 2018! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At the Queensland Maritime Museum to see Act/React’s ‘Kiss of the Vampire Squad’. This was performed on HMAS Diamantina as part of the Anywhere Theatre Festival 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Byron Bay 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At Brunsick Heads 07OCT2017 for the Byron Bay Film Festival 2017 to see the excellent film The Go-Betweens: Right Here. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BCF 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At QPAC for Circa in DEC2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BCF 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
After Hellboy at Chermside cinemas10APR2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas December 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Director of ‘Celeste’ Ben Hackworth talking about his film with BIFF Artistic Director Amanda Slack-Smith. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
All the people coming to see Cher in 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Hedda by the Queensland Theatre company 15NOV2018.. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The opportunity Scenestr gives writers and how that flows onto the rest of the print industry is extraordinary. I hope to be working for them for a long time yet.
Of the 100 posts published, 10% were reviews of stand-up comedians and their shows, 29% were theatre reviews, 28% were film reviews, 32% were interviews and 1% were reviews of Cher concerts.
The first time on assignment at Brisbane Powerhouse for ‘The Soldier’s Wife’ 10JUN2017 as part of the Queensland Cabaret Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
If you’re been along with me for part of the journey I hope you have enjoyed the ride, I thank you for your support and I hope to continue with you by my side. Two years ago this milestone seemed very distant if even possible and it has been one of the great joys of my life to have had this happen to me at 36 when I was feeling that life was kind of passing me by. I feel very grateful to my editors for their support and knowledge and to all our readers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 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, Victoria and Queensland every month.
-Lloyd Marken
Karen arriving at the 2017 Bryon Bay Film Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
About to see Bad Moms 2 in 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At BRISFEST 2018 for ‘Ode to Man’. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At the Spring Hill Reservoir to check out some Shakespeare in 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen about to see ‘What Rhymes WIth Cars and Girls’ in 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen in City Hall for Tom Gleeson during the 2018 Brisbane Comedy Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Following ImproMafia‘s Heartfelt High on Tuesday night we next made plans to catch up with some friends on Saturday for the last round of After Hours and of course if we were going to do that then we decided we would attend Queensland Theatresports Championships the same night at 7:45pm. So on Saturday 23MAR2019 that’s exactly what we did. There were no pepperoni pizzas or chips with aioli though beloved they remain. We went up to the balcony and chatted with an airline employee from Hong Kong before the show began. I still marvel that this show is for free and it adds so much to the festival. One team, BCF, we’d seen compete two weeks earlier once again they were great as was everyone.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright LLoyd Marken.
After hours leaving. Copyright Looyd Marken.
Outside the Powerhouse on the last Saturday night of the Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken
The performers on stage during Theatresports. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
These Minis were driven around Brisbane by comedians. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Afterwards I got some lemon, lime & bitters and sat down with Karen killing time. I ran into the talented sketch comedian Mark Lombard who confirmed with me that I had written the review of Brisburned@Work for Scenestr. He thanked me for the review and I congratulated him on the show. I enjoyed the exchange. You see performers around all the time at the Festival and I never quite know what to do but Mark did.
As we got closer to the time for After Hours our friends arrived and we went outside to the river to meet them. I talked up the highlight reel aspect of the first After Hours we saw but noted it could be different tonight and boy am I glad I added that disclaimer. We descended to the Turbine Studio that night and saw something more akin to what I was expecting the first time. Some comedian came out snorting and rubbing his nose before referencing he’d been drinking. Another felt he was dying and referenced that a fellow comedian Demi Lardner was laughing at him backstage while this happened. I don’t know if anybody was trying out rawer or edgier material for this particular show but if not, they were hardly conservative acts. Also with the festival wrapping up there were no cabaret shows trying to sell last show tickets, just comedians plying their trade. We saw Demi Lardner (energetic and brash – totally owning her set), Matt Stewart (the nicest and one of the funnier people on the night), Tom Ballard (the biggest name probably there that night and a solid closer although even he seemed to note there was a lot of anger in his bit). Blake Freeman (who does the kind of gross awkward humour that makes you nervous but kind of gets away with it because there’s something so likeable there). There were two more and I liked them but their names escape me. Dusty Rich was of course on hand to compere and came away the winner of the night doing some audience interaction with a big unit named Cammo. The only thing funnier for me was Ballard explaining where smashed avo comes from. We stole off into the night again certainly having experienced an After Hours not as good as the first one we saw but still remaining a show we would be eager to see next year. In fact a strong had been made to see if more than once every year!
Karen and I outisde City Hall about to go in. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Brisbane CIty Hall. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
That left my assignment for Scenestr magazine the next day over at the Ithaca Auditorium in Brisbane City Hall at 5pm. If you’re of a certain age you know of the Doug Anthony All Stars, they were just before my time but I saw some old The Big Gig episodes on Foxtel in the 90s and heard them whispered about in awe. One member Paul McDermott became a big deal to me with a little show called Good News Week which was of my time.
A relative of mine had MS and I saw her fight it for two decades. I took part in the fundraising Moonlight Walks for MS along my city’s river in 2007, 2009 and 2010 thinking about her and many like her. Some of them taking part in the walk.
You see Tim Ferguson has MS, he’s 55 and he’s in a wheelchair. He was diagnosed in 1996 and went public in 2010. That was nine years ago when he walked with a cane. Diagnosis means one thing in terms of how things are going to end but that one thing is coming for us all. There was something deep and shared in Tim’s show. There was a little boy talking about his Dad, a rebel apologising, an young man passing on wise counsel, a sick man proving his virility, an old man looking forward to the future. I told Mark Lombard on Saturday night that Brisburned@Work was Karen’s favourite show at the festival and I was telling the truth. On Sunday night we left the auditorium and Karen turned to me and said “I have a new favourite.”
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr. is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 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, Victoria and Queensland every month.
That concluded Brisbane Comedy Festival 2019, I had been on assignment 4 times with Scenestr, once for Weekend Notes and seen all up 11 shows. It has been quite a month and I feel really blessed and I thank you for coming along for the ride.
I have certainly been in full festival mode at this year’s Brisbane Comedy Festival.
Karen and I with her best friend saw Raven On Thursday night 14MAR2019 at the Brisbane Room in Brisbane City Hall. Raven On was a one woman production from Act/React starring Natalie Bochenski making peace with the impending end of the Game of Thrones. As a fan of Love/Hate Actually and Bochenski I eagerly awaited attending. Yet I found the show a little padded out and indulgent, missing the interplay and contrast with a fellow performer. Yet Bochenski remains one of the most entertaining and likeable presences you can find on stage. There were definitely highlights for me including a video of her Nan, a rap recap of the series that I hope goes viral , a gif involving David Bowie and an epic sword fight. Not to mention Bochenski herself, she’s kind of amazing. So I enjoyed it but thought it could have been even better yet despite my misgivings Karen and her friend were adamant it was a great show so there you go. Maybe there was something in the fact that I got excited when a poster for Independence Day appeared whereas they were more moved when Colin Firth’s performance in Pride and Prejudice got covered.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken/
City Hall after the show. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New unicorn shoes on the famous tiled floor of Brisbane City Hall. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Tasty. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen and I grabbing something to eat a the nearby Pig’N’Whistle. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Albert Street Uniting Church. Where Karen and I got married. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Brisbane Room before the performance. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
With Karen before we went in. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Brisbane City Hall. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Exiting the main entrance. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Wine in a can. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
From there that Sunday we saw Queensland Theatresports Championships again at the Brisbane Powerhouse which was even better than last time if that is possible.
Karen on the balcony. Last time we were below at a table. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The talented performers on stage at the Turbine Platform. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
On our way in. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
My beloved pepperoni pizza from bar menu. Simple but effective. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
It was a rainy Sunday when we attended Theatresports. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Then on Tuesday night I was on assignment for the first time for Weekend Notes to attend ImproMafia‘s latest show Heartfelt High a lampoon of all teen shows form the 1990s. It was a thrill to get to review the show for Weekend Notes and keen readers will observe I’ve seen some shows from those involved with ImproMafia. Lord of the Thrones, Animated! at Brisbane Comedy Festival 2018 and they present Queensland Theatresports Championships. Performers involved are also part of Act/React and The Shadow Collective. It’s fair to say I’m familiar with their work and I’m a fan. Opening night of Heartfelt High did not disappoint but I do hope for larger more boisterous crowds to be in attendance at subsequent shows. You can read my review here https://www.weekendnotes.com/heartfelt-high-impromafia-brisbane-comedy-festival/
Weekend Notes are a growing online magazine with a wealth of contributors based out of several cities across the United Kingdom, Australia and New York. Articles are leisure related and can include a wide variety of subjects from rainforest hikes to cultural festivals, from what hot new play is on at your underground theatre to a ultra trendy eatery. Writers are paid for their work based partly on how many views their articles get so please feel free to stop by and show some love.
-Lloyd Marken
Outside City Hall on assigment for Weekend Notes for the first time. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Sunset. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Outside the Brisbane Room. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The Brisbane room right after the show. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
It was a thrill to attend the Brisbane Comedy Festival to review Tom Gleeson’s show Sure Thing for Scenestr magazine last Friday night. Following on from Rich Hall, Animated! by ImproMafia this was the first time Karen and I went to see a performance in the Auditorium at the Brisbane City Hall which has been renovated in recent years. I sent a picture to my mother as my great grandfather had been a caretaker at City Hall. It turns out he played on that organ for her when she was a little girl.
The organ at Brisbane City Hall Main Auditorium. Copyright Lloyd Marken
It’s a grand venue but not a natural fit for a stand-up comedian so only one at the height of their powers would perform in such a room and only a major headliner would get the chance. Tom Gleeson is such a comedian who I primarily know from all of his television performances. It is not a surprise that he was edgier on stage but he remained as likeable as ever and we had a good laugh. You can read my review here http://scenestr.com.au/comedy/tom-gleeson-review-brisbane-comedy-festival-2018-20180327
In a nice twist the review has been shared on Gleeson’s professional Facebook page with him mentioning “I haven’t heard of this publication but they like my live show, so now I like them.” The review has accordingly gotten some approval from him and his fans. I can’t deny that I’ve enjoyed that and am happy for the magazine.
This is the 50th post I’ve had published with Scenestr 1 year, 1 month and 3 days since my first published post. Out of those 50 posts I have done 17 interviews, 14 films reviews, 14 reviews of theatre shows and 5 reviews of stand-ups performing. I feel really blessed.
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 Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane every month. If you’re into music they’re a great read but they do cover all of the arts including festivals, stand-up comics, fashion, theatre and film. I feel very fortunate to get to write for them.
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 