Earlier this month White Box Theatre Company and KXT Kings Cross Theatre hosted the world premiere of Dead Skin a new work by emerging playwright and actress Laneikka Denne. My review of the premiere can be found here. I recently sat down with writer and star Laneikka Denne, and director Kim Hardwick, to chat about developing new work, the importance of queer representation, and telling authentic stories about young people.
Dead Skin: Teen Writer Explores Young, Queer Love in Compelling But Scattered New Play
Denne’s story offers a painful look at two young women desperate to be loved but aching from the pain of choosing people who won’t love them back. At times Denne and Hardwick’s commitment to abstract storytelling confuses the story rather than helping it.
Stop Girl Review: Long-Winded Tale of PTSD
Stop Girl is a provocative reflection of what can happen when we succumb to the pressure to achieve at all costs, regardless of deteriorating health and mental health. In the age of the pandemic, where working from home is forcing the boundaries between our personal and professional lives to be blurred, the central message of Stop Girl—that your mental health is more important than any job—is not one to be neglected.
‘Promising Young Woman’ and the Fallacy of the “Nice Guy”
In Promising Young Woman, Writer/Director Fennell uses the familiar character type of Ryan (sweet, funny, unthreatening boyfriend), to argue that ‘nice guys’ who are complicit in the sexual harassment perpetrated by their friends, are not nice guys at all. A nice guy, like Ryan, would never take advantage of a woman. But if his friends are doing it? He might just look away. What’s the consequence of complicity here? In Promising Young Woman, the consequence for Nina, and by extension, Cassie, is devastating.
Love, Looks & Loneliness In FLEABAG Season Two
Unless you live under a pop-culture rock, it is unlikely that you haven’t heard of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the writer, actress and brainchild behind Fleabag. Fleabag, is an Edinburgh Fringe Festival one-woman-show turned award winning television show, about the life of a messy, tragic and darkly hilarious antiheroine named Fleabag (played by Waller-Bridge).
Birds of Prey: A Fierce Assertion of the Female Gaze in a Male-Dominated Genre
Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020), doubles as both a fun action movie, and a fierce assertion of the female gaze in the male-dominated superhero genre. This article was originally posted on Blitz UNSW Viewers will know Harley Quinn from David Ayer’s appallingly bad Suicide Squad (2016), in…
‘52 Films By Women’ Challenge: What Is It, and Why Do We Need It?
I first discovered the #52FilmsByWomen challenge on Twitter in 2018. As a feminist, a movie critic, and a female director, this challenge sat at the intersection between many of my passions, and I was instantly keen to learn more. The challenge, started in 2015 by Los Angeles’ Women in Film, is simple: watch one film…
I Thought the World Was Big: Musings from an Australian in Europe
Growing up in Australia, I thought the world was big. Road trips from Canberra to Sydney lasted forever. Even a ninety-minute flight to the Gold Coast was momentous and exciting. And then, aged nine, I went to America. Surely planes can’t stay up this long? It felt like the pilot was mocking us. America can’t…
The 8 Spiciest Memes about UNSW’s response to the Coronavirus Crisis
It’s safe to say that UNSW’s response to the Coronavirus crisis has been less than ideal. UNSW’s failure to take swift action with shutting down the Uni, and the perceived lack of consideration for student’s well-being, particularly UNSW students studying abroad, has caused widespread discontent across the student body. There was the disregard for the…
Film Inquiry Presents: Best Oscar Nominees That Won Nothing
This article was originally published on Film Inquiry and was written by Emily Wheeler, Tynan Yanaga, Jake Tropila, Jacqui Griffin, and Jo Bradley. As we take a breath and revel in those glorious Parasite wins, it’s perhaps wise to remember why this awards season felt so good. Normally we don’t get that satisfying of an ending, one…
Film Inquiry Presents: The Best TV Shows Of 2010s
This article was originally posted on Film Inquiry and written by Reyzando Nawara and other Film Inquiry writers. To say the last decade had been a transformative era for the development of television would be an understatement. Prestige networks like HBO, FX, and AMC kept feeding us great shows almost every day, while new competitions in the…
Review from the Archives: The Feather in the Web
If The Feather in the Web is one thing – it’s audacious. Like his protagonist, a woman who does whatever she wants and is afraid of nothing, Nick Coyle’s bold new play has a fearlessness that is perfect for the Griffin Theatre Company stage. Kimberley, played by Claire Lovering, is a like a bowling ball,…
scribbles of stage and screen 