More Brit Film
The British Film Festival continues this week at Palace Byron Bay celebrating the breadth and diversity of British cinema. A festival highlight is sure to be the sweeping romantic drama Brooklyn. Acclaimed British storyteller Nick Hornby (An Education), has penned this powerful tale of Eilis Lacey, a young Irish immigrant trying to make her way in 1950s Brooklyn, New York. Fans of the BBC TV spy thriller sensation Spooks will be, well, thrilled to see it get the big-screen treatment in Spooks: The Greater Good, with all the intrigue and drama inherent in this iconic series. Game of Thrones star Kit Harrington stars as Will Holloway, who must team with disgraced MI5 traitor and former chief Harry Pearce to track down a terrorist planning an attack on London.
Closing the festival on Wednesday 18 November, The Man Who Knew Infinity stars Slumdog Millionaire and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’s Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons, in this inspirational biography of a genuine mathematic genius in the early 20th century, following his life from meek beginnings in Madras to great renown at Cambridge, where his knowledge proves to be both a blessing and a curse.
New Years comedy
For the past eight years the Ballina RSL has been hosting the best value New Years Eve gig on the coast. Hosted by the larger-than-life Mandy Nolan, the New Years Eve Comedy Gala Dinner show is built on the long-running success of the regular Big Gig comedy nights and also features musical interludes, a two-course meal and comedy all the way to midnight! Kicking off the evening, patrons will be treated to the fun and sometimes frivolous music of Miss Amber and Stukulele. These two ukulele converts are responsible for the uke presence in the greater Mullumbimby region. Once every month, these passionate uke renegades create themed songbooks and lead a happy throng of ukesters in a massive strum and sing. So far they have tackled uke stylings of gospel, swing, Motown, disco, doo wop, TV themes, The Beatles and more. This New Years Eve they will present the best of the 2015 songbooks with special guest Paul Agar on Hawaiian steel. Happy, feelgood, uplifting and fun.
NYE headline is comedy legend Steady Eddy, referred to as ‘The Bent Man of Comedy’. Steady has been Australian comedy icon for more than 20 years, winning just about every accolade, an ARIA award – that’s right, an Aria award, the prestigious Mo award (twice), performing the invitation-only Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, LA Comedy Store and every country and town in between.
Comedian Steady Eddy will take you on a journey to when things where a little bit more simple, like when a phone was just a phone. He will have you laughing, probably crying laughing, in his original razor-sharp style. Recognised both for his original style and continuous flow of new material, no two Steady Eddy comedy shows are ever the same, and for that matter, neither will you be after watching him. Also featured are Big Gig favourites Chris Radburn and Anne Howe. Dinner and show: 7.30pm 18+ ONLY
Ticket Price: $69.90 pp – includes two-course dinner and show. Groups of ten (10) exactly: $67.90. Tix at the club.
Outspoken youth
Byron Youth Theatre have received funding from the Fundability Program, Northcott and Byron Council that has allowed them enter into a creative collaboration with six young people with disabilities as well as artistic director of SPRUNG Integrated Dance Theatre, Michael Hennessy and dancer and interpreter Alison Toft.
Northcott is an innovative and dynamic not-for-profit organisation that provides support to more than 14,000 people with disabilities and their families and carers in the Byron Shire, as well as across NSW and the ACT. Northcott offers a range of programs that promote a genuinely inclusive society. The combined cast of Outspoken have developed a performance that explores issues of inclusivity, belonging and identity. The piece will include dance, poetry, music and dramatic scenes. There will be a performances held at the Drill Hall in Mullumbimby on Monday 30 November from 10am till 12 noon. Entry by donation.
The courage to care
Putting hope into action: A conversation about community and connection as the basis of transforming our lives (and the world)
These days everyone is talking about ‘connection’, but very often is seems more like a slogan than an actual end goal. So what does ‘Connection’ really mean, and what does it look like in your own life? Or in your community? Or in the world at large? In a world saturated with information, how do we find meaning that is relevant to us and make sense of it all? Social provocateur and comedian Mandy Nolan hosts a robust, entertaining and highly informative conversation with three inspirational thinkers whose ideas and actions challenge the dominant paradigm, pushing comfortable people way out of their comfort zones!
Featuring Alan Clements, a longtime friend of the Shire, is an author, activist, spoken-word artist and world Dharma teacher. One of the first Westerners to become a Buddhist monk in Burma, he is now a maverick working for global sanity, while sharing his spiritually incorrect message worldwide. He is the author of Instinct for Freedom, The Voice of Hope: Conversations with Burma’s Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and A Future to Believe. He has been interviewed for ABC National, Talk to America, the New York Times, Time and Newsweek magazines, Yoga Journal, and numerous other media. He has presented at Mikhail Gorbachev’s State of The World Forum and delivered a keynote for Amnesty International’s 30th year anniversary in Los Angeles. Also featured as a panelist is Helena Norberg-Hodge – a pioneer of the new-economy movement and recipient of both the Alternative Nobel prize and the Goi Peace Prize. Helena’s inspirational classic Ancient Futures has been translated into almost 40 languages. She is also the producer of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness, which is the inspiration behind a series of international conferences. She is the founder of Local Futures (formally ISEC) and the International Alliance for Localisation (IAL), and a founding member of the International Forum on Globalisation (IFG) and the Global Ecovillage Network. Also in the hot seat is Mark Swivel, a lawyer and writer who lives in Mullumbimby. He believes in building social capital and has long worked with credit unions, arts companies and other non-profits as adviser and director. He has written plays over the years (Water Falling Down was on at QTC Brisbane in 2011 and B Street in Sacramento, USA in 2012) and is currently performing his show How Deep is Your Love? – a seriously funny show about a man who falls in love in Bangladesh… with a bank. Mark is a proud member of the Dustyesky Choir, secretary of Eureka FC and director of Spaghetti Circus. Saturday 28 November at Club Mullum (Mullumbimby Ex-Services) at 8pm. Entry is $10 (further donations also welcome) and ALL proceeds go to the Mullumbimby Neighborhood Centre’s More than a Meal program. (The centre lost significant funding in recent federal budget cuts.)
Tickets at the club or at the door on the night.
Big River in Ballina
Both music and characters stand out in Big River, the Roger Miller musical, a great story of adventure on the Mississippi with a foot-stomping country-music score. There is Huckleberry Finn (Brian Pamphilon), the eternal kid Tom Sawyer (Josh Green) and the honourable runaway slave Jim (Carl Moore). Disrupting their journey are the outrageous pair of snake-oil salesmen, the King (Graeme Speed) and the Duke (Tim Roberts), who escape an angry mob to join the raft. Big River is a show with great music, entertaining characters and lots of laughs, and beyond the fun it will make you think. A memorable musical experience for all the family.
Big River will be staged at the Players Theatre from Friday until 5 December. Evening performances begin at 8pm and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Opening-night patrons will receive a complimentary glass of champagne.
Book online at www.ballinaplayers.com.au or at Just Funkin’ Music, 6686 2440.
