We all need a good laugh

Byron Comedy Festival returns for 2022 with more than 20 artists to tickle your funny bone.

It’s ideal timing because we all need – and deserve – a laugh.

Let’s face it, with covid and floods, 2022 hasn’t been the funniest of years. It might not seem like the biggest priority right now to take time to be entertained by a comedian, but this festival wants to remind you that laughter is a much-needed release when times are tough.

Laughter increases our intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates our hearts, lungs and muscles, and loads our brains with feel-good endorphins. So, phone a friend and book in some live laughs.

Choose from Sammy J’s politically-infused songs, Melanie Bracewell’s Kiwi-accented wit, Lawrence Mooney’s dulcet-radio-voice gags, Adam Zwar’s musings on whether you can be both woke and funny, Sam Simmon’s unconventional silliness, Sean Choolburra’s high-energy Black Fella Yarns, Lindsay Webb’s warm-up-guy skills, Chris Ryan’s laconic newcomer magic, and Damien Power and Jacques Barrett’s double-dynamite show.

Mandy Nolan and Ellen Briggs will perform Women Like Us – yep, even if Mandy is a fully-fledged politician, and there’s a great lineup of local comedians in the Local Flavours Comedy Smorgasbord, including Ballina’s Alexandra Hudson, with more to be confirmed.

The festival doesn’t forget the kids. There are three kid-friendly shows at the Surf Club on Sunday 12 June: A Bit of Blue is a wonderful and captivating detective-story puppet show; The Magical World of Crazy Science will open eyes in wonder at columns of elephant toothpaste and mountains of slime, and; Rebel Bingo is a family-friendly game of bingo crossed with a twister-fuelled dance class. A Sunday Family Fun Pass gives you access to all three shows for a puppetry-science-bingo- filled afternoon.

Can’t decide? We hear you! Festival Passes give you access to multiple shows, with a sizable discount. Friday and Saturday Night Passes are new to the festival menu and will let you push the fun-dial to max!

Another option is to take pot-luck at the Best of the Fest closing gig. Who will be in the lineup? You’ll find out on the night and can guarantee laughs from host Mandy Nolan. This show was voted the ‘most hilarious’ in 2021.

Thursday to Sunday, 9–12 June, at the Beach Hotel and Byron Bay Surf Club.
For more info visit: www.byroncomedyfest.com

Single tickets from $20–$50, Festival Pass $55–$299.

David Bowie’s high wire Rebel

Rebel is a glittering glam rock non-stop circus Bowie party! ‘Bowie’ like you’ve never seen him, Rebel is a live circus rock tribute to the original rebel, David Bowie. Stage dive into the mosh pit for a night of live music, glittering glam rock, phenomenal acrobatics, breathtaking aerials and spectacular heart stopping sideshow. 

Live music combined with circus and comedy brings to life an incredible body of work that spanned over 50 years, and an aesthetic that broke ground and inspired generations.

Headlined by the incredible multi-award winning Stewart Reeve, and featuring a rockstar band of artists from across artistic genres and co-created by Highwire Entertainment, Rebel is a live energy circus rock ’n’ roll party.

Friday, 1 July at 8pm.

For more info, to book tickets and to see the teaser trailer, go to www.byrontheatre.com. 

Can art redeem us? 

Can art forgive the unforgivable? Art history is overflowing with stories of artists behaving badly, and while our greatest artists leave a legacy that is a rare gift to the world, for those closest to them, this gift often comes at a great price.

This month, The Drill Hall Theatre Company brings to life Leo Bailey, Australia’s greatest living artist, whose genius battles to survive the effects of alcohol and self-loathing.

Directed by former NIDA teacher and actor, Liz Chance, and written by Debra Oswald, creator of the celebrated television series Offspring, Mr Bailey’s Minder is a funny and moving play about friendship, ego, and art, which reveals the luminous inner beauty of ordinary men and women scarred by their life’s experiences.

Featuring powerful performances by Abby Green, Gregory Aitken, Kasadevi Curtis and Tom Davies, and stunning production design by Toni Appleton and Claire Atkins, the play runs from 9–26 June and includes three free performances for flood relief. 

NSW Dine & Discover Vouchers are also welcome.
Visit www.drillhalltheatre.org.au to book and for full details. Enquiries contact 0420 986 570. 

Lismore Eisteddfod cancelled

Owing to covid the Lismore Musical Festival Society’s 2020 and 2021 Lismore Eisteddfods were cancelled. After two years organisers thought nothing would stop them going ahead with their 110^th Eisteddfod, which was planned for August and September this year.

They didn’t anticipate the most devastating flood to hit Lismore in recorded history. All their venues were severely damaged and it will take months to repair them. 

The Society’s supply of prize banners and trophies has been destroyed. All their perpetual trophies, which were displayed in the Lismore City Library, were water damaged, some beyond repair.

Over 100 years of Lismore Eisteddfod records and memorabilia were swept away by the flood.

The Lismore Eisteddfod has continued to showcase our local amateur talent for over 100 years, despite interruptions caused by two world wars, two pandemics and a world depression – and now a catastrophic flood. The overall structure of the Eisteddfod is sound, but the Society have been left with no option but to cancel the 2022 Lismore Eisteddfod.

Each year they receive entries from dance and music studios, schools and individual competitors. They look forward to welcoming you all once again, at the Lismore Eisteddfod in 2023.

It doesn’t get much funnier than Akmal

This month the Big Gig Comedy event at Ballina RSL features Akmal with support Bron Lewis and a guest MC.

Akmal returns to Ballina RSL by popular demand. Although we’re not sure who made these demands and how popular they were. Akmal is one of the funniest comedians in the world. The fact that he has written this blurb does not take away from his genius.

He will be doing a ‘best of’ show, bringing comedic gold selected from the previous 25 years. Some people have suggested that he’s doing this because he is lazy and could not be bothered writing a new show. These people are ignorant and most likely lesser comedians who are jealous of his talent and good looks. Happy ending guaranteed (for an extra 20 bucks).

No kids, no real estate agents, no refunds.

Supporting Akmal is Bron Lewis – Bron is a Brisbane-based comic, who is desperately trying to shed her Melbourne skivvie collection to fit in up here. She shifted careers from being a high school teacher to a stand up comedian when she realised the money was worse and the audience could swear at her more. She has three kids – one, an infamous covid baby – and she accepts rent from them in the currency of singular socks and eye-rolls. As you can tell, she only makes the most questionable of decisions, but she does them with a confused smile and dry wit.

Bron is a four-time winner of the internationally acclaimed The Moth Storytelling Night, and she is set to take the stage for the Grand Slam in Melbourne. Her love for storytelling brought her to comedy, where she has delighted in combining the two.

The fun begins Ballina RSL, 26 May. Doors 7.30pm, show 8pm.

Tickets: Member $17, Guest $20.

Concrete Candy at Peek

Peek Gallery presents Concrete Candy featuring a selection of local and international artists. 

Concrete Candy is the second major group show for Peek Gallery, following East of Everywhere in 2021. 

The exhibition features landscape, portraiture, abstraction and representation, alongside sculpture, miniatures and textile art, in what is set to be a stunning exhibition. 

Artists are included in the show are from the Peek Gallery stable: Gabrielle Pool, Davide Uliana, Bill Undery, Libby Pool, Warren Fox, Cameron Foggo, Ben Hellewell, and a select list of feature artists: Johnny Romeo, Tammy Whitworth, Victoria Rose Richards, Sam Lucas, Freya Tripp, Rhonda Armistead, Jane Couttie, Cassandra Scott-Finn, Gabrielle Leonard, Rachael Dalzell, Kate Konstantina, Christian Palmer, Chilli Evans, Indii Evans and Dylan de Kantzow and Ash Thomas.

Artist and mother, Tammy Whitworth, communicates pressures that surround her every day through a process that is intentionally small, heavily detailed and controlled. Sensory overwhelm, noise, commotion and mess are transformed into something both beautiful and strange in her stunning work Secure.

Contrasting minutiae is Smoke Spin by internationally acclaimed contemporary pop artist Johnny Romeo. Soar through the heavens and breathe in the sweet, crisp air of good vibes with childhood icon Smokey Bear in this gleefully quirky ode to optimism. 

A Solitary Lifestyle (And I Like It That Way) is a nine-inch embroidery by artist Victoria Rose Richards, from the other side of the globe. Textile artist Victoria Rose Richards creates embroidered artworks based on the rural English landscape. Rendered in clusters of french knots and long, straight satin stitches, each highly detailed piece looks like an aerial view of the countryside. 

Working in a more organic way, Italian born painter, Davide Uliana, paints mainly abstracts and abstract landscapes in oil and acrylic. Working on multiple pieces at a time, the artist relies on emotions rather than subjects and lets the painting process dictate direction; big moody brushstrokes normally prevail. Nothing To See Here by Uliana will be on show from 20 May at Peek Gallery. 

Peek want to extend a warm winter welcome to locals and out-of-towners looking to enjoy some eye candy and relax with a beverage.

Opening night event 20 May, 6–8pm, is proudly sponsored by Karkalla Byron Bay, Frankies Gelato Naturale, Byron Bay Spirits Company, and Palm Valley. 

Concrete Candy opens 20 May in the gallery at 7/8 Fletcher St Byron Bay. Please contact Peek Gallery to receive a digital catalogue www.peekgallery.com.

CINEMA

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore  

The sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is the third instalment in the Fantastic Beasts film series and the eleventh overall in the Wizarding World franchise. 

The ensemble cast includes Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Katherine Waterston, and Mads Mikkelsen. Set several years after the events of its predecessor, the film sees Albus Dumbledore tasking Newt Scamander and his allies with a mission that takes them into the heart of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald’s army.

This time the story takes viewers to Kweilin, China, in 1932. Newt Scamander helps a Qilin – a magical creature that can see into one’s soul as well as the future – give birth. Gellert Grindelwald’s acolytes, led by Credence Barebone, has other ideas for the future of the newborn Qilin (pronounced ‘Chillin’). 

Albus Dumbledore recruits Newt, his brother Theseus, Ilvermorny Charms teacher Lally Hicks, Senegalese-French wizard Yusuf Kama, American No-Maj Jacob Kowalski and Newt’s assistant Bunty Broadacre, to thwart Grindelwald’s plan for world domination – and the adventure begins!

You can see Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore at Byron’s Palace cinema this week.

Firestarter  

Firestarter is a science fiction horror film directed by Keith Thomas, from a screenplay by Scott Teems, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. It is a remake of the 1984 film adaptation of the same name.

Firestarter tells the story of a couple desperately trying to hide their daughter, Charlie, from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her unprecedented gift for turning fire into a weapon of mass destruction. As Charlie turns 11, the fire becomes harder and harder to control. When a mysterious operative finally finds the family, he tries to seize Charlie once and for all – but she has other plans.

The opening credits show the parents talking to a doctor in a clinical trial, who explains to them that they will be injected with an experimental chemical drug known as Lot-6, which unbeknownst to them will give them supernatural powers – one gaining telepathy, and the other, telekinesis.

The movie begins with a flashback of baby Charlene (Charlie) McGee in her crib as she spontaneously sets the room on fire with her pyrokinesis powers.

The film stars Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes, and Gloria Reuben. 

You can see Firestarter this week  at Ballina Fair Cinema.