Messenger can blast and soar with the best of them, but she also compels when she purrs.

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, was beheaded in October of 1793 after the French Revolution. Then and now the person of Marie Antoinette symbolises concentrated wealth, privilege, greed and conspicuous consumption. Plus ça change.

‘Saving the best til last’ is how the Melbourne International Jazz Festival announced legendary bassist Christian McBride on the festival’s closing night.

The Melbourne International Jazz Festival offered up a treat last Friday: Chris Dave and the Drumhedz. The crowd at 170 Russell was the beanie and baseball cap crowd as opposed to the beret and porkpie hat crowd you see at Jazzlab.

‘Fearless’ hardly begins to describe this evening’s phenomena but it’s a good start.

The Melbourne International Jazz Festival opened at The Jazzlab with Paul Grabowsky’s The Gravity Project, so named because different musical traditions and forms are held together by mutual attraction.

Slapstick and verbal wit pulled together with impeccable direction and comic timing make for a witty piss take of Melbourne’s literary world, so familiar to its audience.

Strategy, a boldly effective new work by Judy Doubas, takes the defence of provocation to court.

Robyn Archer AO is a warm and natural performer; approachable and unpretentious. At the Arts Centre the other night she performed Que Reste T’il?, enjoying attention and loudly expressed moments of devotion from the loyal fans who have been following her for decades.

A bit of history and a lot of fun from the Pop-up Globe team. Take some kids and introduce them to Shakespeare and the Globe in the most fun way.