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Handbook tells how to go all-in on solar (and how to pay for it)

Handbook tells how to go all-in on solar (and how to pay for it)

The Advertiser26-06-2025
New books sampled this week include Saul Griffith's how-to guide for "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" and the memoir of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Sophy Burnham. MacMillan Australia. $36.99.
The genesis of this book was a question Sophy Burnham's younger cousin, Eleanor, asked her over an espresso in a cafe on a street in Paris. As if standing on the edge of an unavoidable precipice, the cousin, aged 59, asked Burnham, 85, what it was like to be old. The answer? "It's one of the most interesting periods of my whole life." Burnham digs deeper into the meaning of age in a series of unsent letters to Eleanor, written over the course of a year and reflecting on the lessons she has learnt from a full life truly lived.
Jacinda Ardern. Penguin. $55.00.
Jacinda Ardern grew up in a small-town Mormon family, the daughter of a police officer. What, then, was the path of a young woman plagued by self-doubt to the highest political office in New Zealand? Ardern became prime minister in 2017 aged only 37. Her signature style was kindness and empathy, an approach that stood her in good stead as she navigated a terrorist attack, the pandemic, a volcano disaster and motherhood. Then, in 2023, Ardern announced she was stepping down as PM. Her memoir traces her journey to the pinnacle of politics and her surprising decision to walk away.
Adam Hart. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99.
In August 1943 Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths took off from England on a secret night mission codenamed Operation Pimento to deliver much-needed arms to the French resistance. When his Halifax bomber took enemy fire near Annecy, Griffiths wrestled the plane into a crash landing at the village of Meythet, near the Alps. Griffiths was the only survivor. Injured and alone, he embarked on a 1900km, 108-day journey home via the attic of a brothel, a Frenchwoman's chimney and a Spanish prison cell. Nearly 80 years later, Adam Hart, Griffiths' great-grandson, retraced the journey of the wartime hero he never met.
Saul Griffith with Laura Fraser. Black Inc. $27.99.
Saul Griffith's book stands apart from the print-acres of self-help and mumbo jumbo advice manuals on the market by actually being useful. Griffith tackles the challenges of "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" by focusing on what he calls the big five: electrifying your home, driving, water heating, space heating and cooking. You may already have solar panels, but what are the pros and cons of a home battery? How do you switch from expensive and polluting gas hot water to a heat pump? How do you pay for it? Griffiths demystifies concepts that would otherwise make your head hurt.
Kimberley Freeman. Hachette. $32.99.
The 1967 disappearance of Harold Holt, Australia's 17th prime minister, while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Portsea, Victoria, sparked wild theories: that he faked his death or was assassinated by the CIA or was plucked out of the ocean by a Chinese spy submarine. Kimberley Freeman threads her own fictional theory into the facts with this reimagining of the inner life of Holt's wife, Dame Zara, tracing her journey from the night she met Harry at a university dance in Melbourne in 1927 to his fateful swim 40 years later, including her success as a fashion designer and running her own business.
Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Allen & Unwin. $26.99.
Lady Isobelle of Avington Castle is dreading the Tournament of Dragonslayers - because she's supposed to be the grand prize for the winner of the joust. Meanwhile, gutsy Gwen, hiding her desire for damsels while working as a blacksmith, yearns for valor and glory as a knight. They hatch a scheme to pursue their forbidden desires - freedom and each other. Longtime friends Meagan Spooner, who is based in North Carolina, and Amie Kaufman, who's in Melbourne, say they originally conceived their fun, feisty feminist and queer reimagining of medieval romance while sharing the cheesy joys of 2001 Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale long-distance during the pandemic.
Dandy Smith. Echo Publishing. $22.99.
Sixteen years after the ordeal of her older sister's apparent abduction as they slept at home alone while their parents went out to dinner, schoolteacher Caitin is stunned when Olivia returns home. Is this woman really who she says she is? Or is she an imposter? As Caitlin's suspicions grow, the unhappy life she's been living to fill the Olivia-shaped hole in her family begins to crumble. Even her fiance questions Caitlin's sanity. If this Olivia is a fraud, what's her motive? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the truth? What price will the family pay if they believe the wrong daughter?
Marija Pericic. Ultimo Press. $34.99.
Sisters Eva and Elizabeta Novak, Croatian immigrants, haven't spoken for a decade, not since the car crash that killed Eva's young daughter. When Elizabeta, who was driving that fateful day, mails her estranged sibling a plane ticket with a note saying "I need to see you. Please come", Eva arrives in rural Victoria from Germany to find her sister dead in her home. Appointed executor of Elizabeta's estate, Eva sorts through her sister's belongings. But will her anger permit grief? And what secrets will she uncover about the shared traumas of their past - a place so distant it feels like a foreign country?
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
New books sampled this week include Saul Griffith's how-to guide for "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" and the memoir of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Sophy Burnham. MacMillan Australia. $36.99.
The genesis of this book was a question Sophy Burnham's younger cousin, Eleanor, asked her over an espresso in a cafe on a street in Paris. As if standing on the edge of an unavoidable precipice, the cousin, aged 59, asked Burnham, 85, what it was like to be old. The answer? "It's one of the most interesting periods of my whole life." Burnham digs deeper into the meaning of age in a series of unsent letters to Eleanor, written over the course of a year and reflecting on the lessons she has learnt from a full life truly lived.
Jacinda Ardern. Penguin. $55.00.
Jacinda Ardern grew up in a small-town Mormon family, the daughter of a police officer. What, then, was the path of a young woman plagued by self-doubt to the highest political office in New Zealand? Ardern became prime minister in 2017 aged only 37. Her signature style was kindness and empathy, an approach that stood her in good stead as she navigated a terrorist attack, the pandemic, a volcano disaster and motherhood. Then, in 2023, Ardern announced she was stepping down as PM. Her memoir traces her journey to the pinnacle of politics and her surprising decision to walk away.
Adam Hart. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99.
In August 1943 Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths took off from England on a secret night mission codenamed Operation Pimento to deliver much-needed arms to the French resistance. When his Halifax bomber took enemy fire near Annecy, Griffiths wrestled the plane into a crash landing at the village of Meythet, near the Alps. Griffiths was the only survivor. Injured and alone, he embarked on a 1900km, 108-day journey home via the attic of a brothel, a Frenchwoman's chimney and a Spanish prison cell. Nearly 80 years later, Adam Hart, Griffiths' great-grandson, retraced the journey of the wartime hero he never met.
Saul Griffith with Laura Fraser. Black Inc. $27.99.
Saul Griffith's book stands apart from the print-acres of self-help and mumbo jumbo advice manuals on the market by actually being useful. Griffith tackles the challenges of "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" by focusing on what he calls the big five: electrifying your home, driving, water heating, space heating and cooking. You may already have solar panels, but what are the pros and cons of a home battery? How do you switch from expensive and polluting gas hot water to a heat pump? How do you pay for it? Griffiths demystifies concepts that would otherwise make your head hurt.
Kimberley Freeman. Hachette. $32.99.
The 1967 disappearance of Harold Holt, Australia's 17th prime minister, while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Portsea, Victoria, sparked wild theories: that he faked his death or was assassinated by the CIA or was plucked out of the ocean by a Chinese spy submarine. Kimberley Freeman threads her own fictional theory into the facts with this reimagining of the inner life of Holt's wife, Dame Zara, tracing her journey from the night she met Harry at a university dance in Melbourne in 1927 to his fateful swim 40 years later, including her success as a fashion designer and running her own business.
Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Allen & Unwin. $26.99.
Lady Isobelle of Avington Castle is dreading the Tournament of Dragonslayers - because she's supposed to be the grand prize for the winner of the joust. Meanwhile, gutsy Gwen, hiding her desire for damsels while working as a blacksmith, yearns for valor and glory as a knight. They hatch a scheme to pursue their forbidden desires - freedom and each other. Longtime friends Meagan Spooner, who is based in North Carolina, and Amie Kaufman, who's in Melbourne, say they originally conceived their fun, feisty feminist and queer reimagining of medieval romance while sharing the cheesy joys of 2001 Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale long-distance during the pandemic.
Dandy Smith. Echo Publishing. $22.99.
Sixteen years after the ordeal of her older sister's apparent abduction as they slept at home alone while their parents went out to dinner, schoolteacher Caitin is stunned when Olivia returns home. Is this woman really who she says she is? Or is she an imposter? As Caitlin's suspicions grow, the unhappy life she's been living to fill the Olivia-shaped hole in her family begins to crumble. Even her fiance questions Caitlin's sanity. If this Olivia is a fraud, what's her motive? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the truth? What price will the family pay if they believe the wrong daughter?
Marija Pericic. Ultimo Press. $34.99.
Sisters Eva and Elizabeta Novak, Croatian immigrants, haven't spoken for a decade, not since the car crash that killed Eva's young daughter. When Elizabeta, who was driving that fateful day, mails her estranged sibling a plane ticket with a note saying "I need to see you. Please come", Eva arrives in rural Victoria from Germany to find her sister dead in her home. Appointed executor of Elizabeta's estate, Eva sorts through her sister's belongings. But will her anger permit grief? And what secrets will she uncover about the shared traumas of their past - a place so distant it feels like a foreign country?
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
New books sampled this week include Saul Griffith's how-to guide for "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" and the memoir of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Sophy Burnham. MacMillan Australia. $36.99.
The genesis of this book was a question Sophy Burnham's younger cousin, Eleanor, asked her over an espresso in a cafe on a street in Paris. As if standing on the edge of an unavoidable precipice, the cousin, aged 59, asked Burnham, 85, what it was like to be old. The answer? "It's one of the most interesting periods of my whole life." Burnham digs deeper into the meaning of age in a series of unsent letters to Eleanor, written over the course of a year and reflecting on the lessons she has learnt from a full life truly lived.
Jacinda Ardern. Penguin. $55.00.
Jacinda Ardern grew up in a small-town Mormon family, the daughter of a police officer. What, then, was the path of a young woman plagued by self-doubt to the highest political office in New Zealand? Ardern became prime minister in 2017 aged only 37. Her signature style was kindness and empathy, an approach that stood her in good stead as she navigated a terrorist attack, the pandemic, a volcano disaster and motherhood. Then, in 2023, Ardern announced she was stepping down as PM. Her memoir traces her journey to the pinnacle of politics and her surprising decision to walk away.
Adam Hart. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99.
In August 1943 Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths took off from England on a secret night mission codenamed Operation Pimento to deliver much-needed arms to the French resistance. When his Halifax bomber took enemy fire near Annecy, Griffiths wrestled the plane into a crash landing at the village of Meythet, near the Alps. Griffiths was the only survivor. Injured and alone, he embarked on a 1900km, 108-day journey home via the attic of a brothel, a Frenchwoman's chimney and a Spanish prison cell. Nearly 80 years later, Adam Hart, Griffiths' great-grandson, retraced the journey of the wartime hero he never met.
Saul Griffith with Laura Fraser. Black Inc. $27.99.
Saul Griffith's book stands apart from the print-acres of self-help and mumbo jumbo advice manuals on the market by actually being useful. Griffith tackles the challenges of "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" by focusing on what he calls the big five: electrifying your home, driving, water heating, space heating and cooking. You may already have solar panels, but what are the pros and cons of a home battery? How do you switch from expensive and polluting gas hot water to a heat pump? How do you pay for it? Griffiths demystifies concepts that would otherwise make your head hurt.
Kimberley Freeman. Hachette. $32.99.
The 1967 disappearance of Harold Holt, Australia's 17th prime minister, while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Portsea, Victoria, sparked wild theories: that he faked his death or was assassinated by the CIA or was plucked out of the ocean by a Chinese spy submarine. Kimberley Freeman threads her own fictional theory into the facts with this reimagining of the inner life of Holt's wife, Dame Zara, tracing her journey from the night she met Harry at a university dance in Melbourne in 1927 to his fateful swim 40 years later, including her success as a fashion designer and running her own business.
Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Allen & Unwin. $26.99.
Lady Isobelle of Avington Castle is dreading the Tournament of Dragonslayers - because she's supposed to be the grand prize for the winner of the joust. Meanwhile, gutsy Gwen, hiding her desire for damsels while working as a blacksmith, yearns for valor and glory as a knight. They hatch a scheme to pursue their forbidden desires - freedom and each other. Longtime friends Meagan Spooner, who is based in North Carolina, and Amie Kaufman, who's in Melbourne, say they originally conceived their fun, feisty feminist and queer reimagining of medieval romance while sharing the cheesy joys of 2001 Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale long-distance during the pandemic.
Dandy Smith. Echo Publishing. $22.99.
Sixteen years after the ordeal of her older sister's apparent abduction as they slept at home alone while their parents went out to dinner, schoolteacher Caitin is stunned when Olivia returns home. Is this woman really who she says she is? Or is she an imposter? As Caitlin's suspicions grow, the unhappy life she's been living to fill the Olivia-shaped hole in her family begins to crumble. Even her fiance questions Caitlin's sanity. If this Olivia is a fraud, what's her motive? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the truth? What price will the family pay if they believe the wrong daughter?
Marija Pericic. Ultimo Press. $34.99.
Sisters Eva and Elizabeta Novak, Croatian immigrants, haven't spoken for a decade, not since the car crash that killed Eva's young daughter. When Elizabeta, who was driving that fateful day, mails her estranged sibling a plane ticket with a note saying "I need to see you. Please come", Eva arrives in rural Victoria from Germany to find her sister dead in her home. Appointed executor of Elizabeta's estate, Eva sorts through her sister's belongings. But will her anger permit grief? And what secrets will she uncover about the shared traumas of their past - a place so distant it feels like a foreign country?
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
New books sampled this week include Saul Griffith's how-to guide for "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" and the memoir of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Sophy Burnham. MacMillan Australia. $36.99.
The genesis of this book was a question Sophy Burnham's younger cousin, Eleanor, asked her over an espresso in a cafe on a street in Paris. As if standing on the edge of an unavoidable precipice, the cousin, aged 59, asked Burnham, 85, what it was like to be old. The answer? "It's one of the most interesting periods of my whole life." Burnham digs deeper into the meaning of age in a series of unsent letters to Eleanor, written over the course of a year and reflecting on the lessons she has learnt from a full life truly lived.
Jacinda Ardern. Penguin. $55.00.
Jacinda Ardern grew up in a small-town Mormon family, the daughter of a police officer. What, then, was the path of a young woman plagued by self-doubt to the highest political office in New Zealand? Ardern became prime minister in 2017 aged only 37. Her signature style was kindness and empathy, an approach that stood her in good stead as she navigated a terrorist attack, the pandemic, a volcano disaster and motherhood. Then, in 2023, Ardern announced she was stepping down as PM. Her memoir traces her journey to the pinnacle of politics and her surprising decision to walk away.
Adam Hart. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99.
In August 1943 Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths took off from England on a secret night mission codenamed Operation Pimento to deliver much-needed arms to the French resistance. When his Halifax bomber took enemy fire near Annecy, Griffiths wrestled the plane into a crash landing at the village of Meythet, near the Alps. Griffiths was the only survivor. Injured and alone, he embarked on a 1900km, 108-day journey home via the attic of a brothel, a Frenchwoman's chimney and a Spanish prison cell. Nearly 80 years later, Adam Hart, Griffiths' great-grandson, retraced the journey of the wartime hero he never met.
Saul Griffith with Laura Fraser. Black Inc. $27.99.
Saul Griffith's book stands apart from the print-acres of self-help and mumbo jumbo advice manuals on the market by actually being useful. Griffith tackles the challenges of "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" by focusing on what he calls the big five: electrifying your home, driving, water heating, space heating and cooking. You may already have solar panels, but what are the pros and cons of a home battery? How do you switch from expensive and polluting gas hot water to a heat pump? How do you pay for it? Griffiths demystifies concepts that would otherwise make your head hurt.
Kimberley Freeman. Hachette. $32.99.
The 1967 disappearance of Harold Holt, Australia's 17th prime minister, while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Portsea, Victoria, sparked wild theories: that he faked his death or was assassinated by the CIA or was plucked out of the ocean by a Chinese spy submarine. Kimberley Freeman threads her own fictional theory into the facts with this reimagining of the inner life of Holt's wife, Dame Zara, tracing her journey from the night she met Harry at a university dance in Melbourne in 1927 to his fateful swim 40 years later, including her success as a fashion designer and running her own business.
Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Allen & Unwin. $26.99.
Lady Isobelle of Avington Castle is dreading the Tournament of Dragonslayers - because she's supposed to be the grand prize for the winner of the joust. Meanwhile, gutsy Gwen, hiding her desire for damsels while working as a blacksmith, yearns for valor and glory as a knight. They hatch a scheme to pursue their forbidden desires - freedom and each other. Longtime friends Meagan Spooner, who is based in North Carolina, and Amie Kaufman, who's in Melbourne, say they originally conceived their fun, feisty feminist and queer reimagining of medieval romance while sharing the cheesy joys of 2001 Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale long-distance during the pandemic.
Dandy Smith. Echo Publishing. $22.99.
Sixteen years after the ordeal of her older sister's apparent abduction as they slept at home alone while their parents went out to dinner, schoolteacher Caitin is stunned when Olivia returns home. Is this woman really who she says she is? Or is she an imposter? As Caitlin's suspicions grow, the unhappy life she's been living to fill the Olivia-shaped hole in her family begins to crumble. Even her fiance questions Caitlin's sanity. If this Olivia is a fraud, what's her motive? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the truth? What price will the family pay if they believe the wrong daughter?
Marija Pericic. Ultimo Press. $34.99.
Sisters Eva and Elizabeta Novak, Croatian immigrants, haven't spoken for a decade, not since the car crash that killed Eva's young daughter. When Elizabeta, who was driving that fateful day, mails her estranged sibling a plane ticket with a note saying "I need to see you. Please come", Eva arrives in rural Victoria from Germany to find her sister dead in her home. Appointed executor of Elizabeta's estate, Eva sorts through her sister's belongings. But will her anger permit grief? And what secrets will she uncover about the shared traumas of their past - a place so distant it feels like a foreign country?
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
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More beauty than beast in new production at Perth's Crown Theatre
More beauty than beast in new production at Perth's Crown Theatre

Sydney Morning Herald

time44 minutes ago

  • Sydney Morning Herald

More beauty than beast in new production at Perth's Crown Theatre

There was more beauty than beast represented in the Perth personalities who adorned the red carpet for Saturday's Beauty and the Beast premiere at Crown Theatre – and the same could be said for the show. At the final opening for a national tour attended so far by 1.2 million Australians, anticipation and nostalgia built right from the prologue voiced by Angela Lansbury (Miss Potts in the original Disney animated feature) and the opening glimpses of a jaw-dropping set that required 23 trucks to get to Perth and a team of 70 to unload them across thousands of hours. Faithfulness to the original continued; there is no danger of a modern reimagining in this saccharine-sweet production, which despite the vocal prowess of Belle (Perth-born Shubshri Kandiah) and the Beast (Brendan Xavier) unfortunately is slightly lacking in truly memorable numbers in the context of a 2.5-hour run time. The obvious exceptions are of course Be Our Guest, a showstopping number bringing all the production's technical might including projected backdrops of dancers' onstage patterns, milked to the max through an extended tap finale with 2400 lights; Belle, which shows off a French provincial town created with 30 tonnes of flying scenery and 50 tonnes of automation and staging; and Beauty and the Beast, simply and touchingly rendered by Jayde Westaby as Mrs Potts. The character of Gaston has more prominence than in the film and the charismatic Jackson Head brings excellent comedic value to it, with a ridiculous Jim Carrey vibe. To the extent that the gent on one side mentioned the resemblance at interval and the gent on the other was unable to prevent himself Googling Jim Carrey pictures during the performance, distracting us somewhat from Olivier Award nominee Matt West's excellent choreography displayed to full effect in Gaston (fun fact, the song's cast clink mugs 800-plus times). Despite being centred around the love story of Belle and the Beast the production's real emotional punch somehow comes not from them or even the relationship between Belle and father Maurice (Perth-raised Rodney Dobson) but from the enchanted castle objects whose attachment to humanity is, like the Beast's, dropping away with each petal from the magic rose. Lumiere (Rohan Browne), Cogsworth (Gareth Jacobs), Mrs Potts and Madame the wardrobe (Alana Tranter) are the heart of the show, providing pathos as well as laughs and magic (Lumiere's flames are real; Mrs Potts' spout smokes; Tranter's squeals are pitch-perfect comedy). Eason Ma was sweet as Chip the cup, head inserted into the side of the cup, body cleverly concealed in the stage furniture, though truth be told the disembodied head was at times striking me as a little on the weird side of cute. Particularly next to the larger-than-life Gaston, clearly an audience favourite, the Beast is somewhat disadvantaged. His role swings from suddenly roaring too loud and upsetting the other characters, to playing the fool for laughs, lacking the dark, conflicted tragedy this role could otherwise represent. Perhaps more height and bulk in the costuming would have made him a more imposing figure, but perhaps also would more attention given to parts of the show that feel rushed.

More beauty than beast in new production at Perth's Crown Theatre
More beauty than beast in new production at Perth's Crown Theatre

The Age

time44 minutes ago

  • The Age

More beauty than beast in new production at Perth's Crown Theatre

There was more beauty than beast represented in the Perth personalities who adorned the red carpet for Saturday's Beauty and the Beast premiere at Crown Theatre – and the same could be said for the show. At the final opening for a national tour attended so far by 1.2 million Australians, anticipation and nostalgia built right from the prologue voiced by Angela Lansbury (Miss Potts in the original Disney animated feature) and the opening glimpses of a jaw-dropping set that required 23 trucks to get to Perth and a team of 70 to unload them across thousands of hours. Faithfulness to the original continued; there is no danger of a modern reimagining in this saccharine-sweet production, which despite the vocal prowess of Belle (Perth-born Shubshri Kandiah) and the Beast (Brendan Xavier) unfortunately is slightly lacking in truly memorable numbers in the context of a 2.5-hour run time. The obvious exceptions are of course Be Our Guest, a showstopping number bringing all the production's technical might including projected backdrops of dancers' onstage patterns, milked to the max through an extended tap finale with 2400 lights; Belle, which shows off a French provincial town created with 30 tonnes of flying scenery and 50 tonnes of automation and staging; and Beauty and the Beast, simply and touchingly rendered by Jayde Westaby as Mrs Potts. The character of Gaston has more prominence than in the film and the charismatic Jackson Head brings excellent comedic value to it, with a ridiculous Jim Carrey vibe. To the extent that the gent on one side mentioned the resemblance at interval and the gent on the other was unable to prevent himself Googling Jim Carrey pictures during the performance, distracting us somewhat from Olivier Award nominee Matt West's excellent choreography displayed to full effect in Gaston (fun fact, the song's cast clink mugs 800-plus times). Despite being centred around the love story of Belle and the Beast the production's real emotional punch somehow comes not from them or even the relationship between Belle and father Maurice (Perth-raised Rodney Dobson) but from the enchanted castle objects whose attachment to humanity is, like the Beast's, dropping away with each petal from the magic rose. Lumiere (Rohan Browne), Cogsworth (Gareth Jacobs), Mrs Potts and Madame the wardrobe (Alana Tranter) are the heart of the show, providing pathos as well as laughs and magic (Lumiere's flames are real; Mrs Potts' spout smokes; Tranter's squeals are pitch-perfect comedy). Eason Ma was sweet as Chip the cup, head inserted into the side of the cup, body cleverly concealed in the stage furniture, though truth be told the disembodied head was at times striking me as a little on the weird side of cute. Particularly next to the larger-than-life Gaston, clearly an audience favourite, the Beast is somewhat disadvantaged. His role swings from suddenly roaring too loud and upsetting the other characters, to playing the fool for laughs, lacking the dark, conflicted tragedy this role could otherwise represent. Perhaps more height and bulk in the costuming would have made him a more imposing figure, but perhaps also would more attention given to parts of the show that feel rushed.

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