Latest news with #Belvoir
The Sun
11-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Sun
Five ways to quench your thirst this heatwave with our non-alcoholic coolers
WITH the current scorchio temperatures, a cooling drink is a must. But if you're bored with water and better without beer, it can be hard to know what to choose. Quench your thirst with these non-alcoholic coolers. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS: Fill a jug with homemade lemonade. Peel off the zest of six unwaxed lemons, then squeeze out the juice and set aside. Add the zest to 125g sugar and 400ml water in a saucepan, and boil slowly, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemon juice and leave to cool then strain into a jug and top up with sparkling water. BERRY NICE: If you're a fan of raspberries, you'll love this juicy summer cooler. Blend 40ml Belvoir Raspberry & Lemon Cordial with 40ml lemon juice, 80ml cloudy apple juice and a chunk of watermelon. Sieve it into a glass filled with ice cubes and garnish with more watermelon or raspberries. COOL AS A CUCUMBER: Chop a peeled cucumber and blitz in a food mixer with a small handful of mint leaves. Sieve the juice into a bowl, then mix with 250ml elderflower cordial and the juice of four limes. Pour into glasses filled with ice and garnish with mint. How to make whipped lemonade - TikTok's latest viral trend WHAT A PEACH: Tip a 400g tin of peaches, juice and all, into a blender and add the juice of a lemon. Blitz until smooth, then push through a fine sieve. Discard any pulp and pour the puree into a large jug. Fill with ice cubes and stir, then top with 300ml sparkling water and 50ml elderflower cordial. Add some rosemary sprigs and a sliced peach, if you like. Find more drink recipes for drinks at realfood. MONSTER MASH: Mash 25 strawberries and mix with a litre of lemonade, the juice of two limes and a small handful of freshly chopped mint leaves. Then serve in four cooled glasses filled with cubes of ice. All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability 7 Deal of the day GIVE your room a glow with two yellow Martha lamps from John Lewis, down from £90 to £45 for the pair. Cheap treat 7 COOL off with Cadbury Dairy Milk ice cream, down from £4 to £2 at Iceland. Top swap GET glossy locks with Elvive Extraordinary Oil shampoo, £2.75 from Sainsbury's, or lather up with Lacura Hair Refine Oil Complex shampoo, £1.19 at Aldi. Shop & save 7 STOCK up with Co-op's new deal, five frozen favourites – including eight Birds Eye fish fingers – for £6 for members, £6.50 for non-members. Hot right now FAMILIES can enjoy a free kid's meal with every adult main meal at Beefeater. Sign up to your local restaurant's newsletter. PLAY NOW TO WIN £200 7 JOIN thousands of readers taking part in The Sun Raffle. Every month we're giving away £100 to 250 lucky readers - whether you're saving up or just in need of some extra cash, The Sun could have you covered. Every Sun Savers code entered equals one Raffle ticket.
Sydney Morning Herald
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
An unmissable chance to see two acting greats on stage together
THEATRE THE SPARE ROOM Belvoir St Theatre, June 12 Until July 13 Reviewed by JOHN SHAND ★★★½ As improbable as this seems when we gaze out upon a broken world, or scrutinise our own chaotic lives, living is the easy part. Dying is the trick: not the last breath itself, but the lead-up, once mortality grips you, and asks whether you fight or accept. Helen Garner's confronting novel The Spare Room, peppered with a harsh, dry humour, tells of this. Written in the first person, and drawn from her own experience, it casts Helen as a woman in her 60s dealing with the muddled way of dying of her friend of 15 years, Nicola. Riddled with cancer, Nicola has come to Melbourne to stay in Helen's spare room while embracing alternative therapies. These become an option for the fighter (rather than the acceptor) when the real remedies have been exhausted. Belvoir artistic director Eamon Flack has adapted Garner's book and directed this production starring two of our finest actors: Judy Davis (Helen) and Elizabeth Alexander (Nicola). The challenge in adapting a first-person novel is escaping the narrator's exclusive viewpoint, and dramatising the moment – not what Helen tells us of that moment. In this, Flack only partially succeeds. Garner has Helen hold an almost entirely negative assessment of Nicola from only days into the latter's three-week 'treatment' (which involves bilious doses of intravenous vitamin C). She sees through the quackery, and becomes furious Nicola can't do the same. But in a play we can't just have Helen's viewpoint: we need to understand Nicola more. Flack's overly reverential adaptation means we don't know what initially underpinned their friendship, and with our perception of Nicola being that of Helen, it's impossible to sympathise with Nicola's predicament. She becomes a cypher for victimhood. The play could have drawn us into their friendship, and then switched into a conflict over the dodgy therapy and how to deal with death. The actors give it their best shot. Davis's compelling edginess, chiselled features and physical angularity are the polar opposite of Alexander's wafting, accommodating vulnerability in depicting Nicola's denial and conflict avoidance. The shame is that Alexander's not given more a chance to be a Nicola with an interior and suffering beyond Helen's knowledge because when she finally rages against her lot towards the end, the play is suddenly as electric as Davis has been all along. Emma Diaz, Alan Dukes and Hannah Waterman are all admirable in multiple incidental roles, and Mel Page has created a fluid, naturalistic set. On-stage cellist Anthea Cottee realises Phoebe Pilcher's autumnal score, almost becoming more of a foil for Davis's character than Nicola. Sit near the front if you can because vocal projection is not all it should be, and Flack has blocked the action deep on the stage, distant from the back rows. Nonetheless, he's caught the book's mix of tenderness and harshness, plus the chance to see Davis and Alexander together should not be missed.
The Age
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
An unmissable chance to see two acting greats on stage together
THEATRE THE SPARE ROOM Belvoir St Theatre, June 12 Until July 13 Reviewed by JOHN SHAND ★★★½ As improbable as this seems when we gaze out upon a broken world, or scrutinise our own chaotic lives, living is the easy part. Dying is the trick: not the last breath itself, but the lead-up, once mortality grips you, and asks whether you fight or accept. Helen Garner's confronting novel The Spare Room, peppered with a harsh, dry humour, tells of this. Written in the first person, and drawn from her own experience, it casts Helen as a woman in her 60s dealing with the muddled way of dying of her friend of 15 years, Nicola. Riddled with cancer, Nicola has come to Melbourne to stay in Helen's spare room while embracing alternative therapies. These become an option for the fighter (rather than the acceptor) when the real remedies have been exhausted. Belvoir artistic director Eamon Flack has adapted Garner's book and directed this production starring two of our finest actors: Judy Davis (Helen) and Elizabeth Alexander (Nicola). The challenge in adapting a first-person novel is escaping the narrator's exclusive viewpoint, and dramatising the moment – not what Helen tells us of that moment. In this, Flack only partially succeeds. Garner has Helen hold an almost entirely negative assessment of Nicola from only days into the latter's three-week 'treatment' (which involves bilious doses of intravenous vitamin C). She sees through the quackery, and becomes furious Nicola can't do the same. But in a play we can't just have Helen's viewpoint: we need to understand Nicola more. Flack's overly reverential adaptation means we don't know what initially underpinned their friendship, and with our perception of Nicola being that of Helen, it's impossible to sympathise with Nicola's predicament. She becomes a cypher for victimhood. The play could have drawn us into their friendship, and then switched into a conflict over the dodgy therapy and how to deal with death. The actors give it their best shot. Davis's compelling edginess, chiselled features and physical angularity are the polar opposite of Alexander's wafting, accommodating vulnerability in depicting Nicola's denial and conflict avoidance. The shame is that Alexander's not given more a chance to be a Nicola with an interior and suffering beyond Helen's knowledge because when she finally rages against her lot towards the end, the play is suddenly as electric as Davis has been all along. Emma Diaz, Alan Dukes and Hannah Waterman are all admirable in multiple incidental roles, and Mel Page has created a fluid, naturalistic set. On-stage cellist Anthea Cottee realises Phoebe Pilcher's autumnal score, almost becoming more of a foil for Davis's character than Nicola. Sit near the front if you can because vocal projection is not all it should be, and Flack has blocked the action deep on the stage, distant from the back rows. Nonetheless, he's caught the book's mix of tenderness and harshness, plus the chance to see Davis and Alexander together should not be missed.
Time Out
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Big Girls Don't Cry
Friendship is at the heart of Big Girls Don't Cry, a gorgeous slice-of-life drama that takes us back to 1960s Redfern, where three young Aboriginal women are gearing up for the biggest night of the year – the Deb Ball. Playwright and star Dalara Williams balances the bitter and the sweet in this engaging rom-com-inflected drama. As Cheryl (Williams), Queenie (Megan Wilding) and Lulu (Stephanie Somerville) navigate life's ups and downs, audiences at Belvoir St Theatre are gifted with an all-too-rarely seen window into Blak sisterhood. While for these women, injustice may tarnish everything from going to work to walking the streets, where racist cops roam – nothing in the world can shake the sacred joy of a trio of girlfriends gathered in a bedroom and getting ready for a night out, tearing through outfit options and gossiping. Not even Cheryl's concern for her beloved Michael (Mathew Cooper), who's serving in Vietnam. However, could the distracting pull of the charming Milo (Nic English) be strong enough to tear her away from re-reading the same old love letters? Inspired by her grandmothers' stories and snapshots of history found in family photo albums, Williams has crafted an uplifting and entertaining drama that also doesn't shy away from the violence and injustices of our all-too-recent history, and prompts us to question how much has really changed. Big Girls is not necessarily ground-breaking in its form, and it needn't be, especially with a cast this good. Dalara Williams balances the bitter and the sweet in this engaging rom-com-inflected drama... an all-too-rarely seen window into Blak sisterhood In particular, Megan Wilding cements her place as one of the most charismatic presences on the Sydney stage as Queenie – she can convey more with a twitch of her eyebrow or a tilt of her head than any spoken dialogue could ever hope to. In a moment of tremendous vulnerability, she delivers a tearful confession about her fear of letting in the one man who could love her fully – a speech that will strike a chord with any misfit woman who has been told that she is both 'too much' and 'not enough'. Queenie's humour, her outgoingness, and her love of an attention-grabbing dress are all part of the armour she wears to survive a cruel world. But this script also doesn't do her the disservice of stripping away her unique qualities in order to allow her to grow. Meanwhile, Guy Simon deserves an honourable mention for his performance as Cheryl's outspoken brother Ernie, it's an interesting contrast to his recent turn on the Belvoir stage as the star of Jacky, and his evolving dynamic with Wilding's Queenie is particularly delightful. Heartbreak High star Bryn Chapman Parish also holds his own as a detestable police officer; and Nic English gives us an "other man" that we can root for in Milo, also convincingly holding space for the precarious line he walks as a second-generation Italian immigrant in 1960s Australia. The production does crave a little more polish. For example, the revolving stage makes for some interesting movement and smooth transitions, but at times, it can be difficult to hear the actors' voices over the rumble of its operation. Director Ian Michael is certainly not taking as many big swings as he did with his recent reimagining of Picnic at Hanging Rock for STC, and perhaps that's a good thing – getting too experimental here would only distract from the deeply human drama of it all. However, for a debut presentation, Big Girls is a deeply charming and hopeful story that harnesses the great empathy machine of theatre to achieve one of the greatest things it can do – which is to understand ourselves, others, and our society more deeply. It is an accessible entry point to learn more about the Indigenous rights movement in this country, the empowering legacy of Aboriginal debutante balls, and also, it's bloody good drama that we need to see more of.
