We’re Hip When We Shoot

TVC offers the following flip and militant arts wrap up:

Game of Thrones: TVC has viewed episode 1 of series 1 and doubts we’ll catch up (series 5 is currently screening we gather).  It appears on first blush to be trash from the schlock-hopper and one hopes cast and crew shall soon be eaten by wolves, like President Taft.

Adelaide Arts Festival: This is close to TVC’s heart, so it pains us to say past offerings have ranged from insipid to embarrassing – it hasn’t been Helpmann, Steel, Sharman, Hocking or Archer down here for a while!  Thus, thanks be to Zeus for the deus ex machina that has delivered the appointment of Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy as co-directors in and from 2017.  And memo to Barry Kosky and Peter Sellars: stay out of town.

Aida sur Mer: Our agent Cathy reports that Aida on Sydney Harbour was lavish and satisfying (gee thanks, Handa-san!), although what a punt it was to travel far and hazard much to see an outdoor (albeit enclosed) production, given the nightly wail of the Manly ferry and the recent biblical weather striking the city and points south, north and west.  The Sydney Morning Herald (6 May) reports that OA posted a $2m operating loss for 2014 but TVC hopes the Company will resist populist urges and pursue perfection in traditional quality and modern innovation.  This is business of course but we hope OA will trust the public – they understand, they appreciate, they encourage.

Note that Geoff Brown in a recent edition (12/9/15) of the Spectator referred to Aida on Sydney Harbour (seen in UK as filmed) as “Water Torture”…; “a night sky that twinkles with skyscrapers…Take me into an opera house, please.”

Sydney Film Festival 3-14 June 2015, looks pretty good.  For those not going north for the winter or stuck here with TVC in the frozen south, get along.