Sixth Sense review | Melbourne Magic Festival | Arrow on Swanston

There's something delightfully unsettling about watching a stranger seem to read your mind. Sixth Sense, presented as part of the Melbourne Magic Festival, poses that very question in its title. Is it genuine intuition, or simply a masterful reading of human behaviour? Award-winning magician and mentalist Tom Weil doesn't rush to answer this. Instead, he spends the evening blurring the line between psychological illusion and something that feels, uncannily, like truth.

Part of what makes Weil's work so compelling is his relationship with predictability itself. Good mentalism often relies on audiences believing an outcome was left to chance, when in fact it was steered there all along, and Weil plays this tension deliberately, letting the room wonder how much of what unfolds was ever really in doubt.

Losing Face review | Melbourne Theatre Company

If you're not already being sold the promise of a younger, healthier and more optimised version of yourself, you're probably not paying attention. From wellness resorts and cosmetic procedures to the endless pursuit of self-improvement, ageing gracefully, or better yet, not at all, has become an industry in itself. In the comedy Losing Face, Marieke Hardy sets her sights on that fixation, exploring the impossible standards placed on women and the lengths they're encouraged to go for perfection. 

The show gets off to a promising start with three friends, Jo, Simone, and Lauren (Michala Banas, Madeleine Sami and Christie Whelan Browne), attending The Royal You resort to celebrate Jo's 50th birthday. Conversations around dating, marriage, children and body image naturally emerge, while subtle tensions simmer between the women, who have not seen each other for five years. Hardy establishes a grounded dynamic that hints at the different paths their lives have taken and the insecurities that have accumulated along the way.

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) review | Athenaeum Theatre

More than two centuries after its publication, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice remains one of literature's most beloved romances, celebrated for its social observations, sparkling wit and enduring examination of class, marriage and first impressions. Published in 1813, the novel follows Elizabeth Bennet and the enigmatic Mr Darcy as misunderstandings and prejudice gradually give way to love.

In Pride and Prejudice (*sort of), writer Isobel McArthur gives Austen's classic a modern makeover. Told from the perspective of the household servants, with just five performers - Amy Lehpamer, Zoe Ioannou, Kaori Maeda-Judge, Ruby Shannon and Teo Vergara - playing every role, the Olivier Award-winning production combines breakneck costume changes, pop anthems and irreverent humour while retaining the heart of Austen's story. The result is an inventive reimagining of a tale that is fresh and funny.

Beasts of Burden and Other Party Guests review | Bluestone Church Arts Space

Life often feels like a balancing act between the burdens we carry and the faces we present to the world. Personal anxieties, responsibilities and private struggles rarely disappear, instead following us through our daily interactions. In Beast of Burden and Other Party Guests, cabaret performer Miss Friby transforms these universal experiences into a bold, highly physical work that blends comedy, dance and theatrical spectacle. The result is an unpredictable exploration of the "beasts" that accompany us through life, and what happens when we finally invite them into the room.

The party kicks off with Miss Friby encased in a gorilla suit, performing a vigorous dance routine. She gradually removes the costume piece by piece, suggesting the shedding of a persona, burden or inner beast. Yet the transformation is not finished. Even after revealing the human figure underneath, she continues to move with the same physicality, blurring the boundary between human and beast with the implication that the two are intertwined rather than separate identities. This idea is reinforced in later party games, during which Miss Friby mimes animalistic gestures and lip syncs a cacophony of beastly sounds that are abruptly curtailed.

Anna X review | Red Stitch

Few real-life figures have captured the public imagination quite like Anna Delvey. The Russian-born con artist, whose deception of New York's wealthy elite became a global media sensation, blurred the line between ambition, performance and fraud. Her story raises intriguing questions about status, privilege and society's willingness to believe those who appear successful, making her an ideal subject for theatre.

Joseph Charlton's Anna X takes inspiration from Delvey's rise and fall, using her notoriety as a lens through which to examine identity, aspiration and the allure of reinvention. Centred on a fictitious relationship with app developer and tech CEO Arial, the play explores success in an age where image and influence can be as valuable as truth, though its focus occasionally drifts from its most compelling figure.