Mr Naismith's Secret review | TBC Theatre | Melbourne Cemetery

Performed inside the historic Gate Lodge at Melbourne Cemetery, TBC Theatre's production of Mr Naismith's Secret is an intriguing and entertaining piece of immersive theatre. Having gathered at Edward Naismith's residence to celebrate his engagement to Jane Adair, it soon becomes apparent that not everyone wishes the couple a happy future with a number of guests and staff within the house having their own schemes and plots to attend to.

We enter the house interacting with the characters, but we are soon ghost-like creatures that are left to wander the rooms and observe interactions and eavesdrop on private conversations. Secret letters are read out and locked rooms are explored in our ignored presence but there are also times when characters stare directly at you as they deliver their lines or perform in a scene. It is somewhat unnerving but works extremely well in heightening the tension of the narrative.

Sizzling summer fun is coming to The Butterfly Club

GRUMBLE: Sex Clown Saves the World

Summer is on its way and so is The Butterfly Club's curated summer program. Nestled just off Little Collins St. (between Swanston and Elizabeth St.), this iconic Melbourne bar and theatre space has put together a very interesting and varied collection of shows completely in line with its own quirkiness and slightly off-centre vibe.

Opening the season is Betty Grumble's Sex Clown Saves the World, which is bound to leave you wondering what the hell you just saw. The show includes wild neo burlesque, self-defence aerobics and a butoh kookaburra, so go along and witness the Queen of the Obscene and all her rage, desires and internal organs in a shamanic striptease.

The Money review

"Are you a benefactor or a silent witness?" That is the question we are asked upon entering Kaleider's The Money. Presented as part of Melbourne Festival, the show is a live experiment on the way society works and how people with different background and experiences can come together for a common goal.

Those who choose to be - or become - benefactors sit in the middle of the chambers in the Prahran Town Hall. They each provide $20 to the kitty and have 60 minutes to decide what to do with the money. The money cannot be given to a registered charity, the money cannot be split, it must be spent on legal activity and it must be a unanimous decision between the benefactors. Other than that, we can do whatever we choose.

Motor-mouth Loves Suck-face interview | Chapel Off Chapel

There's a new apocalypse in town, and it's a musical; a zombie musical. Written and produced by Anthony Crowley, Motor-Mouth Loves Suck-Face takes place during the final days on Earth before a zombie apocalypse will wipe out humanity. So how does one prepare for such a catastrophic end? For high-school geeks, Motor-Mouth and Suck-Face, it's to throw a party to end all parties.

"Motor-Mouth Loves Suck-Face is high on energy and absurdity and music. The characters are a mix of archetype with their own idiosyncratic twist, which makes them real in a human sense, but stuck in our absurd world," Crowley tells me. "The story is told out of sequence as we zip back and forwards through time. The plot is bizarre and has its roots in comedy shows like Red Dwarf, The Young Ones and The Mighty Boosh, where the story is crazy but there’s also a sustained logic and the characters - as well as the audience - are completely trapped in the craziness."

The Dark Chorus review | Lucy Guerin | Meat Market

You don't notice it as you first enter the Meat Market, but then a shadow catches your eye and you stop and take a second glance. And it's then you see a figure cloaked in a black gown, head down slowly walking in the darkness around a circle of light. And then you see another, and another, and another, until it’s all you can see, and you wonder how you didn't see them in the first place, which is the perfect way to describe the thoughts and themes explored in Lucy Guerin's brilliant dance work, The Dark Chorus.

Presented as part of Melbourne Festival, the show is an intimate look at the darker thoughts and voices in our heads and how they can consume us. Throughout the performance, The Dark Chorus can be heard whispering and chanting and while you can only make out some of what is being said, feelings of dread and fear slowly seep inside you.