Kelly Sargent

By Janus Santos and Mardi Grivas

“How can one find strength when their freedom is taken?”

On the 22^nd of May, TAT Legal were fortunate enough to be invited to a sold out performance of The Sol III Company’s The Exonerated in one of Melbourne’s premiere venue for the arts and versatile contemporary spaces, Chapel Off Chapel.

Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, and originally presented by the Culture Project in New York, The Exonerated is based on six true stories of survivors of death row. The characters of the play give an unapologetic voice to the people who have been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated. Each story, carefully chosen to show the universal experience of human suffering.  However, the story is so much more than a powerful portrayal of each character’s demoralizing incarceration, but acts as a poignant view of the human spirit, and finding peace, absolution and light in the darkest of times.

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By Paul Campobasso

(3.5/5 stars)

The art of making a light, sugary creamy cheesecake becomes a progressively heavy, bitter, reflective and soul-searching experience in Helen Duff’s ‘Vanity Bites Back’.

If that description makes her routine sound strange, it’s because it absolutely is. Duff’s show is very unusual, but thankfully this is mostly in all the right ways. Though her humour can be a little hit-and-miss at times and probably won’t appeal to everyone, what’s undeniable is that Duff’s unique performance is always interesting, largely entertaining and definitely memorable.

Making her grand entrance to the stage from under the table, Duff is immediately engaging in her portrayal of ‘Jill’, a self-important and snobbish but exceedingly cheerful and extremely energetic TV personality. Reminiscent of a stereotypically dolled-up 1950’s housewife with an unwaveringly happy and somewhat naive demeanour, ‘Jill’ proceeds to distribute biscuits to her intrigued audience, before explaining that she’ll be showing us how to make cheesecake as part of a fictional television program.

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(4 stars)

By Paul Campobasso

What’s it like to be a native English speaker (or Anglophone) living in Paris?

Comedian Jacqueline Mifsud knows, as she does away with all the stereotypes and shares her own unique comical insight into the City of Lights as part of the 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival – and it’s a good thing too because her latest show, The  Anglophone and Other Offensive Instruments, is lively and funny.  

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