Hello my lovely friends,

I am so pumped that the SYDNEY BALALAIKA ORCHESTRA is returning this Friday night with a simply extraordinary experience! On authentic traditional Russian instruments 25 orchestra members will woo us with traditional and folk Russian music - and they’re bringing some of their best soloist singers too!  The SYDNEY BALALAIKA ORCHESTRA features a number of intriguing and rare instruments - and interestingly we have had a number of high profile musicians talk about the incredible instruments the SYDNEY BALALAIKA ORCHESTRA bring - for instance the Russian cimbalom!  The Orchestra travels the world - including touring Russia - with a large repertoire of Russian light classical and traditional folk music.  Their joy is to share their love for the beauty and heart of true Russian music with mellow, melancholic themes juxtaposed by the lively and energetic melodrama. They are here this Friday 14th at 8pm & tickets are just $28. INCREDIBLE!  Come for an ASTOUNDING and UNIQUE NIGHT!

It’s SHOWTIME! Our Showtime Luncheon’s are one of the highlights of the month - come and join in the fun and meet some new friends! After fish & chips and coffee & cake, we have the fabulous MARTINI QUARTET bringing the smooth sounds of the great NAT KING COLE before the audience favourite film SONG FOR MARION, with Vanessa Redgrave as Marion and Terence Stamp as her grumpy old husband. This feel-good, heart-warming story will have tears trickling down your cheeks yet leave you with hope and wonderful expectations for the future! 4 stars from Margaret Pomeranz too! This could be the best SHOWTIME LUNCHEON yet!   Call NOW for this Wednesday 12th June at 11:30am, just $18.50.

Beginning this week, the ethereal Portuguese film TABU is beautifully shot with Margaret & David both loving it, giving it 4 ½ and 4 Stars respectively.  Margaret said: ‘Prepare yourselves for a unique cinema experience with TABU, a black and white tour de force of great beauty, whimsy and emotion.’  It’s one for those who love something different in their cinema – shot in 35mm and 16mm, in black and white and, for a section of it – silent - it’s a ravishing beauty.  The SMH says: ‘It’s complex, sophisticated and yet innocent in the depth of its emotions. It's a beautiful film about memory and regret, told in reverse…the film has a sense of grandeur, rooted in loss. 4 Stars.’  Quietly beautiful, TABU reward’s patience.

Starting this week, HAPPINESS NEVER COMES ALONE is a romantic French comedy with exuberance and great slapstick with two of my favourite French leads - Sophie Marceau – whom you’ll recognise as Electra in a recent Bond film but whom I LOVED in Female Agents -  and Gad Elmaleh whom we all enjoyed in Priceless and The Valet! What more could we ask for? It’s fun! We have an arrogant jazz pianist who can’t stand kids who (literally) who runs into a zany mum of three - and …HAPPINESS NEVER COMES ALONE!  Filled with comic set pieces, great jazzy, blues music and fabulous old movie posters & references that work so well, with characters you will love, HAPPINESS NEVER COMES ALONE is a thoroughly enjoyable French slapstick rom-com that you will have fun with.  Enjoy!

So pleased you agree with me on STILL MINE.  The word of mouth is very positive with people flocking in based on high recommendations from friends.  This is backed by 100% ratings on some movie sights and the Toronto Film Festival put it in their Top 10 Best Films for the year! Based on a true story that made the news in 2010, this is a story of love, devotion and beauracracy!  The leads are astounding James Cromwell (farmer from Babe!) & Genevieve Bujold with her trademark combination of ferocious intensity & childlike vulnerability as an elderly farming couple who decide to downsize their home - and there’s the rub…the redtape and beauracracy.  It all ends up in court and is founded on …love. Superb! 

Earlier this year we had an almost full house for Part 1 of HALF THE SKY: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide based on Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book.  Part 2 sees Nicholas & celebrity activists meet inspiring, courageous women who have found themselves subjugated to abuse; sustained, longstanding abuses of women that are institutional, economic, and historical with the linked problems of sex trafficking forced prostitution, gender-based violence & maternal mortality (claims 1 woman per 90 seconds).  Across the globe, meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women. Thursday 13th June from 6:30pm for drinks & dessert before the film, tickets just $20 to raise funds to assist.

ABSENT is an insightful look at the impact of fathers on children & society from the Award Winning Journalist & Director Justin Hunt, who will be here at Avoca to present his important film. He interviews powerful social experts like John Eldridge & Richard Rohr; also legendary James Hetfield of the heavy metal band Metallica, Johnny Tapia five-time world boxing champion, to mention a few, investigating the ongoing effects fathers have and  how they influence children’s unconscious decision-making. Supported with social research and high impact facts, ABSENT presents powerful insights into many social issues. Justin’s passion is to bring hope for what might be accomplished with increased awareness of the issues of Fatherhood. Not surprisingly, ABSENT has won six International Awards. Justin Hunt presents ABSENT here this Saturday 15th June at 1pm with a Q & A afterwards.  Tickets are just $12.50!

The London National Theatre’s stage plays on our screens are really hitting the mark!  The next play is Director Jeremy Herrin’s THIS HOUSE with Phil Daniels, Charles Edwards (Downton Abbey) Julian Wadham (The Iron Lady), receiving 4 and 5 Star reviews all over! 'Astute, funny and hugely enjoyable' (Financial Times) and ‘A funny and moving political epic' (The Times).  It's 1974 and the corridors of Westminster ring with the sound of intrigue as Britain's political parties battle to change the future of the nation, whatever it takes. This biting, energetic and critically-acclaimed new play strips politics down to the practical realities of those behind the scenes who roll up their sleeves, and on occasion bend the rules, to manoeuvre diverse, conflicting ideals.  Monday 17th June 11:30am, tickets $25/ Sen $23.

Last time CARMEN was here from the New York Met Opera I ended up sitting in the second row from the front, there was such a big response to it! And did I love it?  YES! Richard Eyre's hit production of CARMEN stars Elina Garanca as the seductive gypsy Carmen, Roberto Alagna as the obsessed Don Jose, the soldier whose doomed love for Carmen threatens them both.  Thrilling, shocking - colourful, creative, smouldering and sexy all these words describe the experience that is CARMEN.  Saturday 22nd at 11.30am & Monday 24th June at the special time of 12:30pm; $20 and $18 for Seniors.

Our new series from the world renowned GLOBE Theatre sees next the TWELFTH NIGHT. Starring Stephen Fry and Mark Rylance and filled with a cast of unforgettable characters, TWELFTH NIGHT combines cruelty with high comedy, and the pangs of unrequited love with some of the subtlest poetry and most exquisite songs Shakespeare ever wrote.  Twelfth Night’s sell-out performances led to a hit run in London’s West End and is here on Monday 27th June at 11.30am Tickets $25 and $23 for conc.  TAMING OF THE SHREW is on Monday the 27th July!  Special school screening and prices available.

Well we all probably saw Dame Helen Mirren giving drum protesters a verbal haranguing a few weeks ago on the news - dressed to perfection as Queen Elizabeth…they were drumming (very loudly!) outside the London National Theatre where she was performing THE AUDIENCE!  She of course was concerned HER audience could hear the performance….she did later come out in support of the protester’s cause.  THE AUDIENCE is sold out in London, however you can still get tickets to see it at Avoca!  Be sure to book soon for the screenings on Sat 6th and Mon 8th July, both at 11:30am; $25/Sen $23.

• Wed 12th  - SHOWTIME LUNCHEON with SONG FOR MARION
• Thurs 13th - TABU and HAPPINESS NEVER COMES ALONE begin
• Thurs 13th – HALF THE SKY: Turning Oppression into Opportunity, inc Drink & Dessert
• Fri 14th  - SYDNEY BALALAIKA ORCHESTRA
• Sat 15th – ABSENT – with Q & A with multi award winning director Justin Hunt
• Mon 17th June - London National Theatre’s THIS HOUSE
• Thurs 20th – A LADY IN PARIS begins
• Sat 22nd & Mon 24th June - New York Met’s CARMEN
• Thurs 27th - FAREWELL MY QUEEN begins
• Mon 1st July - From the Globe Theatre - THE TWELFTH NIGHT
• Sat 6th & Mon 8th July - Helen Mirren in London National Theatre’s THE AUDIENCE
• Wed 10th July - SHOWTIME LUNCHEON with live harp and guitar and STILL MINE
• Thurs 11th July - Joss Whedon’s MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING begins
• Sunday 14th July - ANDRE RIEU Concert via satellite
• Monday 15th  July - From the GREAT EXHIBITON Series - MUNCH

Great films coming up for fundraisers and the Theatre is a lovely cosy place to be on a wintery eve.  Consider NOW YOU SEE ME with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Rffalo and Woody Harrelson. 

Also the new ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS have began - so if yours has run out, come and see us for your new one with hundreds of 2 for 1 vouchers, 50% off etc to cafes, restaurants, activities and of course ….cinemas!  Yes - even to Avoca Beach Picture Theatre!  I use our Entertainment Book to get 5% off all my purchases from Coles, K Mart, First Choice and Woolworths - now that adds up to quite a lot of savings in a year! 

See you very soon my lovely friends at the Theatre, or in Beth’s Giftware Shop at Erina Fair!  

So looking forward to sharing a film with you,  

Beth