Cameron Woodhead

Melbourne

Senior Theatre Critic and Book Columnist at The Age

Senior theatre critic for @theage. Weekly books columnist. Arts journalist.

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Articles

Searching for your next read? Here are 10 new books

1 week ago | watoday.com.au | Cameron Woodhead |Steven Carroll

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Searching for your next read? Here are 10 new books

1 week ago | smh.com.au | Cameron Woodhead |Steven Carroll

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. From medieval world-building and early 2000s nostalgia to a seminal study of Palestine and the cultural significance of one of our great rivers, this week’s books traverse time, subject and genre. FICTION PICK OF THE WEEKThe PretenderJo HarkinBloomsbury, $32.99The Pretender takes us into a late medieval England dominated by violence and political intrigue.
This is not a pop band – as a packed Melbourne room reflected, it’s something more unusual

1 week ago | watoday.com.au | Michael Dwyer |Cameron Woodhead

THEATREEndgames ★★★fortyfivedownstairs, until June 1Three brief encounters with hideous men achieve a sense of twilit tragicomedy in the hands of the legendary Max Gillies.
Looking for something to read? Here are 10 new books

2 weeks ago | smh.com.au | Cameron Woodhead |Fiona Capp

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. This week’s book reviews range from a fictionalised account of a cult leader and cosy crime, to Tasmania’s Indigenous past and a history (and possible future) of artificial intelligence. Happy reading!FICTION PICK OF THE WEEKThis Is Not a Game Kelly MullenCentury, $34.99You already know a book called This Is Not a Game will totally be a game, right?
If you’re only going to see one musical this season, let it be Beetlejuice

3 weeks ago | theage.com.au | Cameron Woodhead |Tony Way

By Cameron Woodhead and Tony Way May 18, 2025 — 12.10pm, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
If you’re only going to see one musical this season, let it be Beetlejuice

3 weeks ago | watoday.com.au | Cameron Woodhead |Tony Way

Everyone from a Pollyanna-ish girl scout (Rebecca Ordiz) to a dead beauty queen (Angelique Cassimatis) – not to mention Beetlejuice’s own chain-smoking mother (Noni McCallum) – gets in on the action as the door to a bureaucratic underworld opens, and Lydia must find a way to cope with her loss before all hell breaks loose. Everything about Beetlejuice is super-slick and timed to perfection.
Wry humour, an underdog tale and banned novels: 10 new books

3 weeks ago | smh.com.au | Cameron Woodhead |Steven Carroll

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. This week’s book reviews traverse the genres, from a First Nations romcom to a dystopian vision, a guide to having an open marriage, a history of Scandinavia (those last two are not related) and some radical second-wave feminism.
Robber barons and moonshine: This show about the road to Hades is a hell of a good time

4 weeks ago | theage.com.au | Cameron Woodhead

Robber barons and moonshine: This show about the road to Hades is a hell of a good timeBy Cameron Woodhead May 11, 2025 — 11.24am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. MUSICAL THEATREHadestown ★★★★Her Majesty’s Theatre, until July 6Ancient Greek and Roman myths involving the underworld tend to agree on the ease with which mortals can find the road to hell.
Book reviews: Such Quiet Girls by Noelle W. Ihli; He Would Never by Holly Wainright; Favourite Daughter by Morgan Dick; The Eyes of Gaza by Plestia Alaqad; All of It by Brooke Boney

1 month ago | smh.com.au | Cameron Woodhead |Fiona Capp

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. This week’s new releases range from tales of toxic friendship and family dramedy to a moving first-person account of life in Gaza and an examination of the effects on the brain of physical and psychological trauma. FICTION PICK OF THE WEEKSuch Quiet GirlsNoelle W. IhliMacmillan, $34.99An ordinary day takes a disastrous turn when a school bus is hijacked in Noelle W.
A Booker winner, a comedy and Hitler’s obsession with Einstein

1 month ago | smh.com.au | Cameron Woodhead |Steven Carroll

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. This week’s reviews include a satire on the decline of journalism and the people who struggle to make a living from it (ahem), a new love story from Call Me By Your Name author André Aciman, the chilling wartime story of Albert Einstein’s cousin Robert and a rags-to-riches sports memoir.