Madeleine Swain

Madeleine Swain is ArtsHub’s managing editor. Originally from England where she trained as an actor, she has over 25 years’ experience as a writer, editor and film reviewer in print, television, radio and online. She is also currently Vice Chair of JOY Media.

Madeleine Swain's Latest Articles

Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience. Image is an old Ford Anglia with its lights on crashed in a forest and spotlit from above.
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Experience review: Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience, The Briars, Mornington Peninsula

Fancy a trip to a Potter-themed forest experience? Butter beer included...

Madeleine Swain

Apr 10, 2024
Mel Buttle. Image is a head and shoulders shot of a smiling woman with a side parting and long wavy hair wearing red lipstick and a stripey T shirt under a blue and white jacket with a floral pattern on the chest.
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Comedy review: Mel Buttle, Not Here To Put Socks On Centipedes, Town Hall, MICF 2024

Whether it's admitting that parenthood isn't always 100 percent rosy or dealing with a rowdy crowd member, Buttle's timing is…

Madeleine Swain

Apr 8, 2024
Zoë Coombs Marr. Image is a woman wearing oversized rubber gloves, outside with a beach behind her, leaning on her elbows at a table. She has long brown hair and is wearing a brown T shirt.
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Comedy review: Zoë Coombs Marr, Every Single Thing In My Whole Entire Life, Town Hall, MICF 2024

Coombs Marr proves once again she gets just as many guffaws out of drag as she does in it.

Madeleine Swain

Apr 8, 2024
Against a black background a woman has one arm stretched out to the side and the other above her head. She has a mask of an oversized mouth on the bottom half of her face and is leaning to the left. Nina Conti
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Comedy review: Nina Conti, Your Face or Mine, The Capitol, MICF 2024

The endlessly entertaining woman with nerves of steel and a hand up a monkey's bottom is back...

Madeleine Swain

Apr 6, 2024
Image is a red background with a chest-up shot of a middle aged man wearing glasses, suit and tie and looking out at the camera with a neutral expression, behind a sheet of shattered glass.
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Comedy review: Ed Byrne: Tragedy Plus Time, The Malthouse, MICF 2024

The Irish comic proves that no subject is too dark for humour... if you approach it right.

Madeleine Swain

Apr 6, 2024
A colourful pink and yellow striped background behind three headshots: on the left a woman with dark wavy hair, in the middle a man doing a 'Home Alone' face holding his cheeks and on the right a curly headed man. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. MICF 2024
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Comedy review: New Order, Powder Room, Town Hall, MICF 2024

A trio of UK-based comedians – Josh Jones, Celya Ab and Dan Tiernan.

Madeleine Swain

Apr 5, 2024
Reuben Kaye. Man with huge open mouthed lipsticked smile and extravagant eyelashes is under a striated spotlight.
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Comedy review: Reuben Kaye, Apocalipstik, The Malthouse, MICF 2024

A force of deliciously bent nature, Kaye delivers again.

Madeleine Swain

Apr 5, 2024
MICF 2024. Kirsty Webeck. Image is shot of a woman with short curly-ish hair wearing a purple T shirt and a pendant and smiling up at the camera, which is positioned overhead. There is a pink background.
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Comedy review: Kirsty Webeck, I'll Be the Judge of That, The Westin Three, MICF 2024

She may be vegetarian and not drinking any more, but she's trying to be less judgemental all the same...

Madeleine Swain

Apr 4, 2024
MICF 2024. Catherine Bohart, Again With Feelings. Image is a woman sitting on a chair, with her body facing the left side. Her right leg is kicked up in the air and she has a doleful expression on her face. She is against an orange background, has long wavy red hair and is wearing a green dress and high heeled shoes.
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Comedy review: Catherine Bohart, Again, With Feelings, The Westin Three, MICF 2024

Irish stand-up Bohart brings the blarney and the banter.

Madeleine Swain

Apr 4, 2024
Whenever You're Ready. Image on left is a headshot of Trish Bolton, a middle aged woman with grey wavy shoulder length hair. On right is a pink book cover with an illustration of a table laid for tea with a teapot, watermelon and a banksia in a in jar. The title is in green and the author's name in white.
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Book review: Whenever You're Ready, Trish Bolton

A debut novel from a Melbourne-based author in which a trio of 70-something women take the spotlight.

Madeleine Swain

Apr 3, 2024
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