The public was enchanted by the ‘Lightscape’ installation at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens in 2022, so much so that the event will return next year. Photo: Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria website.
Here are the most popular reviews this year across an array of art forms. After the last few years of COVID-led shuttered shows and closed shops, everything went (almost) back to normal as audiences piled back into live performance spaces, exhibition venues and bookstores nationwide. There are some sure-fire hits among the selection, but some surprises too.
Who would have thought that a show using the lesser-known songs of Bob Dylan would be the most widely read performing arts review of 2022? With its melancholic plot lines and chiaroscuro lighting, this production was assuredly not an upbeat musical.
Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025).
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy
