SPECIAL EVENTS
From community resilience meetups to movies, performances, boogies, and more —the Hall is lining it all up for you! Here’s a look at what’s ahead.
Check out our regular happenings or view our full Calendar for the complete schedule.
Mandy Nolan’s The Cranky Woman’s Comedy Club
Older women are cranky.
They’re tired. They’re tired of picking up your towel. They’re tired of making everyone food. They’re tired of unpacking the dishwasher. They’re tired of making tea. They’re tired of being responsible for making sure food is in the fridge. Or that there’s a meal on the table. Or that someone fed the dog. They’re tired of putting money in their kid’s accounts. They’re tired of being told they’re too fat, or too thin, or too wrinkly or too old. They’re tired of being judged. They’re tired of not being listened to. And according to a former comedy student of Mandy Nolan - they’re tired of turning up to a comedy room full of under 30 blokes and performing their life stories to a bunch of people who aren’t interested and don’t care.
Cranky women have so much to say. They’ve survived growing up in a patriarchy. They’ve survived childbirth and motherhood and marriage. They’ve also survived being judged for choosing none of those things!
Mandy Nolan is a Cranky Woman. She has 5 kids to 3 different blokes. That makes her a black belt in crank. She’s made a living out of it. So when another cranky woman complained that none of her cranky friends would come see her cranky show because it was in a room full of young blokes talking about their penis, it just made her...well cranky!
So she came up with a solution.
Gather the Cranky women. Teach them comedy. Then send them into the world as a kind of cranky women’s army. Tell other people who love listening to cranky women to come to the show and hear stories relevant and reflective of their life experience.
‘The Cranky Women’s Comedy Course is phenomenal - Its not just a comedy class, its a movement. Its incredible working with these wise, wicked and wondrous women!’ Sixteen cranky women will gather and learn the dark art of comedy just one week before their graduation show at Coorabell Hall on Friday 22 May hosted by the Cranky Queen - Mandy Nolan. The show is also a fundraiser for The SHIFT Project. Another thing women are cranky about...so many women being homeless!
Cranky women unite to raise money for a safe space!
ENJOY FOOD FROM 5PM AND DRINKS FROM OUR LICENSED BAR FROM 6PM
FILM CLUB - Little Shop of Horrors (The Director’s Cut) 1986
Director Frank Oz’s ebullient film adaptation of the smash Off-Broadway musical — itself based on a 1960 Roger Corman B horror movie — developed an instant cult following for its gleefully macabre tale of star-crossed skid-row lovers (the incomparable Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene) brought together and nearly torn apart by a giant, human-eating plant from outer space. But the film that reached theatres differed from Oz and songwriters Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s original vision, chiefly in a newly invented happy ending added after test audiences rejected the stage version’s darker, apocalyptic finale.
Although the producers wanted a happy ending, unlike the original stage version, a very elaborate ending was shot using miniatures and visual camera effects. This was before Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI).
Now, this hilarious political satire has been digitally restored to its original director’s cut, featuring 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage including the full original ending. At this point, it’s pretty obvious that capitalism really can be monstrous. It really will just eat everybody. It’s so blunt, without a hint of subtlety. But does anyone go see a horror comedy satire musical hoping for subtlety? Or do you go because you want to see giant alien plant murdering the planet?
What a treat!
Enjoy Japanese food from Norimaki Bay from 4:30PM and drinks from our licensed bar from 6:00PM.
Mandy Nolan In Conversation With Richard Jones
Experience Mandy Nolan In Conversation with Richard Jones, talking about his new book, a memoir of his colourful life entitled, Merging With Nature.
Books available for purchase at Coorabell Hall on the night.
Conversation starts at 7.15PM
Enjoy Kamal Singh’s authentic curries from 5PM and drinks from our licensed bar.
FILM CLUB - Roma
ROMA
FELLINI’S ROMA 1970
Films about cities pick and choose certain places or neighbourhoods, frame some views and exclude others, and have some kind of narrative shape, however loose. But Fellini isn’t just giving us a lot of flashy scenes, his Roma is different, with its hybrid form and jagged structure. It is a hybrid in that it mixes various kinds of film: contemporary observation with semi-fictionalised private memory, pseudo-documentary with pure fantasy.
There is also a rather open and improvised quality to the film, particularly in the contemporary parts. When it was finished, Fellini said ruefully that he had “the strange sensation of not even having scratched the surface” of the city. There were many other places in it he could have filmed but did not.
Almost every aspect of Rome that this film captures is in some way filtered through artifice and elaborated by fantasy. This was consistent with Fellini’s idea of projecting his personal vision of the city, but it was also to do with his preference for reconstructing real places on studio sets, which enabled multiple takes and more sustained work with actors and gave his director of photography, Giuseppe Rotunno, greater control of the lighting.
Overall Fellini is building a narrative that has a city for its protagonist instead of a single character.
Enjoy food and drinks from our licensed bar from 6:00PM.
Open Mic with Dr Baz
Open Mic Night with Dr Baz
Music, poetry - open mic with Barry Ferrier
Friday 10 April : 7.00pm - 9.30pm
San Miguel Fraser
San Miguel Fraser and special guests
Folk music & songs from Spain
Saturday 28 March : 5.30pm - 11pm
Dr Baz’s Sci-Fi Movie Night
ENTOMBED -30-minute sci-fi thriller.Winner of Best Experimental Film at the 2024 New York Arthouse Film Festival.
This special Fun Friday screening promises a dynamic blend of cinematic tension, philosophical inquiry, and immersive sound and vision.
Writer Des Collins and Director Barry Ferrier have created a gripping story of hope in the struggle against adversity, the renewing cycles of life, and humanity pulling together in the face of existential crisis.
Ferrier describes the film as the culmination of a lifelong artistic journey, he says: “Story is everything in film… Many people are making novel imagery with AI but to sustain narrative and engage an audience still comes down to having a good story to tell.. and Des Collins has written a great story”
ENTOMBED showcases new possibilities of AI-assisted storytelling — not as a replacement for traditional cinema, but as an exciting new artistic category.
The evening will also feature:
• PROJECT SENTINEL – a striking short film exploring the existential risks of AI superintelligence
• A curated selection of award-winning sci-fi themed music video.
Tickets available at the door $10 (includes raffle tickets)
After Fun Friday 20 March : 7-9pm
Flower Show
It’s time for our annual Coorabell Hall Flower Show. Come down and experience the splendour and beauty of award-winning Dahlias, other flower grower & florist displays, Flower art - and more. Free entry (donations appreciated)
Flower Crowns from fresh local flowers made by our fabulous volunteers, Face painting.
CWA cakes, Chai by Kamal, Lions Club Sausage sizzle, Licensed Bar, Ice creams, Coffee cart, Wood fired Pizza delicacies.
Flower Art & Raffle - prizes include $250 Crystal Castle Voucher
Pollinator talk & bee sanctuary walk : 3pm Sat & 10.30am Sun
Byron Bay Hula - Mana Aloha Troupe performance led by local legend Lilithe Rochas: 3PM Sunday
Closing Flower sale: 4PM Sunday
Opening times Saturday: 12-4PM
Opening times Sunday: 10-4PM
International Women’s Day Fundraiser
Fundraiser with local band support
Sunday 8 March : 1.00pm - 9.00pm
Flower Crown Making Workshop
Volunteer and learn how to make beautiful flower crowns for the Coorabell Hall Flower Show.
FILM CLUB - The Conformist
THE CONFORMIST (1970)
Bernardo Bertolucci’s elegant, chilling, expressionist, socio-political noir about the psychology of fascism unfolds through a complex flashback structure, as Marcello, a young employee of the fascist government in 1938, is tasked to assassinate his former acquaintance and notoriously outspoken anti-fascist professor.
Marcello is a metaphor for Italy as a whole during these tumultuous times under Il Duce, in constant conflict of how to behave, whether sexually, religiously or politically. Bertolucci portrays these themes with constant symbolism and metaphor in each character and situation; much like Pier Paolo Pasolini, with whom he began his career as an assistant director.
Richly designed by Ferdinando Scarfiotti to reflect the fashions and imposing architecture of the Mussolini era, the film is stunningly shot by Vittorio Storaro, whose gleaming, dynamic cinematography later proved an inspiration to American directors such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola
Enjoy food and drinks from our licensed bar from 6:00PM.
Dr Baz’s Open Mic - Fun Friday
Join us at Fun Friday for the inaugural of Dr Baz’s Open Mic night and sing along with a real live band. Awarded musician Dr Baz will let you strum, blow, or sing, so get ready to go big and bring out your inner star.
Enjoy food and drinks from our licensed bar from 5:30PM.
$10 Entry
Byron Event For New Landowners
New to owning land in the Byron region? Local Land Services and Byron Shire Council are here to help you.
Join us for a free BBQ featuring local produce and listen to the story of Zentfeld’s Coffee.
Special Events Calendar
If you are interested in booking the Hall, check availability here, or learn more about our regular happenings.