Mean Girls, Maniax and magic: Best things to do in Brisbane this week

Christmas and New Year may have come and gone but the school holidays aren’t over yet. If you’ve exhausted your ideas of things to do with kids we have a few more: namely a dinosaur puppet presentation, a screen printing workshop and a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine.

Antsy adults, meanwhile, can get stuck into an exhibition, an escape room, or the gentle art of axe throwing.

Choice new-release movies include a remake of a high school cult classic from Tina Fey and a sophisticated comedy starring indie hero Paul Giamatti. Plus there’s a chance to do the Time Warp, again, with a revival of the cult film to end all cult films.

Monday, January 8

Project Immersive escape room Nuclear Enrichment has been set up inside a former paint factory.Credit: Project Immersive

Amusements: Escape from an escape room
Love puzzles and intelligence tests? Recruit some friends and pit yourself against the laser beams of Project Immersive, the cogs and dials of Quest Room, the potions of Arcadium Adventures, the hidden explosives of Escape Hunt and many others.
Various locations, $40-$55. Find out more.

Art: Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street
The history and design of sneakers from the sports field to the fashion runway is explored in this inventive exhibition from The Design Museum in London, exclusive in Australia to the Gold Coast.
HOTA Gallery, daily 10am-4pm, $10-$26. Buy tickets.

Tuesday, January 9

Maniax have opened a new axe-throwing bar in Adelaide Street in the CBD.Credit: Maniax

Amusements: Maniax
The axe-throwing craze has reached the Brisbane CBD. Work off all that end-of-year aggression at the new Maniax (the third in SE Qld) by throwing an axe at one of several targets, then chill down with a Viking-inspired cocktail at Ragnar & Sons bar.
Basement 79 Adelaide Street, Brisbane City, daily from 10am, from $49. Buy tickets.

Kids: Dinosaur World Live
Lifelike, full-size dinosaur puppets come to life on stage, including T-Rex, Triceratops, Giraffatitan, Microraptor and Segnosaurus.
Brisbane Powerhouse, Jan 9-14, $64.90-$79.90. Buy tickets.

Wednesday, January 10

An ancient Egyptian cartonnage mask from the collection of the Abbey Museum.Credit: Nick Dent

Museums: The Abbey Museum
This underrated and fascinating museum in Caboolture has Bronze Age axes, Roman Empire jewellery, illuminated manuscripts, medieval armour, 17th-century Dutch pottery, and a penny-farthing bicycle, as well as Asian, Islamic and Pacific rarities.
31 The Abbey Place, Caboolture. Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, $7-$12. Learn more.

Craft: Teen Screen Printing Workshop: Garden Creatures
This workshop will teach teenagers how to screen print on paper and fabric a design inspired by the Rearranged exhibition.
Museum of Brisbane, 2.30-4.30pm, $25. Buy tickets.

Thursday, January 11

Dominic Sessa, Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers.Credit: Universal

Film: The Holdovers
Twenty years on from Sideways, Paul Giamatti reunites with director Alexander Payne in this acclaimed comedy about a stroppy history teacher chaperoning holdover students at a New England boarding school during Christmas (M).
In cinemas from Jan 11.

Film: Mean Girls
The claws are out again in the film based on the musical based on the film. Tina Fey returns as Ms Norbury (and again wrote the screenplay) for this high school opus which stars Australia’s Angourie Rice in the Lindsay Lohan role (M).
In cinemas from Jan 11.

Friday, January 12

What big eyes you have: Bizarre 1984 film The Company of Wolves is part of the Fairy Tale Cinema program.Credit: Image courtesy: Park Circus/ITV Studios

Film: The Company of Wolves
Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) directs a hallucinatory retelling of Red Riding Hood interwoven with other adult fairy tales in a 1984 film featuring Angela Lansbury, Stephen Rea and Terence Stamp (MA15+).
GOMA, 6pm, free.

Film: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Dendy is reintroducing ‘Frank-N-Furter Fridays’ with the return of the biggest cult film of all time: sci-fi musical parody and audience participation favourite Rocky Horror. Drag stars Maxi-Bun and Shu Shu Funtanna are your hosts, and expect plenty of sweet transvestites besides (M).
Dendy Coorparoo & Portside, 9pm, $14.50-$18.50. Buy tickets.

Saturday, January 13

Cleveland Aquatic Centre is one of Redland City Council’s public swimming pools.Credit: Redland City Council

Outdoors: Cool off in a public swimming spot
You don’t need to leave town to get in the swim. Find heat relief at one of Brisbane’s council pools, tidal pools, real and artificial beaches, splashy playgrounds, water holes and commercial water parks.
Find out more.

Theatre: Metaverse of Magic
Technology meets sleight-of-hand at QPAC in January. Bring your phone to this interactive evening of hocus-pocus by top magicians including Ash Magic, Sabine van Diemen, Horret Wu and Charli Ashby.
Concert Hall, QPAC, Jan 4-13, $79-$149. Buy tickets.

Sunday, January 14

Thomas the Tank Engine and his controller, Sir Topham Hatt.Credit: Workshops Rail Museum

Kids: Day Out with Thomas: The Colour Tour
Meet Thomas and friends, experience storytime with Sir Topham Hatt, play with toy trains, ride the mini train, enjoy carnival rides and more as the rail museum becomes a kid-friendly island of Sodor. Tickets include admission to all the regular museum exhibits.
Workshops Rail Museum, North St, North Ipswich, daily until Jan 26, $17-$21. Buy tickets.

Theatre: Chicago
Anthony Warlow, Zoë Ventoura, Lucy Maunder, Peter Rowsthorn and Asabi Goodman star in the sexy’n’cynical musical choreographed by Bob Fosse and written by John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret).
Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Jan 2-Feb 4, $69.90-$209.90. Buy tickets.