Arts

Producers of the biggest-selling magic show The Illusionists have teamed up with the award-winning puppeteers of War Horse to present a thrilling turn-of-the-century circus spectacular, CIRCUS 1903 – The Golden Age of Circus. CIRCUS 1903 stars the largest-ever performing African elephant (and her calf) along with a unique cast of the world’s most amazing and…

Taking place over three nights this week, Melbourne’s Monash University’s Caulfield campus is set to be the framework of a new art project, Under The Wire, from October 13-15. As part of the Melbourne Festival program, Under The Wire takes advantage of the collision of architectural style and undergoing construction, forming the backdrop for a…

Black Swan State Theatre Company have announced their 2017 season, boasting two world premieres, and five plays by Australian playwrights. The 2017 season will see the company farewell Artistic Director of nine years Kate Cherry, who helmed programming for the upcoming productions. Clare Watson will take over the role, beginning her time with the company…

Earlier this week, Brisbane Arts Theatre announced their 2017 run, boasting sixteen shows across their mainstage and children’s seasons. After a sell out run in 2016, Jurassic Park: The Musical will return, alongside other musical productions Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and…

Based on the 1992 smash hit movie of the same name, The Bodyguard will kick off its Australian tour in Sydney next April. Former secret service agent Frank Farmer (played on screen by 90s heartthrob Kevin Costner) is assigned bodyguard duty, protecting superstar Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston) from a stalker. After some initial head butting,…

A major partnership between the Art Gallery of NSW, Carriageworks, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, The National: New Australia Art is a six year initiative, dedicated to presenting the latest and greatest contemporary Australian art. Exhibitions will take place in 2017, 2019, and 2021. Ahead of the full artist reveal on December 1st,…

Writers’ Festivals are growing exponentially with quite a flurry. While you have the big guns out there, many other fascinating festivals bubble under the literature surface. One of those festivals is Story Fest – a festival focusing all on the performative aspect of art, as opposed to the written word. Director of the festival Miles…

The internationally acclaimed St Petersburg Ballet Theatre will come to Sydney 21-24 December for the very first time, to present two full-length classic productions of the world’s most loved ballet, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and his most enchanting and magical ballet of all time The Nutcracker. This is classic Russian ballet as it was meant to…

Dance Makers Collective have called in some unlikely experts for their next show, their dads! From 2nd to 5th November, FORM Dance Projects and Riverside Theatres will present the new highly-anticipated work from Dance Makers Collective entitled Dads. Through interviews with their dads and sessions in the rehearsal studio, Dance Makers Collective have uncovered a…

Excellent direction and inspired design make Secret House’s production of Cymbeline a surprisingly entertaining night out. One of Shakespeare’s least-known works, Cymbeline reads like a bingo card of the Bard’s favourite devices: gruesome murder, adventures in the woods, cross-dressing, a confused King, banishment, star-crossed lovers and war. Tick, tick, tick, Bingo! At nearly 4,000 lines,…

After a viral video caused the media to spiral into a frenzy about the alleged sighting of renowned street artist Banksy, we can confirm it was absolutely not him. So who is Banksy? Well, we still don’t know. It doesn’t really matter in a sense because the work speaks for itself. Today, an 80-piece exhibition…

Dream Lover – The Bobby Darin Musical is the perfect show for a casino – packed to the brim with classic cabaret and jazz tunes, a live big band and dazzling set and costumes. Add to the mix an engaging story and a first-rate star and you’re guaranteed to have a mainstream hit on your…

The organisers of the Perth International Arts Festival have teased details of their 2017 program, revealing a glimpse at what they have in store for the opening weekend, including details of next year’s opening event. In recent years the festival opening event has been a grand spectacle, from gigantic puppets walking the streets of the…

Taking place over two days this November, The Black Arts Market will celebrate and showcase the creative skills of nearly 100 Aboriginal artists from South East Australia. Organised by Carriageworks and the City of Sydney, this cultural marketplace will be curated by Hetti Perkins and Jonathan Jones. Jones was recently announced as the first Indigenous…

The Best of Adam Sharp is like Sliding Doors meets High Fidelity. The third novel by author, Graeme Simsion takes a more dramatic and wistful approach to his previous novels, The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect. In Adam Sharp, Simison grapples with the question of “What if?” and produces a well-written dramedy and meditation…

Written by Marc Camoletti and directed by Stephen Snars, Boeing Boeing tells the tale of Bernard (Paul Sztelma), a French architect living in Paris and juggling relationships with three flight attendants. It is the 1960s and Bernard has no shame over his three fiancé’s – in fact, when an old school friend Robert (Robert Snars)…

Sk!n is an Oz Asia production from Malaysia by TerryandtheCruz raising awareness of the refugee issue. Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN convention relating to the Status of Refugees, making them vulnerable to abuse. The performance itself involves the audience as part of the show. As we are ushered into the foyer…

Featuring works filmed inside the Icelandic caves of Europe’s largest glacier, Isaac Julien: Refuge marks Julien’s fifth solo exhibition at Sydney’s Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, and will open on October 21st. Known for his multi-screen installations, Julien is one of Britain’s most influential artists working today, with his cinematic and photographic works combining a rich visual…

You can always rely on Hayes Theatre Co to bring the shows that you’ve always wanted to see but know in your heart that they’ll be a tough bring. Side Show is precisely one of these shows- with its big number “Who Will Love Me As I Am” and its notable conjoined twin role, it’s a rarely-performed…

This Is Not Art This annual tradition of artistic endeavours around Newcastle continues to fascinate with experimental fare new media and art. Over the last few decades TiNA has become one of NSW’s leading regional arts and cultural events, incorporating the National Young Writers’ Festival (NYWF), Crack Theatre Festival and Critical Animals plus some of thier…

The Walsh Bay Arts Table Dinner is one of Sydney’s premier fundraising events, inviting guests to participate in a unique alfresco dining experience, held in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This year’s theme is If Music Be The Food of Love. Hosted this year by acapella ensemble The Song Company, five stand-out chefs from…

Split Flow and Holistic Strata are two performances by Japanese choreographer and multidisciplinary artist Hiroaki Umeda. The composing, lighting, choreography and performance are all created by Umeda. Over the last ten years he has toured the world with his subtle yet violent dance pieces. The first piece, Split Flow, is an experiment in expressing velocity…

It’s time to ranch it up! One of the hottest comedians in the world right now, Eric Andre, has just announced that, for the very first time, he’ll be coming down to tour (some of) Australia before the year is over, performing twin stand-up shows in Melbourne and Sydney. The man’s daring and boundary-pushing approach…

Laura Johnston’s one-woman show Hitchcock’s Birds is superbly researched and well performed, but leaves the audience wanting more. The concept behind this show is compelling: an insight into the mind of film director Alfred Hitchcock, delivered from the mouths of his leading ladies. The script is taken entirely from real life interviews with Hitchcock’s actresses,…

Responding to Women in Theatre & Screen findings from last year, Darlinghurst Theatre Company and Belvoir are the only mainstage Sydney theatre companies to have at least 50% of their 2017 season helmed by female writers and directors. DTC also has the distinction of a female majority, with four out of their six productions written…

While even the non-avid Podcast listeners have likely heard of series like Serial and Comedy Bang! Bang!, the Podcast world is full of thousands of regular Podcasts that each have their own dedicated audience. We’ve scoured through quite a lot of them and present to you the ten that we think you need to subscribe…

Prince was an enigma. And after reading a biography like Prince: Purple Reign the artist formerly known as remains a real mystery. The book is by the accomplished music journalist Mick Wall, and while it presents some facts, anecdotes and chronology about Prince’s life, there are many aspects that are glossed over or omitted from this…

A first time collaboration between the National Theatre of Parramatta and Performance 4A, Who Speaks For Me? is co-directed by storyteller and photographer William Yang and writer/producer Annette Shun Wah. Exploring the vagaries of language, Who Speaks For Me? brings together personal narratives from the vibrant and culturally diverse areas of Western Sydney. These stories…

Created and performed by Australian actor/musician John Waters and singer/pianist Stewart D’Arrietta, Lennon – Through A Glass Onion features 31 iconic John Lennon hits, including Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Revolution, and, of course, Imagine. Billed as part concert and part biography, Waters and D’Arrietta’s exploration of music icon John Lennon has been entertaining…

The most recent production of A Midsummer Nights Dream I had seen was The Australian Ballet’s interpretation last year, “The Dream”. The ballet was full of whimsical fairies and enchanted forests, the dancing light and airy as it retold Shakespeare’s fanciful story of love and folly. Here again in the Sydney Theatre Company’s latest adaption…