Arts

Opening today at Brisbane Powerhouse, Look Mum… No Hands!!! is the first production from ensemble Indel-ABILITY Arts, a group comprised of artists who identify as having a disability. Set in the fictional Legless Bar on open mic night, performers share accounts of their struggles to find opportunity and succeed in an industry that places so…

Hachette Australia and The Emerging Writers’ Festival have announced the shortlist for the Richell Prize, named in memory of former Hachette CEO Matt Richell. Prior to his sudden death in 2014, Richell was a passionate supporter of new and emerging writers. This is a legacy which the award aims to continue, by celebrating unpublished authors in the…

Five new Australian plays, eight world premieres and a host of international guests artists are set to make Malthouse Theatre’s 2017 season their most exciting yet. Speaking of the recently announced line up, Artistic Director Matthew Lutton said: “Malthouse Theatre aims to spark debate and interrogation with the theatre we create and 2017 will be…

This September, Caroline O’Connor will take to the stage in the world premiere of Dream Lover – The Bobby Darin Musical, playing the dual roles of Polly (Bobby Darin’s mother) and Mary (Sandra Dee’s mother). I asked this Australian musical theatre icon what drew her to the project and about the challenges of playing two…

September and Spring time is officially here and around the country, arts festivals are kicking off, not to mention some world-renowned theatre productions in some of our finest venues too. Check out our picks for events you simply cannot miss this month! Sydney Fringe Festival The first of two big festivals exploring everything that is…

It’s a story of good and evil, black and white, with just a hint of red… It’s opening night of Ballet Preljocaj’s Snow White at QPAC. The curtains rise to a dark stage filled with white smoke. As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you can just make out a dark figure at the far…

Moulin Rouge! will be returning to its theatrical roots (in a sense) with the announcement that the acclaimed film will be coming to the stage as a new musical. For now everything is still very much in the developmental stages, with a production timeline and venue still to be announced. So what do we know…

The short story, is perhaps one of the most underappreciated of the literary forms. Certainly it’s a format with its readers and, naturally, writers, but it’s never quite had the audience or the celebrity it’s longer form cousins – the novel – have. But all that could be able to change, with the launch of…

A joint venture between quarterly magazine The Lifted Brow, RMIT University’s non/fictionLAB, and the Copyright Agency, the Prize for Experimental Non-Fiction was this year won by Brisbane based writer W.J.P. Newnham, for his autobiographical piece Trashman Loves Maree. The award celebrates work unlike any other, seeking out new and audacious voices from across the world….

Briohny Doyle is a Melbourne-based writer and academic. Her debut novel, The Island Will Sink, is the first book published by The Lifted Brow. The Island Will Sink is set in the near future and follows the life of Max Galleon, a leading director in the disaster movie genre. In this world, people don’t care…

In a unique collaboration between the Powerhouse Youth Theatre, critically acclaimed dance theatre company Force Majeure, and performers from Dauntless Movement Crew, Jump First, Ask Later will bring parkour to a whole new audience, with several dates at the Sydney Opera House from late September. When young parkour enthusiasts in Fairfield, one of Sydney’s most culturally…

The definition of what a fringe festival can be blurred in this day and age – you sometimes get ‘big names’ on lineups, and the biggest arts festival in the world is a fringe festival for goodness sake. In any case, it’s a huge bunch of talent full of great shows and performances that are undeniably unique. With both…

Established in 1954, the Miles Franklin Literary Award is Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, named for author Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin. At an announcement made on the opening night of the Melbourne Writers Festival, A.S. Patrić took home the $60,000 prize money, for his début novel Black Rock White City. All shortlisted applicants, which this…

The incredible new Broadway musical Aladdin had its Australian premiere earlier this month at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre – and we absolutely loved it. We wanted to learn a bit more about the show, so we caught up with our Genie – Michael James Scott – who comes out of the original Broadway production, to learn…

Following on from performances in Brisbane and Melbourne, as well as fitting in some time for the show’s host Scott Aukerman to appear on ABC’s The Mix, The Project and more, the cult TV and Podcast series Comedy Bang! Bang! made its much anticipated debut in Sydney last night, in front of what had to…

From Varekai to Dralion and Ovo to Totem, Australia has been lucky enough to have its fair share of Cirque du Soleil productions make their way to our country under the famed Grand Chapiteau across the last decade. But their latest – Kooza – which premiered in Sydney on Thursday ahead of a lengthy national…

Not too long ago we chatted to street artist Alex Lehours about his mural work. Specifically his Deadpool piece outdoors in the city streets of Sydney. How then can mural artists transplant to a more regional setting, but with more freedom to explore space? Artists Claire Foxton and Mikey Freedom have been given the canvas of Holm Place…

During September and October, Confluence – Festival of India will stage events across Sydney, showcasing some of India’s most exciting and interesting artistic cultures and traditions. The festival moves throughout Australia over a twelve week period, with Sydney dates running from mid-September. A joint venture between India and Australia, the festival offers a unique opportunity…

David Strassman, one of the world’s best  ventriloquists and loved the world over,  is coming back to Australia this October for his new show iTedE where he raises the bar once again and controls 5 puppets in 15 seconds! Darcy Oliver had a chat with the man himself before this show comes down under for the second time this…

In between doubling over with belly laughs while watching Adult Swim’s outrageous The Eric Andre Show, you may notice the charming dead-pan Hannibal Buress as the show’s grounded – and relatively sane – co-host. Well that man, who is also well known for his role on Broad City, is set to tour Australia later this…

FORM Dance Projects and Riverside Theatres will present Metadata, an immersive work from the acclaimed dance performance company, De Quincey Co. Metadata includes two works, Pure Light and Moths & Mathematics, created by leading Australian dance, video, sound and animation artists. The two works probe the latest developments in physics and cosmology, with the artists…

Hidden Sydney – an immersive, exhilarating and witty cabaret experience is set over four floors of “The Nevada”, the former Sydney brothel which boasted the biggest bed in the world. This exciting new theatrical event will play from 16 September. The star studded ensemble cast, as glittering as the Cross itself, includes – Ray Badran,…

Aided by funding from the Victorian Government and The Ian Potter Foundation, Monash University has announced that The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts will be opening at the Clayton campus in the coming years, with two new performance venues adjoining the Alexander Theatre. The 586 seat Alexander Theatre, built in 1967, will undergo a refurbishment as…

A former café in Perth’s Northbridge has been reopened as City Arts Space, a multi-purpose space for artists to create, develop, and exhibit their work. Located at the Northbridge Piazza, the venue is designed as an affordable and flexible location for creatives to come and showcase their talent. Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffaldi said that the government…

Andrew Henry gives a tour de force performance in Red Line Productions’ well executed take on the British classic, Look Back in Anger. Henry plays Jimmy Porter, a disillusioned young Englishman living in near-poverty with his wife and their flatmate in a one-bedroom flat in the Midlands. Well-educated but devoutly loyal to his working-class upbringing,…

After the Pythons re-united for a brief run of shows at the O2 in London in 2014, John Cleese and the team behind the show started thinking about what else might work on the stage. Cleese’s brilliant, all-too-short but totally classic series Fawlty Towers seemed to be the obvious choice, and they immediately began to…

Who Am I? Where did I come from? What was my family like? We’re all hit by these questions at some point in our lives, hit with that desire to find out more about those bits of life that have faded into half formed memories. It is this desire to find out more about her…

This man needs no introduction, but alas, we’ll give him one anyway! Matthew Bourne is a pioneer in the arts industry, taking dance to wider audiences. Next year, his latest venture Lord of the Flies will find a home exclusively in Melbourne. Based on the novel by William Golding comes an inventive show unlike any…

Making its Australian première at Arts Centre Melbourne in 2017, Sir Matthew Bourne‘s adaptation of William Golding’s classic Lord of the Flies will see up to 24 Victorian men and boys invited to workshops designed by the renowned choreographers’ team, with the possibility of performing in the production next April. Sir Matthew’s adaptation of Lord of the Flies…

Earlier this week, Footscray’s States of Blue: West Projections Festival kicked off, with events running from now until September 11th. A joint venture between Wynter Projects and Victoria University, the festival will see 22 unique sites across Footscray illuminated by various projections and installations designed by local and interstate artists. Artists presenting at the festival…