belvoir

John Gaden on turning his back on law and landing on the stage

John Gaden on turning his back on law and landing on the stage

Australian writer Michelle Law has an ear for the humour found when cultures meet. Her new play Miss Peony takes us into the world of Chinese-Australian pageants in which young women compete to be the one who most embodies Chinese values. But who decides what those values are?

Also, we meet the organisers of Club Broadway, a pop-up party that features nothing but show tunes, and we discuss 'mad scenes' in 19th century opera with the Australian soprano Jessica Pratt. What do they tell us about the attitudes and the politics of the time? Mad Scenes with Jessica Pratt is coming to the Sydney Opera House.

David Finnigan outraged the right-wing commentariat with his breakthrough play, Kill Climate Deniers. Now he's back with another play that confronts audiences with the urgent challenge of climate change: Scenes from the Climate Era. But why does climate action remain a niche topic on our mainstages?

Also, The Lucky Country is a new Australian musical at the Hayes Theatre which digs into the rich and complex variety of Australian life, and The Australian Ballet is presenting a new double-bill of Australian work under the title Identity. So, how long have Australian identities and Australian stories been featured in mainstream ballet?

Ivo van Hove is renowned as one of the most innovative — and divisive — theatre directors working today. The Belgian's enthralling stage adaptations of classic works consistently subvert expectations. Now, van Hove's adaptation of the confronting novel A Little Life is coming to the Adelaide Festival.

Also, a married lesbian couple with two children face divorce in Blessed Union, a new comedy at Belvoir, and Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, the longest-running play on London's West End, is touring Australia. But is it a paragon of modern theatre or a tourist trap?

S. Shakthidharan's new play for Belvoir St Theatre, The Jungle and Sea, adds dimension to his award-winning epic, Counting and Cracking. The Jungle and the Sea also builds on Shakthidharan's deeply held belief that the arts, and theatre in particular, can unite communities. 

Also, Emilia Bassano pursued a career as a poet during William Shakespeare's time and a new play commissioned by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre argues that The Bard may have plagiarised Emilia's own work, and to mark the 100th anniversary of The Waste Land by TS Eliot, Identity Theatre will bring Eliot's multi-layered lament to the stage.

Dan Giovannoni is a prolific writer of plays for young people and adults. His work as a playwright and as a teaching artist demonstrate his belief in how creativity can change the world. Dan has new plays at Barking Gecko and the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Also, Maree Johnson, Broadway cast member of Phantom of the Opera now performing on Sydney Harbour, shares her Top Shelf and we explore the 'repertory theatre' model that has inspired Belvoir's rep season of plays by Caryl Churchill and Alana Valentine.

Nathan Maynard is one of Australia's funniest and most clear-sighted playwrights. The Palawa writer had a hit with The Season and now he's back with At What Cost? A play that explores the thorny issue of who decides who can claim Aboriginal heritage.

Also, how are theatres coping with surging COVID cases? We check in with Belvoir, Opera Australia and Global Creatures (Moulin Rouge), and we hear a scene from And She Would Stand Like This, a play described as Greek tragedy meets Paris Is Burning.

What can a 60-year-old play about drunk and sometimes spiteful American academics tell us about culture and race relations in Australia? Director Margaret Harvey shares her bold vision for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Also, we hear a performance from Black Brass, inspired by stories of resilience from Perth's African communities and we meet some of the real-life people whose generosity inspired the hit musical Come from Away.

When a devastating diagnosis halted Michelle Ryan's dance career, she spent ten years away from the stage, but then some giants of dance brought her back into the spotlight. She's now artistic director of Adelaide's Restless Dance Theatre, which turns 30 this year.

Also, award-winning playwright Kendall Feaver confronts sexual assault on campus in Wherever She Wanders at Griffin and we take a look at the curious history of pantomime with Virginia Gay, whose new play at Belvoir is called The Boomkak Panto.

A common thread runs through much of Australian theatre's boldest and most influential new work: director Paige Rattray. From humble beginnings in Tasmania, she now helps our most exciting new playwrights to realise their vision.

Also, Stage Show regular Leith McPherson introduces her new role as Voice and Text Coach at the Sydney Theatre Company and dancer Raghav Handa and musician Maharshi Raval skirt the boundaries of Indian classical dance in Two at the OzAsia Festival.

Neil Armfield cut his teeth at Sydney's Nimrod Theatre Company before co-founding Belvoir, but his earliest forays into theatre-making were a way to escape some challenges at home. He shares his story with Mark Howett as one of our Legends of Australian Theatre.

Also, we visit a war-torn city and a family confronting the cost of survival in Samah Sabawi's play Them and we meet two comedians who have found the funny side of tragedy, bringing personal stories of grief and illness into their stand-up.

Composer and performer Eddie Perfect's Broadway adventures included some of the highest highs and lowest lows of his career. Now with two Broadway credits and a Tony nomination on his CV, he's touring a new show of stories and songs: Introspective.

Also, Robyn Nevin has been a leading talent in Australian theatre for decades, but her latest role may be one of her toughest yet — in A German Life, she becomes Brunhilde Pomsel, secretary to the Nazi minister for propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.

Following its acclaimed world premiere season, the Australian musical Fangirls returns. We learn how the show's writer, composer and original lead, Yve Blake, a theatre geek who can't play any instruments came to write one of the hottest musicals around.

Also, voice and dialect coach Leith McPherson shows us how to find the performer within when reading stories to children and Dr Erin Brannigan continues to share the joys of watching contemporary dance.

When Pamela Rabe moved to Australia from Canada, she quickly became one of our most celebrated actors. The three-time Helpmann Award-winner will next year feature in The Last Season at Sydney Festival and The Cherry Orchard at Belvoir.

Also, Sunshine Super Girl traces the triumphs — and trials — of Evonne Goolagong's rise to sports stardom and we meet a long-serving usher at Arts Centre Melbourne for whom the arts offered joy during difficult times.

Ben Brantley, the New York Times' chief theatre critic since 1996, reflects on his lifelong love of theatre, Broadway's unprecedented shutdown, and the perception that a Times review can make or break a show.Also, cabaret icon Ali McGregor hosts an online variety show where you call the shots and we meet a woman intimately familiar with Belvoir St Theatre's history and design: her father drew the blueprints!

Belvoir Artistic Director Eamon Flack, who last year led the company to a staggering 13 Helpmann Awards, tells us about his journey to the helm of this beloved theatre company and how they have responded to the pandemic.

Also, as the Darwin Festival forges ahead with a "homegrown" line-up, we visit the historic Brown's Mart Theatre with artistic director Sean Pardy as part of our Small Stages series.

The new Australian musical Fangirls challenges negative perceptions of female fandom and places their passion and power centre stage, Grey Rock at this year's Melbourne International Arts Festival tells the story of a Palestinian TV repairperson secretly building a rocket ship bound for the moon, and choreographers Sue Healey and Gideon Obarzanek discuss filming dance to capture and push the boundaries of an ephemeral art form.