Celia Pacquola as Jenny Milford in The Torrents. A new production of the forgotten Australian play shows its themes are still relevant today.
Philip Gostelow
A new production revisits a play dropped from the Australian theatrical canon long ago. Set in a regional newsroom, the play’s themes are strikingly relevant today.
Sheridan Harbridge as Tessa in Prima Facie, a new play about a lawyer who becomes a victim of the legal system after she is sexually assaulted.
Brett Boardman
Written by a former lawyer, a new play presents a forceful critique of the Australian legal system’s treatment of sexual assault.
Igor Sas in Water. The play deals with the issues of ‘illegal’ immigration and environmental crisis in three narratives.
Daniel J Grant
In the vein of Arthur Miller, a new play sees family drama and political issues clash in an enclosed space.
Scott Sheridan and Natasha Herbert in Cloudstreet, a new production of the stage adaptation of Tim Winton’s literary epic.
Pia Johnson
A new production of Cloudstreet - the play adapted from Tim Winton’s literary epic - is visually arresting. But despite a diverse cast, Indigenous characters remain spectral and peripheral.
The performers in The Mares switch between roles using simple theatrical magic.
José Navarro
A new play draws on Greek myth and the modern world of racehorse breeding to explore present day violence against women.
Renato Musolino is the beating heart of a new production of Animal Farm.
James Hartley
An impressive solo performance of Orwell’s classic novella by Renato Musolino portrays a world not so far from our own.
Sue Smith’s play recreates wild years spent on the island of Hydra, which became an artist’s refuge.
Jeff Busby
A new play tells the story of George Johnston and Charmian Clift’s time on the Greek island of Hydra, which ultimately led to the novel My Brother Jack - but not without sacrifices.
A Man of Good Hope is a theatrical adaptation of the book of the same name, playing as part of this year’s Adelaide Festival.
Keith Pattison
In A Man of Good Hope, an energetic cast of over 20 performers take the audience on a journey through the life of Somali refugee Asad Abdullahi.
Melita Jurisic as Mae West and Diana Glenn as Diane Arbus in Stephen Sewell’s Arbus and West.
Jeff Busby
One of Australia’s most prominent playwrights has reimagined the infamous encounter between Hollywood icon Mae West and photographer Diane Arbus.
A scene from La Reprise, director Milo Rau’s first production following the publication of his controversial ‘Ghent Manifesto’ on theatre.
Michiel Devijver
La Reprise is remarkable theatre about the murder of a gay man, Ihsane Jarfi, in Belgium in 2012.
Michelle Lim Davidson, Anthony Taufa and Nakkiah Lui in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of How to Rule the World.
Prudence Upton
The latest offering from playwright Nakkiah Lui illustrates just how ripe our political class are for satirical representation.
One Infinity is a cross-cultural collaboration produced by Playking Productions and Jun Tian Fang.
Gregory Lorenzutti
One Infinity is a music and dance collaboration about crossing cultures and breaking boundaries. The performance celebrates differences without attempting to resolve them.
Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity is being staged at this year’s Sydney Festival by Schaubühne Berlin and Complicité director Simon McBurney.
Jamie Williams
Beware of Pity is a play based on Austrian author Stefan Zweig’s novel of the same name. It is a coming-of-age story that asks whether pity can be our undoing.
Shakira Clanton in Henrietta Baird’s The Weekend.
Jamie James/Courtesy of Moogahlin
Debates about the place of the monologue in theatre fall away when you have a show as compassionate and funny as The Weekend.
Dust is a new show by far-north Queensland company Dancenorth, currently playing at the 2019 Sydney Festival.
Pippa Samaya
Dancenorth’s Dust explores a world on the brink of turning back to dust. Its themes are familiar in contemporary dance, but the show is replete with powerful images.
A DJ provides the soundtrack of Damascus in While I Was Waiting.
Didier Nadeau
A group of diasporic Syrian actors in Marseilles came together with a few remaining in their home country to create this touching, hard-hitting play.
Kate Mulvany in An Enemy of the People.
Brett Boardman
In a new production, Ibsen’s play is transformed to small-town Australia with the whistle-blower at the centre of the story played by Kate Mulvany.
In Steven Sewell’s play, two physicists search for ‘truth’.
Kate Pardey
Stephen Sewell’s play questions truth, humanity and what constitutes our individual and collective worlds.
Performers in Circa’s En Masse.
David Kelly
The incredible physical control of the Circa acrobats, and their ability to make bodies seem weightless, is breathtaking.
Maeve Marsden and Libby Wood in Mother’s Ruin.
Brisbane Festival
This cabaret show about a beverage incorporates politics, feminism, history and some rousing singalong numbers.