20 years on from Who’s Afraid of the Working Class? In Anthem, the Melbourne public transportation system behaves as a microcosm of larger political tensions and anxieties.
Come what may. Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge was staged on Broadway this year and is headed for Australian stages.
Supplied
Stages worldwide seem to have been taken over by musicals made for movie-lovers. While this creative process has a long history, it can limit opportunities for original works.
The cast of The Golden Shield by Anchuli Felicia King, currently on at Melbourne Theatre Company, shows faces too rarely seen on stage.
Jeff Busby/MTC
New research shows less than 10% of Australia’s artistic directors come from culturally diverse backgrounds – but many didn’t want the research to be done at all.
My Dearworthy Darling: the new production from writer Alison Croggon and theatre company The Rabble.
David Paterson
This new production from Alison Croggon and The Rabble asks us to consider how women’s voices are ignored, and makes us listen across time.
A Royal Victorian Small Homes House, designed in conjuction with The Age newspaper, 1955.
Photo: Wolfgang Sievers. Pictures Collection, State Library Victoria
Renewed interest in mid-century modern houses is more about substance than style. They represent the emergence of a new spirit and a coming of age in postwar Australia.
Zahra Newman in Wake in Fright. A new adaptation of Kenneth Cook’s novel retells the story of a man’s descent into violent masculinity with a female voice, accompanied by visual and aural spectacle.
Pia Johnson
In a new adaptation of the classic Australian novel, the story of masculinity and despair in the outback is told through a female voice.
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.
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.
Eliza Winstanley, Carte de visite, circa 1860. TCS 19, Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Eliza Winstanley, who died of diabetes and exhaustion in Sydney in 1882, is largely forgotten. But as a leading artist on Australia’s earliest stages she deserves a prominent place in our theatrical histories.
The performers in The Mares switch between roles using simple theatrical magic.
José Navarro
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.
Melita Jurisic as Mae West and Diana Glenn as Diane Arbus in Stephen Sewell’s Arbus and West.
Jeff Busby
Was Mary Stuart a passionate and jealous failed queen, or a brave and complex woman? Opposing representations in a new film and play reflect modern anxieties about women’s agency and leadership.
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.
Happy and Holy: Barry Otto as Tockey, Ruth Cracknell as Cecilia McManus, Graham Rowe as Denny, Ron Hadrick as O'Halloran in a 1982 production by the Sydney Theatre Company.
Photographer David Wilson.
David Williamson and Jack Hibberd tower over Australian drama. Williamson’s The Department and Hibberd’s A Stretch of the Imagination both showcase the strange yet compelling detachment of these playwrights’ visions.
Discontinuities, a triple bill staged at La Mama in 2002.
La Mama
From Cate Blanchett to David Williamson, some of Australia’s most well known theatre artists have performed at La Mama, which celebrates its 50th birthday this year.
The Theatre Royal in Hobart, Australia’s oldest continuously operating theatre.
Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office/Flickr
The idea of a ‘canon’ changes over time and despite its elitist overtones, identifying one can be both illuminating and fun. In a new series, we nominate the best of Australian drama.
A tasty morsel: Victorian Opera’s Banquet of Secrets
Jeff Busby