The Threepenny Opera review – Barrie Kosky’s deliciously entertaining take on Brecht
The director brings great urgency and panache to this scathing critique of capitalism, with knockout performances in a bold and seductive show
‘A revolutionary moment’: what’s the future for Indigenous Australian dance?
The ancient storytelling tradition has a long political history. In the wake of the voice referendum, finding resources and audiences takes on a fresh urgency
Adelaide festival 2024: giant whalebones pierce the sunset for ‘transformative’ opening night
The ambitious opening statement is taking over the city’s most popular beach, ahead of a festival that marries big names with moving stories of Country
February 2024
Laurie Anderson on making an AI chatbot of Lou Reed: ‘I’m totally, 100%, sadly addicted’
Anderson’s experiments with language-based AI predated ChatGPT – with one machine modelled on her dead husband that her friends ‘just can’t stand’
Safety signals and security guards: when did Australian writers’ festivals become so fraught?
Perth writers’ weekend has a risk-management plan, as a culture war brews ahead of Adelaide writers’ week. How can organisers keeps festivals safe without watering them down?
The dancers with disability exploring sex and love: ‘Once you open the floodgates, it’s pretty interesting’
For 30 years, Restless Dance Theatre has been empowering its performers to use dance to tackle topics rarely broached on or off the stage
January 2024
The Jungle Book Reimagined: how an eight-year-old girl helped reinvent a classic
UK choreographer Akram Khan planned his new show while working from home, with his daughter drawing in the corner. She overheard his meetings – and had some notes
November 2023
Breathing, bushfires and ‘little bees’: children make art for the climate crisis – in pictures
For the 2024 Adelaide festival, young people from around South Australia were invited to make art in response to their three climate change priorities
March 2023
Adelaide Writers’ Week: rare moments of empathy and nuance found amid a storm of controversy
A Little Life review – four hours of brutality and misery, but what for?
Australian arts in focus
Unchanged melody: the all-boys choir that survived 700 years of conflict
‘An extraordinary act of courage’: the Aboriginal activist who protested against Nazi Germany
February 2023
‘How do you grow up in an anti-ageing world?’: Hansel and Gretel gets a dystopic, hi-tech update
Using bone conduction headphones to sow seeds of mistrust in the audience, Adelaide festival’s Hans & Gret has its creators on their toes
Australian arts in focus
‘Nobody can go back – we all face jail’: the dissident theatre company opening Adelaide festival
Belarus Free Theatre currently face years in prison if they return home. Now living in exile, they’re bringing their show Dogs of Europe to Australia
Adelaide Writers’ Week withdrawals ‘sad’ and ‘unfortunate’, director Louise Adler says
Adler defends ‘courageous spaces to air opposing views’ as major sponsor and three Ukrainian writers pull out over comments from other invited authors
November 2022
Australian arts in focus
A Little Life: four-hour adaptation of divisive queer novel heading to Adelaide festival
Ivo van Hove’s play will make its Australian debut in Adelaide in 2023, and be performed in Dutch with subtitles
September 2022
Australian arts in focus
Andy Warhol’s star-studded photographs: ‘You find out much more about him as a person’
A major exhibition of Warhol’s photography will open next year in Australia – a country the artist ‘couldn’t quite comprehend’
August 2022
Australian arts in focus
Adelaide festival to stage Verdi’s Requiem with a cast of hundreds – and a star choreographer
After Covid thwarted two attempts to bring out Christian Spuck’s acclaimed Messa da Requiem, the festival has finally announced it as next year’s centrepiece
June 2022
Other lives
Roger Chapman obituary
Other lives: Touring director at the National for 16 years who took the very best of British theatre around the globe
March 2022
Womadelaide’s unforgettable moments: ‘They didn’t know what to expect’
From an all-star train ride across the Nullarbor to an unexpected cricket plague, this year’s festival marks 30 years of border-defying music and art
