Month: April 2026
Announcing Cast For Stella: A New Australian Musical
•
The world premiere of STELLA has unveiled its cast, bringing together a powerhouse line-up of Australian stage and screen talent to tell the remarkable story of Miles Franklin. The production features Geraldine Hakewill (Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, Wakefield, Wanted), Johanna Allen (Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, Sweeney Todd), Shubshri Kandiah (Cinderella, Aladdin, Fangirls, Beauty and the Beast), Joe…
Review: Which Way Home Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company
•
★★★★☆ Which Way Home, presented by Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, is a beautiful play filled with warmth, humour, crackling dialogue, and a whole lot of heart and soul. Based on writer Katie Beckett’s own childhood – she lost her mother young and was raised by her Dad – it radiates…
Inaugural Creative Brisbane Awards Announces 2026 Winners
•
Brisbane’s most impactful creative collaborations were recognised at the inaugural Creative Brisbane Awards, celebrating the partnerships transforming the city’s cultural identity, strengthening communities and driving innovation across sectors. Winners across 10 categories were announced at a special ceremony at Brisbane City Hall on Tuesday 28 April, bringing together leaders from…
Film Review: Jean Valjean Finds Grace In The Shadows
•
★★★½ Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a mighty house brick (or three) of a novel and has been adapted many times in multiple forms. Here, director and screenwriter Éric Besnard has concentrated on the first 150 pages or so in giving us an origin story at the heart of French identity. Jean…
Announcing Middle Raged: A Musical Meltdown For NSW Tour
•
Real Stories. Big Laughs. Zero Filters: Middle Raged Ignites the Stage! A brand-new Australian show, Middle Raged – A Musical Meltdown, will sweat its way into Canberra and theatres across New South Wales – delivering real stories, big laughs and fearless celebration of menopause, midlife and finding your fire. Be…
Brunswick Underground Film Festival Returns With Big New 2026 Program
•
After a massively successful first year, bringing over 2,500 punters to Brunswick West, Brunswick Underground Film Festival (BUFF) is back, with its second edition launching this May in Melbourne. From the minds behind cult cinema collective Static Vision, BUFF has become the city’s much-needed home for forward-thinking, transgressive and independent…
HOTA Invites Theatre Audiences Up Close & Personal For Winter Season
•
This winter HOTA, Home of the Arts will transform its outdoor stage into an intimate, immersive performance space unveiling its newest offering, Winter Season, inviting audiences to step inside for something new. Over a seven week season the program will feature a curated program of theatre, comedy and music designed…
New Queens Casting Announced: SIX The Musical Australia
•
SIX the Musical has just confirmed its new Australian cast! While continuing to triumphantly reign on global stages, the international smash-hit phenomenon SIX the Musical makes its royal return to Australia. Seasons are confirmed at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre from July, Theatre Royal Sydney from October and Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC)’s Playhouse Theatre from January 2027. Brisbane pre-sales commence tomorrow Wednesday…
Announcing Illuminate Adelaide 2026 Program
•
Illuminate Adelaide has today unveiled its 2026 program, returning from 1 – 19 July with a dynamic lineup, including 11 world premieres, 11 Adelaide exclusives and over 100 experiences and performances transforming South Australia’s capital into a vibrant winter playground of light, art, music, technology and culinary discovery. Led by…
Victorian Opera Presents The Magic Pudding: The Opera
•
Victorian Opera is bringing its adored adaptation of Norman Lindsay’s classic The Magic Pudding back to the stage for an unmissable return season. Running from 15 – 30 May, performances will be presented across metropolitan Melbourne at The Round, Darebin Arts Centre and Bunjil Place as well as available to…
Review: Mara Puts A New Spin On A Classic Fairytale
•
★★★½ Mara is a modern cabaret style retelling of the familiar story of Cinderella, a prequel of sorts, chronicling the woman who will eventually become Cinderella’s stepmother. Written by Hanna Pyliotis, Mara steers away from many of Cinderella’s original themes of superficiality and the underdog, but digs its teeth further…
Review: Anthropology Is A Pensive AI Tech Thriller
•
★★★★☆ Anthropology is the comprehensive, scientific study of humanity. But what happens when AI turns that lens on us? VOX Productions and PIP Theatre have created a gut-wrenching, pensive AI tech thriller that will hook both tech lovers and sceptics alike. Written by Lauren Gunderson, the play’s inventive and original…
Review: Art The Play Is Everything Great Theatre Should Be
•
★★★★★ Art the play is funny, outrageous, compelling – everything great theatre should be. Its star-studded Australian run, by star director Lee Lewis (whose credits include the first production of Prima Facie), deserves to sell out every night. The play has a storied history. First performed in Paris in 1994,…
Review: Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett Makes Triumphant Return To Melbourne
•
★★★★★ From the moment you step into Club Kabarett’s sultry re-envisioning of Meat Market in North Melbourne, it’s clear this isn’t your typical night out at the theatre. Boys and girls, the sexy circus is in town! Prepare to be swept up, shaken about, and seduced into something a little…
Review: The Lion King Sees The Circle Of Life, Perfectly Staged
•
★★★★★ Ten years after it last played in Australia, The Lion King has returned to the Capitol Theatre, Sydney, bringing with it a new generation of theatregoers. A global phenomenon seen by more than 124 million people worldwide, the Disney musical continues to hold its place as one of the…
Review: Gruesome Playground Injuries Finds Grace in Moments of Pain
•
★★★★☆ Can two hurt people heal each other? It’s a question with no clear answer, but Gruesome Playground Injuries, presented by new Sydney indie theatre company Unorthodox Productions, doesn’t shy from these complexities. Gruesome Playground Injuries was written in 2012 by award-winning American playwright Rajiv Joseph. The play follows the…
Review: 3 Billion Seconds Is A Hotbed Of Love, Panic & Ethics
•
★★★½ How long is a life? Roughly three billion seconds, give or take. Sitting inside the intimate traverse stage of KXT Kings Cross Theatre, 3 Billion Seconds feels like a pressure cooker of love, panic and moral calculus. This play demands that you account for your existence. Fundamentally, it asks:…
Review: Three Sisters Reminds Us How Alive Indie Theatre Is
•
★★★★½ After a 5-star debut with Dear Elena Sergeevna last year, Last Waltz Productions returns to the Old Fitz with Chekhov’s masterpiece, Three Sisters. The play follows Olga, Masha, and Irina, all stuck in a provincial town and yearning to return to Moscow, which promises a life of meaning beyond their current circumstances.…
Announcing Stella: A New Australian Musical On The Life of Miles Franklin
•
The world premiere of STELLA: A New Australian Musical celebrates Stella Miles Franklin’s own dramatic story when it debuts at Monash University’s Alexander Theatre for a strictly limited season from 12 – 20 June 2026. Literary icon Miles Franklin’s life, marked by poverty, entrenched sexism, personal loss and the upheaval…
Brisbane Festival 2026 First Look: The Choir Of Man & Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent Returns
•
Brisbane Festival has today offered its first glimpse of what’s to come in 2026, announcing that the runaway West End hit and Olivier Award-nominee, The Choir of Man, will bring its irresistible, roof-raising celebration of community and music to South Bank Cultural Forecourt from 3 – 13 September for its…
CabLive Returns: Adelaide Artists Wanted For Cabaret Showcase
•
After a strong debut night, Cabaret Fringe Adelaide’s new open-mic series CabLive is already building momentum, with organisers calling for a fresh wave of performers ahead of its second instalment. The first CabLive event, held last weekend, drew a lively crowd and showcased a mix of emerging and established cabaret…
The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me To Make International Premiere
•
It’s been 25 years since the show was staged, but in an international premiere, The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me is coming to Back Dock Arts in Brisbane this June. Written by Dan Butler, known for his role as Bob “Bulldog” Briscoe on the hit TV series…
Review: An Iliad Sees Wenham In A Lyrical & Devastating Retelling
•
★★★★★ Is it possible to reduce an epic poem of warring gods and men to 100 minutes yet still manifest a universe of soul-rendering destruction that, 3000 years later, is accessible and meaningful to us? This stunning Sydney Theatre Company production of An Iliad, directed by Damien Ryan, replies emphatically, yes. The…
Film Review: Alphabet Lane Is A Haunting Story Of Love & Isolation
•
Alphabet Lane is a quietly unsettling Australian film that explores loneliness, identity, and the fragile ways people cope when connection disappears. Written and directed by James Litchfield and set against a beautifully shot rural backdrop, the film follows Anna (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) and Jack (Nicholas Denton), a couple who relocate from Sydney…
Review: Xanadu Rolls Big At The Elder Con Adelaide
•
Xanadu is a camp, chaotic and utterly joyful story of the courage it takes to take creative and personal risks. The 2026 Graduating Class at Adelaide University’s Elder Conservatorium Music Theatre have unapologetically delivered just that. Their production fully leans into Xanadu’s loveable absurdity, with this group of performers donning their skates and…
Review: Pretty Woman Charms Perth In A Feel-Good, Nostalgic Premiere
•
The Perth premiere of Pretty Woman: The Musical enchanted audiences last night at Crown Theatre. The Jones Theatrical Group production, led by some of Australia’s most talented performers, leans into the nostalgia of the cult classic film, tugging firmly at the heartstrings. Staying true to the original story while enhancing…
Announcing Cast For Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular
•
The Australian cast of ‘COME ALIVE!’ The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular has today been announced for the first tour outside of its ongoing sellout run in London. ‘COME ALIVE!’ The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular kicks off a national tour on 19 May in Sydney under the purpose-built Hippodrome at the…
Inside The Last Parma Night: Mateship, Memory, & Moving On
•
Next month, Clockwork Possum Productions premieres its debut work, The Last Parma Night, at Chapel Off Chapel in Melbourne. Written and produced by Max Meaden, the new Australian play explores friendship, nostalgia and the uneasy transition into adulthood, all set against the familiar backdrop of a local pub’s parma night.…
Announcing First Taste 2026 HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival
•
From 10 June, cinema screens at Palace Cinemas, Palace Nova Cinemas and Luna Palace Cinemas across Australia will heat up with a sensational selection of contemporary cinema from Spain and Latin America. The 2026 HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival has revealed a first tantalising taste of its 29th…
Review: Jeff Green – Jeff Jokes! 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
•
★★★★☆ Jeff Green returns to the 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival with his newest crowd-pleaser, Jeff Jokes! After cutting his teeth on the UK comedy circuit in the late eighties, Green famously left a lucrative engineering career for stand-up. He went on to become a familiar face on British television,…
