The Stage Show
The Stage Show
ABC Radio
In-depth conversations with the world's top directors, performers and writers for the stage.
The accountant who became an opera star
Teddy Tahu Rhodes is a stalwart of the opera and musical theatre stage, but there was a time when he thought that accountancy was his true calling. So, what brought this powerful singer out of the office and into the spotlight? Also, playwright Michèle Saint-Yves reflects on her father's dementia and her own acquired brain injury in A Clock for No Time and choreographer Sue Healey compiles eight years of unique encounters with dance on film in On View: Panoramic Suite at Liveworks.
Oct 18, 2021
54 min
What regional Australia offers artists and audiences
Tasmania's renowned contemporary dance company Tasdance is celebrating 40 years. The company's artistic director Adam Wheeler grew up in Launceston, but there was a time when he could not get off the island quick enough. So, what changed? Also, we visit the Queenstown shed hosting the new Tasdance work Collision at this year's The Unconformity and with the Melbourne Fringe Festival going digital for a second year, we meet some of the artists finding new ways to make work.
Oct 11, 2021
54 min
David Williamson shares some home truths
David Williamson is far and away Australia's most produced playwright. For the past 50 years he's been writing plays at an average of one every 10 months — not counting all the screenplays he has written. Now at the age of 79, David Williamson has retired, and he looks back on his luminous career in a very candid memoir called Home Truths (HarperCollins), in which he throws open the doors to his writing room and takes us inside.
Oct 4, 2021
54 min
Animal Farm in the age of Trump
Van Badham is a courageous and funny Australian playwright who, since searching for the humanity of trolls in Banging Denmark at the Sydney Theatre Company, has now adapted George Orwell's Animal Farm for Black Swan in Perth. Also, historian Michelle Arrow introduces us to two other left-leaning Australian playwrights who raised the ire of the political establishment, Oriel Gray and Mona Brand, and we run through the big winners at this year's Tony Awards.
Sep 28, 2021
54 min
Audra McDonald and Tony Sheldon's Broadway
To mark the return of theatre to New York City, Michael revisits his private tour of Broadway with Audra McDonald, then delivering her Tony Award-winning performance in Porgy and Bess, and Tony Sheldon, who was starring in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Also, we check in with the New York Times' chief theatre critic Jesse Green and preview next week's long-delayed Tony Awards, and we meet the man whose experiences informed Windmill Theatre Co's Amphibian, a play about a young Afghan's journey to Adelaide.
Sep 21, 2021
54 min
'Fragility is okay, limits are okay' — Why the way we make art should change
Physical theatre-maker Hanna Cormick performs her show The Mermaid wearing a bright pink and blue tail and a full respirator mask. The image reflects the show's underlying warning about climate change — but without the mask, Hanna might very well die. Also, we explore some of the unique considerations necessary to translate the work of Shakespeare into sign language and Sarah Houbolt outlines Arts Access Australia's vision for a National Access and Inclusion Code of Conduct.
Sep 14, 2021
53 min
'Who's afraid of the truth?' — An Indigenous director tackles an American classic
What can a 60-year-old play about drunk and sometimes spiteful American academics tell us about culture and race relations in Australia? Margaret Harvey introduces her bold vision for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the State Theatre Company South Australia. Also, ABC Top 5 resident artist Rose Montgomery introduces us to the enduring, physical creative device that is still the stage designer's go-to tool for generating, developing and communicating ideas: the scale model.
Sep 7, 2021
54 min
Spectacular, spectacular! The music of Moulin Rouge
Justin Levine is the man behind the music of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. The Broadway production, nominated for 14 Tony Awards, is soon to open in Melbourne. Justin joins us at the keyboard to demonstrate how he updated some of the film's most iconic moments. Also, Trent Dalton's acclaimed novel Boy Swallows Universe comes to the Queensland Theatre stage and we check in on the challenges faced by and support on offer to artists and event organisers amid border closures, lockdowns and surging COVID-19 cases.
Aug 31, 2021
54 min
Juliet Stevenson is drawn to danger
Live on stage at last year's Adelaide Festival, we're joined by the Olivier Award-winning English star of the stage and screen, Juliet Stevenson. Juliet was performing in the play The Doctor, following its sell-out season at London's Almeida Theatre. Also, with much of the country back in lockdown, we turn to musical comedian Jude Perl to lift our spirits at the piano and we enjoy a masterclass with actor, director and acting coach Larry Moss, whose coaching has led actors to Academy Award-winning glory.
Aug 24, 2021
54 min
Theatre dorks Zoë Coombs Marr and Anne-Louise Sarks get serious
Incoming Melbourne Theatre Company artistic director Anne-Louise Sarks has a reputation for bringing the best out of people. She speaks about her process with her friend and collaborator, Zoë Coombs Marr — who delights in bringing Anne-Louise down a peg or two. Also, not content to highlight the work of just one Legend of Australian Theatre, Zoë attempts to double the series' output with a quickfire round and we hear a scene from Finegan Kruckemeyer's timely new play Hibernation at the State Theatre Company South Australia.
Aug 17, 2021
54 min
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