GOD

 

 GOD by Ferdinand von Schirach and translated by David Tushingham.  Lexi Sekuless Productions, with Rare Bird Ensemble,  at The Mill, Dairy Road, Canberra, November 26 - December 18, 2025

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Dec 5

CREATIVES & COMPANY

Cast
Rachel Gärtner: Heidi Silberman; Ms Biegler: Alana Denham Preston
Dr Keller: Maxine Beaumont; Dr Sperling: Timmy Sekuless
Bishop Thiel: Richard Manning; Professor Litten: Helen McFarlane
Chair: Jay James Moody; Council Associate: Sarah Hartley

Contingency and understudy for Dr Keller: Chipz Jin (playing Keller 230pm & 730pm 13 December)

Production Team
Writer: Ferdinand von Schirach; Translator: David Tushingham 
Director and Designer: Lexi Sekuless
Sound Designer: Damian Ashcroft; Costume Designer: Annette Sharpe
Shadow Costume Designer: Nicola Vavasour
Lighting Designer: Andrew Snell; Scenic Painter: Letitia Stewart
Set Builders: Revive Canberra
Production Stage Manager: Bea Grant
Deputy Stage Manager: Paige MacDonald 
Assistant Director: Eli Narev
Photographer: Daniel Abroguena

Producer: Lexi Sekuless Productions 
Principal Sponsor: Willard Public Affairs
By Arrangement with International Performing Rights Ltd


GOD asks the first question: when death knocks on your door, would you call the butler and tell them to let you out into the void?

But then a second question arises, since you and the butler are members of society.  What if the butler is afraid of being charged with a criminal act?

The drama is set in what seems to be Germany where a law has been passed to allow the butler to open the door, but only if they are a doctor qualified to judge whether you are of sound mind, but not of sound body – and so agree you would be better off dead.

But a 55-year-old woman has appealed to us to allow her to call death in, despite being sound of both mind and body.  This is because she had suffered for many months with her husband while he was dying in hospital,  where his butlers, the doctors, finally agreed to stop trying to ‘save’ his life; and she, his literally ‘other half’, cannot live without him.  A court has rejected her application as ‘unconstitutional’.

We, no longer a mere audience, sit on the official Council (like the Australian Capital Territory Appeals Tribunal) to hear the woman’s lawyer and a series of expert witnesses for nearly two hours (including a 20 minute tea break), before submitting our votes for or against her request.

The effect is dramatic, to say the least, as we bit by bit realise that our vote in that last ten minutes is not playing out a game of theatrical fiction.

Last night the 35 people voted 19 in favour, 15 against with 1 abstention.  On other nights, I’m told, the balance of votes was quite different, in different directions.

The value, in fact I would say the importance, of presenting this play is to marvel at the author’s amazing capacity, through the medical, social and religious ‘experts’ he creates, to takes us through something like the last three thousand years of the development of Western Philosophy, to the point where we feel sincerely that our decision is for real.

Then we realise how high is the quality of the directing and the acting on everybody’s part to shift our experience beyond mere observation and thinking about the issues, into a state of personal decision-making as we submit our votes (of course, recorded privately by the Council clerk, with only the numbers each way announced).

This is certainly my kind of theatre, becoming one in a tradition at The Mill Theatre, and definitively not to be missed – I say even if I am a generation older and biassed by my approaching the time I may decide I need the law to be on my side.

 

 

 

Low Pay? Don't Pay!

 Low Pay? Don’t Pay! by Dario Fo. Translation by Joseph Farrell. Directed by Cate Clelland. Canberra Rep. Canberra Rep Theatre. To Dec 6. 

Low Pay? Don’t Pay! starts a little too slowly but once it gets up a bit of steam in the strong hands of director Cate Clelland and a capable cast it turns into a heartfelt production that is driven by Fo’s sense of history, politics and social justice. 

They’ve Anglicised the names and made references to suburbs in Canberra but this play remains resolutely Dario Fo and deeply Italian even in translation and really ought to stay there. But that’s a hard call; how do you translate the Italians?

Toni (Maddie Lee) and Maggie (Chloe Smith) are battling the cost of living and decide to take matters into their own hands when it comes to what they will pay for things, if anything. Hiding the goods is another matter and  Toni in particular becomes adept at spinning fantastical explanations and creating false pregnancies to conceal groceries.

Toni’s husband Joe (Lachlan Abrahams) falls for this and reveals his own fantastical view of how a pregnancy works. Maggie’s husband Lou (Rowan McMurray) is a little more grounded.

There’s good capture of characters who are battlers with heaps of attitude. It’s all happening in a working class suburb with graffiti and washing on the line.

Meanwhile the cops are watching out and not averse to a bit of aggro. 

Antonia Kitzel is simply billed as The Actor but that means she expertly plays a range of parts, from police heavies to wonderfully ancient tottering neighbours, transformations often assisted by a mysterious household cupboard upstage. 

And there is a large hardworking tribe of extras lurking around the backyards and verandahs, locals, cops, people with opinions, sometimes individuals, more often as a group. 

The collective sense of injustice builds until finally at the end of the play all the characters are standing with the workers moving toward the viewer in Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo’s powerful painting The Fourth Estate (Il quarto stato) (c 1900). It’s a shift from comedy to history but it does make sense. It makes the point that the struggle remains real. 

Alanna Maclean

‘illuminate ’25

Visual Arts Exhibition Review – Brian Rope

‘illuminate ’25 - Friends of the Gardens Photographic Group

Australian National Botanic Gardens Visitors Centre Gallery

21 November – 14 December 2025

Exhibitions in the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) Visitor Centre Gallery explore the Australian environment through diverse creative forms. This annual exhibition is of photographic artworks, using light to illuminate the subjects in a variety of ways.

As always the standard of the works in this annual exhibition is high – technically and creatively eye catching. Generally, the imagery is what we expect in nature exhibitions – focussed absolutely on nature with no non-nature intrusions, fauna and flora in their natural environment, in the correct colours of the subjects, and capturing the essence of nature so highly valued by people all over the world. There are, however, a few exceptions and that is fine in my view. All the images entered in the competition associated with this event were required to have been taken in the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG), A small number not entered in the competition did not have to be ANBG subjects; but may well also have been.

There are portraits of native plants, close-up images of Australian flowers, birds and insects, and intimate landscapes to be seen in the gardens.

This year’s judges selected two works by Pam Rooney for awards. One of them Bush Dialogue: Tracks and tunnels of the scribbly gum moth larvae won the Fauna category Award. This composite of five vertical images most successfully used selections of those wonderful scribbly patterns that we all enjoy seeing in the surfaces of gum trees. The well-balanced composition is Rooney’s own artwork created from the natural artworks that are the tracks and tunnels. Another member of the Gardens Photographic Group, Karen Neufeld, was Runner-Up in the Fauna category with her image of a masked bee, titled Bubbling Bee.

Pam Rooney – Bush Dialogue

Karin.Neufeld - Bubbling Bee

A work by Narelle Aldridge Dew drops in the desert was Highly Commended in the David Cox Memorial Award which honours and celebrate the contribution made to the Photographic Group’s activities by the late David Cox. The same artwork was also the Rangers’ Choice. The rangers at ANBG are experienced educators who specialise in bringing the stories of the Gardens to life.

Narelle Aldridge – Dew drops in the desert

Amongst the works which were “different” was Ben Harvey’s cleverly titled Banksy. The image is a black and white monochrome, so we do not see the colours of the bird perched on a banksia. But the detail in the print is excellent and provides plenty to be examined, making the artwork successful and most suitable for display in a modern home.

Ben Harvey - Banksy

A work by Mohamed Rageeb titled Through the Dragon’s Eye is most eye-catching. A close up of the dragon’s colourful eye surrounded by delightful shapes and patterns of the creature’s body surface stopped me in my tracks and commanded me to use my own eyes and look into the dragon’s.

Mohamed Rageeb - Through the Dragon’s Eye

Simone Slater’s work Seven! is another artwork most visitors will spend time with. It doesn’t take a long time to work out the title. On a Xerochrysum flowering plant native to Australia, there are variegated Adonis ladybirds. How many do you think there might be?

Simone Slater – Seven

 

Another Simone Slater piece Behind the Wire was also different. A flower in bloom, more or less framed through a section of wire fencing, completely captured my attention. I found myself wondering whether real frames might be created from wire to use instead of displaying images such as this in traditional black timber frames. Perhaps, someone reading this who has the necessary skills might like to have a go at doing what I have suggested?

This is an exhibition well worth visiting if you can - to see all the artworks, not just the ones I have shown and/or spoken about here. You would also have an opportunity to pick up some delightful Christmas gifts for friends or family whilst you are there.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.

Twiggy - movie

 

Twiggy – A Film by Sadie Frost.  Transmission Films in cinemas from December 4, 2025

Reviewed by Frank McKone



There’s plenty to read about Dame Lesley Lawson (née Hornby) on Wikipedia under the name “Twiggy”.

But, you need to see this documentary to understand and appreciate what her life became as Twiggy, “The Face of 1966” when she was 15 going-on 16, through to the making of this memoir.

I feel guilty now that ever since that year, viewing her instant rise to fame from colonial Sydney, she seemed no more than a shallow sparkle of superficiality.  It was a mystery to me how an accidental shape could change fashion as if it really mattered.

Then as I approached viewing, I feared I would be watching nothing more than another form of commercialised or unnecessarily glorified history.  After all, since my reaction back in 1966, I had never followed her career.  I didn’t need to see more thin legs and over-long eyelashes.

How short-sighted I was!!

It turns out that Lesley Hornby, daughter of a practical and sensible tradesman, has never been a go-getting girl, seeking fame.  That was the last thing she expected.  I think, in the film, it is Dustin Hoffman who says how simply open and honest she is; while perhaps it is Charlotte Tilbury who speaks of how Twiggy is a great example of a girl growing into a woman.

I’m probably biassed the other way now, since I found her north London upbringing, though ten years after me, was in a house exactly like mine and my tradesman uncle’s semi-detached.  He was practical and sensible, too.

I mustn’t give you spoilers, but I think the key to appreciating her story is in an interview on TV when she was still a teenager, now among the upper-class of modelling.  She was asked “Do you feel at home among these people, since you come from a working-class background?”

Twiggy / Lesley just looked at this male interviewer, calmly, and simply said “Why not?”

She became a model, an actor, a partner, a wife, a mother, a success in many different ways – in other words a woman who says “Why not!”, and now tells her story first-hand in this documentary for the first time.

Enjoy. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

HERE YOU COME AGAIN - Canberra Theatre

Tricia Paoluccio as Dolly Parton with the cast if "Here You Come Again"

Created by Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre, Tricia Paoluccio – Directed by Gabriel Barre

Australian adaption: Fiona Harris, Mike Dalgleish – Assoc.Director: Mike Dalgleish

Musical Director/Orchestrator: Andrew Worboys – Choreography: James Maxfield.

Set & Costume Design: Paul Wills – Lighting Design: Jason Bovaird

Sound Design: Marcello Lo Ricca – Illusions: Richard Pinner

Presented by Kay & McLean Productions – Canberra Theatre November 28 – 30^th, 2025.

Opening night performance on November 28^th reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Ash Murdica (Guitar) - Dash Kruck (Kevin Russell) - Tricia Paoluccio (Dolly Parton)
in "Here You Come Again"

 A diehard fan of Dolly Parton, failed entertainer Kevin Russell, following the break-up of his long-term romantic relationship, finds himself back home in Bendigo, living in the attic of his parent’s home, without prospects and pondering his future.

That is until his idol, Dolly Parton, miraculously materialises, and by drawing on her repertoire of hit songs, including “Jolene”, “9 to 5”, “Islands in the Stream”, “I Will Always Love You” and “Here You Come Again”, provides our Kev with the keys to navigating his chaotic life.

It’s a flimsy premise but creators Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccio, have fashioned it into a charming feel-good musical, as a showcase for the remarkable ability of Tricia Paoluccio to channel the voice and personality of much-loved American entertainer Dolly Parton.

Dash Kruck as Kevin Russell - Tricia Paoluccio as Dolly Parton 
in "Here You Come Again".

This talent is perfectly captured in this entertaining  musical directed by Gabriel Barre, which following successful tours through the UK and USA, has now been adapted and Australianised by Fiona Harris and Mike McLeish for an impressive production in which Tricia Paoluccio repeats her starring turn as Dolly Parton, supported by a multi-talented, all-Australian ensemble led by Dash Kruck as a peripatetic, Kevin Russell.

Kellie Rode delights as Kev’s down-to-earth Mum, who together with Bailey Dunnage as his errant boyfriend Jeremy, and Laura Joy Bunting as Tish, all double as background vocalists and musicians along with the four outstanding musicians who make up the white-hot band.

Luke Herbert (Drums) - Andrew Worboys (Keyboard) - Tina Harris (Bass) -Ash Murdica (guitar)
in "Here You Come Again"

Whenever Andrew Worboys is listed as Musical Director, you know you are in for a treat. Here You Come Again exemplifies that reputation. Besides delighting as Kev’s taciturn Dad, Worboys has surrounded himself with an outstanding band consisting of Ash Murdica on Guitar, Tina Harris on Bass and Luke Herbert on Drums.  

The whole cast participate in James Maxfield’s cleverly staged production numbers, for which designer Paul Wills has provided suitably glitzy costumes and a setting crammed with surprises.  

But it is the songs associated with superstar Dolly Parton that are the focus of this production which does them proud. Tricia Paoluccio imbues them with a warmth and showbiz pizzazz so captivating that it’s easy to believe that Dolly Parton is in the room.

It’s an achievement that makes Here You Come Again a must-see for Dolly Parton fans, as well as those seeking an evening of memorable musical theatre.  

Tricia Paoluccia (Dolly Parton) - Dash Kruck (Kevin Russell) and the cast in the finale of 
"Here You Come Again"


Photos by Cameron Grant.


This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 29.11.2025.

 

 

      

 

 

 

unBECOMING

Visual Arts Review - Brian Rope

unBECOMING - Fernanda Pedroso

Grainger Gallery on Geelong

15 November – 14 December 2025 (Thu–Sun, 11am–5pm)

Originally from Brazil, Fernanda Pedroso moved to Australia in 2020 and is based in Canberra.  At the age of 40 she transitioned from a 20-year career in advertising to a new life in photography. In the few years since she has achieved a great deal, including being name Australasia's Top Emerging Photographer of the Year in 2024.

Her work has gained international recognition, earning distinctions in The Monochrome Awards, Australian Photography Awards, Asia Pacific and Iris Awards. She was a finalist in the Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize (2024, 2025) and semi-finalist in the Head On Photo Awards (2024, 2025).

This exhibition of her series unBECOMING is part of this year’s Head On Photo Festival Open Program. It is one of over seventy diverse, artist-run exhibitions in the Festival across Australia. Looking back through my blog to remind myself what I had seen/reviewed of this artist’s work previously, I noticed that I had seen one of the images, It Doesn't Sound Right, being exhibited here when it was shown in Terra:(un)becoming, a group show at Photo Access in December 2023.

It Doesn't Sound Right, Archival Ink Photograph, Canson Platine Fibre Rag

(Framed, Artglass, Black Vic Ash) © Fernanda Pedroso

Her series Silent Currents, 2024, also shown at Photo Access in late 2024, explored “the quiet sadness” of Tokyo. At the time, I wrote that it was an excellent example of how photographers can explore specific urban areas and paint descriptions for those fortunate to see their imagery. And I very much appreciated this artist’s piece Transmuted, 2025 in the 2025 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize, and its accompanying delightful poetry artist statement. 

I was unable to attend the opening of this current exhibition but saw the show, and met Pedroso, when attending a book launch at the gallery the following week. You will very likely meet the artist too if you visit the exhibition, as she is there most days.

Pedroso’s work is described as being “deeply inspired by her personal experiences, music, poetry, and the diverse cultures she has encountered. Drawing influence from other notable photographers and artists, she seeks to merge their techniques with her own perspective to create powerful and emotive imagery.”

In a media release by Head On, I read “Pedroso explores technology’s grip on human identity in debut solo exhibition. Are we becoming who we want to be, or who technology wants us to be?” And “Grainger Gallery on Geelong presents unBECOMING, photographer Fernanda Pedroso's powerful debut solo exhibition exploring how digital dependency can reshape human identity and connection.”

So, what is in this exhibition? Two years in the making and shot in Brazil in collaboration with makeup artist and designer Rafa Jones, there are twenty-seven striking images that explore how our hyperconnected age is impacting us. Are we truly more connected or are we, in reality, more isolated from each other? Right now we are witnessing and feeling the many impacts of artificial intelligence. Some think it is absolutely marvellous, at least in particular fields. Others are appalled by its current and almost certain impacts on photography and other arts. 

Disconnected, Archival Ink Photograph, Canson Platine Fibre Rag

(Framed, Artglass, Black Vic Ash) © Fernanda Pedroso

Motherboard, Archival Ink Photograph, Canson Platine Fibre Rag

(Framed, Artglass, Black Vic Ash)  © Fernanda Pedroso 

Overwhelmed 3, Archival Ink Photograph, Canson Platine Fibre Rag

(Framed, Artglass, Black Vic Ash) © Fernanda Pedroso 

So this is a most appropriate time for us to be challenged, by these artworks, to think about the issues caused by the technological accelerations in our world. What are the costs to us personally of being more connected, whilst feeling disconnected? How has technology shaping our lives today? Is the impact any different to when I was one of the first mainframe computer programmers in Australia in the 1960s? Or when digital photography overwhelmed the analogue system we had always previously used?

As you’ve seen in the images above, the exhibition features haunting images of figures painted entirely black. This is intended to refer to the black mirrors of our screens. Seven striking models are adorned with copper wire masks, terminals, tangled cords and headphones. They are futuristic yet also have an ancient tribal feeling. Pedroso intends them to be a visual metaphor for a question she believes we all need to ask ourselves, “What am I becoming? Can I come back to myself, my own truth?” various accoutrements of technology.

Entwined 3, Archival Ink Photograph, Canson Platine Fibre Rag

(Framed, Artglass, Black Vic Ash) © Fernanda Pedroso

The quality of the artworks is outstanding, and the overall exhibition is hugely successful. I am sure we will see more excellent work from this artist.

This review is also available on the author's blog here. And a shorter version has been published by Canberra City News here.

AT THE GRAVE OF BEETHOVEN

Phoenix Collective Quartet

Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, November 28

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

A Beethoven concert is always welcome, but in the program presented by the Phoenix Collective quartet, works by the much later composers, Leoš Janáček and Karen Tanaka, were included. Both had ingenious links with the two Beethoven works to be played.

The Phoenix Collective quartet consisted of Dan Russell, violin, Pip Thompson, violin, Ella Brinch, viola and Andrew Wilson, cello.

The concert began with an arrangement by the quartet’s cello player, Andrew Wilson, of the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata no 9 in A major op 47 Kreutzer. One of Beethoven’s most famous chamber works, written for piano and violin, this arrangement had three players covering the piano part and one player with the violin part. The slow beginning was contrasted with more intense passages that gave this complex work a feeling of underlying emotional tension. It was given a fine performance by the quartet.

It was followed by Janáček’s String Quartet no 1 The Kreutzer Sonata from 1923. This work was written in response to Tolstoy’s 1899 novella, The Kreuzer Sonata, which was itself inspired by Beethoven’s Sonata No. 9. In four movements, Janáček’s music was distinctly edgy throughout, producing a sense of the jealousy, doubt and rage of the novella and with sly musical references to Beethoven’s work. The quartet brought out all the emotional disorder in this work with their strong, colourful performance.

From left: Dan Russell, Pip Thompson, Ella Brinch, Andrew Wilson

Karen Tanaka’s two movement 1999 work, At the Grave of Beethoven, was next on the program. It explored the themes of the first and second movements of Beethoven’s String Quartet op 18 no 3 and was a peaceful, reflective work with elements of turmoil underneath. The connection to Beethoven’s work was there in the music but the work had its own distinctive and satisfying style. It was given a sensitive performance by the quartet.

The program concluded with Beethoven’s String Quartet in D major op 18, no 3 from 1798. It was actually the first string concerto that Beethoven wrote. It is traditional in form and structure, but Beethoven’s unique style is clearly apparent. It was melodic with sudden dramatic changes creating tension and depth and the quartet’s appealing performance of it was very enjoyable.

All four works were well-played and the links between the works resulted in a concert with an extra dimension of interest.

 

 Photos by Dalice Trost

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 29 November 2025.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/ 

LOW PAY? DON'T PAY!

 

Low Pay? Don’t Pay! Written by Dario Fo. Translated by Joseph Farrell.

Directed and designed by Cate Clelland. Kighting design. Stephen Sill. Sound design Neville Pye. Costume design. Darcy Abrahams. Properties coordinator. Rosemary Gibbons. Special properties construction. Russell Brown OAM. Cast: Maddie Lee as Toni. Chloe Smith as Maggie. Lachlan Abrahams as Joe. Rowan McMurray as Lou. Antonia Kitzel The Actor. Ensemble: Ben Zolfaghari. Stephanie van Lieshout. Ariana Barzinpour. Georgie Bianchini. Rucha Tathavadkar. Sterling Notley. Rosemary Gibbons. Paul Jackson. Canberra Rep. November 20 – December 6. Bookings; 6257 1950. Canberrarep.org.au.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Nobel Laureate playwright Dario Fo

Originally written under Lino Perle’s translated title  Can’t Pay Don’t Pay!  , Canberra Rep has chosen Joseph Farrell’s translation of Non si paga. Non si paga - Low Pay? Don’t Pay! to align Dario Fo’s original 1975 satirical farce with a contemporary cost of living crisis. Director Clelland has set her production in Canberra, although the action and the characters retain a distinct Italian working class flavour. Fo’s original plot of a group of women who steal groceries from the supermarket shelf in protest against the rising costs becomes the vehicle for Fo’s Marxist comment on exploitation, greed, inflation and the struggle of the working class against the opportunistic employers. Toni (Maddie Lee) is married to Joe (Lachlan Abrahams), a staunch member of New Labour. With neighbour Maggie (Chloe Smith), Toni has returned to her house with the stolen groceries, which must be hidden from the police and Joe and Maggie’s husband Lou (Rowan McMurray. What ensues is an hysterically funny farce of frantic evasion of capture and consequence.

Clelland’s direction pays perfect homage to the Italian tradition of Commedia dell Arte while carefully depicting the absurdity of social, political and economic injustice. The production with moments of farce, slapstick and madcap business has the audience in stitches. The production’s Ensemble take on the roles of the protesting women, the police and the workers. Clelland faithfully observes the role of farce as social and political commentary and criticism. The production charges along with volcanic energy . Fo is the master of political agit prop and his attack is broad-sweeping, targeting rising prises, the costs of gas and telephone bills, the shortage of hospital beds, the crippling rental crisis and corruption. All this is displayed in hilarious business, such as a starving Joe’s encounter with a can of pet food mistakenly brought home by Toni or the feigned pregnancy of Maggie’s concealed groceries.  Through the laughter we are made only too aware of the real struggle faced by the ordinary citizen. Joe’s initial male conditioning is eventually challenged as he confronts the challenges faced by women, an aspect I suspect prompted by the influence of Fo’s partner Franca Rame.

On occasion Fo breaks the fourth wall in a direct didactic address to the audience. It is a salutary moment that makes its point in a play that informs and educates through farce. Clelland and her cast leave us not with a solution, but with an awareness that will urge the proletariat to carry on the fight or be cast into the shadows. In 1975 Fo urged the Italian workers of the Communist Party not to allow the moderate movement to hold sway against the forces of Capitalist control. His final appeal to audiences in Joseph Farrell’s clever translation is a plea for protest and political activism in our own time.

Clelland has chosen a good cast with an excellent performance from Abrahams as the loud and blustering husband. Antonia Kitzel delivers a delightfully sharp caricature as the Chief Inspector with a moustache as well as the socially empathetic policeman without a moustache. Subtlety is not the go in this gung-ho production of Fo’s farce, but the point is not lost on the audience. And the struggle must go on.

For its final production of the year, Canberra Rep offers an enjoyable and entertaining show with just enough bite to prick the conscience. And as the saying goes,
this production of classic Fo proves that “laughter is the best medicine.” or propagandist weapon?

 

 

 

ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

 

Adelaide Festival Artistic Director Matthew Lutton OAM

and Executive Director Julian Hobba  Photo by Andrew Beveridge

ADELAIDE FESTIVAL. 

Artistic Director Matthew Lutton OAM. Executive Director  Julian Hobba. Writers Week Director Louise Adler OAM. February 27-March15 2026. Bookings: Online: adelaidefestival.com.au. Phone bookings: Adelaide Festival 1300 393 404 or Ticketek 131 246

Previewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Hofesh Shechter Company's Theatre of Dreams 

Photo by Tom Visser 

Adelaide’s flagship international artrs festival has a new artistic director at the helm. Perth-born and educated Matthew Lutton OAM brings an impressive list of credentials to his new role. His passion for theatre was ignited at Hale School where he wrote, directed and acted in his original play. “I was a bad actor” Lutton tells me. However that did not prevent him from passing his audition for the prestigious West Australian Academy of Performing Arts that boasts such graduates as Hugh Jackman and Tim Minchin. It was here that Lutton honed his skills in acting, writing and directing. After graduating he then founded his own company, Thin Ice Theatre Company. His reputation was subsequently confirmed with highly acclaimed productions of theatre and his twin love opera at the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, The Hammersmith and Barbican Theatres in London and the Bavarian State Opera with productions of Richard Wagner’s operas. Artistic director of Melbourne’s Malthouse Marion Potts invited Lutton to join as an associate Director and when she left Lutton assumed the position of Artistic Director of the Malthouse,, which led  him to his current role as Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival.

Each year in February and March, Adelaide plays host to hundreds of thousands of local, national and international visitors to the arts capital of Australia. They come from far and near to revel in the amazing events offered by the Adelaide Festival and the Adelaide Fringe.  In 2026, the Adelaide Festival will again offer unrivalled opportunities to visit the very best in opera, dance, theatre and music from Australia and overseas. As well as the in-theatre performances the Adelaide Festival also presents Writers Week, a free event with talks and interviews by leading Australian and international writers and authors. At the same time the iconic world music festival  WOMADelaide will again thrill audiences at the edge of Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens. Special concerts will be presented at the Ukaria Cultural Centre, located on a picturesque landscape in the Adelaide Hills. The Adelaide Festival offers a cornucopia of culture not to be missed and I am eager to discover highlights that might lure visitors to Adelaide at this vibrant time.

In his introductory welcome in the program, Lutton indicates the philosophy that will underpin the first year of his three year contract.” The Festival does not seek to narrow to a specific theme. Instead it elevates Australian and international artists who push boundaries and embody virtuosity. Yet, if you ask me about the preoccupations you might witness, you will find narratives focused on the need for love, belonging and a sense of self; the brutal barriers – some strong, some crumbling – the world hurls at us and the determination for hope, eccentricity, humanity and art.” I am keen to discover how that is encapsulated in Lutton’s programming and in what he might consider to be the theatre performances that embody his vision.

The Cherry Orchard  directed by Simon Stone
Photo by LG Arts Center

In a programme featuring a plethora of Australian Exclusives and Premieres including World Premieres, expatriate director Simon Stone’s production of Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard is certain to surprise. Stone directs South Korean actors in his re-imagining of the Russian classic.

The cast and the set of The Cherry Orchard
Photo by LG Arts Center

 “It has a very fresh contemporary style” Lutton tells me. “Every word is new and it is set in the matriarch’s house in Seoul. It was gifted to her when she was 16. She has become a business tycoon in America and is now forced to return because everything is changing.  The Cherry Orchard is a great story about denial. They feel the pressure of capitalism and everything imploding about them and the play says something about the class structure in South Korea. It also makes complete sense of a world of service with all the children still raised by Amahs. Stone has found a place in this production where the Korean version makes absolute  sense. The play will be performed in Korean with English surtitles.

Isabelle Huppert in Mary Said What She Said
Photo by Lucie Jansch

Sadly, legendary director Robert Wilson died earlier this year before he was due to visit the Festival with his production of Mary Said What She Said, starring the great French actress Isabelle Huppert as Mary Stuart. The one-woman show will be performed in French with English surtitles. “The play is based on research into her diaries and performed as a stream of consciousness monologue. I love the eccentricity and certain strangeness to it” Lutton says. “She is wrestling with her own vanity and her own privilege. Even though she is one of the most famous women in the world she felt so alone, just as a contemporary celebrity might” Not only is it powerful because of the subject and Huppert’s performance but because Wilson’s production is so dreamlike, inviting you to sit with a different type of consciousness.  “It is completely in the world of surreal.”

Controversial artistic director of the 2001 Adelaide Festival Peter Sellars returns for the first time with Perle Noire, Meditations for Joséphine with soprano Julia Bullock in the role of Josephine Baker.” It’s Opera in the fact that there are moments of operatic aria but then it’s like cabaret because it shifts to another song that’s more music hall and another that’s more spiritual. It’s like a song cycle that moves through different styles by an opera singer.”

Julia Bullock in Perle: Meditations for Josephine

 Acclaimed local theatre company for family and young people, Windmill Theatre will be staging a World Premiere Season of Mama Does Derby. At 16 Billie is facing the pressures of growing up, made more significant by a move with her Mum to a rural town The play which features 20 Adelaide Roller Derby players in the Entertainment Centre is about hope and overcoming loneliness. “I love the eccentricity.” Lutton says. “The mother gets involved in the derby and she’s the one getting out there and going crazy instead of the daughter who is left at home to worry about Mum. It has a big theatricality to it. In my mind local companies in the festival should do something big that has scale.”

Re-shaping Identity by GuoGuoHuiHui

Photo by Shenzhen Fringe Festival 

Re-shaping Identity by GuoGuoHuiHui comes to the Adelaide Festival with five young dancers all from regional parts of China “They have been taught as young dancers very strict traditional dance. They love the traditions but the world has changed. Each takes their traditional dance and turns it into a nightclub of anatomic dance right in front of your eyes. You see the tradition and you see them shifting it and owning it. It’s very sexy. It’s very powerful and you see how they maintain the traditional line and make it new.”

 

Elevator Repair Service. Company members of GATZ
Photo by Mark Barton

Elevator Repair Service returns with their take on Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby in Gatz.. “Gatz is their hallmark show really” says Lutton. “This is the show where they came to fame. They read every word over eight and a half hours with breaks for meals. The ensemble shares the reading. There is the great fun that they are in a run-down office and they are describing things that are of the most decadence – the flowers and the drinks and the parties so how do you create that with staplers and office equipment?” “You’ve constantly got two things happening in your head where you’re vividly seeing the Gatsby. It’s an interesting allegory of America because it’s a group of Americans on stage who will never have access to great wealth telling the story of the greatest wealth. They really cracked a way to tell that story that is opposite to Baz Luhrmann’s”

History of Violence by Édouard Louis. Director Thomas Ostermeier

 Director Thomas Ostermeier returns to Adelaide with his production of Édouard Louis’s History of Violence. “This is a hard hitting show” Lutton says. “It is morally complex.  There is a sexual assault and when the binary character wants to report it the police make it about race It was a French Algerian man who attacked him and he says that it has nothing to do with race and so he goes to his family and they say that it is homophobia and he shouldn’t be out in the streets at 4 a.m. He finds a way to navigate the whole incident.  Even though he has been heavily traumatized by the assault he knows where it has come from. He had no money. He was lost and that’s how it all came about. It’s about the range and depth of empathy. It’s four incredible actors and a drummer on stage and they deliver the play with such intensity.  It’s very powerful.”

 

Clarre Watson and Virginia Gay in Mama Does Derby

Photo by Claudio Raschella 

It is time for Lutton to move on to his next appointment. I ask him what he would advise for people who may be coming from Canberra or interstate and may only be able to spend a few days or a weekend at the festival. “They should pick shows that are not in English like The Cherry Orchard or Mary said What She Said. If you want something surreal, then the legendary Robert Wilson offers that. For something really surprising you should see Works and Days. It is confronting but surprising like the magic of theatre. It is performed by Toneelhuis/FC Bergman from Belgium. The company wowed festival audiences with their production of The Sheep Song some years ago. Works and Days has been inspired by the original verse of the ancient Greek Poet Hesiod.

The cast of Toneelhuis/FC Bergman's Works and Days
Photo by Kurt van der Elst

“If they’re after dance then Hofesh Shechter’s Theatre of Dreams is what it’s about. It’s full of adrenalin and we don’t get to see that much in Australia.” Set to Shechter's own trademark cinematic composition "Theatre of Dreams takes a plunge into the subconscious exposing the fears and desires that are in us all. It is astonishingly beautiful and utterly engaging."

Ensemble Pygmalion. Photo by Fred Mortagne

Finally, Lutton slips in a mention of his great love. “I really love Ensemble Pygmalion. I love early music and especially early sacred music. They are one of the best French orchestras in the world. I get very emotional listening to them. They are very refined.” Audiences will be offered three extraordinary works; Bach's Goodnight World performed in German with available translation, Monteverdi's Vespers performed in Latin, also with translation available and Luigi Rosso's Orfeo, performed in Italian with surtitles

Matthew Lutton OAM Artistic Director of the Adelaide Fesdtival

Photo by Andrew Beveridge 

 

Lutton exudes enthusiasm for his inaugural Adelaide Festival programme and his passion is infectious. A glance at the festival programme reveals treasures that we have not had the time to discuss. I am reminded that Lutton has promised a bold festival that will “push boundaries and embody virtuosity.” Audiences will be immersed in “narratives that focus on the need for love, for belonging and a sense of self.” Whether it be through theatre, opera, music, dance or visual arts the 2026 Adelaide Festival has something for everyone.

 Adelaide Festival

February 27 – March 15 2026

www.adelaidefestival.com.au