COCK by Mike Bartlett

 

Cock by Mike Bartlett.

Directed by Zachary  Bridgman. Assistant director Anna Hemming. Produced by Chris Baldock. Lighting design Rhiley Winnett and Emma Hemming. Set concept, design and realization Chris Baldock. Stage Manager and lighting and sound Anna Hemming. Costumes Cast. Props Chris Baldock and Cast. Intimacy Coordination Steph Evans. Publicity and Photography Chris Baldock with Zac Bridgman. Mockingbird Studio Theatre. A Mockingbird Too Production. Belconnen Arts Centre. July 1-4 2026.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Mockingbird Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Chris Baldock, has introduced Mockingbird Too as a subsidiary arm of his main programme. He has resisted inviting critics, so I decided to invite myself to see Mike Bartlett’s Olivier Award winning play Cock, directed by Zachary Bridgman and featuring Adelaide Hayes as W, James Phillips as John, Eli Narev as M and Paul G. Hutchison as F. There is nothing second tier about Bridgman’s production or the cast’s performances. They are assisted by playwright Mike Bartlett’s writing, funny and uncomfortable, entertaining and confronting, barbed and brutal, honest and revealing, stripping back the façade to expose the raw rash of insecurity and uncertainty about love, sexuality and identity. For ninety minutes Bartlett catapults us through the turbulent relationship of John ( Phillips) and his lover M (Narev), the crisis in identity, allegiance and fidelity when James meets and has sex with W ( Hayes). It all comes to a head when Eli invites W to dinner and asks his father F (Hutchison) to join them. Assailed on all sides, the confused and impotent John is finally compelled to make a decision and we are left wondering whether John has chosen in concert with his true feelings and sense of self. Or is he left still with the most bewildering conundrum of them all, “Who am I?”

Eli Narev as M. James Phillips as John. Adelaide Hayes as W

 

Director Bridgman has set the play in a boxing ring, a place where the uppercut of Bartlett’s language, the left hook jab of verbal assault and the bob and weave of ducking punches can ultimately lead to a blow by blow collapse to the canvas. We sit as spectators to the fight, witnesses to the complicated gay love of John and M, the sexual awakening of heterosexual love with W and the biased refereeing of F.  When the bell sounds the final bout the call leaves John a bruised and battered victim of the fight, up against the ropes with no escape in a contest that has no winner and three losers. Bartlett’s Cock pulls no punches when it comes to boxing below the belt to win the fight and gain the trophy. If only John knew which or who was the trophy.

Bridgman’s stylized direction within the ropes makes the most of the sparring, avoiding the realism of props and settings apart from four stools in the combatants’ corners and a water bottle for each boxer. Each round concludes with the sounding of the bell until John is lef t isolated and alone in his confusion. Bartlett’s language needs no graphic action to arouse the emotions. Bridgman directs with the evocative power of suggestiveness, allowing us to imagine, to judge or to envision. Cock is an actor’s playground and Bridgman’s cast turn in first grade performances.

As the only named character in the play, Phillips turns in a terrific performance, a tortuous struggle to discover his true self and come to terms with his confused bisexuality. His character is the cog in a chain of conflicting demands and emotions, and Phillips turns in a first-rate performance as Bartlett’s psychological punching bag. As John’s gay lover, Narev is thoroughly convincing, intensely faithful and dependent on John’s love for his own sense of self. Narev lends the character a searing vulnerability and a desperate need for love from the bewildered John. Hayes’ W is the Siren who distorts John’s reality in his mind. Her motive is simple when after a broken relationship, she tells John “I think you’re the one”. Every character has something to lose in this triangular combat with one’s own needs and desires. Bartlett’s tone shifts with the appearance in the final round of M’s father, F. Hutchison gives a firmly blinkered performance of a father who has accepted his son’s sexuality and refuses to have th at acceptance threatened by W’s intervention in John’s allegiance to the seven year relationship with M. The text becomes more dogmatic and didactic, espousing cliché. The volatility in the earlier rounds becomes more laboured during the dinner scene as the characters struggle to come to terms with their perspective. It is a struggle that leads to a resolution that offers no solution.

Adelaide Hayes as W. Paul G. Hutchison as F in Cock 

 

Bridgman’s production offers a fascinating insight into a vulnerability that is forever lurking until it is compelled to leap into the ring and punch its way to the final sound of the bell, whatever that may prove to be. Mockingbird Too’s Cock will have you glued to your seats in anticipation of the outcome. It only runs until the 12^th. If you miss it, and even if you don’t, see Bartlett’s companion piece Bull presented by Mockingbird Too from July 15^th. If Cock is anything to go by this too will be a companion piece not to be missed.

 

 

 

CALIGULA

Written by Albert Camus

Directed by Isaiah Prichard

Performative Theatre production

Act Hub Theatre, Kingston to 4 July

 

Reviewed by Len Power 2 July 2026

 

The human need to find meaning in a world that stays strangely silent and unhelpful is an absurd notion. Camus’ play uses the terror reign of the Roman emperor, Caligula, to show what crazy lengths a powerful man will go to when he is unable to find the answers to give reason to his life. When Caligula declares that he wants the moon, for the simple reason that he doesn’t have it yet, we’re in an uneasy place.

Director, Isaiah Prichard presented a clear vision with his production of this literate play. He is helped with a cleverly designed set by Kathleen Kershaw in which a cracked bust of Caligula loomed over the action and there were often startling but effective costume designs by Alex Ellwood.

Mischa Rippon (Caligula)

The central role of Caligula is given an outstanding performance by Mischa Rippon. His commanding presence was balanced with a fine sense of the madness of the character. He displayed an especially strong sense of understanding of the man in his finely tuned vocal delivery, giving Caligula a humanity beneath the insanity.

Natasha Lyall (Caesonia) and Mischa Rippon (Caligula)

There were strong performances, too, from Natasha Lyall as Caesonia, Amy Gottschalk as Cherea, Alex Elwood as Scipio, Dan Fonn Prichard as Helicon and Paris Scharke as Mereia. Some other performances were a bit uneven but overall, the cast did a fine job bringing Camus’ characters to life.

This was a long play but, in this fine production, it was always compelling. Despite dealing with madness and absurdity, the director, Isaiah Prichard, maintained control throughout.

This production of Albert Camus’ rarely performed absurdist play, ‘Caligula’, by the youthful new Performative Theatre proved to be an exciting and memorable launching pad for the company.

 

 

Photos by Jack Dent

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/. 

Caligula

 

Caligula by Albert Camus.  Performative Theatre Company at The Hub, Causeway Hall, Kingston, Canberra.  July 1 – 4, 2026.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
July 1

Written by Albert Camus
Directed by Isaiah Prichard
Set Design: Kathleen Kershaw
Cast: Mischa Rippon (Caligula), Tash Lyall (Caesonia), Amy Gottschalk (Cherea) with Alex Ellwood, Dan Fonn, Tigerlily Gledhill, Anabelle Hansen, Tom Neil, Sam Odgers, Paris Sharkie, Robert Weardon.

If you really want to understand how a youthful ancient Roman dictatorial emperor understood his freedom to have absolute power – which you might apply to a few political leaders today – this excellent production of Camus' play, written during World War 2, will have you shaking your head in wonder.

Mischa Rippon’s performance of the title role is remarkable for creating a philosophical intellectual, emotionally bound up in his search for the essential truth that the universe is not rational (or is simply random, as we might say today), and therefore he can love or kill anyone at whim.

Camus’s play does not bring in the modern discussion of what may have been the cause of the real Caligula’s erratic behaviour, such  as epileptic psychosis (he suffered “falling sickness” as a child), but it places the surrounding senators in impossible positions, because he actually does have autocratic power.  The cast, whether roles are played by women or men, very successfully create for us the growing horror, knowing in the end there is no way out except for them to kill him – as they did in real history.

The success of the presentation is suggested by the name of this new company: Performative.  It means that the set design, the use of a weird array of costumes, and the choreographed movement style, and the manner of speaking means we are aware we are being told a story, not just of these individuals, but about us, if we just think about how others or even we ourselves apply our power to, or experience the power of others.

And we even, at times, find ourselves feeling sorry for Mischa’s Caligula.  As the women realise, he is too young to take on such a responsibility, or to understand empathy in relationships.  I’m not sure, if you compare his Caligula with his character in L’Etranger whether Camus would have expected this, but I think Mischa’s variety of moods, as well his capacity to make clear the abstract philosophy of this Caligula is a great strength of Performative Theatre’s production.

It’s good to see another Canberra company taking on such worthwhile theatre.

 

Mischa Rippon as Caligula, with Alex Ellwood.                                                     Photo supplied

 

 

 

 

CALIGULA

 

 

Caligula by Albert Camus.

Directed, produced and marketed by Isiah Pritchard. Belinda Lawrence — Assistant Director. Co-Stage Managers: Erin Lesnie and Laura Byrne. Set Designer: Kathleen Kershaw . Paris Scharkie. Composer: Euan Tregurtha. Lighting Designer Alex Ellwood. Costume Designer: Elizabeth Barnes. Sound Operator: Jill Young.  Intimacy Coordinator: Archie Simpson. Stagehands: Ty Advani and Dan Fonn Prichard.  Assistant Marketing Jack Dent — Photographer. ACT HUB. July 1-4 2026. Bookings: ACTHUB.COM.AU

Cast: Misha Rippon, Tash Lyall, Amy Gottschalk,Annabelle Hansen, Paris Sharkie,Dan Fonn Prichard, Alex Ellwood,Thomas Neill, Robert Wearden, Sam Odgers, Tigerlily Gledhill

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Mischa Rippon is Caligula in Albert Camus' Caligula

Performative Theatre Company has made an impressive debut on the Canberra Theatre Scene with a highly commendable production of Albert Camus’ Caligula. The young cast, I suspect, of mainly university students has made a challenging choice in deciding to present Camus’ philosophical treatise on Caligula’s descent into madness after the death of his sister and lover, Druscilla. Her death has no meaning in Caligula’s mind, lending credibility to Camus’ philosophy of absurdism, where Caligula’s pursuit of logic to its ultimate end through conflict and indifference leads to the desperate quest for the moon in his hand or the impossible. What emerges in Mischa Rippon’s charismatic performance of the tortured emperor is a profound self-loathing expressed in tyrannical response to Drusilla’s meaningless death. 

Annabelle Hansen as Patricius. Marscha Rippon as Calligula 

Camus’ Caligula is transformed from a kind and gentle Caesar, loved and respected by his citizens into a soulless tyrant who sees death as an expression of freedom, and his only comfort in contempt. It is therefore an act of love to kill the son of ? or deprive the poet Scippio (Alex Ellwood ) of his father or force poison into the mouth of Mereia (Paris Sharkie) . “To govern is to kill” he tells his obsequious right- hand man Helikon (Dan Fonn Prichard). What we see is the eventual dehumanization of a tragic hero and the absurdity of humanity’s existence. Meaninglessness permeates the very absurdity of Caligula’s search for meaning. His indifference to love and life is expressed in his abuse of power and the absurd poetry competition, a game of intellectual gladiatorial contest.

Dan Fon Prichard (Helikon). Mischa Rippon (Caligula)
Tash Lyall (Caesonia)

In the realm of philosophical discourse and interpretation, Performative Theatre Company under the astute and intelligent direction of Isiah Pritchard gives Camus' ideas clarity and believability. Written in 1938 just after Hitler's rise to power and before the outbreak of World War 1 and then re-written in 1944 as Hitler faced inevitable decline and his absurd suicide, Performative Theatre’s timely production of Caligula has recognizable resonance with the tyrannical abuse of power and self-aggrandizement in our time. It is not possible to view Camus’ play and Performative Theatre’s carefully staged production without a reminder of the fragility of life’s existence and meaning.

Mischa Rippon and Amy Gottschalk (Cherea) in Caligula

I commend Performative Theatre highly on their courage to choose Caligula and their ability to project a stylized expression of the absurdity of Caligula’s actions, and yet the plausibility of his motivation, the ultimate contradiction of reason versus logic. Kathleen Kershaw’s flexible setting overlooked by an enormous crack-lined bust of Caligula in the Roman tradition both sets the scene and lends a dominating Big Brother and controlling presence to Caligula’s unassailable power. Paris Sharkie’s subtle composition reminds us of the ominous threat that silent indifference poses. In Caligula Camus prophesies an inevitable resistance to tyranny. In 41 BC conspirator Cherea (Amy Gottschalk) and the citizens ultimately restored freedom in the deaths of Helikon and Caligula. Caligula’s wife Caesonia (Tash Lyall) had already been murdered. Caligula’s logic to the end and longing for freedom was realized in his assassination.

Misha Rippon and Alex Ellwood (Scipio)

Performative Theatre is to be applauded for staging this rarely produced play and illuminating our understanding of Caligula’s irrational behaviour in the context of Camu’s philosophy of Absurdism. The production is tight and imaginatively directed by Prichard. The cast are young actors of varying experience and there is still scope for the development of vocal technique, but there is real commitment to the themes of Camus’ thought provoking examination of the human psyche.  

The poisoning of Mereia (Paris Sharkie)

Central to the success of this production is the actor playing the demanding role of the tortured Caligula, determined to change the world order in his nihilistic obsession. Director Prichard’s choice of Rippon to play the role is inspirational. Rippon is a young actor destined to make a real impression on the art of theatre. His performance is gripping, rarely off the stage and totally inhabiting the complex nature of a character driven to the edge of insanity. He is the glue that binds the production together, rollercoasting from grief to delusion, fantasy to vanity, lust for power to vicious cruelty and cold logic to madness. Rippon is supported by a dedicated cast, who have staged a fascinating and uncomfortably entertaining play under Prichard’s insightful eye, Kershaw’s simple but appropriate setting and Sharkie’s atmospheric musical composition.

 Paris Sharkie (Mereia) Annabelle Hansen ( Patricius)
Robert Wearden (Cassius) in Caligula

It is left to audiences to consider parallels and one needn’t look far to see the truth of Camus’ prophetic warning, absurd as it may seem to the indifferent eye. Performative Theatre Company has a very short season at ACT HUB and the company has provided an excellent and rare opportunity to see a production of Camus Caligula. I look forward with interest to Performative Theatre Company's next production. Caligula has been a very satisfying introduction to this new and promising company.

Photographs  Jack Dent

 

THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD

 

The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge.

Directed by Caitriona McLaughlin. Set and costume design by Katie Davenport. Lighting by James Farncombe. Sound Designer Adrienne Quartley. Composer Anna Mullarkey. Movement director. Sue Mythen. Starring Nicola Coughlin, Siobhan McSweeney, Eanna Hardwicke. Lyttleton Theatre. National Theatre of Britain. NT Live. Sharmill Films. Dendy Cinema. Until July 1 2026

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Two striking thoughts occurred to me as I watched NT Live’s screening of the National Theatre’s production of John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World. One; that I wished I was watching this powerful staging of Synge’s classic live and two, thank goodness for NT Live that enables audiences thousands of miles away to become immersed in such outstanding theatre. In the comfort of intimate Cinema 6 at Dendy in Canberra, Catriona McLaughlan’s authentic and evocative production of The Playboy of the Western World loses some of the impact and visceral response of sharing a live performance with a theatre full of audience riveted by the production and the performances of an amazing cast under McLaughlan’s direction. It loses none of the drama and the lyrical power of Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World.

The cast of NT Live's The Playboy of the Western World

 In 1907 when was first performed in Dublin’s famous Abbey Theatre, Ireland was experiencing a literary revival. However, today it is difficult to understand why the Abbey performance should have provoked riots by people who felt that it portrayed immorality and cast a slight against Irish patriotism. In 2026 the plot, so skillfully woven by Synge with drama, suspense and surprise appears far less outrageous, rather a revealing depiction of Irish cultural and social life in a rural village in Ireland. Today it reveals the vacillating inconsistency of the human condition, set against a background of parochial isolation and human frailty. The plot, at times seemingly implausible is a reminder of humanity’s predilection to impulse without reason and the need for love and belonging.

Nicola Coughlin as Pegeen Flaherty

 McLaughlan’s production opens with a parade of widows, clothed entirely in black and traversing the back of the stage through sheets of rain. The procession is funerial, pagan in its ritualistic procession, a village rite of religious absolution. They are accompanied by a fiddler (Erin Hennessey). Is this the fate that will befall all who suffer the isolation of loss and loneliness? It is ironic that The Playboy of the Western World should be regarded as unpatriotic or an offense to public morality.

Éanna Hardwicke as Christy Mahon

Synge constructs a relatively simple plot. The play is set in a tavern owned by Michael Flaherty (Lorcan Cranitch) and run by his barmaid daughter Pegeen Flaherty (Nicola Coughlan ) in a small rural village on Ireland’s west coast. Also at the tavern are Pegeen’s hopeful betrothed Shawn Keogh (Marty Rea ), and farmers, Philly Cullen (Matthew Forrest) and Jimmy Farrel (Naoise Dunbar). Christy Mahon (Eanna Hardwicke) enters seeking refuge and claiming to be fleeing the police after he had killed his father. Much to Shawn’s distress, Pegeen and Christy fall in love and Shawn entreats Widow Quin (Sioban McSweeney) to seduce Mahon away from Pegeen. Old Mahon (Declan Conlon) arrives with a bleeding scalp, but alive and seeks his son. Widow Quin sends him on a wild goose chase and Mahon becomes a hero when he wins a mule race on the slowest horse, much to the amazement of the villagers and the women who hail him as their hero. Things take a rather implausible turn for the worse when Old Mahon reappears, is chased into the fields by Christy and struck again. The village then turns against Christy for murdering his father and attempt to lynch him, urged on by the disillusioned Pegeen. In yet another melodramatic turn of events, Old Mahon reappears, more battered than before but surprisingly alive and he and Christy depart with a parting comment by Christy to Pegeen that he will continue to search out new villages to become their hero. A distraught Pegeen sinks to the floor with a heart wrenching wail, “I have lost my Playboy of the Western World” as the curtain falls.

Eanna Hardwicke (Christy Mahon) and
Nicola Coughlin (Pegeen Flaherty 

In the promotion before the movie begins Benedict Cumberbatch promises audiences the best seat in the house and the camera draws us in to the character and the action. Wide shots and closeups alternate to reveal Katie Davenport’s set design with its authentic recreation of the tavern in which the action takes place. Close ups draw us into the relationships, capturing the intimate moment, yet always maintaining the theatricality of the production. NT Live is a theatrical experience captured on film and yet expressing all the drama of the play upon a stage, as Cumberbatch promised. It allows us to enter the lives of the characters to witness the simpleness and complexity of their lives. Catriona has retained the period in a production that is thoroughly authentic, engrossing and entertaining. The performances too are entirely authentic, transporting us to the world of characters, creating a world long past and people who suffer and survive as people have for all time, ordinary folk trying to survive and cope with what life throws at them. Pegeen seeks escape. Christy seeks love and adulation. Flaherty finds relief in alcohol. Widow Quin seeks companionship and Shawn seeks the comfort that convention and conformity can bring.and conformity can bring. 

Shawn Keogh (Marty Rea) and Widow Quin (Siobhan McSweeney)

McLaughlan's’s direction is clear and insightful. Every moment of the production captures the spirit of Synge’s play, its themes of the human need for belonging, love, freedom and security. An extraordinary cast breathe fresh life into Synge’s century old play. As Pegeen Flaherty McLough reveals a young woman desperate for love and the promise of a better life. Hardwicke gives an extraordinary performance as the complicated Christy Mahon, caught in a myth of his own making. Cranitch’s crusty alcoholic father perfectly portrays his search for salvation to one’s meaningless life that alcohol provides. There is pathos in McSweeney’s Widow Quin, and the pain of unrequited love in Rea’s Keough. There is excellent support from Conlon’s Old Mahon and the ensemble of widowed mourners doubling as the village maidens.

Lorcan Cranitch as Michael 

Lorcan Cranitch as Michael Flaherty

It is the authenticity of the National Theatre’s revival of Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World that is so impressive. It may take a short time to tune in to the lyrical rhythm and accents of Synge’s text and the actors’ Irish dialect, but Synge’s power as a dramatist, forging a new tradition and his affection for and understanding of the Irish folk and the excellent performances by the cast in a production that will capture your imagination and rekindle passion for a play that inspired a theatrical revolution. NT Live’s screening of the National Theatre’s production of The Playboy of the Western World is a gift not to be missed.  

 

 

Arthur Boyd: Tapestries

Visual Art Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

Arthur Boyd: Tapestries | Curated by Adam Lindsay and Elspeth Pitt

National Gallery of Australia, Level 1, Gallery 12 | 20 June – 18 October 2026

 
In this major exhibition, the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) is presenting the complete series of twenty monumental tapestries by renowned Australian artist Arthur Boyd. He is one of Australia’s most celebrated artists, whose long career encompassed multi-genres including painting, printmaking and ceramics. Until now his tapestries have received relatively little attention.

Boyd has said that art is a journey to unknown destinations and that the more we embrace the unknown the richer our journeys become. That resonates deeply with all creatives as it beautifully expresses the essence of artistic exploration. These tapestries are only one part of his extensive artistic exploration of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Through the 1950s and into the 60s, Boyd’s interest in Saint Francis arguably became obsessive. In 1965, he exhibited a series of pastel drawings exploring Francis.

Despite not selling many of those artworks, he later chose twenty and sent high quality images of them to the famous Portuguese tapestry workshop Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre commissioning them to make these tapestries – which were acquired by the NGA in 1975. Fifty years later the twenty tapestries are all being exhibited together for the first time anywhere.

We’ve all heard of Saint Francis, for there have been movies about him and he has been written about more than most people. But some of us know more about him than others. And many of us may not be aware of, or appreciate, what made him so interesting to Boyd. Francis is said to have devoted his life to poverty, piety and prayer and he founded the Franciscan Order. He also loved nature. Pope Gregory IX canonised him two years after his death in a chapel near Assisi.

Boyd drew on biographies, figures and stories regarding Francis for both personal and universal reflections. Some of his artworks absolutely reflect accounts of events in the Saint’s life. Others show imagined events mostly based on Boyd’s explorations of biblical and literary sources. The works explore universal human conditions.

At 2.5 by 3.4 metres, each tapestry is a scene in the Boyd’s retelling of the life of Francis. Woven at a scale more than 20 times larger than Boyd’s original source images, and each containing between 4 and 8.5 million stitches, the finished textiles are a testament to the collaborative process of artistic creation.

The 20 textiles, known as the Life of St Francis (1970–74), inspire awe in their vision, scale and artistry. They are shown here alongside lithographs, pastels and drawings that demonstrate the creative and technical processes involved in their translation across media. And there is a beautiful accompanying publication which unpicks this textile cycle’s fascinating context and weaves together the story of their creation.

Installation view, Arthur Boyd: Tapestries, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2026, Arthur Boyd’s work reproduced with the permission of Bundanon Trust

Unsurprisingly, the works in this St Francis series are rich in musical associations. Listening to classical music whilst painting was central to Boyd’s creative process. Indeed, during an interview in 1980 he said the music was ‘as important as the actual brushes’.

Walking into the first room of the exhibition, visitors are confronted by a huge portrayal of the weaving process via a film in which weavers using the same techniques as those used to create Boyd’s tapestries check their work at the end of the day. It wonderfully sets the scene for everything else that will be seen as we move through all the spaces.

Weavers at Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre, Portalegre, Portugal, 2025. Courtesy the Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre.

Going further we see so much more than just 20 marvellous tapestries. There are lithographs, pastels and drawings. There are weaving drawings, masses of written information explaining what is in each room, and an excellent documentary video about the installation of the exhibits and Senior Curator Elspeth Pitt visiting Portugal and Assisi. And there are visitors clearly astounded by what they are viewing, exploring individual pieces closely and pointing out particular things to their companions.

Elspeth Pitt, Senior Curator, Australian Art, National Gallery with Arthur Boyd: Tapestries, installation view, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2026, Arthur Boyd’s work reproduced with the permission of Bundanon Trust

Arthur Boyd, Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre, Lurdes Branquinho (draughtsman (intermediary)), St Francis holding St Clare's hair, 1974, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1975, Arthur Boyd’s work reproduced with the permission of Bundanon Trust

Arthur Boyd, Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre (tapestry workshop), St Francis lying in the flames, 1972, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1975, Arthur Boyd's works reproduced with the permission of Bundanon Trust

Installation view, Arthur Boyd: Tapestries, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2026, featuring: Arthur Boyd, Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre, St Francis turning Brother Masseo, 1973; St Francis being beaten by his father, 1973; St Francis blowing Brother Masseo into the air, 1973, purchased 1975, Arthur Boyd’s work reproduced with the permission of Bundanon Trust

When we emerge there is a large, constructed loom display, a wall showing Boyd’s life timeline, the opportunity to participate in workshops, and more. Whether or not tapestry has ever been one of your interests, this is an exhibition not to be missed.

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