The Stage Show ABC listen

Simon Burke is one of Australia's most cherished entertainers. 2024 marks his 50th year performing on stage.

He made his professional stage debut at just 12 years old and shortly after won an AFI Award for his performance in Fred Schepisi's film The Devil's Playground.

He's since become renowned as a musical theatre performer, having had major roles in Australia and on London's West End.

Right now, he's playing the Wizard of Oz in a spectacular new production of Wicked.

What does it mean to defy the conventions and test the boundaries of gender? These are questions posed by some of Shakespeare's most famous characters.

Wherefore, Shakespeare? is a series that explores the dilemmas, conflicts, and controversies in Shakespeare's major plays.

In our second instalment, we place gender in the spotlight. We're joined by Professor Jane Montgomery Griffiths, an acclaimed actor and the head of the School of Performing Arts at Collarts, Professor David McInnis, who teaches Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Melbourne, and Peter Evans, artistic director of Bell Shakespeare.

Suzanne Chaundy is one of Australia's most in-demand directors of opera. Last year, she had the triumph of a lifetime with her direction of opera's most daunting challenge: Wagner's Ring Cycle. Now she's back with another big opera, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Melbourne Opera. So, what does it take to direct an opera?

Also, in Lose to Win, which opens soon at Belvoir Street Theatre, Mandela Mathias recounts his extraordinary journey from displacement in war-torn South Sudan to becoming an Australian and an accomplished actor, and opera singer David Hobson and comedian Colin Lane hit the road for a six-month tour of their show, In Tails.

Choreographer Johan Inger's first narrative work is a radically contemporary take on Carmen, which employs Bizet's famous score but draws on the confronting violence of Mérimée's original novella for its story. The ballet earned the Prix Benois de la Danse and is now being presented by The Australian Ballet.

Also, Victor Hugo's novel about an orphaned boy whose mouth has been cut into a perpetual grin has been adapted into a musical, The Grinning Man, and we mark the 100th anniversary of The Demon Machine, a dance work by Gertrud Bodenwieser who fled the Nazi occupation of Austria and founded the first modern dance company in Australia.

Angus Cerini has been writing plays for 25 years, but his recent experiences as a farmer have inspired his latest play, Into the Shimmering World. The acclaimed writer of The Bleeding Tree and Wonnangatta now introduces us to two aging farmers, played by Kerry Armstrong and Colin Friels, struggling against relentless adversity.

Also, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt is a published collection of poems written by the Samoan-New Zealander Tusiata Avia. 20 years ago, Tusiata was touring the world performing these poems on stage and now that show has been reimagined for an ensemble. Wild Dogs Under My Skirt is now on tour in Australia.

Opera Australia's annual production on Sydney Harbour is a highlight of the performing arts calendar. This year, the floating stage hosts West Side Story and it stars First Nations soprano Nina Korbe. The musical by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim is Nina's professional debut, but not her first time performing in a spectacular outdoor setting.

Also, with the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival underway, we're joined by the comedian Joel Kim Booster. Joel is also the writer and star of the hit romantic comedy Fire Island. Joel is performing in Headliners at the festival and can also be seen in his Netflix special Psychosexual and in the comedy series Loot with Maya Rudolph.