The Stage Show

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The Stage Show

In-depth conversations with the world's top directors, performers and writers for the stage.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    'I think the rock swallowed them up': Ian Michael takes on an Australian classic

    When director and actor Ian Michael first saw the stage play of Picnic at Hanging Rock, adapted by playwright Tom Wright, it was as a theatre attendant. Now, he is directing it at the Opera House for the Sydney Theatre Company. The Noongar theatre-maker has forged an exciting career performing deeply personal stories alongside innovative productions. His production of the gothic story of the Victorian school girls who go missing on St Valentine's Day, interrogates a colonial nightmare and its fixture in the Australian imagination. In 1954, model Shirley Beiger shot and killed her boyfriend outside the ritzy Chequers nightclub in Sydney. The case was a media sensation, especially when Beiger got off without any charges. It has inspired the cabaret A Model Murder staged inside the Darlinghurst Court House, where the original trial took place. Performers Amber McMahon and Maverick Newman give us a taste of the court action, along with writer Sheridan Harbridge. In the hit Edinburgh Fringe show, Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen, Samuel Barnett is a stand-up comedian regaling us at breakneck speed about his unfulfilling love life and very hectic brain. When a new and dazzling man comes into his life, everything could change, except for his new partner's extremely inconvenient medical condition... but is everything as it seems? Sam and director Matthew Xia join Michael to unpack this charismatic character, written by Marcello Dos Santos.

    54 min

  2. JAN 13

    The surprising history of Shakespeare in a divided America

    Over the past 200 years, theatre has often been a lightning rod for social and political upheaval in the United States. Even the plays of William Shakespeare have been the subject of violent debate. This surprising history is examined in two recent books by James Shapiro: Shakespeare in a Divided America and The Playbook. Also, we explore Bangarra Dance Theatre's first mainstage cross-cultural collaboration, Horizon. Horizon includes work choreographed by Deborah Brown, a descendent of the Wakaid Clan and Meriam people in the Torres Strait, with Moss Te Ururangi Patterson, of the Māori Ngāti Tūwharetoa tribe in Aotearoa and the artistic director of the New Zealand Dance Company.

    54 min

  3. JAN 6

    Why Eric Idle always looks on the bright side of life

    Death is not a very funny subject. Yet, comedian, writer and musician Eric Idle has spent 60 years showing us the funny side of our all-too-fleeting lives. The Monty Python member has toured Australia with his show Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, Live! He's also written a book about the creation of his musical, Spamalot. Also, we visit Australia's Back to Back Theatre, which has been delighting audiences with shows performed and devised by an ensemble of artists who are neurodivergent or living with a disability, and Torres Strait Islander dancer, actor and theatre maker Ghenoa Gela shares the artworks that take pride of place on her Top Shelf.

    54 min

  4. 12/30/2024

    The story of the groundbreaking Warumpi Band

    In the desert town of Papunya in 1981, four blackfellas and a whitefella bonded over rock 'n' roll and became the history-making Warumpi Band. The Warumpis were the first rock band to sing in Aboriginal languages. Big Name, No Blankets from Ilbijerri Theatre Company tells their story on stage. Also, Australian writer James Elazzi has garnered acclaim for his frank and funny plays that dramatise the lives of Lebanese Australians. He has been nominated for a slew of awards in his young career, including the 2024 Martin-Lysicrates Prize. His sixth play, Karim, sees his return to the company that gave him his first big break: Riverside's National Theatre of Parramatta.

    54 min

  5. 12/23/2024

    Giacomo Puccini 100 years on

    It's been 100 years since the death of the Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini. From La Bohème to Turandot, Puccini's operas remain some of the most popular around the world. To explore Puccini's life and legacy, we're joined by musicologist Dr Linda Fairtile and hear performances from two Opera Australia productions. Also, since Hamilton debuted in Australia in 2021, the American founding father has been played by the South African-born, Perth-raised performer Jason Arrow. He's now been in the role for longer than the show's writer and original star, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

    54 min

  6. 12/16/2024

    'I know what I'm doing' — Why Miriam Margolyes courts controversy

    In her memoir Oh Miriam!, the British-Australian actress, writer and comedian Miriam Margolyes shares hugely entertaining stories from her life with her trademark wit and disarming candour. This year she brought those stories — and more — to the stage, touring her show Oh Miriam! right across Australia. Former prime minister Paul Keating was one of the great parliamentary performers. His ruthless wit and self-confidence take centre stage in Jonathan Biggins' hugely popular tribute to Keating, The Gospel According to Paul. It's a role that Jonathan — an actor, singer, writer, director and co-creator of The Wharf Revue — has been performing, on and off, for five years.

    54 min

  7. 12/09/2024

    William Yang — A life in a slide show

    Legendary photographer William Yang has spent decades transforming his photography into captivating live theatre via the medium of the slide show. In his latest performance, Milestone, which is coming to the Sydney Festival and Asia TOPA, Yang shares a lifetime of stories, from his boyhood in Cairns, to his various 'coming-outs', to the freedom — and fear — of life as a gay man in Sydney in the 1970s and 80s. Also, Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera tells the duo's dazzling story of fame and tragedy, and we meet actors Brendan Cowell, Ewen Leslie and Toby Schmitz as they compare notes on playing the role of Hamlet.

    54 min

  8. 12/02/2024

    How an accident redefined the possibilities of dance

    In 1997, Australian dancer Marc Brew's life was changed forever by a devastating car accident that left him paralysed from the chest down. He tells his story in the deeply personal An Accident / A Life. Over the past 27 years, Brew has redefined the possibilities of dance, captivating audiences worldwide with performances and choreography that challenge the boundaries of the art form. On Top Shelf, actor Christie Whelan Browne shares the performances that shaped her, while mixed reality artist Troy Rainbow invites audiences to confront experiences of psychosis through his groundbreaking work.

    54 min
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About

In-depth conversations with the world's top directors, performers and writers for the stage.

Information

  • Creator
    ABC listen
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2025
  • Episodes
    329
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All right reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Stage Show

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