Lynne Clarke, daughter of renowned Australian artist Russell Drysdale, has a vivid memory of ‘going to the pictures’ as a young child in the 1940s.
“I remember seeing Pinocchio and having nightmares for years,” the 82 year-old says. “I found it…

In a dry landscape, this haunting Drysdale could set a new record

Christine Grace would love to see a renaissance of radio drama, born from the combination of the coronavirus lockdown and the podcast boom.
“It’s beautiful, a wonderful medium for stories,” says the writer and theatre maker (and, back in the day, a…

Radio drama re-imagined for Victorian festival

A $50,000 scholarship for Australia's best young musical theatre talent has been cancelled after organisers said nominees were "targeted and intimidated" in recent weeks.
The Rob Guest Endowment (RGE) announced late Friday afternoon the competition,…

Musical theatre prize cancelled after diversity row

When Melbourne locked down, dancer and choreographer Tony Yap felt "cabin fever" setting in.
So he started taking early morning walks exploring the five-kilometre bubble around his Brunswick home, going down alleyways he'd never bothered with,…

'It was liberating': in his bubble, Tony dances alone

Talented Melbourne writer, actor and director Aidan Fennessy has died, aged 53.
Melbourne Theatre Company artistic director and CEO Brett Sheehy said Fennessy was a "hugely respected artist, a wonderful colleague and friend to many".
Fennessy had a…

Melbourne playwright Aidan Fennessy dies aged 53

"There was this pent-up energy," says Kimberley Twiner, 33. "There was an imploding going on in our creative bodies and our souls."
"It reached the point where I said, 'OK, I think we have to put on the '80s costumes and go onto the lawn. Who's in?'…

It's grassroots theatre from for-lawn entertainers

It's not just the clink of coins tossed by passers-by that Simon Paparo misses – though he does miss that.
"If it wasn’t for JobKeeper, I wouldn’t have much income at all right now," says the Melbourne busker, 38.
It’s not just the music, either –…

Off Melbourne's streets since March, buskers weigh up the 'gram

Until recently the hardest thing Melburnian Dom Chambers ever did was making glasses of beer appear from an empty paper bag.
But this weekend Chambers, who chalked up millions of views of his ‘beer magic’ performance last year on America’s Got…

Melbourne's beer magician plans 'impossible' Zoom magic

A surge of pandemic-inspired generosity from Australian philanthropists and artists has enabled the National Gallery of Australia to acquire 20 new works worth $8 million – including #MeToo-related fashion from designers Discount Universe, and a…

Philanthropy is in fashion as gallery welcomes groundbreaking new art

Melbourne Now, a huge free exhibition of art, design and performance celebrating Victorian creativity, is to return in 2023 – ten years after its 2013 debut.
The National Gallery of Victoria hopes the show will help reignite the state's creative…