News

Performers Become Mask Entrepreneurs

Australian Musical Theatre performers Todd McKenney and Claire Lyon have both gone into the mask business as a result of the Covid pandemic, at the same time supporting their showbiz colleagues.

Within a couple of weeks, Todd McKenney’s new project to assist others in the entertainment industry has become a roaring success. Almost 800 Australian-made face masks have been sold, raising $20,000 for their talented designers and professional theatrical wardrobe teams. 

Can Clean Theatres Save Industry?

Australia’s Live Entertainment industry is working on a new hygiene code to make the public comfortable returning to theatres without a vaccine for COVID-19. This comes as social distancing regulations continue to make major performing arts events unviable. David Spicer reports.

Darwin Festival 2020 Kicks Off on August 6

Darwin Festival is set to open on August 6, 2020 - the first major capital city event in Australia to go ahead since COVID-19 shut the world down. The DF20 Homegrown program is a celebration of Top End talent with an array of exciting live and virtual events spanning theatre, music, comedy, cabaret, visual arts and more.

Brisbane Festival 2020

The Brisbane Festival will return in September 2020 with a program spanning giant outdoor installations, intimate street concerts, suburban symphonies and an epic new light and laser installation.

The debut Brisbane Festival program from Artistic Director Louise Bezzina will bring the unexpected and the delightful to Brisbane from 4 – 26 September, reaching all 190 suburbs of the city with a line-up unlike any presented before.

Ghost Lights Kicks Off NIDA Digital Theatre Festival

An ambitious reimagining of the storytelling landscape, NIDA’s Digital Theatre Festival kicks off with a call for audience participation. For Ghost Lights, audiences worldwide are invited to perform, record, and upload a monologue to social media to keep the spirit of theatre alive. The best monologues will be showcased every week.

Beginners Call in South Australia

Our South Australian correspondent Mark Wickett reports.

Some are peeking through the curtains, sizing up the audiences before opening night; others are already taking their bows in front of enthusiastic theatre-goers desperate for live entertainment. Yet whether the performers are in the rehearsal rooms or green rooms, live theatre in South Australia is waiting for its cue.

Theatre in Queensland Slowly Reopens

Following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions to Grade 3, Theatres in Queensland are slowly getting back to business late in July. Peter Pinne reports.

Come to Where I Am – Australia

After a rigorous selection process, sixteen new plays about the places we live are destined for both live performance and digital distribution for Come to Where I Am – Australia, the new writing and performance initiative from Paines Plough and Critical Stages Touring.

Raising the Curtain at Frankston

Frankston Arts Centre raises the curtain to help local entertainers

Frankston Arts Centre is working with some of Australia’s most well-known performers in its latest initiative to support the arts industry through COVID-19.

The Raise the Curtain musical production will take place on stage at the arts centre on Thursday July 30 and be live streamed to audiences via the venue’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

Amadeus Streaming Free - National Theatre at Home

National Theatre At Home’s latest FREE online offering is Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, streaming until July 23, 2020.

Music. Power. Jealousy. Welcome to Vienna. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a rowdy young prodigy, arrives determined to make a splash. Awestruck by his genius, court composer Antonio Salieri has the power to promote his talent or destroy it. Seized by obsessive jealousy he begins a war with Mozart, with music and, ultimately, with God.

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