Plus, The Letters of Sylvia Plath and a history of silliness — from Aristophanes to Roald Dahl.

Footage from Aretha Franklin's 1972 live album recording finally sees the light of day, we look at Tank Man on the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre and for Eid we appreciate some viral Muslim memes.

A look at HBO's small screen depiction of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and whether it adds much value to the TV landscape. Plus, as Sydney Film Festival kicks off we meet the Australian directors of two queer coming-of-age feature films premiering at this year's event, and Swiss artist Daniel Zimmerman who has made an art film called Walden, a formally impressive debut about nature and globalisation.

Plus, arts patron Judith Neilson on White Rabbit gallery's 10th birthday, the Partnershipping Project, and a visit to painter Robert Malherbe's Darlinghurst studio.

In the 1970s, composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and director-producer Harold Prince made some of the most inventive and challenging musical theatre that Broadway had ever seen. Two of those shows — A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street — return to Australian stages this month. Also on the program, we're joined by New York Times theatre reporter Michael Paulson for all the latest news ahead of the 73rd Tony Awards, and MTC are touring a production of Finegan Kruckemeyer's The Violent Outburst That Drew Me to You for young people in regional Victoria and Tasmania — so what is the impact of seeing professional theatre for the first time?

LA Quartet author James Ellroy teaches Claire the right way to say his new book title This Storm, Andrea Goldsmith on her latest novel Invented Lives, and Trent Dalton on the phenomenal success of Boy Swallows Universe.

99% Invisible's Avery Trufelman lets us in on some of the design podcast's secrets, multi-hyphenate New York street culture vulture Bobbito Garcia on his autobiographical documentary and Golden Gibbo-nominated comedian Margot Tanjutco dishes on romcoms and performs a song for us.

We speak to the creators of two new television comedies, one about messy parenthood and a semi-autobiographic Netflix series about a young gay man with Cerebral Palsy. Plus, a wrap on the Cannes Film Festival and an interview with the director of the new Elton John biopic, Rocketman.

LA-based MacArthur fellowship award-winning artist Wu Tsang on docufantasy, shelling stringing artist Aunty Lola Greeno has won a Red Ochre Award for lifetime achievement, Ed visits Elizabeth Willing's tasty(?) studio to find out how she makes art out of food, Noni Cragg and Warraba Weatherall on While You Were Sleeping.

We meet legendary performer Uncle Jack Charles who has been awarded this year's Red Ochre Award, Cassie Tongue reviews Suzie Miller's Prima Facie at Griffin Theatre Company, Vietnamese circus company Nouveau Cirque du Vietnam bring their show À Ố Làng Phố to the Sydney Opera House, a listener shares memories of Germaine Greer teaching Shakespeare at Marrickville Girls Junior High, and we go behind the scenes with stage manager Khym Scott.