The Hindu epic Mahabharata is the longest poem in the world, a tale where gods and mortals dance around each other in stories about creation, sex, death and destruction. But can it be told in under nine hours? That was the duration of  Peter Brooks’ famous 1988 production of The Mahabharata at the Adelaide Festival. Miriam Fernandes and Ravi Jain, from Canada’s Why Not Theatre, have wrestled the saga into a two-part, five-hour theatrical production which includes time for a shared meal. It's headlining Perth Festival.

The hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen has recently had to cancel its Canberra and Adalaide tours due to poor ticket sales, despite the show doing well in Melbourne and Sydney. Before that news broke, we recorded a song with the musical's Australian star Beau Woodbridge.

Stephen Sondheim's Follies is the story of a once-famous company of American showgirls who have a reunion in the 1970s, 30 years after they last performed. The themes of age and regret require the performers to dig deep into vulnerability, says Antoinette Halloran, who stars as Sally in a new production by Victorian Opera. She's joined by director Stuart Maunder.