The Drawing Room

What happens when you sit down with 16 directors and ask them about the future of cinema and do the answers differ when you revisit that same question 40 years later?

We speak to the director of a documentary, about a documentary, about film.

We're a nation obsessed by houses and one woman has tapped into our fascination with ‘other people's homes' with her passion project and new book.

At a time of growing concern about plummeting birth rates, the number of babies born to surrogates is rising globally.

But what kind of woman is willing to give over her body to create another human life out of the goodness of her heart?

Imagine trying to use voice activation like Siri with a stutter. It’s just another reminder of the aspects of modern life that aren't made for everyone.

A selection of the choristers from The Australian Girls Choir joined Andy in the studio to sing some Christmas songs. 

They sang Jingle Bell Rock, The Man With The Bag and Carol of the Bells.Guests:Tanya RomeoIsabelle OgierMiranda ChargeLucy ChisholmSophie CrookshanksAlannah DundasApril FordSarah FyvieSienna HazellMelanie HigginsLauren HirstEmily LathamIsabelle OgierIsabel OsbonReya Ramanujachari

In the 1890’s the pianola was the biggest case in copyright law. Musicians and writers were worried it would make them redundant. Well, there’s another similar copyright case underway at the moment that will have a huge effect on the way we use generative A.I platforms from music and art to coding.

Guest:Matthew Butterick, lawyer

They’re often derided, ignored, and under-loved. They’re in almost every city, they are buildings in the Brutalist architectural style - affectionately known as 'The Brutes'.

A chance encounter outside Sydney’s famous Sirius building, led author Heidi Dokulil to investigate everything about this architectural style for her new book, Sydney Brutalism.

Guest:Heidi Dokulil, design writer and author

Opera is often as much about the venue and the occasion as the music. Think of the sumptuous opera houses of Europe filled with black ties, dainty ladies with binoculars, and the chink of champagne flutes. But one opera company has broken the rules by performing in the public toilets in the Queen Victoria Building.

Their new performance Track Works goes even further, taking up a wonderfully historical building normally associated with death. Very operatic indeed.

Guest: Thomas De Angelis, Artistic DirectorEden Shifroni, Soprano

Why have you got a chin? Why can you dance, when other bipeds can’t? Did you know that your DNA has fragments of ghostly code from early hominids for whom we haven't found any other physical evidence?

Go back in time to when there were at least nine different hominins roaming the earth at the same time ... Human Origins: A Short History outlines our fellow hominins and thinks about how we became the last ones standing.

Guest: Sarah Wild, author and journalist

The Ten Tenors join Andy live in the studio to chat about what makes a Tenor, life with the group, and sing a couple of their favourite tunes. 

Guests: Michael EdwardsCameron BarclayBoyd OwenJared NewallAdrian LiDonniJoseph NaimAmmon BennettJesse LaytBenjamin Clark