The Stage Show

Do you remember your last day of high school? It's a key moment for many of us, as we step out of our teenage lives and into the world of adulthood. Matthew Whittet's play Seventeen explores this transition in a unique way that has transfixed audiences around the globe.

Roz Hervey has enjoyed a 30-plus-year career as a dancer, choreographer, director and producer. So, how does she respond when life throws her a challenge which will certainly bring those adventures to a halt? In the face of a recent diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease (MND), Roz has continue throwing all of her energies into the arts.

Also, we ask the multi-award-winning English director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, choreographer of a new ballet inspired by Oscar Wilde, which works of art most inspire him, and we celebrate 60 years of the Australian Ballet School with the school's new director Megan Connelly and one of the school's most famous graduates, Graeme Murphy. 

Over the past 200 years, theatre has often been a lightning rod for social and political upheaval in the United States. Even the plays of William Shakespeare have been the subject of violent debate. This surprising history is examined in two recent books by James Shapiro: Shakespeare in a Divided America and The Playbook.

Also, Trent Dalton's Love Stories, based on conversations with strangers on a Brisbane street corner, comes to the stage at this year's Brisbane Festival, and we pay tribute to the Australian playwright Jack Hibberd (Dimboola; A Stretch of the Imagination) who has died at the age of 84.

The American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks started writing plays on the advice of a very famous mentor: the celebrated writer and civil rights activist, James Baldwin. Suzan-Lori won a Pulitzer Prize for her 2001 play Topdog/Underdog, a revival of which also won a Tony Award. It's now on stage in Australia for the first time.

Also, Marina Prior and Michael Cormick, two superstars of Australian musical theatre, hit the highway with their Centrestage tour, and while many artists are sounding alarm bells about artificial intelligence, choreographer Alisdair Macindoe is embracing it. In Plagiary, Macindoe hands the role of choreographer to an algorithm.

Noni Hazlehurst is one of Australia's best-loved and most enduring performers. Loved by generations of children as a presenter on Play School, she leaves the world of teddy bears and storybooks far behind in the brutal play, Mother.

Almost ten years after originating the role of Christie in Daniel Keene's one-person play, Noni is reprising her award-winning performance at Arts Centre Melbourne.

Our series began with comedy and it ends with tragedy. In this episode, we interpret the bitter ends met by some of Shakespeare's most famous characters and ask why tragedies still exercise such force over our imaginations.

Wherefore, Shakespeare? is a series that explores the dilemmas, conflicts, and controversies in Shakespeare's major plays.

In our sixth and final episode, we're joined by Professor David McInnis who teaches Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Melbourne, Professor Jane Montgomery Griffiths, an acclaimed actor and the head of the School of Performing Arts at Collarts, and Peter Evans, artistic director of Bell Shakespeare.

The work of William Shakespeare has helped to define — and problematise — notions of English identity. It has also had an impact on the English language itself.

Wherefore, Shakespeare? is a series that explores the dilemmas, conflicts, and controversies in Shakespeare's major plays.

In our fifth episode, we look at the intersections of Shakespeare and nationalism. We're joined by Professor Jane Montgomery Griffiths, an acclaimed actor and the head of the School of Performing Arts at Collarts, Professor David McInnis who teaches Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Melbourne, and Peter Evans, artistic director of Bell Shakespeare.

While some critics believe that plays like Othello and The Merchant of Venice are inherently racist, others argue that they simply portray, perhaps even criticise, the racist attitudes of the time.

Wherefore, Shakespeare? is a series that explores the dilemmas, conflicts, and controversies in Shakespeare's major plays.

In our fourth instalment, we interrogate Shakespeare's portrayal of race. We also explore the surprising racial dimensions of one of Shakespeare's final plays: The Tempest. We're joined by Wesley Enoch, a Quandamooka man and an award-winning playwright and theatre director, Professor David McInnis who teaches Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama the University of Melbourne, and Professor Jane Montgomery Griffiths, an acclaimed actor and the head of the School of Performing Arts at Collarts.

William Shakespeare's plays feature witchcraft, murder, ghosts and bloody revenge. Are his displays of blood and gore simply meant to entertain us or do they have more to say about the human condition?

Wherefore, Shakespeare? is a series that explores the dilemmas, conflicts, and controversies in Shakespeare's major plays.

In our third instalment, we enter Shakespeare's house of horror. We're joined by Professor David McInnis, who teaches Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Melbourne, Professor Jane Montgomery Griffiths, an acclaimed actor and the head of the School of Performing Arts at Collarts, and Peter Evans, artistic director of Bell Shakespeare.

What does it mean to defy the conventions and test the boundaries of gender? These are questions posed by some of Shakespeare's most famous characters.

Wherefore, Shakespeare? is a series that explores the dilemmas, conflicts, and controversies in Shakespeare's major plays.

In our second instalment, we place gender in the spotlight. We're joined by Professor Jane Montgomery Griffiths, an acclaimed actor and the head of the School of Performing Arts at Collarts, Professor David McInnis, who teaches Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Melbourne, and Peter Evans, artistic director of Bell Shakespeare.