In the first of our conversations between legends of Australian theatre, the former artistic director of The Australian Ballet, David McAllister, steals the spotlight to interview his partner, Noonuccal Nuugi playwright and director Wesley Enoch.

Also, David pays tribute to Australian ballet icon Lucette Aldous who recently died at the age of 82, and we travel to the tiny town of Gander in Canada to meet some of the real-life people whose generosity inspired the hit musical Come from Away.

Tom Stoppard and William Shakespeare loom large in the canon of English drama. Two new books explore their lives, their work, their driving forces and their impact on theatre.

Composer and performer Eddie Perfect's Broadway adventures included some of the highest highs and lowest lows of his career. Now with two Broadway credits and a Tony nomination on his CV, he's touring a new show of stories and songs: Introspective.

Also, Robyn Nevin has been a leading talent in Australian theatre for decades, but her latest role may be one of her toughest yet — in A German Life, she becomes Brunhilde Pomsel, secretary to the Nazi minister for propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.

American playwright Jen Silverman is a true believer in the power of theatre. She compares her first encounters with the theatre to walking into church. Her plays have enjoyed great success in Australia and now she has written her first novel, We Play Ourselves.

Also, Opera Queensland are on the road and looking to make opera fans of country music lovers with their show Are You Lonesome Tonight and as Melbourne returns to lockdown, we revisit our story about dancers training in isolation during the pandemic.

Since his Tony Award-winning performance as The Emcee in the musical Cabaret, Scottish performer Alan Cumming has been increasingly enamoured of the form, opening his own cabaret bar in New York and now taking charge of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

Also, we learn about the unifying power of roller derby in the play Ugly Virgins at the Blue Room Theatre in Perth and meet the gig economy workers involved in the new APHIDS theatre work about the hidden cost of convenience, Easy Riders.

The Wadawurrung story of Parrwang, a magpie that lifted the sky to bring light to the land, is now an opera. Parrwang Lifts the Sky is by the Yorta Yorta composer and singer Deborah Cheetham and presented by Victorian Opera.

Also, we visit a rehearsal of The Dispute, a work performed and co-created by children with experience of family separation, hear performance from the new Australian production of Chess and check in on London's West End theatres as they reopen their doors.

When dancer Amy Hollingsworth was just 18, she suffered a potentially career-ending injury. Yet, she didn't just recover — she flourished. She's now the artistic director of the Australasian Dance Collective, which is about to make its return to the stage.

Also, we hear a scene from Andrea James and Catherine Ryan's Australian gothic play Dogged now at Sydney's Griffin Theatre and we consider the journey of social dance, particularly hip-hop, from the streets and clubs to the theatre with Erin Brannigan.

David Ireland writes very funny plays that often descend into bloody chaos and despair. Most, including his controversial play Ulster American, reflect the legacy of sectarian violence in his homeland of Northern Ireland and the fractured cultural politics of today.

Also, with Opera Australia back on the road, we hear Natalie Aroyan perform an aria from Verdi's Ernani ahead of its Melbourne season, and we meet Roslyn Oades: an artist who uses interviews and other recordings to create unique works of documentary theatre.

Choreographer William Forsythe didn't take a ballet class until he was 17 years old, but he quickly built a reputation for breathing new vitality into the historic art form. His Artifact Suite features in The Australian Ballet's Counterpointe, on now at the Sydney Opera House.

Also, two actors bring a whole town to life in Emily Steel's complex and heartfelt ode to regional South Australia, Euphoria, and A Fight for Survival at the Yirramboi Festival revisits a community's efforts to save a largely Indigenous school in Melbourne from closure.

British playwright Mark Ravenhill made a huge splash in the mid-90s with his first play, Shopping and F***ing. He's since become one of the most produced writers in the UK. His recent play The Cane is on now at Melbourne's Red Stitch.

Also, what does it take for an Australian to make it on Broadway? We ask Carmel Dean, a composer and musical director who spent 20 years working on huge shows. And we pay tribute to the architect Viv Fraser, designer of some of Sydney's most iconic venues.