Latest news

2020 Edinburgh Fringe Festival cancelled

Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Fringe, yesterday announced that the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe Festival will not go ahead.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2020 cancelled

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2020 has been cancelled, following the South Australian Government’s declaration of a public health emergency, and ban on non-essential gatherings of 100 people or more at indoor premises including Adelaide Festival Centre.

Theatre Works to Close Until May

In response to the unfolding health situation, Theatre Works have made the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily close our venue until 1 May.

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Written on

William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (Abridged)William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (Abridged)

Employer: Genesian Theatre Company
Category: Auditions
Location: Sydney

A brand new Shakespeare play has been discovered in a carpark in Leicester amidst some unimportant old bones. Written when the Bard was just a spotty 17 year old in Stratford, this manuscript is all his plays in one!

Most read news

Cirque du Soleil postpones Melbourne performances

Cirque du Soleil has decided to postpone Melbourne performances of its show KURIOS until 15 April, 2020

Adelaide Festival Centre COVID-19 update

Following the declaration of a Public Health Emergency in South Australia, Adelaide Festival Centre venues will close to the public and all performances will be suspended from midnight until the 30th of April.

Theatre Works to Close Until May

In response to the unfolding health situation, Theatre Works have made the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily close our venue until 1 May.

Melbourne International Jazz Festival 2020 cancelled

Scheduled to be programmed this winter, the Melbourne International Jazz Festival (MIJF) in its current form will be cancelled in response to ongoing developments regarding the threat of COVID-19.

Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour cancelled

Opera Australia has regretfully cancelled the upcoming Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, La Traviata, in line with the government ban on static public gatherings of more than 500 people to try to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Latest features

Jake Matricardi

Jake Matricardi

This week Heather Bloom chats to Jake Matricardi, an usher for the Marriner Group on his thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis unfolding in the theatre world.

Petra Kalive

Petra Kalive

After five years as Artistic Director of Union House Theatre, Petra Kalive joined Australia’s oldest professional theatre company in early 2020 having previously directed Beached, Melbourne Talam and Hungry Ghosts for the Company.

Kearna Philpott

Kearna Philpott

This week, Heather Bloom chats to professional dancer, Kearna Philpott who was on board the RCCL Spectrum of the Seas when the pandemic began.

Community news

Applications open for CAAP Directors Initiative

Applications are now open for the two-year Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) Directors Initiative at Melbourne Theatre Company.

Artist Callout: 2018 Melbourne Cabaret Fringe Festival

The 2018 Melbourne Cabaret Fringe Festival is back!

Applications now open for 2018 Indigenous Scholarship Program

Melbourne Theatre Company, in partnership with the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at the Victorian College of the Arts, is proudly continuing the Indigenous Scholarship Program in 2018 with an expanded program designed to foster career pathways for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people interested in the performing arts.

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Dear Australian Stage readers,

We know that everyone has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but the performing arts sector in Australia has been particularly hard hit. Please be kind to the artists in your life. Right now they need you. In the very near future, heaven knows we will need them.

Dear Australian Artists,

Please hold on. No-one would blame you for a second if you don't or if you can't, but please hold on. We need you to tell your stories. We need you to help us make sense of what is happening. We need you to ask the questions that no-one else has the courage or the skill to do so. At the end of all this, there will be much discussion about the kind of world we have created and the kind of world we want. Artists must be at the forefront of those discussions. Please hold on. You are the light at the end of the tunnel.

Dear Australian Government,

Funding the arts costs money. Get over it.

—Australian Stage
xxx