FIVE shipping containers of Christmas supplies for Kakulas Brothers led to the formation of the Robertson Park Artists Studio collective, after the artists had to decamp from their original Northbridge premises. This year the RPAS turns 15, a celebration marked with its annual exhibition in their park premises. “With many other artist collectives now closed,…

TWENTY years after The Edges of Twilight propelled Canada’s The Tea Party to international fame they’re back down under, kicking off an Australia anniversary tour in Perth. Instruments from around the world gave the album a world music flavour, which hit a cord in 1995, and it stayed in the top 20 for more than…

ICONOCLASTIC French composer Eliane Radigue’s synthesiser music swept her to international fame on a wave of musical controversy in the 1970s. Now 83, Radigue is still composing, switching to acoustic instrumental some 10 years ago. Her OCCAM Ocean series is set to be performed by Decibel New Music, after director Dr Cat Hope spent time…

A  MOB of white cockatoos descend on a suburban street and secrets begin to unravel in The Cockatoos, Patrick White’s Nobel Literature Prize-winning novella. Described as a “slow beautiful dance of love and death” it’s a tale of exclusion and belonging, says local director Andrew Hale who has turned the short story into a stage play.…

“FAIR is foul and foul is fair!” Shakespeare’s trio of witches shriek, stirring a noxious pot of of potions over a fire, as they plot Macbeth’s downfall. An exhibition inspired by the bard promises to be every bit as disturbing. With Shakespeare’s 400th birthday in April (brace thyself) a trio of artists has drawn on…

IT may be part of kids’ festival Awesome, but there’s a dark underbelly to the whimsical Matter of Factory exhibition. Cardboard, wood, straw, mechanics, sound equipment and ipads have gone into creating a colourfully childish version of Terry Pratchett’s steam-punk inventions. Textile artist Cat Rabbit’s felt sausages become sausage dogs, and thanks to mate Isobel…

TAKE a boy and a balloon, add a pigeon, cat and a rat, and director Chrissie Parrott is set to weave her magic on the classic kids’ tale The Red Balloon at the State Theatre. Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 film didn’t have feral creatures but Parrott has taken artistic licence, coos Ella Hetherington, who plays the…

MENTION Hairy Maclary and it’s like a switch goes on in kids — and their parents — as they chime in with a head-spinning array of his mates including Hercules Morse, as big as a horse, and Schnitzel von Krumm, with a very low tum. The phenomenally popular books’ Kiwi author and illustrator Lynley Dodd…

SOPRANO Penny Pavlakis is known in opera circles as the “singer’s singer”, and her impressive resumé is diverse, including working with Aussie director Baz Luhrmann, Irish/Norwegian Eurovision winners Secret Garden, and the late Dame Joan Sutherland and maestro Tommy Tycho. The Sydney-based opera singer remembers Sutherland as “an amazing mentor”, while Luhrmann apparently has none…

THERE’S a gentleness to Louise Devenish’s percussion, but whether hypnotically stroking a xylophone, beating out a rhythm on djembe, striking a set of kettle drums, or digitally manipulating music on the keyboard, the passion shines through. Her concerts are known for being cutting-edge and audiences have been surprised to find themselves circled by the performers,…