HIGHGATE local St John Cowcher is a veteran of the theatre, despite being just 28, but his latest show filled him with a larger than usual case of the jitters. Two years in the making, Farm is a unique collaboration between Merredin farmers and Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. Spare Parts’ creative team immersed itself in…

ABORIGINALITY, homosexuality and family angst come together in the classic indigenous play What Do They Call Me? at the Blue Room. Written by Eva Johnson more than 25 years ago the themes still resonate, director Eva Grace Mullaley says. “I read this play about 12 years ago…[and] haven’t been able to get it out of…

MARTIN WILLS’ latest intergalactic creation is a giant mural on the side of the Beaufort Street Laundromat. The artist says he loves “big, well-crafted universes that can swallow imaginations entirely” and cites Terminator 2 and Star Trek: The Next Generation as influences. Wills studied design and creative advertising at Curtin Uni and then did some…

A DECISION to impose a $30 fee for this year’s RTRFM music festival has put Vincent council offside, and it’s demanding its $5000 sponsorship back. Council had agreed to help fund a free event on Beaufort Street but will take it back if the fee goes ahead. As well as the fee, the festival is…

THE art of furniture design is on show at Turner Gallery in Northbridge with some of Australia’s most famous names literally on seats, sideboards and tables. It’s a rare chance to enjoy the innovative creation of mid-century Australian designers such as Grant Featherston and Clement Meadmore, along with Danish designers Peter Hvidt and Orla Molgaaard-Nielsen…

BEHIND really good comedy often lurks an edge of darkness. No doubt Robin Williams would agree if he was still here: the comedian had ended his life the morning I was due to meet Australian funny man Peter Rowsthorn, and it inevitably set a sombre tone for the interview. Rowsthorn is set to play the…

IT’S a fine balancing act between encouraging new young players and members and keeping older audiences happy, but the Perth Folk and Roots Club seems to achieve just that. Its next session, Sunday August 24, will feature the mature sounds of Freewheeling, a bunch of 50-plus blokes belting out a mix of roots, bluegrass and…

PERTH expat Andrew Gannon is off to explore the ancient world of Chinese comedy. A lawyer by day, he’s spent many a night onstage at the Charles Hotel comedy nights or Lazy Susan’s comedy den. In western comedy it’s often a race to the bottom among comedians to find the newest, edgiest, most perverted jokes,…

LANDSCAPE photography is about different ways of seeing, entrant in this year’s Perth Centre for Photography Clip Award Graham Miller says. “A contemporary view of the landscape rather than a classic chocolate box picture.” A veterinarian career has taken second place to photography for the Fremantle local and winner of the judges’ commendation award. He…

NO-ONE was more surprised than Jasper Jones author Craig Silvey to find the biggest market for his book outside of Australia was Turkey. “It demonstrates the chaotic nature of publishing,” the bemused Fremantle local tells the Voice. His book tour of the country was peppered with questions about Gallipoli and Lone Pine, which could explain…