THE State Theatre Centre of WA will transform into the award-winning Fringe Hub again from January 17 – February 8, giving a host of home-grown talent the chance to shine alongside the big stars. State of Play will feature 40 shows from local, national and international artists; a mix of comedy, theatre, music, dance and…

A STAGE is not usually the kind of place you’d expect to find an introvert* like Luke Morris, but the science-backed comedian says those rigid expectations are often what people get wrong about personality-types (according to research). His new show An Introvert’s Guide to Extroverts is a mix of jokes, truths and charts, as he…

THE cruddy picture quality of Bayswater council’s CCTV camaras has been hindering efforts to identify rapscallions, but the rolling project to upgrade them could take another three years to complete.  Bayswater has about 270 cameras across the city but they don’t always get a clear picture of crime, with issues stemming from blurry low resolution…

LONG-time environmental campaigner Mary Gray has called on Vincent council to follow the lead of governments elsewhere who’ve taken steps to ban natural gas connections in future developments. Ms Gray, who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2022 for her many efforts to protect the environment and preserve urban bushland, put the degassing…

BAYSWATER councillor Lorna Clarke has announced she’s retiring from her west ward role, with about eight months left in her term. Cr Clarke is Labor’s candidate for Butler in the upcoming state election, the seat currently held by the retiring attorney general John Quigley, and says she wants to focus on retaining it for the…

ONE of the Chook’s favourite short films of the year (and perhaps all-time), Verge Collection, has won Notre Dame film student Taylor Finch a major national award.  Ms Finch took out the top student editor at the Australian Screen Editors’ annual Ellie Awards.  The film explores the stories behind items that people discard on verges…

WA WILDLIFE has opened a new hands-on reptile discovery centre and turtle hospital, but it comes at a critical time for the centre. Admissions of native wildlife are already skyrocketing and the centre is expecting to receive another 1000 animals by the end of January. “Our team is stretched to the limit, and we’re struggling…

BEFORE IT ENDS is based on Denmark’s occupation by Nazi Germany in 1940, despite the country having declared its neutrality. The occupation lasted five years until Germany admitted defeat as the Allies and Soviets surrounded Berlin. In the final months of the war several hundred thousand German refugees fleeing the advancing Soviets ended up in…

A LOVE story spanning 51 years, Touch is a poignant tale of longing, memory, and the enduring power of first love. At its heart is Kristofer, a 70-year-old widower from Iceland, who embarks on an emotional journey to rediscover the love that defined his youth. As his own time on earth begins to dwindle, he…

A SMALL group of around 25 protestors made a last-gasp effort on Monday to try and convince the Cook government not to remove the Perth Cultural Centre’s much-loved native wetland. A blown-out $50 million revamp (originally $35m) of the cultural centre is due to start as early as January, but the 1970s-built concrete pond which…