‘Australia’s Dante’ – Peter Carey On Robert Hughes

“For God’s sake, this was the author of The Fatal Shore, his epic story of our country’s founding. He was the man who had shown us who we were, or what darkness we had to confront in order to grow up. He had grasped the cruelty of our birth and shoved it in our faces. Here, in this vast masterpiece, was the hell we were born into, and he would be our Dante.”

The Town Saved By Shakespeare: Stratford, Ontario

Stratford’s Shakespeare Festival “is now one of Canada’s largest cultural institutions, doing at least a dozen shows each year on a $60 million budget. But in the early 1950s, Stratford was on the verge of becoming a ghost town. The town’s chief industry was repairing steam locomotives, a trade that was all but dead by the time hometown reporter Tom Patterson flew to England to plead with stage legend Tyrone Guthrie.”

Choreographer Nigel Charnock Dead At 52

He co-founded DV8 Physical Theatre in 1986, then went on to work as a solo artist and to create his own company, Nigel Charnock + Dancers, as well as making work for other companies. “Nigel had a love-hate relationship with a lot of things, but dance as a form was up there near the top of the list. He was critical of the lack of content in dance and of most contemporary choreographers, … [and for] many years, he tried to stop dance audiences from coming to see his work, particularly dance critics.”

Imagining Scents On Film

Filmmaker Jacob LaMendola, who lacks a sense of smell: “For all of my 24 years, part of the human experience has been a mystery to me. I made Anosmia in order to explore this sensual puzzle. The film was a rare chance for me and some fellow anosmics to get a few things off our chests. We admit what we don’t understand, what we find exciting and strange and what makes us cry.”

How Clothes Came To Be High Art

“The costume collection, as it was known, was once consigned to the basement, geared unabashedly to the ladies, and relatively straightforward in its approach to designers and periods. Now, it has burst the constraints of its form and mutated into dramatic, surreal spectacles. Why is this and what does this mean?”