We kick off this week’s festival season show with a little Christmas song from Sting called Soul Cake… and if we’re starting with a Christmas song then that must mean this is our last regular show for the year. But fear not, there’s plenty of good stuff lined up for our season of Summer Specials…

But first, let’s meet some people who are getting ready to help us kick off 2026 with some really great events.

First up, it’s the Peninsular Summer Music Festival which would explain why Melissa Doecke is back to let us know what she and Ben Opie have got lined up for us this year.

Then, it seems like Adelaide is taking over Arts Centre Melbourne in January when Patch Theatre returns with their sublime work for children – Zooom – and we’ll chat with our former Behind the Scenes Adelaide Correspondent Geoff Cobham, who also happens to be Artistic Director of Patch.

Then once Patch leaves the building, Gravity and Other Myths moves in with their high energy show, Ten Thousand Hours and we catch up with the company’s Co-Founder and Director of this production, Lachlan Binns.

And finally, Arena Theatre Company in Bendigo may not have anything planned for January, except maybe a farewell party for long-serving Artistic Director Christian Leavesley who, true to his name, is leaving.

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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Jake Lynch & Annabel McGoldrick met in 1992 when they were reporters for Yorkshire Television. They married and moved to Australia where, these days, he lectures in Social Justice at Sydney University and she’s a psychotherapist. But now, they’ve combined all those experiences in a murder mystery novel – Mind Over Murder – and we’ll find out how they manage this impressive juggling act.

After that, we’ve got a bit of music when we meet Anne Frankenberg CEO of Musica Viva Australia to find out what they’ve got programmed for 2026, followed by QiQi who’s followed up a successful Fringe season with a live album – Elysian Blues – recorded at this year’s Sleepless Festival AND a solo EP both of which will be launched this weekend at Tempo Rubato in Brunswick.

Then Marc Gracie’s here for a bumper, final Screens & Streams for the year ahead of our annual movie wrap at the end of the month.

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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It's our last Theatre Network Australia segment for 2026 which means Yuhui Ng Rodriguez is here for a final wrap up and to tell us who our final TNA Member of the Month is… here’s a clue – multidisciplinary artist and creative producer Teneille Clerke is hanging on the line…

Then, it's our last visit to Darwin for the year and Brown’s Mart Artistic Director Yvette Walker will be talking us through their recently released programme for 2026…

Then, it’s music all the way to the end of the show…

First up is young singer/songwriter and mental health advocate Harley Müller (aka Capes and Crowns) who’s just released a second single from his new album – Growing Pains…

…and then, Tim Richmond of the Tim Richmond Group fame has been recording songs since the early nineties and he’s just released a new solo album – The Taste…

We’ll meet both musos and listen to some of their music…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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With International Day of People with a Disability only a week or so away, we get in early… first for a chat with Eliza Hull who’ll be hosting the Live Nation gig – One’s to Watch, an artists with disability showcase…

…and then, to meet Co-Artistic Director of Rawcus Theatre Morgan Rose to chat about One Night Only, their new co-production with Jackson Castiglione for Darebin Arts Speakeasy…

After that, writer/director Demetra Giannakopoulos is here ahead of three return performances of her 2022 hit, Coming Out For Christmas a radio-play-style theatre performance about a young queer Australian-Greek woman who brings her Aussie girlfriend home for Christmas lunch… what could possibly go wrong…

And finally, Jayne Tuttle has followed up her first two memoirs – Paris or Die and My Sweet Guillotine with a third instalment, The Sea in the Metro… so that seems like a good time to catch up for a chat…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

If you’d like to hear the previous conversations with Jayne Tuttle – we spoke about My Sweet Guillotine in 2022 on the September 26 show and Paris or Die in 2019 on the December 16 show - you’ll find both on our podcast page- just put Vision Australia Radio Behind the Scenes into your favourite podcast search engine and you’ll find this and all our other episodes and bonus chats… plus if you subscribe, you’ll never have to search for an episode or our bonus material again.

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For the last time this year, we’ll start the show in Perth with Boola Bardip WA Museum’s Helen Simondson who’s here for her regular round up AND to introduce her local guest artist – Kate Champion, recently appointed Black Swan Theatre Artistic Director and Director of the new Meow Meow production of The Red Shoes…

Then, we meet author Roland Perry whose latest book Oliphant fills in the story of Australian Mark Oliphant whose work in nuclear physics was crucial to the development of the atom bomb – even if Christopher Nolan left him out of Oppenheimer…

And finally, Genevieve Morris is here to chat about her terrific solo performance in the MTC production of Benjamin Law’s adaptation of Cory Taylor’s Dying: A Memoir…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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For the last time this year, we say welcome back to InSite Arts’ Elena Vereker for our regular Adelaide round up AND an introduction to her local guest artist – stage and screen writer, lecturer, director, and co-founder of South Australian Playwrights Theatre, Matt Hawkins.

Then we’re off to Ballarat for a brand-new art experience – Sunnyside at the Ballarat Mining Exchange – and we’ll meet the first artist to exhibit there, UK based installation artist, Morag Myerscough.

After that, we’re in for a bit of Shakespeare when Th’Unguarded Duncan and Theatre Works present the Prague Shakespeare Company version of Titus Andronicus. We’ll meet Co-Directors Kevin Hopkins and Claire Nichols as well as actor and Prague Shakespeare Company Associate Director, Josh Morrison.

And finally, Jeremy Goldstein has been in South Africa working with Windybrow Arts Centre in Hillbrow on This Is Who I Am - an ongoing multidisciplinary, intercultural arts platform featuring live and online performances, photo portraits, exhibitions, workshops and dialogues.

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the first show for November and so we’re swinging by the Theatre Network Australia office for a chat with Charice Rust who will also introduce us to the TNA Member of the Month, Anna Molnar, Programme Manager – Disability, Arts Access and Inclusion at Arts Centre Melbourne…

Then, keeping on the topic of access, we’ll welcome Rachel Edward back to the show, this time in her capacity as Creative Producer for the Arts Access Supported Residential Services programme which is presenting Outside In/Inside Out, an exhibition of puppetry at the Schoolhouse Studios in Coburg

Then it’s time for Screens & Streams but before Marc Gracie drops by to talk about what we’ve seen on our big and small screens, we’ll have a chat with Sophie Somerville about her directorial debut with the feature film Fwends.

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

If you’d like to hear longer conversations with Anna Molnar -Programme Manager: Disability, Arts Access and Inclusion at Arts Centre Melbourne AND Rachel Edward: Creative Producer, Arts Access Supported Residential Services Programme, you’ll find both on our podcast page- just put Vision Australia Radio Behind the Scenes into your favourite podcast search engine and you’ll find this and all our other episodes and bonus chats… plus if you subscribe, you’ll never have to search for an episode or our bonus material again…

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.