SmartArts
Talk Show Replays
Visual art, theatre, film and literature. Segments include: - 'Art Attack' - fortnightly visual arts reviews with Ace Wagstaff and Tai Snaith. - 'Shoot the Messenger' - fortnightly theatre news & reviews with Fleur Kilpatrick. - 'Drawn Out' - monthly chat about comic books and graphic novels with Bernard Caleo. Please email talks@rrr.org.au for all interview requests. About the Presenter Richard Watts has many years experience working in the arts industry, including five years as the Artistic Director of the youth arts organisation Express Media, seven years on the Board of Melbourne Fringe (including three years as Chair), and six years on the Committee of Management at La Mama Theatre, where he currently serves as Chair. Richard has helped program a range of festivals including Next Wave, the National Young Writers' Festival, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and the Emerging Writers' Festival (which he founded) and he has written for various broadsheets, journals, zines and magazines. Currently he pays the rent by working as the Performing Arts Editor at www.artshub.com.au. In his spare time he watches old Doctor Who episodes. The intro and outro theme is Soft Illusion and was generously provided by Andras. https://andras.bandcamp.com/track/soft-illusion
Location:
Melbourne, VIC
Genres:
Talk Show Replays
Description:
Visual art, theatre, film and literature. Segments include: - 'Art Attack' - fortnightly visual arts reviews with Ace Wagstaff and Tai Snaith. - 'Shoot the Messenger' - fortnightly theatre news & reviews with Fleur Kilpatrick. - 'Drawn Out' - monthly chat about comic books and graphic novels with Bernard Caleo. Please email talks@rrr.org.au for all interview requests. About the Presenter Richard Watts has many years experience working in the arts industry, including five years as the Artistic Director of the youth arts organisation Express Media, seven years on the Board of Melbourne Fringe (including three years as Chair), and six years on the Committee of Management at La Mama Theatre, where he currently serves as Chair. Richard has helped program a range of festivals including Next Wave, the National Young Writers' Festival, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and the Emerging Writers' Festival (which he founded) and he has written for various broadsheets, journals, zines and magazines. Currently he pays the rent by working as the Performing Arts Editor at www.artshub.com.au. In his spare time he watches old Doctor Who episodes. The intro and outro theme is Soft Illusion and was generously provided by Andras. https://andras.bandcamp.com/track/soft-illusion
Twitter:
@richardthewatts
Language:
English
Contact:
+61393881027
Email:
podcasts@rrr.org.au
Episodes
Pia Johnson’s Re-Orient, Possum Magic and a couple of funny guys
4/3/2024
It’s that time of year again… Melbourne International Comedy Festival! You can’t escape it… so let’s embrace it, with two fabulous comics joining Richard on the program. But he's got art and theatre covered too, of course!
Kicking off with comedian Darby James whose kooky cabaret, ‘Little Squirt’ (formerly SpunkDaddy), turns the big but rarely discussed topic of sperm donation into a naughty, risqué and sincere performance. Catch Little Squirt at the Malthouse Theatre, until April 21.
Comedian Nathan Hugh Robért comes on to discuss, ‘Tiny King’, a stand-up comedy hour about height, power and living with hemilpegic cerebral palsy. Nathan’s show is running from the 9-21 April at The Dove Club.
Artist Pia Johnson calls in to talk about her exhibition ‘Re-Orient’ at the Immigration Museum, which launched on Saturday March 16 and is running until April 11. The collection is a site specific work exploring how we understand transnational communities and their histories.
Producer Emma Khamis talks us through the magic of Monkey Baa Theatre’s production of Possum Magic. After celebrating 40 years of Possum Magic in 2023, try your mightiest to take a child to the enchanting stage renditions Mem Fox and Julie Vivas’ beloved picture book. The show runs from April 5-7 at the Alexander Theatre at the Ian Potter Centre of Performing Arts.
Duration:00:58:58
Arts Project Australia, State of Australian Regions Report, Akaraka and Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons!
3/13/2024
Join Richard Watts in the studio with Liz Knowles, the new Executive Director of Arts Project Australia about their upcoming 50th Anniversary, Tai Snaith for the fortnightly review of current Melbourne exhibitions, and Director Charlotte Rogers and Hazel Pigrim on their production called Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons. Richard is also joined on the line with John Richards, the Festival Director of the Bendigo Pride Festival, Ros Abercrombe, the Executive Director of Regional Arts Australia chatting about the 2024 report of State of Australian Regions, and Effy Increna, the Director of a new production at the Substation called Akaraka.
Duration:01:33:47
Palestinian Film Festival 2024, The Mary Wallopers, Dungeons & Dragons 50th anniversary, PHOTO 2024, and theatre theatre theatre!
3/6/2024
Richard kicks off this week’s epic show with Irish band, The Mary Wallopers. The cheeky, rowing brothers, Charles and Andrew Hendy, talk sibling rivalry, genre shifting, and their anticipation of Ireland’s global domination…
Professor Lisa Given is on the line to celebrate Dungeons & Dragons 50th Birthday. What is the legacy of DnD and tabletop roleplaying? Lisa’s recent research goes into the mental health benefits and value of playing it.
Naser Shaktour, the Festival Director of the Palestinian Film Festival 2024, calls in to give us a program overview and talks through why it is so important to engage with Palestinian media right now. The Palestinian Film Festival starts at Cinema Nova on March 14.
Actor, Yvette Turner, who stars in The Hearth Theatre’s iteration of ‘The 39 Steps’, gives an insight to the tongue-in-cheek-love-letter coming to us at Chapel off Chapel from March 8.
PHOTO 2024 Curator, Brendan McCleary, and visiting artist, Clifford Prince King, give a big festival overview chat with a focus on the regional weekend on March 7-10.
The dangerously in sync Helen Hopkins and Carolyn Bock from The Shift Theatre tell us about their new production ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ at La Mama. How devilishly fun, darling!
PLUS The brilliant Anne-Marie Peard reviews the latest and greatest theatre performances around town.
Duration:01:44:22
Yentl, Counting and Cracking, When We Were Young, Back to Back and Not Natural!
2/21/2024
Richard Watts is back in the studio to chat to director Gary Abrahams and actress Evelyn Krape on the production of Yentl, an adaptation of a Yiddish short story.
Plus, S.Shakthidharan, the writer and associate director of Counting and Cracking for the 2024 RISING festival; conductor Carlo Antonioli visits the studio to discuss the new performance of When We Were Young at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, showing off new and emerging composers; and Richard celebrates a new achievement with Bruce Gladwin, the artistic director and Co-CEO of Back to Back Theatre, recipients of the Venice Biennale's Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre.
Into the last hour, Richard catches up with Anne-Marie Peard on all things theatre in Melbourne, and co-curatorsa Tilly Boleyn and Bern Hall, aboout the new new exhibition of Not Natural at Science Gallery Melbourne.
Duration:01:42:32
Rock Musicals, Northern Irish Chavs, and 7 Hours of Theatre
1/18/2024
Jess McEvoy talks about their solo rock musical, 'The Show,' and the way that the show came about naturally after years of performing as a singer-songwriter between Naarm and New York City.
Sandrine Lescourant, dancer and performer in Oona Doherty's piece 'Hope Hunt and the Acension into Lazarus', discusses the way the work looks at suburban youth culture in Northern Ireland, focussing on young men and the 'id of the Northern Irish chav.'
Director Kitan Petkovski speaks about his 7-hour theatre work, 'The Inheritance,' and how this piece honours the importance of elders in queer spaces, especially gay men in a post-AIDs crisis context.
Hosted by Richard Watts
Duration:00:51:41
Celebrating local artists, program releases, cabaret, and a Broadcast Birthday!
12/13/2023
SmartArts' 19th birthday was celebrated on the day of broadcast (December 14, 2023), which was also Richard's last show for 2023!
Richard is joined by Liam James, Deputy Director of Linden New Art. They discuss the gallery's Postcard Show 2023-24; how it celebrates the hobby artists, makes art accessible and defies the meaning of “postcard”.
Richard also hears about fortyfivedownstairs’ 2024 program from Artistic Director, Cameron Lukey.
Plus, everything you need to know about the Women’s Circus Member Cabaret as told by Kate Fryer, co-director, and Hanne Grant, communications manager and circus performer, in the lead up to their annual showcase.
Duration:00:47:09
Marshmallow Lasers, Robot Painting Dogs & the 2024 Sydney Festival
11/26/2023
Artist Agnieszka Pilat on her optimism towards AI in art and walking Richard Watts through the process of training three robot dogs to oil paint, for her new exhibition at the NGV Triennial; Ersin Han Ersin, director of Marshmallow Laser Feast collective on their latest installation, ‘Works of Nature’ at ACMI, a hypnotic display of rhythmic lights, exploring the connection between humans and nature; Director of Sydney Festival, Olivia Ansell unveils the exciting new line up for the festival in 2024, focusing on the theme of ‘water and weaving’.
Duration:00:49:38
Exploring “Place”: 56 Printmakers Connect with Country & the Friendships Built Liberating Homelands
11/15/2023
Writer and director Glenn Shea on his unabashed new play ‘MI: WI 3027,’ unpacking the unlikely friendship between an Indigenous soldier and a Jewish-German ethnologist and prisoner of war, as they bond over the notions of freedom and country; Curator Rona Green unveils ‘Whereabouts: Printmakers Respond,’ a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, delving into the connections between artists and their sense of home; Richard Watts reflects on the importance of mental health in the arts space, with Head of Program from the Arts Wellbeing Collective, Jim Rimmer
Duration:00:55:21
Triennials, the Legacy of Blade Runner, the Resilience of Women and the Art of Waacking
11/1/2023
Ewan McEoin, the Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, NGV and lead curator on Triennial for a NGV Triennial overview chat; Primal Screen’s Flick Ford & Zero G’s Rob Jan talking about the legacy of film Blade Runner ahead of Blade Runner live at Hamer Hall; Jennifer Monk & Lisa Dallinger present Slightly Cracked, the new show from Girls Act Good showing from Nov 2-12 at La Mama; Plus, New Reality - a multisensory futurist installation by MaggZ at the Immigration Museum.
Duration:01:13:48
Performance Art Mania & Remembering Ukraine
10/25/2023
Ruth McKenzie, Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival gives an overview of the exciting new festival program; Dynamic duo, choreographer Stephanie Lake and composer Robin Fox astonish Richard with their exhilarating performance art piece, Manifesto, featuring a frenzied nine-person troop dancing to the beat of nine frantic drummers; Performer and choreographer Thomas E.S Kelly on his playful First Nations performance art piece, Weredingo, exploring identity through the historical practice of Indigenous 'shapeshifting', and its status as fantastical and irrational in a contemporary Western society; Ukrainian-Australian photographer, Daniel Hasset brings Ukrainian stories to the forefront of viewers’ minds with his exhibition, ЖИТТЯ, battling the Australian ‘news fatigue’ towards the ever-present war in Ukraine
Duration:01:07:38
Dumplings, Dodgeball and Dancing 'In the Club'
10/18/2023
Ania Reynolds & Alisa Tanaka-King join Richard to talk about their show 'Dumplings Darling' and their approach to cultural sharing; being un-pretentious and inclusionary, using the cultural cross-section that is made up of food, music and storytelling.
Joining Richard next is Anna Louey, the creator of 'A Dodgeball Named Desire', a show set up as a dodgeball game between theatre performers and professional sportspeople that playfully investigates the competition between theatre and sport in Australia and delves into the divide between high art (theatre) vs high spectacle (sports).
Lastly, but definitely not leastly, playwright Patricia Cornelius & actor Darcy Kent talk about Patricia's new work 'In The Club', which makes a case study of and interrogates the idea of 'pack mentality' and the power it holds in society, especially in so-called 'Australian' culture. The show is also designed as a vehicle to bear witness to the bad behaviour that comes with pack mentality.
Hosted by Richard Watts
Duration:00:51:36
Sci-Fi Superheros Fighting Diabetes & Lighting up Laneways with Glowing Comics
10/12/2023
Writer and performer Candy Bowers reveals the horrors of type 2 diabetes and its disproportionate effect on Black communities, in her afro-futuristic, genre-bending show, ‘Sweet Mama’; Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, AO, On her composition of ‘Eumeralla, a War Requiem for Peace,’ written in the Gunditjmara language to commemorate Indigenous lives lost in the forgotten resistance war of Eumeralla, performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Lead artist Emilie Walsh on Laneway Learning’s comic trails, featuring glow-in-the-dark comic panels illuminating city walls; Wellington-based dance-theatre artist, Daniel Nodder on his cosmic performance exploring the vast expanse of the universe in ‘Only Bones’.
Duration:00:53:51
Insomniac Mixtapes, Art Fairs and Photography at the NGV
10/8/2023
Artist Telia Nevile on her new one-woman cabaret performance ‘Insomniac Mixtape’ at Melbourne Fringe Festival, capturing the unsettling and relatable descent into chaos that is sleep deprivation, through a range of bizarre goth, electronic and punk tunes; Melbourne Art Foundation CEO and Melbourne Art Fair director, Maree Di Pasquale gives a rundown of the newly annual 2024 Art Fair program, and explains the recently revamped artist commissioning process; NGV senior curator, Susan van Wyk on the creative process of photograph selection to put together her new exhibition, ‘Real and Imagined’, exploring the concepts of historical reality and illusion at the Ian Potter centre; Executive Director, Richard Hull and Artistic Director, Anni Davey of Flying Fruit Fly Circus walk listeners through their exciting program at Albury Wodonga’s Borderville Circus Festival
Duration:00:55:34
Festival Frenzy: Irish Films, Fringe and Melbourne Jazz
10/8/2023
Irish Film Festival Director Dr Enda Murray walks listeners through the exciting 2023 program overview for the Irish Film Festival; Program Director Hadley Agrez unveils the diverse 2023 Melbourne International Jazz Festival lineup; Accessed via a real phone number audiences can call, Kasey Gambling explains her new interactive work, ‘The Hotline’ at Melbourne Fringe Festival, which allows audiences to experience a satirical critique of real anti-choice pregnancy hotlines, and their place in a patriarchal medical system; Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks gives an overview of season 2024 of the Melbourne Theatre Company
Duration:01:05:27
Queer Bushrangers and the Brand New Merribek Festival
9/15/2023
Co-producers Tim Sneddon and Jeff Achtem explain how accessibility and the need for low-cost family festivals drove them to create the new Merribek Family Festival, walking listeners through their exciting program; Nina Sanadze, founder of Collective Polyphony Festival, and artist Camille Perry from Collective Agitation explore the importance of giving a voice to different perspectives and diasporas; Dr Craig Cormick on his new book, ‘A Darker Shade of Moonlite: A Creative Biography’, a retelling of history through the lens of the present, exploring the queerness of bushranger Captain Moonlite; Director Melanie Hillman on her all-female cast production, ‘A funny thing happened on the way to the forum’, comically reimagining the 2000-year-old comedies of Roman playwright, Plautus
Duration:01:06:07
The Art Inspired by Being Struck by Lightning, and the 41st Melbourne Fringe Festival
9/6/2023
Composer and cellist Zoë Barry on how her unlikely experience of being struck by lightning on three separate occasions inspired her new artistic work in ‘The Nervous Atmosphere’ at Arts House; Simon Abrahams, Creative Director and CEO of Melbourne Fringe walks listeners through the exciting new program for the 41st Melbourne Fringe Festival; Co-Artistic Directors Andy Freer and Nick Wilson of Snuff Puppets on their new festival, ‘Snuffest’, bringing joy and giant puppets to Melbourne’s West; Matthew Lutton, Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Malthouse Theatre explores the intriguing new program for Malthouse Theatre in 2024
Duration:01:12:53
Radiothon 2023
8/30/2023
It's Radiothon time here at Triple R - the time of the year we ask our listeners to help support SmartArts and all the other programs on RRR by financially supporting the station by taking out a subscription.
Listen to a very special edition of SmartArts as Richard is joined by regular guests and mainstays of Melbourne's Arts & Culture community to talk about the importance of independent media. Tai Snaith and Bernard Caleo continue their regular segments, ‘Art Attack’ and ‘Drawn Out’; Executive director of Theatre Works, Dianne Toulson and McClelland Sculpture Gallery director Lisa Byrne explore the impact of Triple R on the art scene in Melbourne; Comedian Damian Callinan and arts journalist Anne-Marie Peard talk their personal experiences being part of the vibrant Triple R community.
to subscribe to Triple R & SmartArts, head to rrr.org.au/radiothon
Duration:01:30:36
Breaking the Conventions of Theatre with Pony Cam
8/23/2023
Contemporary theatre performers Dominic Weintraub and Hugo Williams of Pony Cam exhibit the process of knowledge sharing across generations, breaking theatre convention by collaborating with mass community-led ensemble cast of locals aged 55+ in ‘All This Could Be Yours’; Artistic Director Danielle Micich on her new production ‘idk’ borrowing from her experience as an intimacy coordinator to explore consent and the memories the body holds; Melbourne artist Christian Capurro on the dialogue between contemporary Melbourne and Latin artists in Heide’s exhibition ‘Beneath the surface, behind the scenes’; Actor Aisha Aidara on playing Portia in Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s new production of ‘Julius Caesar’
Duration:00:59:38
Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism
8/17/2023
Director Nick Kozakis talks how his childhood horror movie obsession and the resurgence of the horror film genre in Australia influenced his new independent horror, ‘Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism’; CEO and creative director of Geelong Arts Centre, Joel McGuiness on Geelong’s blossoming art scene, outlining the star-studded lineup for the new Geelong Arts Centre opening; Choreographers Kayla Douglas and Kady Mansour on dance premier ‘ESCALATOR’ by the Stephanie Lake Company, showcasing five upcoming choreographic talents; Playwright Emily Sheehan explores the connection between beauty and power in new production ‘MONUMENT’.
Duration:01:06:12
Road-tripping with two queer alien Elvises & ‘The Fence’
8/2/2023
Richard is away this week, guest host Daniel Santangeli fills in! Playwright Fleur Murphy explores ordinary acts of bravery and the ethical concerns of witnessing domestic violence in her award-winning play ‘The Fence,’ set in Melbourne suburbia; Visual artist and performer Will Huxley captivates audiences with his dynamic photographic works in ‘DisGraceland’, following the fantastical narrative of two queer alien Elvises; Visual artist Tai Snaith is back with our visual art segment ‘Art Attack’
Duration:01:20:42