The Drawing Room

September 11, 2001 was a day of shocking violence and loss. But, in the aftermath, it was also a day of heroism and of community. As planes bound for New York were being turned away, many of them found themselves being directed to the small town of Gander, in Newfoundland, Canada. Almost seven thousand people landed in Gander on that day. It could have been impossible. It could have been overwhelming. But instead, the town opened its arms to those strangers. Their story was turned into a...

Robert Wilson is an acclaimed director of experimental theatre and opera. but his latest work sees him stepping away from the stage and into the gallery, with a series of portraits. But these are no ordinary portraits. They’re short films, which mix celebrity and art history and involve large teams behind the scenes. Helping it all come together is Chris Green, Robert's producer, who also happens to be the executive director of Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Program.

Is it possible to tell when someone is lying to you? Not just to guess, but to truly know? Michael Robotham's debut thriller sold more than a million copies, he's since become one of the biggest names in crime, and his latest novel features a woman with that precise skill In the Drawing Room, Michael explains how he keeps the tension high, when the truth can be so easily exposed.

In the small city of Yellowstone, in the old west, the mine has shut and the town is slowly dying. Then, one day, a wild local strikes gold. But hopes for a revival are quickly dashed when the man is murdered on his way home from celebrating. A recently arrived outsider makes for a convenient suspect, but in this town, nothing is what it seems. Australian director Richard Gray talks about his new film, Murder at Yellowstone City, and the town he built along the way.

Most of us would think of Australia as a trustworthy country, largely free from corruption and dirty money, at least in a global context. But, if that's right, why has Australia been pointed to as one of the top targets in the world to launder money through real estate? And why have several major institutions in Australia been linked to money laundering? Nathan Lynch is an expert on financial crime and the author of a new book, The Lucky Laundry.

Whether it's “can’t we all just get along” or “agree to disagree”, not everyone embraces an argument when it arrives. But Lee Siegel argues that argument is essential: to the individual, to art, and to society. Argument leads to change and it helps us to understand the world. Whether that argument plays out in political platforms, in art, or, increasingly, online, it’s a way of understanding the other side and convincing them that your point of view is better.

Stanley Jordan is a guitar virtuoso who has been pushing the boundaries with his playing for over four decades.

The worlds of classical music and urban culture very rarely rub shoulders. However, KLASSIK underground, aims to bring these worlds together by combining classical music with other art forms such as dance, street art, poetry and video installations - to create innovative music events. In the Drawing Room, Australian violist and creative producer, Tahlia Petrosian, talks about how she's bringing together laser artistry with Shostakovich.

Our Blood Runs in the Street is a visceral and raw examination of the violence and persecution experienced by the LGBTQI community in Australia. Blending physical theatre with verbatim text, the production looks at a spate of brutal bashings and murders in Sydney that brought terror to the LGBTQI community for decades. In the Drawing Room, award-winning director, Shane Anthony, talks about how he went about bringing these challenging and important stories to the stage.

Il Trovatore is perhaps Verdi's most complicated opera, with betrayals, abductions, revenge and hidden identities. The character of Leonora is led by her heart and lacks reason. For singer, Leah Crocetto, who is taking on the role in Opera Australia's latest production, it's not a character she easily identifies with. In the Drawing Room, Leah talk about how she's learnt to channel her inner teenager for the role and shares how a rejection from the Met Chorus changed the trajectory of her...

What magic happens when a musical genius is exposed to Beethoven, Vivaldi, and AC/DC at a young age, and loves them all? William Barton is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and one of Australia's leading didgeridoo players. His latest song is a cover of the classic rock song Johnny B. Goode, as part of Chess Records' seventieth anniversary album, Everybody Knows I'm Here.

Robert Dessaix is an essential part of the Australian literary world. As a writer, a performer, and an interviewer, he's explored the meaning of life and the stories behind the stories. For that work, he's the recipient of the 2022 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. In the Drawing Room, Robert shares how he likes to connect ideas and talks about his latest release, Abracadabra.

The songs of Jimmy Barnes have become anthems for generations of Australians; his is a voice and a sound that's part of the fabric of this country. But the sound that Jimmy grew up with was something else entirely. He grew up listening to the classics of soul, and that's a sound that's stayed with him throughout his career. In the Drawing Room, Jimmy Barnes talks about the 30th anniversary of his Soul Deep record, crashing a Tina Turner concert, and music as communion.

What would Australia look like if we were to put children at the centre of public policy? Would we see more children thrive in school and stay out of prisons? And would they then go on to be more productive and prosperous adults? In the Drawing Room, Jeni Whalan, Chief Strategy Officer at the Paul Ramsay Foundation and host of the Life's Lottery podcast talks about what it would mean to put kids at the centre of public policy.

Verdi's La Traviata invites you to indulge in the opulence and glamour of the Parisian salon. Violetta is a free-spirited courtesan who throws lavish parties with the finest champagne but amidst the glitz and glamour a tragic love story unfolds as our effervescent host relinquishes her only chance at love. In the Drawing Room, Constantine Costi, the opera's revival director, talks about how he's making sparks fly in his new interpretation of this well-known opera classic.

Return to Seoul follows a young French-Korean woman as she travels to her country of birth on a holiday. She swears she isn’t there to connect to her biological family, but, once in the country, she can’t help but reach out. This isn’t the tale of a joyous reunion though, it’s complicated, messy, and prickly, just like real life. In the Drawing Room, the film’s creator, Davy Chou, talks about the real experience that inspired the script, and the complicated questions of belonging that lie at...

When faith and power collide, is it possible to avoid compromising your beliefs? Tarik Saleh's new film, Boy from Heaven, was inspired by Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, but takes audiences to al-Azhar University in Cairo, where the death of the Grand Imam could change the power dynamics of the country. In the Drawing Room he talks about the importance of truth in fiction and why he loves a country that doesn't love him back.

Representation is everything, it validates people and their experiences. So what happens when a large part of a country's population don’t see themselves reflected in society? Arabs represent almost 21% of Israelis but there are still very few Arab-Israeli journalists in the newsroom. Haaretz, one of Israel’s major newspapers, is trying to change that. In the Drawing Room, Noa Landau, the deputy editor-in-chief of Haaretz talks about the new initiative she's founded, Haaretz 21, that will...

Across installations, sculptures, and performance, food is front and centre in Elizabeth Willing's art. Her new body of work, Forced Rhubarb, features hand-printed and embroidered linens, but also a large, looping floorwork made from brightly coloured sherbet-filled straws. In the Drawing Room, Elizabeth talks about her own relationship with food, the surprising power of yeast, and how high-end dining compares to a gallery.

What would you do if you had one of the most dangerous men in the world handcuffed in a room and, for 20 minutes, it was just you and him? That's the starting point of a new play, where two highway patrol officers accidentally arrest a powerful drug lord for speeding away from the jail he'd just broken out of. Twenty Minutes With The Devil is based on real life events around the capture of El Chapo. In the Drawing Room, playwrights and legal professors Desmond Manderson and Luis Gomez Romero...