Episode 285

It's not every day that you get a journey (and a graphical one at that) of a century or more of history, an understanding of a culture and faith and a new lesson on popular culture in the twentieth century. but that's what we gave Yartzlovers with Bernard Caleo at the Jewish Museum of Australia, courtesy of curator Jess Rynderman.


But there was more! Who would have thought of the connection between a pogrom and Superman? The Jewish illustrators, cartoonists and graphic novelists of the 20th century, that's who!


Even though it's a special, we still had some time left for some picks--on Frost/Nixon, Frozen River, One Cloud, Slumdog Millionaire, The Tattooist and The World of Work, with our pickers being Scott Gooding, Fiona Jordan, Hermione Gilchrist, Misha Adair, Rachel Purchase and Ralph Mclean

Episode 307

This week's show was a big arts banquet of artforms and arts events. We had a new regular feature Awesome! for the first time--a way of highlighting our tips for the best in the next week. Will Morgan delivered the Awesome! news.

Ralph Mclean met up with Stephen Jolly, City of Yarra Councillor who is currently leading a campaign to return the Fitzroy Town Hall to arts and community purposes. On the steps of the nineteenth century building.


Karen Hadfield is the Artistic Director of the Big West Festival, having its first annual outing in the artsy corners of Melbourne's West. The Festival ranged in content from a revival of the So You Think You Can Cow? cult theatre and music and participation event through to community storytelling and even some High Art!

In its early history, Short and Sweet Cabaret was about to grace the boards of Chapel off Chapel in South Yarra. We caught David Read, Director of the event, in his preparationis for cabaret that's always short and sometimes sweet.

Andrew Scarano is the writer/director of a new film Into the Shadows, about the Australian film distribution and exhibition industry. He spoke with Ralph Mclean about his experience of growing up in Canberra and dreaming of making (and showing) films.



Our picks of the week were the Sookie Stackhouse Books, Le Salon, Prime Mover, Grizzly Trap and Asbestos House with picjers Fiona Jordan, Maryanne Caleo, Misha Adair, Ralph Mclean and Hermione Gilchrist.

Episode 306

This week's host was Ralph Mclean.

Dance, theatre and regular featured in Yartz. They return only rarely, but The Trocks are a very special dance troupe. Beginning as fun for winding-down ballet dancers in boho corners of New York City in 1974, the Trocks now take their extraordinary skill and artifice and humour to locations around the world.

We had the chance to catch up with Christopher Hampton, an Australian dancer who is now a fully fledged Trock.

Earlier this year, we found Gabrielle Nankivell at Melbourne's cutting edge dance venue DanceHouse rehearsing for a short season. We caught some rehearsal work as well as meeting Gabrielle.


It's November, it's Melbourne so therefore it's La Mama Theatre's annual Exploration Season. Week after week, three night exposures of new and developing work are featured in the grand ole dame of Melbourne's experimental theatre.

One of the most regular contributors to La Mama and the Explorations Season is Lloyd Jones. Lloyd met up with Ralph Mclean to explain the idea of the season as well as how it's done.

By contrast, Beng Oh is directing Porcelain a second time around. Starting out as a production at La Mama, it was being remounted at The Dog Theatre in Footscray prior to accepting an invitation to an arts festival in Canberra.


News was back! Martin Schoo was there to dish it up to us. For Picks of the week, we had Cry of the Marwig, Shooting Balibo and Happy Times--with Fiona Jordan, Scott Gooding, Misha Adair and Bernard Caleo.

Episode 283

The China Mieville special! China visited us during his Melbourne Writers Festival trip this year. A fascinating purveyor of "weird fiction", Mieville bring together several different genres in his work. Misha Adair drilled China for Yartz and Yartzlovers.


He belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird who consciously attempt to move fantasy away from commercial, genre clichés of Tolkien epigones. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party. He has stood for the House of Commons for the Socialist Alliance, and published a book on Marxism and international law. He teaches creative writing at Warwick University.

Episode 305

Tonight's hosts were Luke Whitby and Fiona Jordan.

Another show with lots of Melbourne Fringe attractions, with an emphasis on the performing arts. And more from beyond Fringe!

Melanie Beddie is the Director and Andrea Swifte is one of the actors taking part in Tuesday's The Laramie Project Ten Years On from the Red Stitch Theatre Company at BMW Edge Federation Square. It's part of a joint project with theatre companies in different countries, with the home company being the host for the return to the town where Mathew Shephard was brutally tortured and killed in a homophobic attack.

Mikelangelo--everybody's favourite "Nightingale of the Adriatic" is performing this week at the Butterfly Club South Melbourne. Ralph Mclean caught up with him to find out more about his Balkan origins and his plans for his show. We also got a full hearing/viewing of his song "The Biaklovo Cowboy".


Lloyd Jones has been a regular participant of the La Mama Explorations Season. Beginning just ten years ago, it has become eight weeks of three nights and you've missed it opportunities to see theatre in the making. This means the bad and the ugly as well as the good, and Ralph sought Lloyd's advice on how to tell which was which.

Anna McKenzie is a New Zealand author, most recently of her young-adult novel "The Sea-Wreck Stranger". Misha Adair caught up with Anna on her most recent visit to find out the young, the old and the not so restful involved in her latest book and in writing for young people.

Sam Strong is the Director, David Whiteley and Sarah Sutherland the actors and Faces in the Crowd is the play. This production by Red Stitch promises relationship acrimony, English accents and locations and intense personal drama. We caught up with Sam, David and Sarah before opening night.


Our picks this week were Cemetery Man the zombie film with Three Reviewers, the Fringe Naked Brunch courtesy of the willing to strip off for art Will Morgan and some of the performance picks of the Melbourne Fringe.

Episode 304

Tonight's show is jam packed with Melbourne Fringe attractions.

We began with Emily Sexton, Artistic Director/Creative Producer for the Melbourne Fringe to fill us in on the state of the Festival.

Sarah Duysart is a visual and sonic artist who found a massive neogothic basement in Bourke St in the city, and filled it with a visual/aural installation which managed to combine spookiness, surreal sensuround and perhaps even some Fringe silliness with flour, things go knock in the night and more.

Skye Gellman was last seen in Shuttlecock for the Melbourne Fringe launch in 2007 and he reprised that and his new show Asleep in a Secret in the North Melbourne hub. With an odd bowling ball, a slide projector and theatrical effects he created a special show.

Vigilantelope won attention and applause for their whacky show The Golden Lease, a mixture of visual/physical comedy and the odd (quite butch) fairy tale. They spoke and performed for us.



All Excellent Men is the name for the Fringe season at the Dog Theatre in Footscray. We caught glimpses of Le Garcon Neurotique and Transposed Man from Jock Cameron and Ross Daniels, and spoke with them as well.

There were too many of the Storeroom Fringe previews for us to talk to each individually, but we gave viewers a glimpse of at least some of them.

Donna and Damo are the asexual love partners in Justin Kennedy and Sarah Collins' Fringe contribution. Love with sex is pretty much expected in some of the Fringe shows, but this was different ...


Our Picks for the week were A Black Joy, A Curious Day, The Book of Revelations, Sissies' Batman, Paper Heart and Six Women Standing.

Episode 289

This week's hosts are Misha Adair and Ralph Mclean.

It's a special shot earlier in the year--we had a preview of it on an earlier show but given it's the last week of the Dali: Liquid Desire exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria International in St Kilda Road we thought the full tour and interview with Ted Gott, the Senior Curator International Art was totally justified.


Possessing an encyclopaedic knowledge of the twentieth century artist, celebrity and innovator, Ted was in a great position to give us an insight into the exhbition.

This last week of the exhibition has all sorts of add ons to the traditional exhbition, including a twenty four opening later in the week. Check for details of current plans at the NGVI web site. In the meantime, enjoy the viewing we are presenting for your entertainment and enlightenment.


A special thank you to Ocea Sellar, our review and producer for visual arts for her camera work in difficult corners!