Chantal Nguyen

Dorcy Rugamba turned to the performing arts following the murder of his family in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. His Adelaide Festival show, Hewa Rwanda – Letter to the absent, honours their lives.

Emma Rice’s audacious theatrical adaptation of Wuthering Heights is undermined by its own whimsy.

Award-winning composer and musician Qais Essar – who tours Australia this month – is bringing the ancient voice of the rabab into the contemporary world.

Based on the ancient epic poem, Gilgamesh – the first collaboration between Sydney Chamber Opera and Opera Australia – is fittingly ambitious.

In The Poetry of Violence, Bell Shakespeare artistic director Peter Evans creates an entertaining animated lecture of Shakespearean highlights.

Pinchgut Opera’s concert performance Eternal Light brings sacred music, such as Gregorio Allegri’s transcendent Miserere, to a wider audience.

Bell Shakespeare’s King Lear, with a convincing Robert Menzies in the title role, is an intimate portrait of a demented king but is hampered by its performance in the round.

Opera Australia’s magnificent outdoor production of West Side Story remains true to this classic’s tragic social vision.

Peter Evans’s delightful production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Bell Shakespeare puts the mechanicals at the centre of its magic.

Opera Australia’s The Magic Flute embraces a nostalgic vision of white Australia that undermines Mozart’s cutting social commentary.

Pinchgut Opera’s production of one of Handel’s most popular operas, Rinaldo, is swift, ambitious and energetic.

Before the Australian premiere of his latest work, Sibyl, at the Sydney Opera House, animator, director and visual artist William Kentridge reveals that the moment when a work begins to catch fire is always mysterious.

 As problematic as some believe Miss Saigon is, the crowd-pleasing Vietnam War-set musical is the only current big-ticket production to showcase Asian talent.

NAISDA’s new production explores the systemic inequality faced by Indigenous Australians.

Peter Evans’s production of Romeo and Juliet for Bell Shakespeare brings the young lovers into an everyday world.

From maps of Country to ancient gods, Marrugeku’s showcase of new dance works, Burrbgaja Yalirra 2, allows its artists to explore the connections between ancestors and the present day.

Sydney Theatre Company’s Julia is not so much about the former prime minister as a historically dubious showcase for the speech that made Gillard internationally famous.

Amid a rich menu of work at this year’s Sydney Festival, the new opera Antarctica is a standout.

Pinchgut Opera’s contemporary production of Médée is musically glorious, if a little static in its staging.

The message of Luke George and Daniel Kok’s performance Hundreds + Thousands is lost in its assault on the audience.

Bangarra’s vast hymn to Country shows the company has a bright future under incoming artistic director Frances Rings.