Behind the Scenes - Vision Australia Radio

On January 1st Chris Thompson the presenter of Behind the Scenes passed away. The time, effort and care Chris put into Behind the Scenes and all other programs he touched here at Vision Australia Radio are a tribute to his passion and dedication to Vision Australia Radio and the arts.  Chris and his producer Mark put together some Summer Specials at the end of 2025 and with the blessing of his family we would like to share with you these Behind the Scenes specials. Vision Australia Radio will always be indebted to Chris for his volunteering, and we share our deepest sympathies with his friends, family and colleagues.    Summer Special #3 - Monday January 19, 2026 We kick off our third Behind the Scenes Summer Special for 2026 with Part 2 of our visit to Adelaide. Over January we’ve been chatting with some remarkable people from the arts world - slightly longer chats about their lives and work. Some have joined us for the very first time, and others might have been familiar to you if you’re a regular listener. This week we focus on the State Theatre Company of South Australia when we meet designer Kathryn Sproul, who’s working on two shows in this year’s season as well as relatively new Artistic Director Petra Kalive.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On January 1st Chris Thompson the presenter of Behind the Scenes passed away. The time, effort and care Chris put into Behind the Scenes and all other programs he touched here at Vision Australia Radio are a tribute to his passion and dedication to Vision Australia Radio and the arts.  Chris and his producer Mark put together some Summer Specials at the end of 2025 and with the blessing of his family we would like to share with you these Behind the Scenes specials. Vision Australia Radio will always be indebted to Chris for his volunteering, and we share our deepest sympathies with his friends, family and colleagues.    Summer Special #1 - Monday January 5, 2026 This week we kick off our Behind the Scenes Summer Specials for 2026. Over January we chat with some remarkable people from the arts world - slightly longer chats about their lives and work. Some will join us for the very first time, and others might be familiar to you if you’re a regular listener. First up, we meet a mother and daughter from a pretty famous artistic and musical family who both happened to release new albums at the end of last year. Tracey Miller has been a fixture of the music scene for around forty years - some might even say she’s a legend. Maybe she prefers ‘queen’ given that’s the title of her album – Queen of the Creek. Tracey’s daughter Loretta Miller has also been around for a while, but while you’ll hear her voice on many other artists’ albums, she’s making her solo debut with a self-titled album, Loretta. They both join Chris Thompson at his kitchen table to talk about their lives, about their music and, of course, about their new albums.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

We start this week with Liz Rogers, General Manager of Browns Mart for a Darwin catch up before we meet Sally Crawford, Chair of Darwin Theatre Company who’ll tell us about Seventeen, their new collaboration with Corrugated Iron Youth Arts… Then we catch up with LA based Aussie comedian Monty Franklin who’s following up his highly successful Yeah, Nah tour with a new show called Is That Your Mate? After that, we’ll chat with Ross Larkin about The Last Sunday in June, Firerock Productions’ new show at Chapel off Chapel… And speaking of Chapel off Chapel, Russell Fletcher is back on the show, this time to talk about directing the upcoming spooky comedy The Haunting of Spook Mansion (by Ghosts) And finally, a bit of music to take us out when we meet David Hyams who’s currently touring the country with Human Highway, his tribute to the great songs of Neil Young… 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.

Helen Simondson from Boola Bardip WA Museum gets the ball rolling this week with a jazzy Perth roundup and a new show at Yirra Yaakin… After that, even though it’s not our week for Screens&Streams, we’ll check out the Irish Film Festival with Festival Director Dr Enda Murray… Meanwhile, opera, monsters and pantomime will be taking over Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory when Bladderwrack opens there in a couple of weeks, and we’ll meet co-creator David Tredinnick… Then, we catch up with Professor Wesley Enoch who amongst his many hats wears one that says Ambassador for the first ever AusArt Day… And finally, a bit of music to take us out when we meet Nashville based singer-songwriter Imogen Clark to talk about her tour with Keziah Gill and her new album Choking on Fuel… 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.

Amrit Gill gets us going this week with our regular Theatre Network Australia spot and she lets us know that the TNA Member of the Month for October is Jamie Lewis whose current show Sincere Apologies makes for a nice segue into our third week of Fast Fringe… our effort to cram as many Melbourne Fringe artists into four editions of Behind the Scenes as possible… So, our other Fast Fringe friends this week include Kamarra Bell-Wykes and Carly Sheppard in The Blok! - our favourite blind comedian Jeremy Moses who claims that he’s Hard to Work With – Stephen Wakefield from Museums Victoria to talk about Nocturnal – and Rebecca Jensen who’s choreographer and lead artist for Flesh Mirror in collaboration with Weave Movement Theatre… After that, Marc Gracie is here for our usual chat about what we’ve seen on our Screens & Streams. 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.

We’re up north for the start of this week’s show with Darwin correspondent Yvette Walker, Artistic Director at Brown’s Mart, who’s joined by their Honorary Elder in Residence, Dr Richard Fejo Snr better known as Uncle Richard. Then it’s a chat with author Rhonda McCoy about her new novel Crow… …before we launch into this year’s Fast Fringe – quick chats with as many Melbourne Fringe artists as we can fit into the three weeks of the festival... Melbourne Fringe CEO and Creative Director, Simon Abrahams, along with Deadly Fringe Programming Coordinator Peta Duncan are here to kick us off with our annual overview of the festival… …before we get into it all with Alex Walker from House of Muchness and their Fed Square event – The Square… …followed by a bit of unscripted mayhem with friends of the show, Sam Lohs and Rosie Burgess, better known as The Tuck Shop Ladies… 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.

Elena Vereker from InSite Arts gets us going this week with her Adelaide round up… …and then introduces us to Ben Francis who’s part of the retro vocal group The 60-Four who are celebrating their tenth birthday with a gig in Shepparton… Meanwhile, back in Melbourne at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Fairfax Studio, playwright Daniel Keene, director Matt Sholten and actor Noni Hazelhurst have reunited after the success of Mother, to present The Lark, and we’ll catch up with the entire cast of the show, which is to say, with Noni herself… Then it’s time for the Arts Projects Australia open day again, so we’ll drop in on their studio to meet artist Mark Smith and Jo Salt who’s Curator of their current exhibition Embodied, showing at their Collingwood Yards gallery… And finally, it’s RUOK Day this Thursday, which means it’s time to catch up with RUOK Day Ambassador Aislinn Sharp and to listen to Replacing Feelings the new song she’s released for this year’s event… 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.

Brown’s Mart Artistic Director Yvette Walker gets the Darwin ball rolling tonight and introduces us to her local guest artist, Writer/Performer of We Keep Everything, Lisa Pellegrino… Then it’s Spring in Darebin and that means it’s time for the FUSE Festival and we’ll meet this year’s Ganbu Gulin Curator in Residence, Ethan Savage… Meanwhile, Bangarra Dance Theatre is back in town with a new work – Illume, and Daniel Mateo, one of the dancers for this performance is dropping by for a chat… After that, much loved comedian John Clarke left us way too early and never wrote down his life story. So his daughter Lorin Clarke has done the job for him in her new doco – But Also John Clarke - and she’s here to tell us about it AND him … And, just in case we didn’t get enough of McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery’s Music Curator Monica Curro at the start of the month, she’s back to tell us more about her last few Music on Sunday events for the year… 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 Shane Carroll talking about Bangarra’s innovative audio description for dance, you can find her on the August 12 show from last year (2024) as well as a special longer conversation 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… See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.