StorySALOON

In this week's episode we're going to hear 'Dance Hall Days' by Christos Tsiolkas, read by Alex Dimitriades. Tsiolkas is the Melbourne-born, Greek-Australian author, playwright, essayist, and screenwriter internationally known for his award winning novels, Dead Europe, Loaded, The Slap, and Barracuda. In this story, we meet Dimitri and Marlene, former friends who haven’t seen each since the 1980s Melbourne’s party and music scene. The story is from the anthology Into Your Arms: Nick Cave’s Songs Reimagined. Twenty Australian writers were asked to write a short story in response to a Nick Cave song. ‘Dance Hall Days’ is Tsiolkas’s riff on that Nick Cave challenge – a moving story about having been young, getting older, forgiving shitty parents and Melbourne’s 1980s music scene, back in the days when Nick Cave was just starting out. ‘Dance Hall Days’ is read by Alex Dimitriades. There’s quite a history between these two creatives, with Dimitriades starring in the film Head On, adapted from Tsiolkas’s first novel, Loaded. He’s also starred in the Slap, based on Tsiolkas’s hugely popular novel. Alex Dimitriades is known for many other film and television roles including Heartbreak High, The Slap, Total Control and The Tourist. He won the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor for his role in Head On. Into your arms: Nick Cave's Songs Reimagined, Fremantle Press, 2023. StorySALOON is hosted by Jane Messer. Find out more about ⁠StorySALOON's⁠ live shows and podcasts at ⁠www.storysaloon.com.au

In our latest 'In the SALOON with…', host Jane Messer talks with writer Margo Lanagan and performer, Paul Capsis. We take a deep dive into Margo's short story ‘Singing My Sister Down’ which was performed by Paul at StorySALOON’s June live show. In this episode, Margo speaks about the original writing of 'Singing My Sister Down', and the unique aspects of the short story as a genre. Paul discusses his performance of the work, and his own life as a performer, and the impact of his family on his work and his reading of 'Singing My Sister Down'. MARGO is one of Australia’s most admired writers of short stories and novels for adults and young adults. She is the author of over a dozen novels and short story collections, and has received four World Fantasy Awards, one of them being for 'Singing My Sister Down'. PAUL CAPSIS is one of Australia’s most extraordinary and versatile performers. He has appeared in theatre, live concerts, cabaret, film, and television both in Australia and internationally. Most recently he’s had roles at Griffin Theatre, and in the television series Wellmania and Deep Water. StorySALOON is hosted by Jane Messer. Find out more about ⁠StorySALOON's⁠ live shows and podcasts at ⁠www.storysaloon.com.au This first seasons of StorySALOON Podcast has been produced with funding from Copyright Agency, Create NSW and Creative Australia.

In this episode we’re going to hear Margo Lanagan’s short story ‘Singing My Sister Down’, read by Paul Capsis. This is a story with a big heart that may well move you to tears. Margo Lanagan is one of Australia’s most outstanding writers of short stories and novels for adults and young adults. Her work has been published widely in Australia and internationally. For those amongst you who’re unused to the fantasy genre, what you’ll find in 'Singing My Sister Down' is that you recognise the community and characters, but there are little details that tell make it clear that this is not historical fiction, but fantasy set in a world like ours, back in time somewhere. The setting is a tar pit. Tar pits are real – they form when natural, hot bitumen rises from deep in the earth to form a sticky, black pool or lake. The story is read by the legendary Paul Capsis. Paul is one of Australia’s most extraordinary and versatile performers, appearing in theatre, live concerts, cabaret, film, and television both here and internationally, and now here, for StorySALOON. In our next episode, 'In the SALOON with' Margo Lanagan and Paul Capsis, we meet with author and performer in the studio for an in-depth conversation about the story and its performance. You can read 'Singing My Sister Down' in Lanagan's award-winning and internationally acclaimed collection by the same name, Singing My Sister Down, published by Allen & Unwin. StorySALOON is hosted by Jane Messer. Find out more about ⁠StorySALOON's⁠ live shows and podcasts at ⁠www.storysaloon.com.au Paul Capsis photo: Hellene Algie

Welcome to 'In the Saloon With...', where StorySALOON host Jane Messer meets with an author and actor from the live show for a deep-dive into the writing of the short story and the actor's performance of it. In this episode we talk with Paddy O'Reilly, author of 'Baggage Claim' and Monica Sayers, who read the story live for StorySALOON's May 2025 show. Paddy's novels and short stories have been published, anthologised and broadcast in Australia, Europe, China, the UK and the USA. Her most recent book, the novel Other Houses, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2023. Monica Sayers is a proud Australian born Chinese artist who works as an actor, director, and voiceover artist. Her many tv and stage roles have included The Messenger, Rake, Love My Way and roles with Bell Shakespeare, Sydney Theatre Co, Belvoir and Hayes Theatre. You can read 'Baggage Claim' online in the journal Overland, Issue 231, Winter 2018.⁠ Jane Messer is the host of StorySALOON Live and StorySALOON Podcast. Find out more about ⁠StorySALOON at ⁠www.storysaloon.com.au.

This week's short story is 'GPS' by Cate Kennedy. It's a short story for lovers of twisted fairy tales and bushland suspense. Every girl should have a grandmother like this one in their lives. Cate Kennedy has been writing and publishing short stories, along with poetry, novels and essays for over three decades. Recent short stories have been published in The Saturday Paper, and the anthologies The Scarlet Stilleto: 30 Years of Mystery, Murder and Malice, and Into Your Arms : Nick Cave’s Songs Reimagined. When not in Castlemaine, Victoria, Cate can be found teaching on the faculty of the MFA in Creative Writing at Pacific University in Portland, Oregon. 'GPS' was performed live at StorySALOON on May 6 by Jules Billington. A NIDA graduate, Jules works as an actor, director, and performance and movement coach. Their film credits include Buckley's Chance and iconic queer Australian feature films Ellie & Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) and All About E. On stage, they're known for their stunning performances at Belvoir, MTC and Bell Shakespeare. Jules is returning to the stage in June, in Corialanus, at Bell Shakespeare company's new theatre space, The Neilson Nutshell. 'GPS' by Cate Kennedy is from the anthology South of the Sun: Australian Fairy Tales for the 21st Century, published for the Australian Fairy Tale Society, by Serenity Press, 2021. Coming up in our next episode: 'Baggage Claim' by Paddy O'Reilly, read by Monica Sayers.

Welcome to the first of our in-depth conversations, 'In the Saloon With...', where StorySALOON host Jane Messer meets with an author and actor from the live show for a deep-dive into the writing of the short story and the actor's performance of it. In this episode we talk with Nic Low, author of 'Octopus' and Taofia Pelesasa, who read the story live for StorySALOON's April 2025 show. Based in Melbourne and New Zealand, Nic Low's Ngāi Tahu Māori and European heritage shape the short story 'Octopus', which is set in Rotorua on New Zealand's South Island. Low is the author of three acclaimed books, his short story collection Arms Race, which includes the story 'Octopus'; Uprising, and Little Doomsdays. 'Octopus' is about a rowdy road gang and an octopus, a story in which myth and reality powerfully collide. It is read by Taofia Pelesasa, a Western Sydney creative of Tokelauan and Samoan heritage. Pelesasa has worked as an actor, writer and filmmaker in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Samoa. His short film, Humans of the Islands, (CoconetTV.com) explores the impacts of rising sea levels on Pasifika island futures, a topic which he discusses in this episode. Jane Messer is the host of StorySALOON Live and StorySALOON Podcast.

This week’s short story is ’Octopus’ by Nic Low. Set in New Zealand’s South Island, it’s about a rowdy road gang and a giant octopus, as much real as it is myth.