Behind the Scenes - Vision Australia Radio

Join us this week on Behind the Scenes as producer Mark speaks with regular guests and friends who honor the impact and lagacy of Chris. 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.  Vision Australia Radio will always be indebted to Chris for his volunteering, and we share our deepest sympathies with his friends, family and colleagues.       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 #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 #2 – Monday January 12, 2026 Welcome to the second Behind the Scenes Summer Special 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. This week is part one of a two-part visit to Adelaide which, of course, means we will start with our regular Adelaide correspondent Elena Vereka but for a change, we’ll be talking about her work with InSite Arts – then she introduces us to dancer turned audio describer, Carol Wellman Kelly, before we catch up with Elena’s predecessor, our former Adelaide correspondent and Artistic Director of Patch Theatre, Geoff Cobham. They’re all in Adelaide with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.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.

Screens&Streams Annual Wrap - Monday December 29, 2025 Well, it’s that time of the year again when we look back at what we’ve been seeing on our big and small screens over the past twelve months. Marc Gracie is here for one last go around with our 2025 Screens&Streams Movie Wrap – what were our favourite movies and streamers? What were our biggest disappointments? What surprised us? And what are we looking forward to next year? You’ll get the answers to all these questions on this week’s special edition of the Behind the Scenes Movie Wrap with Chris Thompson and Marc Gracie right here on Vision Australia Radio.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.

A bit of poetry to get us going this week with award winning poet and playwright Emilie Collyer who has a new collection of works called As If I’m Really There… funny that, because she really is here… Then we’re getting in early on the 2026 Midsumma Festival with CEO Karen Bryant who’s here to give us an overview of the whole programme… followed by Karan Nagrani whose festival show From Grndr to Blindr invites us to experience storytelling through the eyes of someone who's learning to live without sight. And finally, some music to take us out from a Benson and Clem who go by the name Missing Opal and who, surprisingly write and record their music together even though Benson lives here in Naarm/Melbourne and Clem lives in London.   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 my other conversations with Emilie Collyer – we spoke about her first collection – Do You Have Anything Less Domestic - on the December 12, 2022 show and we spoke about her play Super on the June 16 show this year - you’ll find them 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… talk with you next week… bye!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.

It's our last Theatre Network Australia segment for 2026 which means Yuhui Ng Rodriguez is here for a final wrap up and to tell us who our final TNA Member of the Month is… here’s a clue – multidisciplinary artist and creative producer Teneille Clerke is hanging on the line… Then, it's our last visit to Darwin for the year and Brown’s Mart Artistic Director Yvette Walker will be talking us through their recently released programme for 2026…   Then, it’s music all the way to the end of the show… First up is young singer/songwriter and mental health advocate Harley Müller (aka Capes and Crowns) who’s just released a second single from his new album – Growing Pains… …and then, Tim Richmond of the Tim Richmond Group fame has been recording songs since the early nineties and he’s just released a new solo album – The Taste…   We’ll meet both musos and listen to some of their music…   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’ll start the show in Perth with Boola Bardip WA Museum’s Helen Simondson who’s here for her regular round up AND to introduce her local guest artist – Kate Champion, recently appointed Black Swan Theatre Artistic Director and Director of the new Meow Meow production of The Red Shoes… Then, we meet author Roland Perry whose latest book Oliphant fills in the story of Australian Mark Oliphant whose work in nuclear physics was crucial to the development of the atom bomb – even if Christopher Nolan left him out of Oppenheimer… And finally, Genevieve Morris is here to chat about her terrific solo performance in the MTC production of Benjamin Law’s adaptation of Cory Taylor’s Dying: A Memoir… 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.

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.

It's the first show for November and so we’re swinging by the Theatre Network Australia office for a chat with Charice Rust who will also introduce us to the TNA Member of the Month, Anna Molnar, Programme Manager – Disability, Arts Access and Inclusion at Arts Centre Melbourne… Then, keeping on the topic of access, we’ll welcome Rachel Edward back to the show, this time in her capacity as Creative Producer for the Arts Access Supported Residential Services programme which is presenting Outside In/Inside Out, an exhibition of puppetry at the Schoolhouse Studios in Coburg Then it’s time for Screens & Streams but before Marc Gracie drops by to talk about what we’ve seen on our big and small screens, we’ll have a chat with Sophie Somerville about her directorial debut with the feature film Fwends. 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 longer conversations with Anna Molnar -Programme Manager: Disability, Arts Access and Inclusion at Arts Centre Melbourne AND Rachel Edward: Creative Producer, Arts Access Supported Residential Services Programme, 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.

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.

Rachel Edward is a Creative Producer with Arts Access and oversees the Supported Residential Services (SRS) Studios. Artists from the SRS Studios have been working with Golden Scissor Puppets to explore the many different ways in which they can create puppets. They have not only opened the doors to their homes, but also to their hearts, minds and imaginations creating Outside In/Inside Out an exhibition that explores the joy of releasing colour, movement and imagination often kept inside. In this work, that exploration takes us into a world of puppets, crank boxes, projections, and sound. The installation at Schoolhouse Studios Gallery in Coburg invites us to experience this world in many ways including tactile tours, audio descriptions and open captions.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.

We’re kicking of this week’s show with a walk and talk through the annual Postcards Show at Linden New Art with Curator Hamish Sawyer and Chloe Kokoris whose textile creation, Woven Abstraction I was awarded The Geoffrey Conaghan and Mathew Erbs Tertiary Award. Then, it’s our final week of Fast Fringe – our effort to cram as many Melbourne Fringe Festival artists into four weeks of shows as we can.   This week you’ll meet… Sammy J and his show Fiasco: A Burke and Wills Musical – Moira Finucane and students from Monash Uni with Chambers of the Heart – Lliam Amor who’s back to give us clues to Murder in the Graveyard, the latest Murder Village improvised murder mystery – Cat Sewell from Polyglot who’ve made Whirlwind, a new participatory arts experience for children – Sarah Bird Miller and Ria Soemardjo who are retelling the myths of Persephone and Demeter with What Lies Beneath – and, finally, Jo Raphael from Fusion Theatre who are performing The Weathering…   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 kicking off at Footscray Community Arts this week with Gideon Wilonja for a chat about the new show I Met an Angel Named Jaques, a story set in a real world that’s completely made up… Then we meet Damon Branacki who’s here to talk about the Thursday Group whose latest production Falling Heads will follow up its Melbourne debut with a tour to Denmark… After that, we catch up with Nancy Black from Black Hole Theatre who’ve been working hard on three new projects performing in regional Victoria – Journey of the Karen – Someone in the Dark - and the third – Sky Could Be Blue - provides a nice segue into our second week of Fast Fringe, our attempt to meet as many Melbourne Fringe Festival artists as possible in a short space of time… After Nancy, the Fast Fringe chat just keep on rolling with first time playwright of A Guide to Being Immortal, Shane Woon - producer of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari with a live score, Johannes Luebbers – choreographer of The Break, Zoe Bastin – Creator (with FUZEensemble) of Beneath, Fleur Dean and young performer Mitchell Gee – and QiQi from Elysian Blues II   Whew! That’s a lot… and 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.