All podcast episodes

Podcast

Arts Project Australia, State of Australian Regions Report, Akaraka and Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons!

Join Richard Watts in the studio with Liz Knowles, the new Executive Director of Arts Project Australia about their upcoming 50th Anniversary, Tai Snaith for the fortnightly review of current Melbourne exhibitions, and…

Podcast

Palestinian Film Festival 2024, The Mary Wallopers, Dungeons & Dragons 50th anniversary, PHOTO 2024, and theatre theatre theatre!

Richard kicks off this week’s epic show with Irish band, The Mary Wallopers. The cheeky, rowing brothers, Charles and Andrew Hendy, talk sibling rivalry, genre shifting, and their anticipation of Ireland’s global domination…

Podcast

Yentl, Counting and Cracking, When We Were Young, Back to Back and Not Natural!

Richard Watts is back in the studio to chat to director Gary Abrahams and actress Evelyn Krape on the production of Yentl, an adaptation of a Yiddish short story.

Plus, S.Shakthidharan, the…

Podcast

Rock Musicals, Northern Irish Chavs, and 7 Hours of Theatre

Jess McEvoy talks about their solo rock musical, 'The Show,' and the way that the show came about naturally after years of performing as a singer-songwriter between Naarm and New York City.

Sandrine…

Podcast

Celebrating local artists, program releases, cabaret, and a Broadcast Birthday!

SmartArts' 19th birthday was celebrated on the day of broadcast (December 14, 2023), which was also Richard's last show for 2023!

Richard is joined by Liam James, Deputy Director of Linden New Art…

Podcast

Marshmallow Lasers, Robot Painting Dogs & the 2024 Sydney Festival

Artist Agnieszka Pilat on her optimism towards AI in art and walking Richard Watts through the process of training three robot dogs to oil paint, for her new exhibition at the NGV Triennial…

Podcast

Exploring “Place”: 56 Printmakers Connect with Country & the Friendships Built Liberating Homelands

Writer and director Glenn Shea on his unabashed new play ‘MI: WI 3027,’ unpacking the unlikely friendship between an Indigenous soldier and a Jewish-German ethnologist and prisoner of war, as they bond over…

Podcast

Triennials, the Legacy of Blade Runner, the Resilience of Women and the Art of Waacking

Ewan McEoin, the Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, NGV and lead curator on Triennial for a NGV Triennial overview chat; Primal Screen’s Flick Ford &  Zero G’s Rob Jan talking…

Podcast

Performance Art Mania & Remembering Ukraine

Ruth McKenzie, Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival gives an overview of the exciting new festival program; Dynamic duo, choreographer Stephanie Lake and composer Robin Fox astonish Richard with their exhilarating performance art piece…

Podcast

Dumplings, Dodgeball and Dancing 'In the Club'

Ania Reynolds & Alisa Tanaka-King join Richard to talk about their show 'Dumplings Darling' and their approach to cultural sharing; being un-pretentious and inclusionary, using the cultural cross-section that is made up of…

Podcast

Sci-Fi Superheros Fighting Diabetes & Lighting up Laneways with Glowing Comics

Writer and performer Candy Bowers reveals the horrors of type 2 diabetes and its disproportionate effect on Black communities, in her afro-futuristic, genre-bending show, ‘Sweet Mama’; Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, AO, On her composition…

Podcast

Insomniac Mixtapes, Art Fairs and Photography at the NGV

Artist Telia Nevile on her new one-woman cabaret performance ‘Insomniac Mixtape’ at Melbourne Fringe Festival, capturing the unsettling and relatable descent into chaos that is sleep deprivation, through a range of bizarre goth…

Podcast

Festival Frenzy: Irish Films, Fringe and Melbourne Jazz

Irish Film Festival Director Dr Enda Murray walks listeners through the exciting 2023 program overview for the Irish Film Festival; Program Director Hadley Agrez unveils the diverse 2023 Melbourne International Jazz Festival lineup…

Podcast

Queer Bushrangers and the Brand New Merribek Festival

Co-producers Tim Sneddon and Jeff Achtem explain how accessibility and the need for low-cost family festivals drove them to create the new Merribek Family Festival, walking listeners through their exciting program; Nina Sanadze…

Podcast

The Art Inspired by Being Struck by Lightning, and the 41st Melbourne Fringe Festival

Composer and cellist Zoë Barry on how her unlikely experience of being struck by lightning on three separate occasions inspired her new artistic work in ‘The Nervous Atmosphere’ at Arts House; Simon Abrahams…

Podcast

Radiothon 2023

It's Radiothon time here at Triple R - the time of the year we ask our listeners to help support SmartArts and all the other programs on RRR by financially supporting the station…

Podcast

Breaking the Conventions of Theatre with Pony Cam

Contemporary theatre performers Dominic Weintraub and Hugo Williams of Pony Cam exhibit the process of knowledge sharing across generations, breaking theatre convention by collaborating with mass community-led ensemble cast of locals aged 55+…

Podcast

Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism

Director Nick Kozakis talks how his childhood horror movie obsession and the resurgence of the horror film genre in Australia influenced his new independent horror, ‘Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism’; CEO and creative director…

Podcast

Road-tripping with two queer alien Elvises & ‘The Fence’

Richard is away this week, guest host Daniel Santangeli fills in! Playwright Fleur Murphy explores ordinary acts of bravery and the ethical concerns of witnessing domestic violence in her award-winning play ‘The Fence,’…

Podcast

Gail Mabo’s ‘Current’ & Swinburne Circus Art students face uncertainty

First Nations artist Gail Mabo talks shouldering the legacy of her father, activist Eddie Mabo, and her new exhibition ‘Current’ at McClelland Gallery with fellow First Nations artists Lisa Wuap and Dominic White…

Podcast

The Impacts of the US writers and actors strike on Australian Art & a fresh take on Romeo and Juliet

Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Vice President of Actor’s Equity for the MEAA breaks down the US writers and actors strike, uncovering how streaming and AI technologies have threatened livelihoods in film and the potential impacts…

Podcast

Brisbane Fest, a streetwide projection arts takeover and Joseph Nolan on Melbourne's Grand Organ

Artistic Director Louise Bezinna gives an extensive overview of this year’s Brisbane Festival program; Priya Namana, CEO of the Centre of Projection Art on the upcoming innovative projection-art displays at the 2023 Gertrude…

Podcast

Australian circus art under threat, and NAIDOC Week kicks off with ‘Dig Deeper’

Richard Hull, CEO of Flying Fruit Fly Circus explains the devastating impacts Swinburne University’s decision to freeze the National Institute for Circus Arts' student intake in 2024, may have on circus in Australia…

Podcast

Puppets, NAVA, and Atmosphere

Co-artistic director Sarah Kreigler talks everything puppets, delving into the Melbourne Festival of Puppetry and its 2023 puppet treasure hunt; Executive Director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, Penelope Benton, on…

Podcast

A Climate for Art, Underneath Ms Archer and Nightshifts

Richard is away this week, guest host Oliver Coleman fills in! Co-writer and performer Louise Siversen explores cancel culture in theatrical performance, ‘Underneath Ms Archer’, depicting a 21st woman’s encounter with a medieval…

Podcast

Shhhh, Oh Deer!, and Unison

Co-artistic director Lara Thoms on artist-run, experimental performance arts group, Aphids and their RISING Festival performance ‘Oh Deer!’, delving into the grief of losing a parent; Director Emma Valente on dramedy performance ‘Shhhh’…

Podcast

Circus art, Chagall and Darwin Festival 2023

Internationally renowned choreographer Edgar Zendejas on his collaboration with NICA graduates to create circus performance, ‘Oneiric’; Artist Yvette Coppersmith on her exhibition ‘Carnelian’, a response to the Jewish Museum of Australia’s exploration of…

Podcast

Saying no to coal in the arts, Local Laughs and Sonic Eclipse

CEO Lucy Manne on 350 Australia’s campaign to help the arts community rule out coal and oil industry partnerships; Janet McLeod reminisces about her comedy room, ‘Local Laughs’ in the wake of its…

Podcast

Ten Pound Poms, Tracker and Glass Design

Actor Sarah Funari on the Stan and BBC original series ‘Ten Pound Poms,’ charting the story of over a million British people that migrated to Australia for 10 pounds; Artist Miles Johnson on…

Podcast

An adaptation of the world's oldest song, Tarrawarra Biennial and Dry My Tears

Artist Genevieve Lacy on her twilight gathering of soundwork, 'Consort of the Moon', inspired by the oldest known notated song; Cabaret icon Paul Capsis takes audiences on an intimate journey of acoustic song…

Podcast

Judith Lucy conquers theatre, MOTH & Eleventh Hour's 'Cavalcade'

Adam Noviello on their theatrical exploration of bullying and the gruelling social hierarchies of high school in ‘MOTH’; actor Peter Houghton on ‘Cavalcade’ and the reopening of Eleventh Hour Theatre; Judith Lucy explores

Podcast

The commercial art world, Loaded and Lé Nør

Director Ursula Sullivan on her gallery Sullivan and Strumpf and the changing commercial art landscape; Christos Tsiolkas & Dan Giovannoni on adapting the novel 'Loaded', as a play - exploring queer, migrant Melbourne;

Podcast

Selling Kabul, Oslo Davis on designing April Amnesty & Barry Humphries’ controversial legacy

Illustrator Oslo Davis explores his lasting connection with Triple R; Melbourne International Comedy Festival Director, Susan Provan on Barry Humphries’ controversial cultural legacy; Red Stitch actor Khisraw Jones-Shukoor on Pulitzer-nominated war-time play, ‘Selling…

Podcast

Archiving the Ephemeral & Baba: A love letter to Josh Ladgrove's grandmother

Comedian Josh Ladgrove pays tribute to his late Ukrainian grandmother’s strong spirit in tragic comedy ‘Baba’; Leisa Shelton on her exploration of the lost lineage of Australian art in a series of performances…

Podcast

The Briefing, Okkoota and Brown Women Comedy

Comedian Melissa McLensey on ‘The Briefing’, her latest interactive US press briefing style MICF show; Curator Vistal Kumaraswamy talks exhibition at North Melbourne Town Hall, Okkoota; Daizy Maan and Sukhijt Kaur Khalsa discuss…

Podcast

Adrienne Truscott and Le Gateau Chocolat, on walking the fine line that delineates marginalised perspectives

Artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah on ‘Journey’, his latest exhibition exploring the intersection of faith, identity and culture through large scale sculptures; Musical comedian Gillian Cosgriff talks optimism and stuff you like in her MICF…

Podcast

Nothing deep, Mystery in a blimp and self-portraits by VCA staff

Ahead of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, comedian Rowan Thambar discusses his show ‘Nothing Deep, Just Good Times!’, a night of irreverent laughs from a former chronic over-sharer; Poet-turned playwright Nathan Curnow talks…

Podcast

Bernhardt/Hamlet, Desire Lines and WAY

Melbourne Theatre Company’s artistic director and co-CEO Anne-Louise Sarks talks about making her directorial debut as AD with ‘Bernhardt/Hamlet’; Irish contemporary artist Sean Lynch talks curating the exhibition ’Desire Lines’ at City Gallery…

Podcast

Women on comics, growing up on a dairy farm and two comedy shows at once

Bernard Caleo checks in for the Drawn Out segment with news from around the world of comic books; Artist and photographer Odette England discusses her exhibition Dairy Character at Centre of Contemporary Photography…

Podcast

Grief Trilogy, Sh*t and Frame

Theatre-maker Liv Satchell and actor Emily Tomlins discuss their upcoming plays ‘The Grief Trilogy’ for La Mama Courthouse; Veteran theatre practitioners Patricia Cornelius and Susie Dee explain their film adaptation of their play…