SYDNEY: As he takes up his three-year tenure as curator of the Spring Dance festival at the Opera House, Sydney Dance Company’s artistic director Rafael Bonachela has one aim: to bring dance to the people. He speaks to Garrett Bithell about the 2012 season.

An unflinching commentary on modern America and its tragic contradictions, Vernon God Little is coming to the Sydney stage for the first time, writes Garrett Bithell. 

From a subversive renegade to one of the world’s most respected ballet choreographers, Boris Eifman plays by his own rules. His company, Eifman Ballet, is coming to Australia for the first time, writes Garrett Bithell. 

SYDNEY: The Reg Murphy Centre in Elizabeth Bay will continue as a venue for theatre and the arts with the City of Sydney now accepting expressions of interest from applicants willing and able to run the performance space.

Home to the Arabunna people for thousands of years, the strangeness and specialness of Lake Eyre is celebrated in this new work by choreographer and artist-in-residence Frances Rings.

Hailing from the London cabaret scene, Spanky held a seven-year residency at the infamous Bistrotheque, performed at Vauxhall Tavern’s Duckie, Homotopia in Liverpool, the Soho Theatre, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, and Brighton Pride. Spanky’s alter-ego, the legendary Candice McQueen (accompanied by the musically gifted Robert Tripolino), is about to grace the Melbourne Cabaret Festival with the show, Nasty. Spanky and Robert had a quick word with MCV.

SYDNEY: Embark on a personal musical journey with singer Shauna Jensen in her new intimate showcase, Divalicious.

Inspired by the recent spate of ‘misery hoaxes’, and fuelled by our fascination with the grand suffering of the victim, queer playwright Rick Viede’s Griffin Award-winning sophomore play A Hoax is another example of why he is one of the most exciting new voices on our theatrical landscape, writes Garrett Bithell.

SYDNEY: There’s no doubt about it. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a big play, a great play and somehow, 60 years after its premiere on Broadway, a very modern play. Perhaps the global recession that has seen western countries teeter on the brink of economic collapse gives the play its timeliness.

SYDNEY: Bell Shakespeare’s latest production is a gutsy, fast-paced take on macabre Jacobean dramatist John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi. Actor Ben Wood sat down with Garrett Bithell. 

One of the saddest things about playwright Joe Orton’s premature death at 34 was he had only just established himself as a compelling theatrical voice when he was killed.

ADELAIDE: New York based performance artist Kim Smith raised the eyebrows no end with his 2010 Cabaret Festival debut. He’s returning in 2012 with a new show, and he spoke to Peter Burdon.

Australian Dance Theatre premieres its new work Proximity in the Adelaide Festival. Peter Burdon spoke to dancer Daniel Jaber.

SYDNEY: Irish performer Neil Watkins combines Jesus, porn and poetry in a provocative one-man show, The Year of Magical Wanking.

REVIEW: This is a play about violence that shows very little in the way of violence. It is suggested, alluded to, and always lurking just below the surface. Right from the opening scene there is a sense that we are building toward some kind of horrific event and Sam Strong’s excellent production keeps the tension on a knife’s edge, making for an enthralling, if uneasy, experience in the theatre.