Bell Shakespeare's performance of The School for Wives provides the perfect upgrade for a timeless story about man's thirst for relationship control.

Director Oliver Stone turns Don Winslow's tale of drugs, deception and decapitation into his latest gift for the big screen, Savages.

Byron Shire musician Gyan has again joined forces with cartoonist Leunig

Martin McDonagh's follow up to "In Bruges" has energy and witty dialogue, but gets too weird and eccentric for its own good.

A movie about a disabled man's experience with a sex surrogate - but so much more than that! The Sessions is about an amazing man who looks for love and meaning in a life that would leave many broken.

Searching for Sugar Man is an engaging documentary centred around the quest by two middle aged South Africans to discover the fate of the enigmatic Rodriguez, the greatest 70s rock icon who never was.

This touching film from director/writer Ben Lewin bravely tackles a taboo subject with warmth and humour.

Two South African music fanatics embark on a life-changing journey to uncover the story behind one of their country's favourite, but enigmatic artists.

If Perth got the kind of photographic makeover that New York enjoys, it would be a fortunate city, says ABC 720's cultural correspondent Victoria Laurie

The Secret River is a classic in the making, says ABC 720 cultural correspondent Victoria Laurie

A great and tragic documentary and for all its ability to bear witness to terrible truths, is likely to be swept under the priceless furnishings of the Vatican.

The Idea of North

Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Denis Menochet, Bastien Ughetto, Jean-Francois Balmer, Yolande Moreau, Catherine Davenier, Vincent Schmitt, Jacques Bosc

Sometimes the people who make the biggest contributions to our culture can be pretty strange characters.

Explosive drama and long held grievances come home for Christmas in this stylish drama.

James Blake brought is soulful electric music to the Astor

NORPA's 2013 season opened with the captivating gothic classic, Frankenstein, and what a pick that was to see in the renovations at Lismore City Hall.

There's nothing up here in Louis Leterrier's magician heist flick. Like a magic trick it looks good, but is all smoke and mirrors.

Ridley Scott + celebrated writer + talented (and sexy) cast = bad movie

Over the years as I've trawled through annual Archibald Prize for portraiture at the Art Gallery of NSW, I have always taken the time to also peruse two of the other exhibitions shown simultaneously: the Wynne Prize for sculpture and landscape painting and the Dobell Prize for drawing, named after Australian artist Sir William Dobell.

'Brief Encounter' serves as a poignant little reminder of the volcano ready to erupt beneath the cover of a mediocre suburban life.

Last Friday, NORPA unveiled its 2014 season to a packed house at Lismore City Hall. The company's Artistic Director Julian Louis has stuck to a programming formula he's had success with over the years. The mix is one NORPA hopes will represent another year of strong houses. There are a couple of reinvented classics, some edgy new material, some drama, comedy, dance, circus, Indigenous and kid-friendly productions along with something homemade. Several shows use video technology extensively, while others ask you to just bring your imagination. In essence, there's something for everyone.

Bit by bit, children's play The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean reveals itself to be one of those rare love stories that really touch you.

Lismore's big chill last weekend did not stop Jeanti St Clair from catching NORPA's Food and Lloyd Cole, a most unassuming eighties pop star on a freezing Saturday night.Food is good for the soul

The equine-inspired group of exhibitions are on display at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery until October 5.

Relaxed and resplendent in mid-pregnancy as my friend described her - and she was.

NORPA's 2015 season was announced earlier this month with the aim of drawing a broader audience to the performing arts.

After Damien Ryan's energetic and enjoyable Henry V last year, it is pleasing to see that Bell Shakespeare has brought the director back to tackle Shakespeare's most complex and nuanced tragedy, Hamlet. And the marriage is a solid one. To start, casting Josh McConville as the grief-struck prince of Denmark has paid off handsomely. McConville approaches Hamlet's descent into his 'prison' of madness with powerful and dexterous complexity, bringing the contradictions that render the character into a fulsome and multi-faceted presentation of Shakespeare's vision for Hamlet.

A self-described experienced horse breaker has been fined and sentenced to a community correction order for a "silly decision" to use a lasso to strangle a brumby.

Near a small town in northern New South Wales horse blood is being harvested to aid researchers and diagnostics.

As a river runs dry in the northern basin, the blame game continues, and farmer Andrew Watson says irrigators are being unjustly targeted over water use.

Having retained all 16 of their seats, welcomed a record number of women to the party and consolidated under leader Michael McCormack, there could be a renewed sense of stability for the country-based party.

A report into hazing at the University of New England finds female students were pressured into sexual acts, "slapped on the arse" by a line of men before entering a party and told to lock their doors at night.

Australia's colonial banks are given new lives as bank branches close across regional Australia.

Water stations reduce heat stress and other effects of drought and extreme weather events on koalas and other animals, new research finds.

Three years ago Mingoola residents welcomed African refugee families with open arms as part of a settlement program hailed for invigorating a dying country town. Now the tiny NSW town has lost all of its newest members.

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses has collated data from official stewards' documents and found 122 horses died in the past year.

Three years after shutting down and shedding more than 30 local jobs, Binnaway's abattoir is reopening, offering a much-needed boost.

With dams and creeks bone dry in drought-stricken towns, firefighters are being forced to find ways to combat blazes that are almost impossible to extinguish.

Weather conditions start to ease in northern New South Wales where firefighters continue to battle two fires that have burnt through nearly 60,000 hectares of bushland.

A bushfire threatening homes at Drake, near Tenterfield, is downgraded as the threat to houses eases.