Steve Dow

Strong elements of activism and Indigenous rights at White Bay Power Station for the #SydneyBiennale

A Bridge Over Troubled Waters An intergenerational exhibition reflects on the contested building of a bridge to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island), and pays tribute to the Ngarrindjeri women who fought to protect and sustain their cultu...

"It was unrelenting, like we were under siege."

I talk to artists Aunty Sandra Saunders and Aunty Ellen Trevorrow about the 90s fight to stop a bridge being built from the South Australian mainland to Kumarangk / Hindmarsh Island and their art about sacred knowledge

artguide.com.au/a-bridge-ove...

Stress Test The 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Yield Strength, highlights the ways artists are pushing materials to their limits, to reflect the world around them.

The Adelaide Biennial has opened. I spoke to curator Ellie Buttrose and artists Lauren Burrow and Kirtika Kain about the stress test of pushing materials past their limit, an apt metaphor for political and ecological change artguide.com.au/stress-test/

The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin review – Simon Burke is extraordinary in this timely queer classic Actor deploys range and comedic skill in this gripping one-man show, which caused a sensation when it premiered in 1976 – and remains relevant today

My review of the return of a queer Australian classic, starring Simon Burke, returning to Surry Hills where it all started 50 years ago: www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/f...

Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump.

Details of allegations against Trump and the coverup by US Justice Department. Important investigation by America’s NPR www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...

Meanjin is reborn, the title returning to its namesake home, via Queensland University of Technology.

What a riposte to Melbourne University Publishing’s decision to suddenly can the storied journal last year after 80 years of publication on, ahem, “purely financial grounds”.

Afro-Asian Creole artist Thania Petersen makes sensory works with cross-cultural joy at their heart. Yolŋu Elders and artists from Arnhem Land joined her in Makassar in Sulawesi recently to make recordings for her project.

I spoke to Petersen about her Perth Festival show: artguide.com.au?p=226424

Well, the cinematography of Leni Riefenstahl doesn’t come cheap.

More than $A100 million to licence and market doco Melania.

One ticket sold across Hoyts cinemas so far, back row in Cronulla.

Is Scotty from Marketing back in town?

mumbrella.com.au/hoyts-has-so...

This is how the administration is maligning Alex Pretti

A caring, 37 year old male US citizen who worked in the Minneapolis VA ICU as a nurse caring for sick veterans.

This is shameful and indefensible.

To be fair, it’s hard to rhyme Malinauskas

Thank goodness they dodged the "public ridicule and opprobrium".

Far from being "never acceptable", insult is an inevitable byproduct of free speech. Curious he seems on board with preventing Friedman's appearance.

Is he really this dim?

‘An Arab in a post-9/11 world’: Khalid Abdalla’s one-man play about belonging comes to Australia In Nowhere, The Crown actor interweaves personal experience and family history with commentary on western colonialism and the Israel-Gaza war

Saw Khalid Abdalla’s one-man work Nowhere for Sydney Festival last night.

Highly recommend. A skilled, engaging actor who acknowledges traumas across the divide.

Here is a conversation we had about his life, career and ominous censorship of such voices of late. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Dear Son review – essays by famous Indigenous fathers make for incredibly moving theatre Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney festivalAdapted from essays by the likes of Stan Grant, Troy Cassar-Daley and NRL player Joe Williams, Dear Son generously invites the audience into its warm and vulnera...

These men talk about trauma and healing. “We pull the oars of truth, with strength from our ancestors,” they repeat, acknowledging society-wide problems of toxic masculinity while conveying how government policies and media dehumanise them.

My review of Dear Son www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...

‘Abhorrent’: PM slams Elon Musk’s X over sexually explicit images As the wave of AI generated sexual material grows, international leaders are demanding action by tech companies to stop images generated without consent.

Albanese calls Grok abhorrent, yet he still posts on hellsite X. Why? www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Good points. Yes I suspect we’ll never know what the total might have otherwise been.

Fast skates, high stakes: the raucous roller derby show taking over Sydney town hall Mama Does Derby, based on theatre-maker Clare Watson’s experiences as a single mum searching for community, is bringing the sport to the stage

Roller derby in Australia is a force, featuring face-painted skaters such as Bionic Mayhem, Frill Seeker and Judge Juicy.

I talk to jammer Maddy "BB Gun" Wilkinson and theatre makers Clare Watson & Virginia Gay about taking over Sydney Town Hall next week. www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...

Sydney Festival: Communal Rituals Three presentations at the Sydney Festival highlight communal ritual and ceremony, encouraging viewers and participants to consider different approaches to life, and death.

Community and ritual are needed right now: I talk to artists behind three Sydney Festival events that deliver just that. artguide.com.au/sydney-festi...

One Nation supporter Dawn Fraser a curious media go-to for her opinion she’s “never seen so much hatred and division” in Australia.

To be fair, she was well ahead of the curve.

No notes.

Simon Stone on luring film stars on stage, family tragedy and staging Chekhov in Korean: ‘It’s one of the proudest moments in my career’ Directing the likes of Alicia Vikander, Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman on stage, the Australian director is returning to Adelaide festival with a bold new take on The Cherry Orchard

I yarn with expat Australian writer and director Simon Stone about his life and career ahead of his Korean-language The Cherry Orchard coming to Adelaide Festival.

Stone says he is “obsessed with Korean culture” and its “embrace of peculiarity and weirdness”.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...

Sussan Ley says Ukraine occupied by ‘Soviet Union’ In a slip of the tongue, the opposition leader said Ukraine was illegally occupied by “the USSR”, which was formally dissolved over 34 years ago.

“Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...

‘An Arab in a post-9/11 world’: Khalid Abdalla’s one-man play about belonging comes to Australia In Nowhere, The Crown actor interweaves personal experience and family history with commentary on western colonialism and the Israel-Gaza war

“As we’re in a so-called ceasefire, here is where we set the ground for the journey of the next 10 years, so that it is truly the anti-apartheid civil rights movement of our time.”

I talk to Khalid Abdalla about his one-man play Nowhere, coming to Sydney Festival
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

I interviewed French theatre maker and choral storyteller Caroline Guiela Nguyen about her play Lacrima, a tale of a bridal gown and the unseen sweat of lacemakers and embroiderers, coming to Sydney and Perth festivals, for Limelight magazine's Jan/Feb issue: limelight-arts.com.au/features/cho...

This year, playwright Jordan Shea threw down a challenge: how many Australian voices are yet to be heard on main stages?

I preview the 2026 seasons for Limelight's Jan/Feb issue, searching for homegrown voices and those rare playwright debuts in the big spaces: limelight-arts.com.au/features/sea...

A premiere animation on Hermannsburg Ladies Choir, beside Vincent Namatjira's major new portrait, Royal Albert, that depicts his great-grandfather as King of Country, at the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial.

Potters have reproduced Albert Namatjira's belongings in clay, including his letters.

Hope, heart and home leads at the National Indigenous Art Triennial: ‘We are going through a stage of enlightenment’ Curated by Tony Albert, After the Rain at the National Gallery of Australia explores cultural and familial legacies two years on from the referendum

I interviewed curator Tony Albert and artists Warraba Weatherall, Thea Anamara Perkins and Dylan Mooney about the 5th Indigenous Art Triennial opening at the National Gallery of Australia tomorrow. I walked through the exhibition, which speaks of renewal and hope:
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

A preview here of the Namatjira room at the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial opening at the National Gallery of Australia.

A collaboration including 57 artists from Namatjira's family and community, it features a beautiful glasshouse reproduction of Namatjira's house, which still stands today.