WHAT'S ON

Amy Lehpamer (&Juliet, Dusty, The Sound of Music) is bringing Jane Austen's world to life with pop bangers, lightning-fast costume changes, and an Olivier Award-winning script under her belt. We sat down with Amy to talk Pride & Prejudice (sort of) — the West End hit landing at Canberra Theatre Centre this September.

In 1967, country musician Porter Wagoner introduced a guest on his weekly TV show who would soon become a legend. The camera cut to a woman with a big blonde beehive, wearing a magenta mini dress and matching lipstick.

The Queer Bookshelf aims to cover the whole range of creative writing that could be called queer (a term she carefully unpacks in her introduction): from ancient epics to Heartstopper.

As Heartstopper reaches its final chapter, it’s clear this isn’t just another coming-of-age story. In a media landscape where queer representation remains limited, the series has offered something rare and powerful: joy, softness and the possibility of being seen. For many fans, its impact goes far beyond the screen.

Monsters have always been the perfect excuse to talk about what women really want, especially queer women. For more than a century, women have turned to literature to explore the desires society told them to suppress.

Step behind the curtain with the Strangeways Ensemble — a creative force of neurodiverse artists whose cabaret dives deep into love in all its wild, awkward, and joyful forms. From grungy ballads to tales of online dating and vampires, discover how this close-knit troupe finds family on and off the stage.

Off the Ledge is bringing kerosene to the Canberra Theatre Centre, a sharply written new Australian play that dives into love, unfiltered emotions and female power. We spoke with director and producer Lachlan Houen and actor Winsome Ogilvie, who plays Millie, about what drew them to the production, why this story matters now and what you can expect from a night of fiercely honest theatre.

Kirsty Webeck is currently touring the country with her new show Lost for Words, bringing her trademark ‘comedy without the sad bits’ to stages across Australia. “I want to make people feel better and give them a nice escape for an hour.”

Emmanuelle Mattana’s Trophy Boys turns the hyper-competitive world of elite school debating into a sharp, satirical lens on masculinity, power, and influence.