The Stage Show

The Stage Show with Michael Cathcart has wound up after eight years on air. In this highlights of 2025 episode:Playwright Andrea James researched a story from the 1840s, in which colonial newspapers suggested that a 'white woman' – maybe the survivor of a shipwreck – had been taken captive by Gunaikurnai people in what is now eastern Victoria.  Andrea interrogates the legend in a riveting play called The Black Woman of Gippsland. First broadcast April 29, 2025.Jason Arrow is known to many as the titular character in Hamilton where he had an extraordinary run both in Australia and internationally. In April 2025 he put his breeches and coat tails away and donned a 1950s dapper suit for the character of Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Opera Australia’s Guys and Dolls on Sydney Harbour. He sings for us the showstopper Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat! First broadcast April 1, 2025.Damien Warren-Smith is the comedian behind Garry Starr, the (increasingly nude) clown who has toured highly successful shows like Garry Starr Performs Everything, Greece Lightning and Classic Penguins, which won rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and won him an award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Garry may be a buffoon, but Damien takes clowning very seriously. First broadcast March 11, 2025.

It’s one of those roles which great actors have on their to-do list: Winnie in the play Happy Days by Samuel Beckett.  Winnie starts the play buried up to her waist in dirt. In Act 2 she’s buried up to her neck! Acclaimed actor Pamela Rabe tell us what makes this such an iconic play and how she approached it as both co-director and star of Happy Days for the Sydney Theatre Company in 2025.In the play POV (Point of View), 11-year-old Bub directs a pair of adult actors on stage, to re-enact scenes from her life. There's a catch: it's the first time the actors have seen the script, and Bub is filming them for a documentary. This innovative work by collective re:group is all about how a kid experiences the mental illness of a parent. We chat to young actors Mabelle Rose and Edie Whitehead, who play Bub, and director Solomon Thomas.What if Celine Dion wasn't just the torch-bearing soundtrack to Titanic — but the main character? That's the premise of a hilarious musical parody called Titanique, which originated off Broadway and in 2025 proved very popular here in Australia. A cast of 11 joins The Stage Show, led by powerhouse Marney McQueen. First broadcast May 27, 2025.

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is retold in the hit folk musical  Hadestown. It's won Tonys, Grammys and is now in Australia. We speak to the singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell, who wrote Hadestown as a concept album, before touring it around in an old bus and then turning it into a remarkable stage show with the Broadway director Rachael Chavkin. First broadcast March 18.Back stage... The make up artist. Meet the veteran head of WHAM (that's wardrobe, hair and make-up) Fiona Cooper-Sutherland as she transforms Christine Anu into Hermes, the silver god for Hadestown. First broadcast May 20.How would you create a play that a four year old could understand? How about a four month old? Sally Chance and Stephen Noonan do just that, carefully creating works of theatre for the very early years. Stephen's the Boy & the Ball is on as part of the Dream Big children's festival in South Australia. Composer of The Thing That Matters: Heather Frahn. First broadcast April 15.

More highlights from The Stage Show. We meet Irish screen and theatre actor Stephen Rea, who talks about meeting Samuel Beckett early in his career. Rea so wanted to perform Beckett's play Krapp's Last Tape, he had the foresight to record his youthful self reading it. In his  production at Adelaide Festival, the audience got to hear those recordings.We head Back Stage to the hat maker's studio! In fiction there are lots of characters who are famous for their hats. Robin Hood. Sherlock Holmes.  Lady Bracknell (she needs a ridiculous hat). In our new series Back Stage, Michael meets theatre milliner Phillip Rhodes, who reveals how hats bring a character to life. Butoh is a dance form that started in Japan in the 1950s and was called 'the dance of darkness'. Dancers often wear white body paint and explore raw psychological states. But it can also be outrageous and funny, as veteran performer Yumi Umiumare tells us about her own life practising Butoh. Yumi's latest show was Butoh Bar: Out of Order II for Asia TOPA. First broadcast March 4 2025.

In 2025 Australian theatre legend Robyn Nevin directed And Then There Were None, a classic murder mystery by Agatha Christie. She talks to Michael about the darkness in Christie's stories, her view on changing acting styles and how Robyn finds her 'inner clown'. Playwright Patricia Cornelius explains why she had five actors playing the world's most famous hacker — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, in her 2025 play TRUTH. She's joined by director Susie Dee.And you’ll discover a ballet about the great Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Michael speaks to Australian Ballet principal artist Callum Linnane, who first danced the part nine years ago in the ballet Nijinsky. First broadcast Feb 11.