Across The Aisle

This month Team Aisle go gayer and queerer than usual with our annual Midsumma show. We cover Sara Ward's incredible space rock opera The Legend of Queen Kong Episode II and our second show is Adam Ibrahim and Samuel Russo's queering of Jean Genet's The Maids.

Join us for a special episode covering The Infirmary - a Triage Live Art Collective immersive experience. This episode is told in the first person of our experience in surrendering to the process of death and care. We hope you enjoy it.

It's summer! The gang bring you all summer related goods including how to be a Badass by Tash York at The Butterfly Club and Suddenly Last Summer by Little Ones Theatre at Red Stitch. During intermission we discuss the mini-series Waco and King Lear via National Theatre Live. Coming soon heralds Midsumma - top picks include Merciless Gods, The Legend of Queen Kong Ep II + The Homosapiens. Also there is Christian Marclay's 24 hour video piece The Clock at ACMI and MON FOMA, Sydney Festival.

Melbourne International Arts Festival episode! The gang talk all things festival - featuring Song For a Weary Throat by Rawcus Ensemble (and featuring the Invenio Singers) and Re-Member Me by Dickie Beau. Intermission chats include the Elysian Ensemble and Hubei Symphony Orchestra.

This month the gang have two very disparate experiences - Do You Know Me? a site specific work on homelessness for Melbourne Fringe Festival and Spartacus, the brand new production of a very old tale by the Australian Ballet. During intermission MOMA at NGV a given D- and both hosts discuss their favourite works from the recent Fringe Festival. Coming soon recommends include classical music and visual art.

The gang are joined by a very special guest Richard Watts, Australia's pre-eminent arts journalist, arts advocate and homosexualist, together they cover Samarah Hersch's Dybbuks at Theatreworks and Nakkiah Lui's Blackie Blackie Brown at the Malthouse Theatre.

The gang go and see William Tell by Victorian Opera and The Death of Walt Disney by MKA. We talk feudal hipster DILFS, gender non-binary opera representations, exploding apple fails, soprano sexism, our current favourite podcasts, the myths about lemmings and Korean garbage disposal.

The gang see The Australian Ballet's latest contemporary dance piece "Verve" and Justin Shoulder's "Carrion" at Arts House, where the future human is a shapeshifting turtle. During intermission we revisit The Crown and Queer Eye and discuss snacking methods for festival season, our late MIFF picks and suggestions for stoner film experience

The gang get dilated pupils of lust at Little Ones Theatre adaptation of Oscar Wilde's poem The Nightingale and the Rose - staged at Theatre Works. They then spend quality time with an Indigenous family rocked by suicide in Brothers Wreck at The Malthouse. Both performances affected our hosts quite deeply.

Jasmine Moseley of the The Australian Ballet joins us for Intermission and Coming Soon - featuring the Head On Photo Festival and virtual reality in Canberra. This month's shows discussed are De Stroyed by Jillian Murray and Suzanne Chaundy Director at fortyfivedownstairs and The House of Bernarda Alba - an Australian reimagining of the Federico Garcia Lorca play, by Patricia Cornelius and Leticia Ines Caceres at Melbourne Theatre Company.

An intriguing pair of one-woman shows are discussed: Jodee Mundy's "Personal" at Arts House plus "Fleabag" by Phoebe Waller-Bridge at the Malthouse. Are family tragedies always comic? At intermission, contemporary art in Kyneton and "Unsane" on Soderbergh's phone.

Our shows this month take us to 70's England, dripping with middle class malaise in Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party (via the MTC). We then move into industrialised robot lady future and beyond with Angela Goh's Uncanny Valley, Girl, as part of the Festival of Live Art. Carla and Phil also chat in depth about Phantom Thread, classical music in Collingwood carparks (Penny Quartet/Play On), Dark Mofo, MSO Metropolis new music festival and Fleabag.

This month the gang talk cycling in Melbourne, Queer Eye, Philip finds out what MAFS means and all our MQFF and Comedy Festival tips. But more importantly our shows for this month are Taylor Mac's Hir at Red Stitch and Good Muslim Boy at the Malthouse.

Happy Midsumma! This months episode celebrates all things queer and DRAG. Carla and Philip go and see two very different drags shows - the development separated by 20+ years but still very similar in sentiment. The reboot of the musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and the brand new play Dragged by Tasmanian playwright Andy Aisbett.

In this summer edition of the podcast, Carla and Philip remember their top cultural and theatrical experiences of 2017, awarding informal (but very prestigious) gongs to their Best Ofs. Stage shows are muddled in the second half of the episode with film, television, political movements and the visual arts.

In the true spirit of globalisation the gang go and see Henry the V by Shakespeare, presented by London's The Globe Theatre in a POP UP staffed by Kiwi actors, down at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Our second show this month is the new(ish) Australian play by Sandra Fiona Long - Birdcage Thursdays. A tender exploration about ageing parents, mental illness and social stigma.

Across the Aisle's October episode every year is devoted to Melbourne Festival. This year the gang attended a 6 hour performance by Taylor Mac and a panel of elderly people talking about their sex lives.

A new play about adoption and a water ballet about menstruation are discussed. At intermission, Carla and Philip talk Melbourne Fringe [gamelan + improvised Shakespeare] and brand new Star Trek.

Covering Nightdance by Melanie Lane at Arts House and David Williamson's new work Credentials at La Mama, two very different works that we felt beautifully book ended the spectrum of work we can see in Melbourne.

One company, two productions and a special guest! In this queer episode of Across the Aisle, Carla and Philip attend "The Moors" at Red Stitch and "Merciless Gods" at Northcote Town Hall, considering the work of Little Ones Theatre across two sites. Podcast supporter Wesa Chau joins them at intermission to share her insights, and the guide to Melbourne Fringe is riffled.