THE TURNING: Sporting a roll-call of 18 Australian directors, this cinematic adaptation of Tim Winton’s short story collection of the same name was the buzz of the Melbourne Film Festival last month. The roster of big names in these linking and overlapping stories set in a small coastal community is pretty impressive, too, and includes Mia Wasikowska (who is making her directorial debut, along with Stephen Page and David Wenham), Cate Blanchett (pictured), Miranda Otto, Rose Byrne, Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving. September 26
SUPER DISCOUNT: Last year, Geelong’s Back to Back Theatre won best play at the Helpmann awards with Ganesh Versus the Third Reich. Fresh from a New York and European tour, this ensemble of actors, who all have intellectual disabilities, grace Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf 1 at Walsh Bay with the premiere of their new play, (previously titled Laser Beak Man) based on the drawings of young Brisbane artist Tim Sharp, who has autism. Under director Bruce Gladwin, you’ll learn superheroes are made, not born. Previews from September 20, $30-$65, sydneytheatre.com.au
CYNDI LAUPER: “I hate the fact I have a really bad accent,” Cyndi Lauper once told this journalist in her nasal Brooklyn tones. “You know, I can’t stand my speaking voice.” Thank goodness then for her singing voice, and for her songwriting. Lauper will reprise her breakthrough debut album, She’s So Unusual, in these concerts. Be sure to cheer for her 2013 Tony award for her work on the Kinky Boots musical, too. So, would she call her speaking voice distinctive? “For you! For me, it’s horrifying!” September 6-7, $100-$140, enmoretheatre.com.au
EMBEDDED, CRAIG WALSH: Last year, digital video, projection and sound artist Craig Walsh travelled to the Pilbara region of Western Australia at the behest of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, the traditional custodians of the Burrup Peninsula. The four-week residency, supported by mining giant Rio Tinto, has resulted in two new moving-image works and an accompanying series of portraits attempting to entwine landscape, spirituality and rock art. September 12-November 24, free, mca.com.au
SYDNEY FRINGE: 300 events across Sydney over three weeks, September 6 to 29. Sydney Fringe website
I’m So Excited: Putting the Pointer Sisters’ dance hit to use in ways never before imagined, a plane-load of people heading to Mexico City face impending doom. Perhaps it’s Pedro Almodóvar’s allegory for the state of Spain’s culture and economy: sex and death and scarce dollars. With cameos by Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz. September 19
Blue Jasmine: Last time Sydneysiders saw Cate Blanchett, she played a surreal sister-in-crime with fellow maid Isabelle Huppert in The Maids on stage. In Woody Allen’s latest film, loosely based on A Streetcar Named Desire, she enters a more realist mode as a woman who faces a life crisis and heads to San Francisco to reconnect with her sibling. Blanchett and co-star Sally Hawkins are surely destined for Oscar nominations. September 5
Stories We Tell: Director and actor Sarah Polley turns the camera on her family, in particular her actor father Michael and actor and casting director mother Diane, in this documentary that combines Super-8 home movies with reconstructions of events and interviews. The film has been described as complex, disturbing and great. September 26
Return to Earth: Paige Rattray directs Lally Katz’s play, which premiered in Melbourne in late 2011. It’s a funny tale of family and of forgiveness – or the lack of it. Katz’s work, including Stories I Want to Tell You in Person andSmashed, has always embraced the quirky. Previews from September 4, $28-$35, griffintheatre.com.au
Small and tired: Kit Brookman’s play was written especially for Luke Mullins, last seen in the epic Angels in America. The tale takes the myth of Orestes into contemporary times and asks if we must relearn love from generation to generation. Also stars Tom Conroy and Sandy Gore. Previews from September 26, $25-$45, belvoir.com.au
Camp: Director Mark Kilmurry once lied to his wife that he enjoyed camping, then went and had the “most awful experience I’ve ever had”. Kilmurry says when he first read Gary Baxter’s script, which captures the essence of camping in Australia, he laughed himself silly. Premiering at the Ensemble. Previews from September 19, $30-$57, ensemble.com.au
Killer Cooks: She bakes, she sings: Clare McCallum’s show celebrates both the celebrity chef phenomenon and the murderous Mrs Lovett she has portrayed on stage in Sweeney Todd. McCallum sings for her supper with Psycho Killer, I Can Cook Too and A Formidable Marinade. September 18, $20 show only, $50 with supper, slide.com.au
Fearless Baroque: German soprano Simone Kermes is described by the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra as a “highly original baroque rock chick”. This is her Australian debut, and you can expect arias by Porpora, Pergolesi and Leo, with Matt Bruce on baroque violin. September 4, 6, 7, 11and 13, $30-$154, brandenburg.com.au
Amanda Palmer: Here she is, at last, with her Grand Theft Orchestra. Palmer had to reschedule earlier concerts due to a friend’s illness. The punk cabaret queen of Kickstarter fundraising seems to love Australia, so we’ll let her satirise us: starting with her song about Vegemite, which she dubbed the “black death”. September 14, $68, enmoretheatre.com.au
Primavera 2013: This is the place to find the next big artist: the Museum of Contemporary Art’s annual exhibition of young artists (aged 35 and under). It is curated by Robert Cook, the Art Gallery of Western Australia’s curator of modern and contemporary photography and design. September 12-November 17, free, mca.com.au
BEAMS: This arts festival kicked off last year, with the back lanes of Chippendale adorned with innovative lighting and video projects from nearby UTS students and creative businesses, plus plenty of original performances by musicians and actors, and art on display. September 21, from 5pm, free, beamsfestival.com.au
Art and About: So you’re looking for art in unusual places? Join the throng for the 12th year of this annual program, including a Friday night launch in Martin Place, with artist Shaun Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival projected onto a giant screen accompanied by a live orchestral score. September 20 to October 20, various locations, artandabout.com.au
