Elizabeth Flux

For Corrie Chen, the chance to direct the groundbreaking television series New Gold Mountain was the fulfilment of a dream.

With a Netflix show and a headline at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the surreal troupe Aunty Donna has come a long way from their Ballarat days.

Although there are serious concerns about how easily the new variants of coronavirus can be transmitted, scientists remain confident that the vaccines in use will have a significant protective effect.

The pharmaceutical supply chain – from raw ingredients to the bathroom cabinet – is a complicated science in itself. The onset of Covid-19 has also highlighted how fragile it can be.

Four years ago, children’s author Ted Prior thought he had finished with his beloved character Grug. But with a new book and a theatre adaptation celebrating its 10th anniversary, it seems that he is far from done. “I just enjoy the way young children think and the way they do things – and I think there is a bit of the young child in all of us.”

“If they had given me a choice in who I’d want to haunt for the rest of their mortal life, it would have been a toss-up between a celebrity – a real celebrity, although I don’t really mind which one, they all kind of homogenise after a point – …”

Amid the rush to unpick the mysteries of Covid-19 and its effects, clinicians are scrambling to understand the information they have and prioritise what needs to be looked at next.

If death is a certainty, so is the fact that the Earth is running out of space for cemeteries. Two Australians are trying to design a solution.

Almost two decades after the wild success of Black Books, Dylan Moran returns to Australia with a new stand-up show, Dr Cosmos. He talks about finding his place in the world and what a Charlie Chaplin film has to say about modern life. “What was extraordinary to me throughout Modern Times was how inclusive it was. Chaplin was laughing in the most general sense at the way we’re living, what we’re doing to ourselves, how we’re fucking up our priorities, you know? We need a film just like that about now. I think how we live is pretty screwy right now.”

A chat in a cafe with Geraldine Barlow, head of international art for the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art.

Exiled from South Africa as a teenager, Lebo M made his way to the US with nothing but his talent. Eventually he escaped poverty and built a career, creating one of cinema’s most iconic and enduring musical moments. “You get driven and get motivated by the fact that where you come from opportunity was zero, and you have an indirect responsibility to be somebody.”

A visit to the studio of composer Cale Sexton to discuss his commission for the Federation Bells.

At the National Gallery of Victoria, the ancient terracotta warriors of Xi’an are exhibited with the work of contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang, provoking a conversation about history, legacy and immortality.

While old-style public housing apartment blocks conjure fond memories of the ‘real’ Hong Kong, a flawed system has seen them unable to keep up with demand, leading to near-intolerable living conditions for many tenants.

Morning in the Shik restaurant kitchen with Peter Jo.

A walk through the mind of MC Escher with Oki Sato, from Japanese design studio Nendo.

A conversation side-stage with the director of Victorian Opera’s Lorelei.

Where once he was Tickled, New Zealand documentary-maker David Farrier has most recently devoted himself to visiting ghoulish sites of so-called ‘dark tourism’. Here, he talks about murky ethics, Kiwi sensibilities and the pressure to react the ‘right’ way. “There’s one point where I’ve got a gun to my head and I laugh, because I’m sort of nervous. “Some people will say to me that it was really inappropriate to laugh at that point … [But] that’s what happened. It’s uncomfortable laughter. We wanted to leave all that in.”

Pizza with “full-time geek” and entrepreneur Skaidris Gunsmith.

Michelle Law is a prolific writer, working across stage and screen, whose biggest achievement is in telling the stories of an unrepresented migrant experience. “A lot of people would come out and be like, ‘I’ve never seen a story that I could relate to in that way’ and ‘That was me growing up’ or ‘That’s me now’.”

An American stand-up comic writes about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs.

A tour of the State Library of Victoria’s little known magic collection uncovers an archive of conjuring memorabilia.

After years of juggling a day job and creative aspirations, actor and photographer Benjamin Rigby has a breakout role in blockbuster Alien: Covenant. So will previously closed doors begin to open?