Kristian Fredrikson

The Goddard family is about to be torn apart by the arrival of Australian conscription during the Vietnam War.

Macauley is a swagman on the road in the 1940s looking for work. He's a laid back, laconic sort of bloke but when he gets landed with his daughter after his drunken play-girl wife in Adelaide makes him face up to what she believes are his responsibilities, neither he nor his daughter are ready for each other. But in the beginning he's all she's got, and at the end, she's all he's got.

Peggy Van Praagh directs Coppélia, a ballet by Arthur Saint-Léon inspired by Hoffmann’s haunting short story The Sandman. The story narrates the adventures of Swanilda (played by the sublime Ako Kondo) and Franz (the majestic Chengwu Guo), two lovers put to the test by the magician Dr. Coppelius, a manufacturer of automaton dolls. In Van Praagh’s production, Franz falls under the spell of Coppélia, the daughter of the ill-intentioned Coppelius. Swanilda manages to save her fiancé from a sinister fate, and the two lovers marry and seal their union with a tender pas de deux. The magnificent décor of the Sydney Opera House, the sumptuous costumes by Kristian Fredrikson, and the highly theatrical nature of the ballet and the music by Léo Delibes make it easy to be swept away into this magical world!

The trials and tribulations of the Goddard family after the entry of Australia into the Vietnam War.

Described as "an Aboriginal Kramer vs Kramer," this is the moving account of an Aboriginal political activist fighting his white ex-wife for joint custody of their son.

This delightful ballet tells the story of Dr Coppelius, an eccentric toymaker, who attempts to bring life to his beautiful doll Coppélia. He is foiled by the mischevious Swanilda, who masquerades as Coppélia and saves her love, Franz, from the Doctor's magic. Recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, this acclaimed production by Dame Peggy van Praagh, the founding Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet, is a triumph.

This acclaimed adaptation of Tchaikovsky's fabled masterwork from Graeme Murphy and the Australian Ballet tells the story of a famous Russian ballerina who immigrates to Australia in the 1940s, only to find a newly tumultuous life awaiting. Noel Smith conducts the State Orchestra of Victoria, and Vicki Attard, Siobhan Elsmann, Steven Heathcote and Dame Margaret Scott star in this 1994 production. Nutcracker was recorded live at the State Theatre, Melbourne, Sep. 22, 1994.