Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Andrew Upton is an accomplished storyteller, theatre-maker, director, producer, and writer for stage and screen, who has adapted and directed works by Chekov, Ibsen, Molière and more. He also spent 8 years as Artistic Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, 5 of those he shared as co-artistic director with his wife Cate Blanchett. But after a life in theatre, Andrew has stepped into new territory,...

In ongoing Sunday Extra puppet news, the largest ever exhibition of the Jim Henson Company's works will be opening at the Queensland Art Gallery in September. Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of the Jim Henson Company will be the first to cover 70 years of the company's history. The exhibition also celebrates 50 years of The Muppets, and the 40th anniversary of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth. Guest:...

Voyager frontman and Eurovision alumnus Danny Estrin has another great love: cars.  He hosts the new SBS documentary series, Precious Metal, exploring the people who love their cars and the stories behind them - including his own unusual Soviet-era ZAZ.  Guest: Danny Estrin, host of Precious Metal and frontman of Voyager. 

In this year's Rex Cramphorn Memorial Lecture, Murrawarri theatre-maker and Moogahlin Performing Arts Artistic Director Lily Shearer reflects on the power of land-based performance and the central role of Country in First Peoples storytelling. She discusses how Moogahlin embeds Country into the commissioning, writing and staging of its work, and why place, belonging and cultural continuity remain...

As AI begins to transform how decisions are made, democracy expert Beth Noveck asks whether we can use AI to make institutions more responsive, deepen citizen participation, and strengthen democracy at a time when confidence in public institutions is under strain. Guest: Professor Beth Noveck, director of The Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University and author of Reboot: AI and t...

Japan's Defence Minister, Shinjiro Koizumi made a visit to Canberra on August 18 to discuss enhancing Australia's defence relationship with Japan with his counterpart, Richard Marles. One measure discussed is a potential arrangement for Japan to test hyperson missiles and "advanced weapons and emerging technologies in Australia".  There was no direct mention of China but the ministerial statement...

This week saw major shifts in Syria's economic and security situation, which have combined to relieve some of the constraints on the government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa. On the security front, a key Kurdish independent fighting force, the SDF, announced its decision to dissolve and merge with the Syrian national army. And earlier in the week, the US removed Syria from the list of state sponsors of t...

Arantza Garcia Ferrand reads her poem Dentist Appointment,  commissioned by Red Room Poetry for Poetry Month and discusses the difference between the written and spoken word as a poet Guest: Arantza Garcia Ferrand, Red Room Poetry Youth Ambassador and winner of 2025 Australian Slam Championship

To describe someone as 'colourful' can sometimes be a euphemistic way of implying some kind of shady activity. But when it comes to Bharat Sundaresen it is a literal description of his wonderfully technicolour outfits and outlandish nail art. Bharat grew up in Mumbai, India a cricket-obsessed kid, but always felt like an outsider in the conservative and hierarchical society. The sense of not belon...

A South Australian indie video game company called Powerbomb Games released a new video game last week, which celebrates the “strangeness” of AFL. Pro Jank Footy is a Street Fighter-style game depicting an AFL match, with commentary by Aunty Donna comedian Broden Kelly, and the more goals that are kicked, the more absurd and chaotic the gameplay gets. David Ashby is one of the creators of Pro Jank...

August is Family History Month, and Jane Hutcheon is someone who intimately understands how to unravel the stories of our ancestors. After 25 years of work as a journalist, including as host of ABC TV’s One Plus One programme, Jane has dedicated herself to the archival work of uncovering family history - both her own, and other people's. Jane's 2022 theatre production Lost in Shanghai is about her...

The emergence of 'hunger stones' — markers from centuries of drought — have emerged from dry riverbeds across Europe. Dominik Collet, professor of climate history, shares the dark stories behind the stones, and the ominous warning they provide for Europe's future climate. Guest: Dominik Collet , Professor of Environmental and Climate History at the University of Oslo

It has been a big week for awards ceremonies with both Logies and the AACTAs gongs being handed out. The other ACTA, the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance also held its annual awards ceremony this week to 'honour the remarkable Australians who advance our health system by designing, conducting, or participating in ground-breaking clinical trials'. Six ACTAs were handed out, including the 2026 AC...

In July, Kazakhstan formally farewelled its bicameral parliament with a new 145-member unicameral parliament, the Kurultai.  On Sunday Kazakhs go to the polls to elect the first members and, on the surface, it looks like the start of a new beginning for the country: after a significant change to the constitution, there is not only a new parliament but also the creation of a Vice President and a Pe...

This week Taiwan set out the 2027 defence spending proposal, which would increase military spending by 18 percent. However, the government of Lai Ching-te has only just managed to pass the 2026 budget after months of political opposition from the KMT, so whether next year’s budget will pass without significant cuts remains to be seen. All this political wrangling is happening in the context of a c...

This week's melodious woodland songster migrates in Spring to Australia's southeast – the Olive-backed Oriole

As the Millennium Drought gripped south-eastern Australia, young farmer Anika Molesworth watched her family's farm near Broken Hill struggle through the effects of a changing climate. Twenty years and three degrees later, she is one of Australia's leading advocates for climate-resilient agriculture and a prominent voice for farmers demanding action on climate change. Guest: Dr Anika Molesworth, ag...

The Memory Tapes is a new podcast from the National Library of Australia that showcases their oral history collection. It features some incredible gems. Like the only recording of the voice of May Gibbs, creator of classic Australian children’s book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie There is also the only known recording of the voice of Howard Florey, joint winner of the The Nobel Prize in 1945 for his wor...

Hard is Puck is a new documentary screening at the Melbourne Film Festival. It follows The Garden Island Pirates, WA's only para ice hockey team and their journey in this bruising, physically demanding sport. Guest: Isaac Elliot, director of the documentary, Hard as Puck

In the wake of Australia's latest Census, data scientist and census historian Andrew Whitby reflects on the enduring power of counting populations, drawing on three millennia of census-taking to show how nations have been shaped by the quest to measure themselves. From the ancient world to today, he argues that while every census is necessarily imperfect, the effort to capture who we are can bring...

Icelanders are preparing to vote in a referendum on whether to re-start long-frozen accession talks with the European Union. The vote on August 29 is seen as a barometer of the EU's ability to recruit new member states, particularly prosperous and democratically-credentialed ones. Domestically, a majority of Icelanders are in favour of talks, but opposed to actually joining the bloc.  Guest: Darre...

Delegates from across the globe have just wrapped up a 10-day session in New York, discussing a proposed UN tax framework that supporters describe as a "pay-where-you-play" model, requiring multinational companies to pay more tax in the countries where they actually generate their profits. Supporters of the framework estimate the changes could raise an extra $500 billion for nations around the wor...

This week the Vietnamese leader Tô Lâm wrapped up a 6-day visit to Australia, during which the two countries agreed to deepen their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, with fresh cooperation agreements regarding defence, agriculture and border security. It was the first visit by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the highest political position in the country, to Australia a...

Colin Barnett describes himself as an ‘accidental politician’, who went on to have a long and successful career in Western Australian state politics. He was elected premier in 2008 and won again in a landslide in 2013 before being swept from power in 2017. He led the state through a period of massive growth, particularly the mining boom and infrastructure growth.

The Sacrifice of Farinelli is a new theatre work based on the life of opera's first superstar, the castrato singer known as Farinelli.  The castrati, singers who were castrated before reaching puberty, sat at the top of the musical hierarchy, though castration is no guarantee of musical success.  Through the story of Farinelli and his brother Riccardo Broschi, a composer, the play wrestles with th...