LE NOIR – The Dark Side of Cirque” is billed as an extraordinary evening of intimate cirque style entertainment from 24 of the best performers from all four corners of the globe, many formerly from Cirque du Soleil.

HERE in Canberra it’s offering a 360 degree view of the stage. May 6-10 Canberra Theatre, bookings to canberatheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

MEANTIME madcap grand-dame Miriam Margolyes, joined by pianist John Martin, reflects on the family influences which have shaped her career and her love of literary giants including Shakespeare, Dickens and Wilde. She inhabits over 20 characters with a dazzling variety of the accents for which she is notorious. Canberra Playhouse, May 6-9 bookings to canberatheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

BRIAN Cadd, Joe Camilleri, Kate Ceberano, Glenn Shorrock and Aussie saxophone legend Wilbur Wilde will perform in the Apia Good Times Tour, hits designed to have audiences rocking to the good times. Royal Theatre, this Sunday May 10, bookings to 132 849 ticketek.com

23 PERFORMERS aged 10-25 take to the stage in a monologue showcase produced by Kirsty Budding and featuring locals. Over 50 young people auditioned for the show, which features monologues by playwrights from across Australia, including locals Judith Peterson, John Lombard, Angus Algie and Budding. The monologues range in genre with a skew towards comedy, and are divided into a 6pm show for Under 17s and an 8pm show for Over 17s. May 7-8 at Teatro Vivaldi, 6pm & 8pm, bookings to buddingtheatre.com/tickets $25 adult $20 concession

“ICE Texts” by artist David Buckland is a thought-provoking exhibition opening at the National Arboretum Canberra this weekend. The exhibition, which highlights the impacts of climate change, has been brought to Canberra as part of a collaboration between the European Union Delegation in Australia and CLIMARTE and has been compiled through Buckland’s seven Arctic expeditions aboard a 100-year-old Norwegian ship with a crew of artists and scientists. This Saturday May 9 at 10.30 am in the Village Centre the artist will talk about his work and its implication. All welcome, the show runs until Monday June 8.

RUNNING from 7 May – 24 at M16 Artspace in Griffith from 12 – 5pm, Wednesday – Sunday are three new shows, ‘MIRAGE – Desert Forms and Images’ by Louise Owen, Rasha Ajaj’s new exhibition ‘Madonna,’ a large-scale projection of a series of images brought together in digital form and ‘A Dream Within a Dream’ by Canberra-based photographer Parisa Applegarth credits her nomadic upbringing as the driving force behind her love of photographing ‘somewhat inaccessible people and places’.

FORMERLY head of the Gold and Silversmithing Workshop at the ANU for more than 29 years, Johannes Kuhnen has now departed from aluminium and titanium to produce brooches, pendants and rings using sedimentary and volcanic rocks and stones. “Painting in Stone”, Bilk Gallery, Manuka, May 8-June 6. Opening tomorrow May 8, 6pm, all welcome.

A MULTIMEDIA exhibition of artwork donated by local and interstate artists to raise money for the gallery@bcs Community Arts Support Program can be seen at Belconnen Community Centre Swanson Crt Belconnen Mon-Fri -9am-5:30pm until May 15. Over the years gallery@bcs has developed a number of community driven exhibition series designed to provide opportunities for disadvantaged or emerging artists to exhibit their work and has most recently instituted the RESPECT series as part of the BCS Reconciliation Action Plan.

GRANDE’S cafe in The Lawns in Manuka is exhibiting some of Pamela Scott-Child’s new drawings and collages based on the bush landscape around Lilli Pilli on the south coast. The exhibition “The Landscape-the way I see it” runs until June 16.

KATI Thamo is a skilled printmaker with an imagination that fills her work with allegory and visual ambiguity. Drawing on her Eastern European heritage, her recent works on paper are seen in “Retold”. Maureen Williams is a respected artist at the forefront of Australian glass practice who uses high-temperature enamel paint that worked into linear engravings and sandblasted areas. Both have works on show at Beaver Galleries, 81 Denison St, Deakin, Tue to Fri 10am – 5pm & Sat and Sun 9am – 5pm from 7 – 26 May.

SKETCHES made during Kerry McInnis’s Antarctica trip in December 2012, and the resulting body of studio work will be exhibited at Wagner Art Gallery, 39 Gurner St Paddington from this Saturday 9 May, well worth a look if you’re in Sydney.

“COLLECTIVE Images” is an exhibition by artists Aina Atkins, Helen De Jonge, Ros Dudek, Sheila Duke, Jane Eustice and Lesley Whitten to be opened at Ginninderra School House Gallery, Gold Creek, Nicholls, by well-known Canberra artist, Isla Patterson this Saturday May 9, at 2pm, all welcome.

ANN Carr-Boyd has produced a diverse and prolific output of chamber music over the years. Her composition ‘Fandango’ was voted one of the top 100 works in ABC Classic FM’s survey of chamber music. “Flying West”, her joyful and fun-filled suite for recorder, harpsichord and cello, can be hear this Saturday 9 May at 7.30pm in Wesley Centre, National Circuit, Forrest. Children 12 or under free. Bookings to thoroughbass.com.auMUSICA Viva has The Goldner String Quartet performing Ligeti, Stanhope and Beethoven this Friday 8 May at 7pm in Llewellyn Hall, bookings to musicaviva.com.au

CANBERRA Potters’ artist-in-residence Michiko Takada, has been in Canberra since March. Michiko first came to Canberra about 15 years ago and later, after graduating from Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2003 with a Master’s Degree, she developed a fascination with how spaces create interesting and beautiful ‘space structures’. You can see some of them from 7 to 24 May, 10am to 4pm Thursday to Sunday, at Watson Arts Centre 1 Aspinall Street, Watson.

BELCONNEN Arts Centre has been successful in achieving $8,000 in matched funding through the Creative Partnerships Australia ‘Plus1’ program. To receive the matched funding, BAC needs to successfully generate $8,000 in donations by May 29. You can chip in via pozible.com all donations above $2 are tax deductible.

“DANCE on the Edge” is at Belconnen Arts Centre, 8:00pm Saturday 9 May & 2:00pm Sunday 10 May Celebrate Dance week 2015 with ACT Dance Artists exploring their dance practice. You’ll see dance and dance films pushing boundaries into new and unexpected places. Performers will include Alison Plevey, Emma Strapps, Holly Diggle and company, Rachael Hilton and Melissa Lee from Hilal Dance Canberra, GOLDS from Canberra Dance Theatre, QL2 Youth Dancers and a dance film from Liz Lea Company.