What’s happening where… it’s all in HELEN MUSA’s weekly “Arts in the City” column.

CANBERRA-BORN comedian Frankie McNair has spent her life trying to prove she isn’t dumb, but now she’s facing up to it in her show, “Big Dumb Idiot”, which she bills as “a collaborative chaotic sketch with some of Canberra’s finest comedians and musicians”. In the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre, 9.30pm, Friday, March 20, book at canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700. 

CANBERRA’S funniest people battle it out in the ACT final of “Raw Comedy”, Australia’s biggest comedy competition. Some top comedians started out through “Raw Comedy”, not least ANU alumna Hannah Gadsby. Entrants have five minutes each. Street Theatre, 8.30pm, March 16, bookings at thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223. Registrations at rawcomedy.com.au

CORO, one of our most exquisite chamber choirs, makes a welcome return with Haydn’s dark masterpiece, the “Nelson Mass”, and “Magnificat”, CPE Bach’s first large-scale choral work. Tickets from corocanberra.com or at the door. Wesley Uniting Church, 3pm, Sunday, March 15, book at info@corocanberra.com

THE next Multilingual Poetry Open Mic will feature Thandi Katase, a storyteller from the Makwayi clan of the Xhosa tribe from South Africa, who hosts evening culture shows at the Griffin Centre. She will tell stories and share her original poetry in Xhosa and English, and introduce Canberrans to “Imbongi” praise singing. Smith’s Alternative, Civic, 7-9pm Monday, March 23, book at smithsalternative.com or tickets at the door.

AFTER repeat postponements because of the bushfires, Gallery Bodalla is up and running again, with “Shelter in Place”, a new exhibition by local artists, photographer Toby Whitelaw and printmaker Julie Mia Holmes, in which they reflect on the recent devastating fires. Gallery Bodalla, 66A Princes Hwy, Bodalla, Thursday, March 19 to Sunday, April 12. Drinks with the artists, 3pm, Saturday, March 21, with music by guitarist John Hoorweg. All welcome.

KIRSTY Webeck is dogged by misadventure. This is great for her comedy career, but she says it’s a drain on the public health system. In “Gosh!”, here for the Comedy Festival, Webeck shows how she goes from making mashed potatoes for dinner to being in a hospital emergency room in a foreign country. Novotel, 65 Northbourne Ave, Canberra, 7pm, March 21, book at canberracomedyfestival.com.au