It’s not all about the big mainstage productions, 2023 has shown, as Canberra’s artistic treasures are often found in smaller venues, writes arts editor HELEN MUSA.

THEATRE

“King Lear” directed by Joel Horwood. At The Q, November-December.

KAREN Vickery’s King Lear took her audience on a compelling journey from the illusory trappings of power to the discovery of human significance in Joel Horwood’s tight, thrilling production of Shakespeare’s dark tragedy, a milestone for Echo Theatre.

MUSIC

“Apocryphon of Initiation”, Edward Neeman. At the ANU School of Music, September.

IN a performance that put everything else in the shade, Edward “Teddy” Neeman wove musical magic when he performed “Apocryphon of Initiation” by the now 89-year-old Larry Sitsky. 

Neeman explored the full capacity of the piano, becoming at once the conductor, soloist and full orchestra as he articulated Sitsky’s finer melodies with delight, ferocity and passion.

MUSIC THEATRE/JAZZ

“In His Words: Voices of Fatherhood”, Creswick (Liam Budge). At The Street Theatre, June.

IN his magnum opus on fatherhood, jazz singer/composer Creswick, (Liam Budge) supported by a crack team of Australia’s top jazz instrumentalists investigated the role of fathers in their children’s lives in a verbatim stage work created from transcripts of his interviews with nine fathers.

VISUAL ART

“Occupied” by Kate Stevens. At Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka, February.

IN a prescient exhibition, Kate Stevens created a beautiful suite of oil paintings on an unlikely subject, bombed-out Gaza, put together as a kind of paused frame telling, a story that relentlessly repeats. She’s never been to Gaza, but has spent years seeing disturbing media images of havoc and explosions, so set about capturing the beauty and the terror of Gaza in the way only paint can do.

DANCE

“Lucie in the Sky”, Australasian Dance Collective. At The Playhouse, July.

IN a new type of theatrical experience, the interplay between dancers and drones in this edgy production led viewers on a gentle journey of the place and possibilities of AI and of human and technological interaction, opening up the terrifying prospect of robots with emotions and independent thought.