Another week, another Arts in City column, arts editor HELEN MUSA’s weekly look at the local arts and entertainment scene.

Indigenous-intercultural dance company, Marrugeku, will have a frank conversation about the rates of indigenous Australians in custody in Jurrungu Ngan-ga (Straight Talk), inspired by perspectives on incarceration. Among the collaborators are Senator Patrick Dodson, writer Behrouz Boochani, choreographer Dalisa Pigram, visual artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah and rapper Rhyan Clapham (Dobby). The Playhouse August 23-24.

Artist Wendy Sharpe will be in conversation with visual arts journalist and writer Elizabeth Fortescue for the opening of her exhibition, Games of Chance. The opening night will also include the Canberra launch of Sharpe’s new book, Many Lives. Aarwun Gallery, Federation Square, Nicholls, August 23. 

American cellist and clown Karen Hall is stopping over in Canberra with her show Delusions and Grandeur, after a run at the Sydney Fringe Festival. Featuring Suite Number One in G Major by JS Bach and comedic pieces crafted in “idiot classes”, Hall tackles identity, expectations and success through the eyes of a fool. The Mill Theatre, Fyshwick, August 28-30.

Apeiron Baroque is leaping back into the future as it showcases its Walter-style fortepiano. Classical bassoonist Ben Hoadley will join them to perform music by composers such as Edelmann, de Nebra, Haydn, Bengraf, Michl and Fiala. Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, August 18.

Into the Moonlit Village – The Battle of Crete is a new bilingual book of poetry and notes by Cretan-born Australian Poli Tataraki, with 15 linocuts by local artist Michael Winters, to be launched at the Hellenic Club, Woden, on August 22. 

Director, writer and former Daramalan student, Daniel Widdowson, whose documentary Trafficked to Australia we have covered, has filmed a new doco, Mental Health & the Actor’s Life. In it, he interviews CityNews theatre writer and Daramalan College director Joe Woodward as well as Daria Varlamova, Miss Universe Australia 2021, and casting director Tom McSweeney.

Mark Shelley appears as Roy Orbison in a show about the man, his music, and his life. The B, Queanbeyan, August 24.