Arts galore in this week’s Artsweek column from HELEN MUSA. 

The National Portrait Gallery’s Gallery 3 rehang opening this weekend features major new acquisitions, collection highlights and some favourites. On view for the first time will be Adrienne Doig’s Aussie Icon: Portrait of Linda Jackson, next to companion nesting dolls by Jenny Kee.

Harvest Day Out, with this year’s theme of Grow – Preserve – Sustain, is at Lanyon Homestead, March 22.

Write Around the World is a collection of the life stories of 26 women, from different cultural and religious backgrounds, demonstrating their similarities rather than the differences. Launch at Terroux Peace Garden, 88, Rochford Road, Wallaroo, March 23.                     

Film

• In Mental Health & the Actor’s Life, Daniel Widdowson explores the highs, lows, benefits and dangers of the entertainment industry’s effects on actors and their mental health. Joe Woodward Theatre, Daramalan College, Dickson, March 21.
• The Great White Whale is an international award- winning cinema film directed by Michael Dillon, revealing Australia’s actual highest mountain, Heard Island, to screen at the Palace Electric Cinemas, March 24.
• Manning Clark House, Forrest, will launch its film appreciation evenings for 2025 on March 23 with a screening of the Stuttgart Ballet’s production of Romeo and Juliet, recorded live at the Opera House of the State Theatre Stuttgart in 2017.

 Theatre

• Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, directed by Karen Vickery, at ACT Hub, Kingston, March 19-29.
• In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, 15-year-old protagonist Christopher finds Mrs Shears’ dead dog, speared with a garden fork and investigates. Belconnen Arts Centre, March 20-April 5. 
• The Moors, by American playwright Jen Silverman, was inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s real letters yet it is hilarious. Mill Theatre, Fyshwick, March 26-April 12.
• Acting Techniques explores various performance techniques, including relaxation and voice exercises for the actor, mime and movement techniques, improvisation skills, characterisation and performance of an established text. Information at 0408 034 373.

Galleries

• Friends of the ANU Classics Museum has its AGM and a talk on ethical curatorship by Melanie Pitkin, from the Chau Chak Wing Museum. RSSS Auditorium, ANU, followed by a reception in the Classics Museum, March 20.

Concerts

• Australian alternative music icon Kim Salmon – the Godfather of Grunge – is playing Canberra with his new band Smoked Salmon. Smith’s Alternative, March 20.
• Phoenix Collective performs American Dreams: A, Mark O’Connor and Adams. All Saints Ainslie, March 21.
• Oriana Chorale performs music of loss, grief and healing by Monteverdi, Eric Whitacre, Ella Macens, Sam Amidon, Paola Prestini and Canberra’s Olivia Swift. Wesley Uniting Church, March 21.
• In An Autumn Dream, Angela Jadric presents a musical voyage through the world of Broadway and Opera, Wesley Music Centre, March 22.
• Apeiron Baroque performs Pluckers and Scratchers, Hannah Lane and Laura Vaughan, showcasing the unusual sound world of violin/d’amore, gamba, harp, and harpsichord. Wesley Uniting Church, March 23.
• Art Song Canberra presents tenor Brad Cooper in Berlin Electric. Wesley Music Centre, March 23.
• Wesley Lunchtime concert series presents Ben Hoadley (bassoon) and Ariana Odermatt (harpsichord). Wesley Music Centre, March 26.