Here’s something different: an acrobatic troupe from Nairobi called the Black Blues Brothers, who HELEN MUSA, in her latest Arts in the City columns, describes as “showstopping”. 

In an unlikely match of cultures, five acrobats trained at the Sarukazi Trust in Nairobi pay tribute to John Landis’ cult film in their show The Black Blues Brothers. Set in a nightclub like the Cotton Club, with a vintage radio playing ‘80s hits from the movie, the club’s barman and waiters transform into performers who use every chair, table, and coat rack available to stage showstopping feats. The Pope is one of their fans. Canberra Theatre, April 18. 

Lexi Sekuless has scored a coup by securing the screening of 12 productions that have been recorded on film for audiences, just like the UK’s National Theatre Live. Jonathan Biggins’ The Gospel According to Paul will be seen on April 18, May 3 and May 22, while Whitefella Yella Tree, by Canberra playwright Dylan Van Den Berg, will be on April 19, May 8 and May 23. Australian Theatre Live, The Mill Theatre, Fyshwick. 

A new partnership between the National Gallery of Australia and the Bowness Family Foundation will enable four photography exhibition tours across Australia, starting with Nan Goldin: The ballad of sexual dependency, in WA and later the show Olive Cotton and her contemporaries, which will travel to the Hawkesbury Regional Art Gallery, Gippsland Art Gallery and Cowra Regional Art Gallery. 

Liv Hewson, one of Canberra Youth Theatre’s most successful exports and the star of the Paramount + with Showtime series Yellowjackets, is donating $100,000 over the next five years that will go directly to subsidising pre-professional training programs for emerging theatre artists. Now based in the US, Hewson is one of many alumni who swung into action after the company announced last year that it was scaling back operations. 

Llewellyn Choir’s main work for its Palm Sunday concert will be Invictus: A Passion, by British composer Howard Goodall, who created the themes to the TV shows The Vicar of Dibley and Mr Bean. Wesley Music Centre, April 13. 

Cate Clelland is staging Sophocles’ Antigone over Easter for Greek Theatre Now, with Ella Buckley in the title role. Burbidge Amphitheatre, Australian National Botanic Gardens, April 18-21. Patrons are advised to bring a cushion.