If Perth got the kind of photographic makeover that New York enjoys, it would be a fortunate city, says ABC 720's cultural correspondent Victoria Laurie

What distinguishes Fringe from mainstream? Whimsy and a touch of Circus Interruptus, says 720's cultural correspondent Victoria Laurie

From Nashville to Paris, two concerts bring the summer cultural drought to an end.

A great and tragic documentary and for all its ability to bear witness to terrible truths, is likely to be swept under the priceless furnishings of the Vatican.

This is Cotillard as you've never seen her, haunted, broken by life, and in the hands of a great director in Jacques Audiard, a visual wild man who takes no emotional prisoners!

It's "Die Hard in the White House" as Gerard Butler seeks to save the day, but this action drama packs few real thrills.

Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Denis Menochet, Bastien Ughetto, Jean-Francois Balmer, Yolande Moreau, Catherine Davenier, Vincent Schmitt, Jacques Bosc

This jaunty look at the Cosmic Psychos's 30-year history has unexpected depths

Sometimes the people who make the biggest contributions to our culture can be pretty strange characters.

James Blake brought is soulful electric music to the Astor

NORPA's 2013 season opened with the captivating gothic classic, Frankenstein, and what a pick that was to see in the renovations at Lismore City Hall.

The October long week was a weekend of festivals. It had me zooming from Tyagarah for the Boomerang indigenous arts festival, on to Nimbin for a spot of basketweaving at the Weave and Mend Festival and then out to Mullumbimby for the Circus Festival on Sunday. And I still didn't make it down to Ballina for their Country Music Festival.

'Brief Encounter' serves as a poignant little reminder of the volcano ready to erupt beneath the cover of a mediocre suburban life.

One of the most influential lyricists of the past 50 years delivered a marathon performance of his classics in a voice that gets richer by the year.

David O Russell charts the rise and fall of con artists and shady characters in this 70s era comedic drama, and the results are fantastic

Bit by bit, children's play The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean reveals itself to be one of those rare love stories that really touch you.

Disney's stage adaptation of its 1994 animated classic 'The Lion King' has returned to Australia, and what a breathtaking production it is.

Those who find opera difficult to get their head around may be pleasantly surprised by WA Opera's latest offering.

'The Importance of Being Earnest' rightfully sits in the list of classic plays, and a near full-house at Wollongong's Illawarra Performing Arts Centre on opening night of this touring production shows it's still one of our most loved.

Relaxed and resplendent in mid-pregnancy as my friend described her - and she was.

Black Swan's Venus in Fur promises a night of sizzling hot adult drama, but it left 720 ABC Perth's reviewer Sinead Mangan lukewarm.

After Damien Ryan's energetic and enjoyable Henry V last year, it is pleasing to see that Bell Shakespeare has brought the director back to tackle Shakespeare's most complex and nuanced tragedy, Hamlet. And the marriage is a solid one. To start, casting Josh McConville as the grief-struck prince of Denmark has paid off handsomely. McConville approaches Hamlet's descent into his 'prison' of madness with powerful and dexterous complexity, bringing the contradictions that render the character into a fulsome and multi-faceted presentation of Shakespeare's vision for Hamlet.

Australian consumers are slowly opening up to the idea of eating a different kind of poultry the black-skinned chicken.

Australia's first liquid natural gas import terminal will be built at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, with hopes it will secure thousands of jobs and meet the bulk of the state's gas needs.

Swimming in icy water is not something everyone aspires to do but it should be, according to an outdoor swimming enthusiast.

Near a small town in northern New South Wales horse blood is being harvested to aid researchers and diagnostics.

As a river runs dry in the northern basin, the blame game continues, and farmer Andrew Watson says irrigators are being unjustly targeted over water use.

Matt Clifton grew up with a passion for music, but his small-town upbringing meant live music events were few and far between, so he brought one home.

A Tamworth teacher has developed the first Australian curriculum exploring regenerative agriculture.

Smoking rates have dropped massively since the 70s down from 40 per cent to only 14 per cent but some areas of the country are not getting the message.

Australia's colonial banks are given new lives as bank branches close across regional Australia.

Margaret Fulton, who inspired generations of Australians to think beyond bangers and mash, leaves a legacy of culinary flair.

Australia's largest agricultural field day may not exactly be a spending spree this year, but it does provide farmers with a reprieve from drought.

A decision to prioritise a controversial coal project over the protection of Indigenous sacred sites has landed the Federal Environment Minister at the centre of a fierce legal battle.

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses has collated data from official stewards' documents and found 122 horses died in the past year.

The NSW Rural Fire Service says there are 65 bush and grass fires burning across the state, but no emergency warnings are in place. Six fires have been downgraded to watch and act or advice status after spending much of the day as emergencies due to dry and windy conditions.

Two dangerous fires near Tenterfield and Armidale are downgraded as firefighters keep properties out of danger, but the dwindling water supply and expected strong winds will make today challenging.

With dams and creeks bone dry in drought-stricken towns, firefighters are being forced to find ways to combat blazes that are almost impossible to extinguish.

Ten years ago Chris Roby sought help from the Salvos for crippling alcoholism; he's now leading a group of men fighting addiction to help their local community's response to bushfires.

A bushfire threatening homes at Drake, near Tenterfield, is downgraded as the threat to houses eases.