Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in early 2020. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association in 2021, and a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Photo: Fiona Hamilton. Follow Richard on Bluesky @richardthewatts.bsky.social and Instagram @richard.l.watts

Richard Watts's Latest Articles

A scene from Back to Back Theatre's 2008 work, Food Court. Two plump figures, identically dressed in sleeveless orange vinyl tops, grey leggings and orange sneakers, face each other on a bare stage.
News

Back to Back Theatre recognised as ‘a singular artistic voice’ on the world stage

The Geelong-based company Back to Back Theatre will present a body of work at the 2026 Festival d'Automne à Paris.

Brian Lipson's A Large Attendance In The Antechamber. Photo: Keith Brame.
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A Large Attendance In The Antechamber review: Brian Lipson makes a timely return for Rising

Twenty-six years after its debut, Brian Lipson’s acclaimed A Large Attendance In The Antechamber is back in Melbourne for Rising.

Plastic chairs hang from hooks in an outdoor market, looking as if they're piled atop each other or about to break free. arts sector appointments
Industry News

On the move: latest arts sector appointments

This week’s Australian arts sector appointments include new Chairs at The Song Room and the Art Gallery South Australia Foundation.

Cult band TISM return to the NT for the 2026 Darwin Festival. TISM last played Darwin in 1996, their only gig there to date. The photo shows one member of TISM, dressed in bright red overalls and a matching balaclava, launching himself off the stage towards the crowd; fans stand ready to catch him, arms upraised, behind the crowd barrier. Another TISM member, also dressed in red overalls but wearing a red balaclava and red, rooster-like crest, watches on from the stage.
News

Darwin Festival announces 2026 program

Artistic Director Kate Fell’s final Darwin Festival features cult alt-rock band TISM alongside an array of new cross-cultural and First…

Beau Dean Riley Smith is the inaugural recipient of the Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship. Photo: Supplied.
News

$100,000 dance fellowship announced by Shaun Parker & Company

Beau Dean Riley Smith is the inaugural recipient of the Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship.

A female rock climber, photographed from below as she ascends a sheer rock face. arts sector appointments
News

On the move: latest arts sector appointments

This week’s arts sector appointments include moves to replace La Boite’s outgoing Artistic Director, plus a swathe of new board…

Bloomshed's Pride and Prejudice at Malthouse Theatre, 2026. Characters dressed in exaggerated and colourful versions of Regency era costumes celebrate atop a giant, decorated cake.
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Pride and Prejudice review: Bloomshed’s satirical take is a perfect delight

With Mr Bennet played by a wilting houseplant, exaggeration is the name of the game in this hilarious production of…

A Fair Cut's Lukas Meintjes in character for his Melbourne Fringe show B48Y Crash Lands on Earth!
Features

Melbourne Fringe rejects artists’ requests for A Fair Cut

An open letter calling on Melbourne Fringe to improve the agreements with artists at this year's festival been rejected, however…

Community radio: our national sound. A cartoon image of a green radio drawn in thick black lines against a yellow background.
News

Community radio delivers $153 million to Australian music economy

Community radio stations broadcast more than double the volume of local music played by commercial networks, according to a new…

A blurred figure hurries down a tiled staircase, perhaps to catch a train. arts sector appointments
News

On the move: latest arts sector appointments

This week’s arts sector appointments include a new CEO at Adelaide Fringe.

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