Richard Watts, Author at ArtsHub Australia

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 Florentina Holzinger's 'A year without summer', programmed for RISING 2026. Ten culturally and physically diverse performers wearing hospital whites (including a person lying on a hospital bed and another using a walking frame) sing in front of a larger-than-life nude female torso. Six more white-clad performers are visible at the rear of the stage, performing on a raised, industrial-looking platform.

Features

RISING 2026 is dominated by dance and contemporary music

The inaugural Australian Dance Biennale and an expansive music program make up a considerable part of the 2026 RISING program.

Richard Watts

Mar 11, 2026

A woman stands on a train platform, her hair blowing around her face as a train speeds past behind her, blurred in movement. arts sector appointments

News

On the move: latest arts sector appointments

This week's Australian arts sector appointments include Opera Australia's new Director of Opera.

Richard Watts

Mar 10, 2026

History of Violence at Adelaide Festival 2026. A half-naked actor, covered by a bedsheet, sprawls on stage. His image is cast to a screen behind him by the camera held in a second actor's hands; the second actor wears a white plastic forensic jumpsuit.

History of Violence review: exploring memory, trauma and the nature of truth at Adelaide Festival

History of Violence was stunning proof that the nature of any story, no matter how personal, changes in the telling.

Richard Watts

Mar 7, 2026

Asia Pacific Arts Awards 2026 recipients at Government House Ballroom, WA. A group of 13 adults and a baby, some standing and others kneeling; the group is culturally and gender diverse, and of various ages.

Asia Pacific Arts Awards: honouring diaspora artists and enduring connections

The Asia Pacific Arts Awards, presented by Creative Australia, celebrate creative collaborations that connect communities across borders.

Richard Watts

Mar 6, 2026

Simon Stone's The Cherry Orchard opened Adelaide Festival 2026. Actors stand in front of a glass-fronted house on a large stage, lit blue to indicate it is nighttime. Audience members heads are visible; the photo has been taken in the auditorium, some distance from the stage.

The Cherry Orchard review: a Korean take on Chekhov at Adelaide Festival

Australian expat Simon Stone returned to Adelaide with an adaptation of Chekhov’s final play, The Cherry Orchard, set in contemporary…

Richard Watts

Mar 6, 2026

Janice Gobey, Writers Victoria's Chair. Image: David Patston

Features

Dear Colin Brooks: defunded Victorian arts organisations address Creative Industries Minister

Four of the eight organisations abruptly defunded by Creative Victoria share their message for Creative Industries Minister Colin Brooks.

Richard Watts

Mar 4, 2026

A fair skinned man wearing blue shorts does a backflip of a boat into the water. arts sector appointments

News

On the move: latest arts sector appointments

This week's Australian arts sector appointments include Rachel Perkins, who joins Screen Australia as Director of First Nations Strategy, and…

Richard Watts

Mar 3, 2026

Connor Morel's Good Man at Adelaide Fringe 2026.

Good Man review: a rock-cabaret about rejecting toxic masculinity, at Adelaide Fringe

Connor Morel looks back on his younger exploits with the benefits of hindsight and the backing of a tight and…

Richard Watts

Mar 1, 2026

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker at Adelaide Festival 2026. Cocker, a fair-skinned, middle aged man with glasses, raises his right hand high and sings loudly into a microphone. A video screen behind him shows dazzling, colourful images.

News

‘All voices should be heard’, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker tells Adelaide Festival crowd

Cocker's pointed reference to an earlier censorship issue was made as Pulp played the opening night of Adelaide Festival 2026.

Richard Watts

Feb 28, 2026

Two dancers clad in fetish wear-inspired costumes crouch forward as they jump a woollen rope inside a circle of light on stage. Joshua Doctor and Yilin Kong in ADT's Faraway by Jenni Large at Adelaide Festival 2026.

ADT’s Faraway review: a writhing, driving techno-primitive delight at Adelaide Festival 2026

Choreographed by Jenni Large, ADT’s Faraway is a rich, erotically charged work, the dance equivalent of howling orgiastically at the…

Richard Watts

Feb 27, 2026

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