The Saturday Quiz

For only the second time, this episode of the podcast is recorded in situ (Latin) in the same room as the guests! Melbourne Shakespeare Company returns to fortyfivedownstairs to present possibly the most famous play in the English language - Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy Hamlet. And John has crashed their rehearsal room to ask the actors playing Laertes and Claudius (Laurence Boxhall and Peter Houghton) the ten questions from the quiz in The Saturday Paper. Hamlet is on at 45Downstairs from the 5th to 22nd of September.Get your tickets here:https://fortyfivedownstairs.com/event/hamlet/#1452941644640-19a0de81-e87a0201-342dcb0a-2ec9a177-581a2513-a5c51f1f-8993a3c4-5ca5cb85-3d54189f-4d6f8ba6-b9f1574b-a81d

It is rare for a piece of independent theatre to earn itself a return season. Rarer still for that return season to be on the main stages and tour around the country. And even rarer yet for that piece of theatre to be a brand new play from a debut playwright. But that is exactly what has happened for actor and playwright Emmanuel Mattana and director Marni Mount.Trophy Boys is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege, and high school debating.Performed by a female and non-binary cast in drag as the four members of the debating team from an elite private boys school as they prepare for their grand final debate against their sister school and forced to argue in the affirmative that "feminism has failed women".Trophy Boys takes a satirical look at insecure adolescent masculinity, entitlement and the ego of Australia's next generation of politicians and powerbrokers.

This special bonus episode is to make up for the episode missed a few weeks ago.The Canberra Theatre Centre has curated an electrifying performance series under the banner of “Valence”. Shows that will ignite the senses and challenge perceptions, made by artists exploring the now, pushing the boundaries of convention, and which invite viewers to confront uncomfortable truths and embrace the possibilities of transformation.The guests on this episode are one of the performers, Rebecca Massey and the director, Sheridan Harbridge of the first show in the Valence series “44 Sex Acts in One Week.”As one reviewer wrote of the show: “Brilliantly funny dialogue, sex positive, egalitarian, patriarchy-smashing, late-stage capitalism obliterating, empathic, relatable, and profound.”Get tickets to the show here:https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/44-acts-2024/

Madeleine Stewart and Bec Charlwood are two comedians who are part way through a tour around the country with a night of comedy appropriately called Are You Pulling My Leg? This show brings brings together some of Australia’s funniest comedians with disability or chronic illness for a raucous accessible comedy event offering entertaining and uncensored insights into disability and so-much more!ON Saturday the 20th of July at Parramatta Riverside Theatre It is on for one night only, before dates in other cities around the country all the way through to October. Get tickets to Are You Pulling My Leg at Parramatta Riverside here:https://riversideparramatta.com.au/whats-on/are-you-pulling-my-leg/

Claire Bird and Hugo Williams are both members of Ponycam Collective. What is a ponycam collective? Well, that is a good question that Claire and Hugo are probably well equipped to answer, but which, unfortunately, is not on the quiz, so there’s not much point in asking them. Although performing seemingly pointless tasks does seem to be very much part of the Ponycam Collective reason for being, so perhaps they’ll reveal it anyway. Regardless, they are performing their incredible show Burnout Paradise on the 11th, 12th and 13th of July 6.30pm at the Bondi Pavilion as part of the Bondi Festival. Get tickets here:https://www.bondifestival.com.au/event/burnout-paradise/

Sweeney and Ethan are award winning comedians who have combined comedy and wine-tasting to create one hilarious show.That doesn't necessarily mean they're great at trivia though... Get tickets to In Pour Taste at Bondi Festival here:https://www.bondifestival.com.au/event/in-pour-taste-show/

Two years ago, British comedy musical duo Flo & Joan (aka real life sisters Rosie and Nicola Dempsey) came and did the quiz and were justifiably stumped by a whole lot of Australian-centric questions. This time around, they're lucky enough to get at least one question right in their trivia sweet spot.If you're in Adelaide, go see a show at the Adelaide Cabaret Festivalhttps://cabaret.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/If you're in Melbourne, go see John in the brand new play The Platypushttps://www.theatreworks.org.au/2024/the-platypus

As well as making this podcast, John is also an actor.Right now, he's rehearsing a brand new play by Francis Greenslade called The Platypus which also stars Rebecca Bower. And since they are the two people he's seeing the most of these days, it seemed perfectly logical that they should be this episode's guests.They're also both very clever people with a knack for quizzes.Get tickets to see John and Rebecca in The Platypus by Francis Greenslade here:https://www.theatreworks.org.au/2024/the-platypus

The podcaster community is a tight one. We tend to all have the same challenges of finding fresh guests for each episode. Invite one podcast host to be a guest on your show, and they’ll put you in touch with another who could be a potential guest, or they’ll introduce you to a podcast that you may not have been aware of. Todays episode is a case in point.Alexei Toliopoulos has been on the show before - he’s a prolific podcaster whose latest show The Last Video Store is an absolute delight tailor made to show off his encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema.This time he's brought along Alex Jae, who is likewise a host of several podcasts, her latest one being Screen Queens, a twice-weekly podcast about EVERYTHING you watch and see on your screens. From cinema to television to tiktok and everything in between.Listen to Screen Queens here:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/screen-queens/id1451146084Listen to The Last Video Store here:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-last-video-store/id999728026Get tickets to Alexei's Australian Film Odyssey here:https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/cinema/sunburnt-screens