The Saturday Quiz

Lorin Clarke and Andrew Farrell are both the directors of documentaries about iconic Australian voices. One tinged with a kiwi accent, the other still bearing the slight Scottish brogue of his childhood. Lorin's film “But Also John Clarke” is about her father, the much loved satirist John Clarke, and Andrew's is about the Australian singer and icon “Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Man”Find tickets to screenings here:https://miff.com.au/program/film/but-also-john-clarke#tophttps://miff.com.au/program/film/jimmy-barnes-working-class-man#top

I've been bugging Mark to come back and do the quiz for ages. He was the Australian Celebrity Mastermind champion! He is also the presenter of Sold! Who Broke the Australian Dream? which is a documentary about the housing crisis which you can - and should - watch on Binge right after you listen to this episode.

Ash Flanders is an award winning actor and writer currently starring alongside Sigrid Thornton and Yael Stone in Melbourne Theatre Co's production of Mother Play. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Paula Vogel, Mother Play tells the intimate story of a mother and her two children over the course of several decades of the late 20th century as they push and pull apart, driven by love and compassion and deep, deep hurt. Get your tickets to Mother Play here:https://www.mtc.com.au/plays-and-tickets/whats-on/season-2025/mother-play/

Bit of a different one - just John talking to himself for a while.

Most performers I know have all had one of those anxiety filled nightmares of finding yourself on stage on opening night, with no idea what the play is about, who your character is, or what your lines are. So it is a special kind of masochist who would willingly put themselves in exactly that situation. Nadine Garner and Fayssal Bazzi are two such masochists. They are about to take on Iranian writer and theatre maker Nassim Soleimanpour's new play: ECHO: Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen. Each night a new performer takes to the stage not knowing what is going to be asked of them. Unrehearsed and deliberately unprepared, the script becomes their only guide as they journey through the story of the playwright, connected live from his home in Berlin. ECHO is an invitation to consider what home means to each of us. Fusing new technology with the oldest tricks in the book, this is an ambitious, magical and profound production where no one travels yet everybody is present.

A charismatic, egocentric strongman politician with contempt for the population he leads, rides roughshod over the conventions of democracy to drive through decisions he makes, having little regard for opinions other than his own.Sound familiar?If it does, then I am slightly surprised, since this play has not been performed in Australia for thirty years!The Bell Shakespeare production of Coriolanus has just opened at the Neilson Nutshell in Sydney, tranferring to Melbourne's Arts Centre in late July.Two of the cast members take on this week's quiz - Gareth Reeves and Marco Chiappi.Get tickets to Coriolanus here:https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/coriolanus

My eldest sister Louise is one of the most avid listeners to this podcast. So when I told her it was likely I wasn't going to be able to put out an episode for the second week in a row, her disappointment was such that I could convince her to step in to make it happen. On this episode she is joined by her husband Martin and they both do very well at the quiz.Hope you enjoy the listen.

As an actor who also produces and hosts a quiz-based podcast, it's safe to assume that a piece of theatre about a pivotal historical figure who happens to hold the very quiz-friendly distinction of being the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields - is going to be right up my alley. So when my friend Rebecca Massey told me that she and Gabrielle Scawthorn were about to appear in the Australian premiere of The Half-life of Marie Curie at The Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli in Sydney, I was delighted to invite them both onto this episode of the quiz.

Zöe Coombs Marr is no stranger to this podcast - possibly making the most appearances on the quiz. Her show "Wrap It Up with Zöe Coombs Marr" kicks off next week as part of Melbourne’s Rising Festival. It is described as a live, late night taping of your favourite variety tv show. A place where there’s only ever five minutes of taping to go, and a lot to get through. If you’ve ever seen any of Zöe's shows before, you know that that means it will be a fever dream, teetering on the edge of collapse, somehow kept together by her comedic expertise.Get your tickets to Wrap it Up here:https://2025.rising.melbourne/program/wrap-it-up-with-zoe-coombs-marr?tab=session-details