Sydney/New York action

Ms TN is swanning off to Sydney for a theatrical weekend, catching shows at Belvoir St and the STC. It's a hard life, I admit. Still, I could have chosen a better weekend: Sydney looks as if it's been hit by a neutron bomb. And they've even arrested the sideshow. Mind you, the Chasers have definitely been the highlight of APEC so far, otherwise a stilted series of badly scripted photo-ops that could definitely use a director with flair.

American-Australian relations are rather better served by our friend in New York, Mark Armstrong, who may be known to some of you as Mr Excitement. As artistic director of The Production Company, he's showcasing plays from 11 Australian playwrights as the Australia Project II, beginning from September 13. In Part I, American playwrights wrote about Australia; in Part II, we return the compliment.

He's got together pretty much a Who's Who of Australian contemporary playwriting - the list includes luminaries like Ross Mueller, Wesley Enoch, Lally Katz, Ben Ellis, Tom Wright, Van Badham... and many more! TN thinks she should be flown over to New York to critique the shows, but alas, the Australian's arts budget doesn't seem to stretch that far. So she eagerly awaits reports. In the meantime, she holds up her glass of champers, feeling she ought to say "way to go, cobber!" Even though such a phrase never actually escapes her lips.