Born in London, Barry was introduced to theatre as a small boy, through being taken to see traditional Christmas pantomimes, as well as discovering jazz and fine music at a very young age. High school found him loving the works of Shakespeare, as well as many other great playwrights, poets and novelists. Moving to Australia, he became a jazz musician, playing with big bands and his own small groups, then attended the Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide, playing with several orchestras. This led to playing in theatre pits, joining the chorus, playing character roles, playing lead roles (after moving into drama), then directing, set and lighting design, administrative roles on theatre boards and, finally, becoming a critic. After twenty years of writing he has now joined the Broadway World team to represent Adelaide, in South Australia. Barry is also a long time member of the prestigious Adelaide Critics Circle.
Punk cabaret star, Amanda Palmer, formerly one half of the duo, The Dresden Dolls, performed in Adelaide for one night only, with two great support acts.
Ute Lemper first visited Australia two decades ago and, for her 20th Anniversary tour, she has brought something new, a set of songs that she has composed in collaboration with Argentinean bandoneonist, Marcelo Nisinman, setting the love poems of Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda
The sixth concert in the Evenings at Elder Hall series features the three choirs from the Elder Conservatorium in a feast of music by the supremely talented Benjamin Britten.
The T'ang Quartet, comprising Ng Yu-Ying, first violin, Ang Chek Meng, second violin, Lionel Tan, viola, and Leslie Tan, cello, presented a very varied concert of six pieces by four contemporary composers.
Her Majesty's Theatre's stage is turned into an intimate theatre in the round, with a maze of bamboo to be traversed by the incoming audience, the arrival in the centre revealing a large round table at which sit three young ladies in panda outfits, shuffling decks of cards.
The audience was totally enthralled by this interpretation of the story of Nyai Ontosoroh; her life journey from childhood, gaining strength through adversity, to eventually achieve independence and control of her own destiny.
Each year the Adelaide Festival Centre presents the unique and exciting OzAsia Festival, and the opening performance this year was this remarkable work, Meeting With Bodhisattva, from U-Theatre of Taiwan.
This is the tale of Laura Jesson, who gets a speck of coal dust in her eye whilst standing on the railway platform, and Alec Harvey, the handsome young doctor who administers first aid
William Makepeace Thackeray subtitled his mid eighteenth century story, Vanity Fair, "a novel without a hero", as every one of his characters has flaws, some more than others, which he makes clear in his tale.
State Opera of South Australia started their main stage programme for the year with a powerful production of Salome, with a libretto by Richard Strauss based on Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of Oscar Wilde's play.
Sir Noel Coward's witty play about a couple who cannot live together, but cannot live without one another, is being given a chance to shine again at the ARTS Theatre, thanks to the Therry Dramatic Society.
This play follows a young boxer from Bankstown, Billy "The Kid" Dib, as he prepares himself for the world featherweight title fight and we meet several other boxers along the way.
The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild is celebrating its 75th Anniversary, and so William Shakespeare seems an appropriate choice of playwright for such an auspicious occasion.
Vika Bull and a seven piece group, The Essential R&B Band, present a musical documentary of the life of the late Etta James, one of the most important names in Rhythm and Blues, and perhaps also the most tragic.
Thomas Hardy wrote several novels set in the imaginary county of Wessex, occurring in the late 1800s, and Far From the Madding Crowd is presented by Independent Theatre in an adaptation by Mark Healy.