HELEN MUSA survey’s the local arts scene for her latest Arts in the City column.

Doctor-turned comedian Adam Kay’s debut novel was named British Book of the Year in 2017 and has since been adapted into a multi-BAFTA-winning comedy-drama series for the BBC and a stage show, This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, to be seen at the Canberra Theatre, April 25. 

QL2 Dance is moving from its usual venue, The Playhouse, for its major show, Garden, to be staged May 2-4 at The Fitters’ Workshop in Kingston, where matinee performances will be presented in daylight. The double bill of new contemporary dance is created by James Batchelor, newish QL2 director Alice Lee Holland and a cast of 27. The company describes the work as “a living, breathing exploration of lineage, rebellion and resilience.”  

Phoenix Collective Quartet joins forces with pianist Zen Zeng to present a program exploring inner worlds mapped and shared through sound. The centrepiece of the program is Schumann’s piano quintet. Wesley Music Centre, April 27.

The Lodge is a moving-image artwork by a Wiradyuri conceptual artist Amala Groom. Filmed in the Parliamentary Triangle, it links Groom’s activism at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy with rites of passage both in and out of Parliament House. Wearing a wedding dress, Groom symbolically weaves and unravels a red rope along Anzac Parade. Canberra Contemporary, Parkes, May 3-July 12.

Joe Woodward’s production of Romeo and Juliet for Daramalan Theatre Company takes a look at emerging sexuality and warring families in a way that challenges attitudes towards youth and society. Joe Woodward Theatre, Daramalan College, April 26-May 3.

Entries are now open for Australia’s richest prize for a single poem, the $18,750 Australian Catholic University Prize for Poetry. It is open to new works on the theme of belonging, inspired by a quotation from St Teresa of Kolkata: “If we have no peace, we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” Entries to acu.edu.au by June 1.