In her latest Artsweek column, arts editor HELEN MUSA lays out the Canberran arts and entertainment landscape for the week including a wickedly funny high school satire that comes calling to Canberra.

Heathers the Musical, direct from London and New York, brings its wickedly funny high school satire to Canberra, following Veronica Sawyer as she enters the glamorous but ruthless world of the Heathers. Canberra Theatre, August 14-23.

Oz Comic Con Canberra returns for two days of cosplay, gaming, comics, anime, film, television and family entertainment, with Cosplay Central, esports, tabletop gaming, Artist Alley and interactive activities among the highlights; EPIC, August 15-16.

ANU Meet the Author presents three conversations, John Keane with Andrew Leigh on Demagogues and Despots, Joseph Toltz and Anna Boucher with Kim Rubenstein on Out of the Depths: The First Collection of Holocaust Songs, and George Megalogenis with Niki Savva on Three Shocks: Who We Are Becoming in the 21st Century; Cinema ANU, August 15-19.

Inspiring Role Models in STEM is a free online Science Week session for students featuring Australian scientists and guests from Future You, exploring careers that take participants into the air and space; National Library of Australia, August 19.

Stage

• The Earth’s Most Eminent Geo-actress promises cocktail-hour geology with sultry songs, dance, sharp wit and burlesque, in a seismic comedy cabaret that won the 2026 Science at the Fringe Award; Canberra, August 14-15.
• We Don’t Have Time For This, Know Thyself sees childhood best friends and podcast chart-toppers Gem and Revz bringing their candid take on millennial motherhood to the stage; The Playhouse, August 15.
• Jaspreet Singh Live brings one of India’s best-known stand-up comedians and his sharp observational humour and storytelling to Canberra in a Hindi-language performance; The Theatre, Belconnen Arts Centre, August 15.
• Buzzz ACT takes children and families on a lively journey through pollination, biodiversity and the vital role of bees, with the Stellar Company exploring how everyone can help protect these essential creatures; Generator Gallery, Belconnen Arts Centre, August 16.
• Tim Winton’s The Bugalugs Bum Thief brings the much-loved children’s story to the stage with music and songs, as Skeeta Anderson, Mick Misery and Billy Marbles investigate the mystery of the notorious bum thief; The Q, Queanbeyan, August 17-18.
• Acting for the Fun of It presents Acting the Playtext: From Page to Stage, a six-session course for adults, including Year 12 drama students, exploring character, acting techniques, text interpretation and the process of taking dramatic literature from page to performance; Hedley Beare Centre for Teaching and Learning, August 17-September 13.
• I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Free Rain Theatre Company, ACT Hub, 14 Spinifex Street, Kingston, August 19 to September 5.

Concerts

• Nicolas Altstaedt and Thomas Dunford join forces for a Musica Viva recital fresh from their Carnegie Hall success, performing works by Marais, Forqueray, Pärt, Duparc and J.S. Bach; Llewellyn Hall, August 13.
• Gary Levinson and Magdalene Hao appear in a duo performance featuring a genuine 1726 Antonio Stradivari violin played by Levinson, senior principal associate concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Fort WorthWesley Music Centre, August 14.
• Frenzal Rhomb marks the 23rd anniversary of Sans Souci with tracks from the album alongside fan favourites, promising the loud, fast and chaotic pub-punk energy that has made the band a touring favourite; The Baso, Belconnen, August 14.
• The Australian National Eisteddfod piano competition brings more than 400 performances by young pianists to Canberra, culminating in the Open Piano Championship; Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, August 15-20.
• ANU Chamber Choir celebrates ANU’s 80th birthday with an outdoor morning concert in the Kambri amphitheatre; Kambri, ANU, August 15.
• Unforgotten: Songs of Australians at War features acclaimed musician Fred Smith in an evening of music and storytelling; Australian War Memorial, August 15.
• Luminescence Children’s Choir presents its Winter Concert, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Barton, August 16.
• Brindabella Orchestra presents an afternoon of French-inspired music featuring works by Gershwin, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Fauré and others; Weston Community Hub, August 16.
• Classical Capers, hosted by Tobias Cole, offers performers and audiences an informal evening of classical music, from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to virtuosic concertos; Smiths Alternative, August 19.
• Pianist Sam Row returns to the Wesley Lunchtime Concert series with Liszt’s monumental Piano Sonata, a single-movement work composed in 1854 that distils the composer’s dramatic personality; Wesley Music Centre, August 19.
• Windsong Live: Heath Cullen, The Song Always Remembers captures Heath Cullen’s April 2024 homecoming performance with his longtime bandmates in a feature film, premiering as the first release in Four Winds’ Windsong Live series; The Twyford, Merimbula, August 15.

Galleries

• Brisbane painter Sarah Hickey explores archetypes, mythology and memory in Spirit Dwellings, a richly layered contemporary figurative paintings; Grainger Gallery, Fyshwick, August 13-30.
• Afternoon of the Harpies, a wildly imaginative collaboration between Judith Nangala Crispin and Stephen Harrison; Grainger Gallery, Fyshwick, August 13-30.
• The 2026 FUSE Glass Prize brings together 18 leading Australian and New Zealand glass artists, including ANU alumna and winner Annette Blair; ANU School of Art & Design Gallery, August 15–September 4.
• Fired Up! 2026 celebrates Canberra’s ceramics community with live pottery demonstrations, outdoor firings, hands-on clay activities, a ceramic market, open studios, food, regional wine and live music, culminating in the dramatic opening of Canberra Potters’ wood-fired Petal Kiln; Canberra Potters Society, Aspinall St, Watson, August 15.
• The 80th Anniversary ANU Art Collection tours offer a closer look at First Nations works, with curators Oscar Capezio and Hetty Gascoigne exploring Western Desert paintings before joining Professor Howard Morphy to discuss Yolŋu bark paintings; Information Desk, University Avenue, ANU, August 15.

News all day, every day at CityNewsQBN.com.au.