HELEN MUSA’s latest Artsweek column is brimful of what’s-on-where with all the arts news and events around the town this coming week.

Pip Williams’ New York Times bestseller, The Dictionary of Lost Words in a stage adaptation by Verity Laughton, follows Esme from her childhood in the 1880s, into adulthood at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the beginning of World War I. Co-produced by State Theatre Company of SA and Sydney Theatre Company. The Playhouse, May 15-24.

Marking the diamond anniversary of Pink Floyd’s inception  will be a new concert production by Adelaide’s Echoes of Pink Floyd, The B, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, May 17.

Talk

• ANU Meet the Author has Judith Brett in conversation with Virginia Haussegger’ on Brett’s new book. Fearless Beatrice Faust: sex, feminism and body politics. Lowitja O’Donoghue Cultural Centre (Kambri) room T2, ANU, May 14.
• Book Club screening of the 4K restoration of Phillip Noyce’s film, Rabbit-Proof Fence, followed by a discussion with writer Cheryl Leavy, as part of the David Gulpilil Retrospective. Arc Cinema, NFSA May 18.
• Geoff Raby will be in conversation with Allan Behm on the updated edition of Raby’s book China’s grand strategy and Australia’s future in the new global order and Great Game On. The contest for Central Asia and global supremacy. Lowitja O’Donoghue Cultural Centre (Kambri) Cinema ANU, May 19.
• The speaking group, ArtsNational Canberra, has a lecture by music historian Jamie Hayes on the birth of English comic opera through Gilbert and Sullivan, followed by refreshments. National Library of Australia, May 20.

Stage

• Everyman Theatre’s If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You. Directed by Joel Horwood, a queer romantic drama features actors Joshua James and Robert Kjellgren. ACT Hub, Kingston, until May 24.
• Dignified Anger: Stories for a Perilous Now will see Jan “Yarn” Wositzky and Penny Glass combining alternative stories from Australia, 14th century England and Latin America, with theatre and music. Smith’s Alternative, Civic, May 16.
• RnB Songstress Prinnie Stevens brings the voices of Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, Beyonce, Chaka Khan and more. The Street Theatre, May 17.

Galleries

• M16 Artspace, Griffith, has three new exhibitions and a Chutespace installation: Traced Life by Rachael Bruhn & John Nelson; Split Open by Natasha Tareen; 3 Stories by Susan Morris, Caryn Giblin and Paula Watson; and in Chutespace The Arrival by Brenda Runnegar. May 15-June 8.
• Glass and print artist Rose-Mary Faulkner has an unusual exhibition, Stilleven, in which she fuses layers of decal imagery in glass to form softly-focused compositions, sometimes using light to enhance her work. ANCA Gallery, Dickson until June 1.

Concerts

• The Australian National Eisteddfod’s annual Bands & Orchestras event will see more than 2700 people perform in 85 groups. Llewellyn Hall and Melba Copland Secondary School College until May 18.
• Young pianist Ben Francis will play works by Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy and Rachmaninoff in the Wesley Lunchtime concert series, Wesley Music Centre, May 14.
• Dion Pride, the son of legendary country music singer Charley Pride, will be in town singing the songs of his father. Canberra Theatre, May 14.
• The concert, Riversong, will be performed by Canberra choral group, The Resonants, as a fundraiser for the Australian River Restoration Centre. Gandel Atrium, National Museum of Australia, May 17. There will be no door tickets, book at riversong.au
• Polifemy women’s vocal ensemble joins BlockSounds recorder quartet in The Bridal Kiss, a Goose’s Tale and Auto Sales, a concert of humorous contemporary music. Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, May 17.
• Lute song, billed as “bedroom music before radio”, will feature singer Tobias Cole and classical guitarist Minh Le Hoang. Smith’s Alternative, Civic, May 17-18.
• Wesley Music Centre, the Order of St Lazarus ACT and Wesley Uniting Church have a charity music concert, Wesley Music Centre, May 18.
• German musician, Carolina Eyck, whiz kid on the theremin, will join Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Llewellyn Hall, May 20.