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"Conversations - The Live Show' giveaway

"Conversations - The Live Show' giveaway

'Conversations – The Live Show' will be at The Norwood Concert Hall to take fans behind the scenes of the country's most popular podcast. Tickets may have sold out to the Adelaide shows, but ABC Radio Adelaide can still get you there.
Tune in to Mornings with Rory McClaren on 891 ABC Radio Adelaide from Monday 28 July to find out how you can win a merch pack and tickets to Conversations Live this August.
Keep listening to Mornings on Friday 1 August when Richard Fidler joins Rory on-air to talk about the Live Show and share some of his stories behind the stories of Conversations over 20 years.
Prize details One of four double passes to Conversations Live at The Norwood Concert Hall on 1 August 2025.
One of four double passes to Conversations Live at The Norwood Concert Hall on 1 August 2025. A Conversations Live tote bag and T-shirt.
How to win Listen to Mornings with Rory McClaren from Monday 28 July as Conversations is featured.
Listen to with from Monday 28 July as is featured. Listen out for the audio of a well-known Conversations guest over the last 20 years and correctly identify who it is for your chance to win.
Kickstart your mornings with Rory McClaren on ABC Radio Adelaide, 9am- 11am weekdays. Now we're talking Adelaide!
Tune your radio to 891AM, listen live online at https://www.abc.net.au/adelaide/live or download the free ABC listen app. for free listening on the go.
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Perfect on the outside, chaos within: Teresa Palmer taps her heart of darkness in ABC drama
Perfect on the outside, chaos within: Teresa Palmer taps her heart of darkness in ABC drama

Sydney Morning Herald

time11 hours ago

  • Sydney Morning Herald

Perfect on the outside, chaos within: Teresa Palmer taps her heart of darkness in ABC drama

Teresa Palmer is heavily pregnant with her fifth child and positively glowing (as usual) when she joins me to talk about her role in The Family Next Door, a six-part ABC drama series in which she plays a woman who moves into a quiet suburban cul de sac near the beach and rapidly proceeds to blow it all apart. 'At its core, The Family Next Door is about the tension that exists between perception and truth,' says Palmer, who plays Isabelle, a woman who arrives in Pleasant Court claiming to be a journalist looking to write a travel piece, but whose real reason for being there will wreak havoc on the tight-knit community. 'All these people in this cul-de-sac have crafted these perfect little lives on the outside, but on the inside they're dealing with trauma and chaos and shame and longing. The series peels back that glossy facade, and it's very revealing, which is wonderful.' Isabelle is not an especially likeable character, though. She lies and steals and hides her true motives. She stomps around, emanates rage even when she's eating her food or drinking a beer, and immerses herself in ice baths any time it all threatens to become too much (which is often). 'I think there's a self-centeredness about Isabelle,' she says of her character, whom she describes as a disruptor. 'She has such a mission that she's eagle-eyed focused on, and it doesn't matter the ruin that is left in its wake – she is chasing something with this reckless abandon, and it's not necessarily the best thing for everyone.' Based on a novel by Sally Hepworth, the series has been adapted by Sarah Scheller (The Letdown, Strife) and is directed by Emma Freeman (The Newsreader, Fake). And while it has distinct echoes of the work of Liane Moriarty – whose Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall have been so successfully adapted for screen in recent years – there's a pleasing and more grounded nuance to the way the characters and relationships are portrayed. Bella Heathcote plays Ange, the real estate agent with ambitions to become a developer and transform the sleepy seaside town. She leases the short-term rental to Isabelle, lives next door, frantically curates a perfect version of what she wants life to be, and hovers over the cul-de-sac like something between a guardian angel and a tyrant. Her husband is Lucas (Bob Morley), a handsome photographer-surfer-layabout, who may or may not be having an affair. Lawyer Fran (Ming-Zhu Hill) is married to Nigel (Daniel Henshall), a depressed and lethargic PhD candidate. Lulu (Jane Harber) and Holly (Maria Angelico) run a vegan cafe. Essie (Philippa Northeast) is struggling with post-natal depression and exhaustion after the birth of her second child, and with the fact she and husband Ben (Tane Williams-Accra) are so broke they've had to move back in with her mother, Barbara (Catherine McClements). Loading Everyone's kids, meanwhile, run from yard to yard on ad hoc play dates, while the parents take every opportunity for impromptu drinks on deck chairs as the summer heat bakes the bitumen and sprinklers sprinkle. It's Neighbours meets Home and Away, with a dash of something much darker – the Australian dream teetering on the brink of a nightmare. 'There are cracks beneath the surface for all these people, and Isabelle's presence is the breakdown to break through,' says Palmer. 'I mean, there's absolutely no sustainability in living this veneered life without actually getting under the surface, so I think my character is necessary for the growth of everyone.' Not that she's judging. 'I actually feel like I identify with all of them,' says Palmer. 'There's little pieces of each one of these women that I can relate to.' Relatability is Palmer's secret sauce. Though she's been working steadily as an actress since 2006, the 39-year-old has also built a parallel identity as a blogger, podcaster and social media personality with a focus on wellness and motherhood. In January, she and her partner (American actor/filmmaker Mark Webber) and their kids (her boys are eight and 11, her girls are four and six) relocated to Byron Bay. Loading 'We've always split our time between Los Angeles and Adelaide,' she says. 'That was always the back and forth, and also wherever I'm filming – we would all just move to the location. But I was like, 'All right, let's get pregnant and go to Byron Bay, put the kids in school and buy a house.' And that's what we've done.' Byron seems the perfect backdrop for the yummy mummy persona Palmer projects in her web presence. And by her own reckoning, it's not just a projection. 'I have this joy-filled life, my dream life,' she says, and somehow it doesn't come across as boastful. But her choice of screen roles couldn't make for a starker contrast. Isabelle is a dark character full of rage, fuelled by trauma in her past. In the Disney+ series The Clearing, loosely based on the true story of Melbourne cult The Family, she was an adult wrestling with the complex relationship with the 'mother' (Miranda Otto) who had abducted her as a young child. She has, in fact, been drawn to dark roles since the very start of her career, having made her debut in 2:37, a film about a suicide at an Adelaide high school. 'I am drawn to these darker characters who have an evolution from the start to the end,' she says. 'In The Clearing, my character was a broken flower, a little bit lost. But in this, there's such a drive in Isabelle. It's unrelenting, and then there's an aggressiveness to the character, which is really exciting to explore. 'I really love that trauma shows up and manifests itself in different behaviours. There's no right way to deal with trauma. Everyone handles it differently.' On the surface, it would appear there's not a lot of trauma in her life. So what does she draw on for these roles? 'It's funny, I always try to derive from my own past experiences,' she says. 'Of course, I have little traumas and things I went through that were not necessarily easy in my life. Me and my mum growing up together, just her and I, and her having schizo-affective disorder, it wasn't easy. But I still had the best childhood. All I knew was love. And these characters don't have that. 'And even though my childhood looked different from some of the other kids I went to school with, I had the best relationship with my mum, and I had all these wonderful childhood experiences where I just got to have this really playful, awesome mum who kind of let me get away with anything, and it was epic. I wouldn't change anything. But obviously, there's untapped feelings that I can draw upon in these roles.' Loading Playing the darkness is what she excels at, she feels. 'I find a simpler character much harder to portray. Comedy would be harder for me. But the dark, traumatic roles, I find that much easier to tap into, for whatever reason. And also it reflects something real: the inner chaos and trauma and grief and rage and all those things. People are told to keep things neat and quiet, but I like emotional mess and telling that story.' On the screen, you mean, or in real life, too? 'On screen, on screen,' she says urgently. 'It represents real experiences, but I would like to not have that bleed over into my life.' The Family Next Door premieres 8pm, August 10, on the ABC.

Michael refused to take no for an answer, and now he's in the running for a Logie
Michael refused to take no for an answer, and now he's in the running for a Logie

Sydney Morning Herald

time11 hours ago

  • Sydney Morning Herald

Michael refused to take no for an answer, and now he's in the running for a Logie

The email from the ABC publicist isn't as helpful as I'd like. 'Michael likes European, Chinese and Japanese,' it read. I'm due to have lunch with Michael Theo, the 31-year-old breakout star of reality series Love on the Spectrum and the ABC comedy Austin. But as he is still living at home ('somewhat begrudgingly') with mum Vanessa and dad Tom, in Wollongong, and doesn't know Sydney well enough to choose a lunch spot, it's up to me to pick. Which is why we end up at New Shanghai on the bottom level of Westfield Sydney. It's not flash dining, but it is delicious (the pan-fried pork buns deserve an award), the staff are always helpful and the Ashfield branch is my go-to spot for all ages and dietary requirements. The only problem? Theo doesn't eat pork, and it's quite noisy – and full-on – this Friday lunchtime. He doesn't want to make a fuss over the noise, but after a couple of goes trying to find a quieter table, we settle in and Theo, who has never had dumplings before, boldly dives in with chicken and celery dumplings and wok fried king prawns with salted egg yolk. I add in the Yangzhou fried rice and the last-meal-worthy string beans with dried shrimp and soy sauce. Neither of us drink, so it's sparkling and still water on the side. 'You can never have too much protein,' he says. 'But apparently my GP said that eggs add to cholesterol. But I find it hard to believe.' Today, Theo is wearing one of his signature brightly patterned shirts. The 31-year-old is as familiar in person as he is on screen, with wonderfully expressive eyes that pop if he's excited or surprised. He's not nervous about sitting down for an interview, either. 'Doesn't bother me in the slightest.' He has spent the past six years navigating his rise as an unlikely celebrity after he first appeared on the 2019 ABC series Love on the Spectrum, which followed young adults on the autism spectrum as they went on dates. Theo became an audience favourite, here and in the US where it streamed on Netflix, with his funny, frank and thoughtful observations, as he happily – and seriously – declared becoming a husband was his No.1 dream. Loading 'I saw it as a golden opportunity to help me find love,' he says. 'Because Wollongong is not really the place to find love. Maybe some people are lucky to meet their partner in their hometown. I wasn't.' What's so good about being a husband? 'I just love the idea of being, of being in a committed relationship and sharing my life with that person until one of us dies.' Theo didn't find love on the show (he has now, though), but he did find a vast audience who were interested in him. This was quite the revelation to Theo, who had always felt invisible. 'I was stunned,' he says about discovering he was a hit. 'Because I just couldn't understand why, I didn't see myself as anything special.' Has that changed? 'I see myself as a special person, but that doesn't make me better than others,' he says. And this girlfriend? 'I have actually been in a committed relationship for nine months,' he says. 'It makes me feel great because it feels great to be loved by a woman who is not your mother.' His girlfriend is nine years older than him and Theo happily admits he 'has a preference for older women'. 'What I'm about to say is purely my opinion and not facts,' he says. 'I have a preference for women in their 30s and 40s because they are generally more intelligent, more mature, more secure in themselves. They're more sure of themselves. They know what they want. Their taste in men is more refined. They're more content to settle down. They're smarter with money, and they don't care about frivolous things.' That sounds about right to me. 'Because I need a woman, not a girl, that can't figure out what she wants.' Theo is a natural comedian – he was non-verbal as a boy, but it was through his love of animation and comedy that he began to communicate – and now he's a natural TV star in the delightful comedy Austin. Theo plays Austin Hogan, a young man with autism who lives in Canberra with his mum Mel (Gia Carides) and granddad Bill (Roy Billing). In season one, Austin discovered his father was British children's author Julian Hartswood (Ben Miller). The pair meet while Julian – who has been recently cancelled because he accidentally retweeted a neo-Nazi influencer – is on a book tour with his wife and illustrator Ingrid (Sally Phillips). 'I would say Austin is like me in terms of speaking very formally and having encyclopedic knowledge,' says Theo. Initially, Julian sees Austin could be his saving grace – what better redemption arc than reconnecting with a neurodivergent long-lost son? – but once Austin travels to Julian's home in London, the pair connect and a genuine relationship forms. What makes Austin work – and initially, I really didn't think it would – is the chemistry Theo shares with all the cast (in particular with Carides, whose character is modelled on Theo's actual mum, Vanessa). Importantly, the show doesn't coddle Theo, and the laughs never come from Austin's autism. If anyone is the punchline, it's generally his dad Julian. Loading 'I was not worried about autism being part of the show,' he says. 'It's not about autism. It just happens there's just a character that happens to be on the spectrum.' He thinks people with autism, particularly on screen, are still stereotyped, but that attitudes are 'slowly changing'. He also doesn't think he's been treated differently since becoming a public personality. 'I don't expect special treatment because I'm still just another human being at the end of the day,' he says. 'And also, I have a lot of friends who aren't in the acting world, but that doesn't bother me at all because there's a philosophy that I live by: 'Hold on to your friends.' Because you only discontinue friendships that are no longer worth your time, and if they're worth my time, I keep them.' What makes a good friend then? 'Someone that will make the time for me when they can, someone I get along with and can just enjoy my time with.' One of those good friends now is Carides, who he thinks of as his 'second mum'; he counts a photo of Carides and his mum, Vanessa, together as one of his most treasured possessions. In season two, Austin is about to become a publishing hit with his book Game of Scones: An Autistic Guide to Britain. He falls under the spell of his ambitious agent, and the trappings of his new 'neuro-spicy' fame result in some shouty bad behaviour. This was difficult for Theo, who added script consultant to his job title for season two. 'I didn't want Austin to become unlikeable.' Loading He loved filming away from home, in both Canberra and London, 'for the peace and quiet and privacy'. Doesn't get that at home? 'I get the peace and quiet, but not enough privacy.' Filming in London, where season one of Austin was praised for its portrayal of autism outside 'the usual tired trope of autistic savants', was fun, he says, but he doesn't think he could live there (despite the full-time access to his beloved Stinking Bishops cheese). 'Because everything's so expensive over there. And also the weather's not the best, and the traffic conditions aren't the greatest either.' On Sunday night, Theo will attend the Logie Awards, where he has been nominated for a Silver Logie for best lead actor for season one of Austin. He will wear his signature top hat and is most keen to meet comedian Kitty Flanagan, creator and star of the ABC comedy Fisk. 'She's the reason why I've been watching Utopia and the reason why I've been giving Fisk a second chance,' he says. He didn't like it? 'Well, I didn't like it the first time, the first season, I couldn't get one chuckle out of it, really. But I'm giving it a second chance because I bought the first two seasons on DVD. 'I'm in the same category as Kitty [at the Logies]. And at the AACTA awards earlier this year, I lost an award to her. But I don't consider that an insult because she's the epitome of brilliance, and I have something that I would really want to say to her: 'You have no idea what a privilege, what a pleasure it is, for me to lose an award to you.'' As we prepare to wrap up lunch – it's been a hit and Theo is taking home a container with scant leftovers (we made a good dent in a substantial spread) – I ask him what's next. He does seem unstoppable. Loading He would like to continue acting and work with, among others, Susie Porter, Shane Jacobson, Claudia Karvan and Justine Clarke, and do more voice work for animation. He's also a consultant for Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia), for which he has been visiting schools and workplaces. 'I want to inspire these autistic students that they can accomplish their dreams and to also be determined,' he says. What drives him? 'Just my refusal to take no for an answer,' he says. 'Because I noticed years ago that a lot of people weren't taking no for an answer from me, but I took no for an answer from them. So I thought, 'Why should I do that if people aren't going to take it as an answer from me?' 'Sometimes, if you want your goals to happen, sometimes you need to take action yourself, even if others will disapprove.'

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