Armageddon Some Loo Roll was written and recorded during the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, as part of John Lombard’s Canberra CoronaVision YouTube channel, a dedicated channel for Radio Plays in Pandemic Days. Uploaded in April 2020, it has since been broadcast on Artsound.FM’s Radio Theatre show presented by Bart Meehan.
A short radio play trying to capture a moment in history, Armageddon Some Loo Roll is the story of 3 flatmates in search of some elusive toilet roll during a period of panic buying at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(*Language warning, there are some sweaty bits)


18 mins

After a one night stand, Victoria contemplates life and the trials and tribulations of navigating the dating scene.

Always The Bridesmaid was originally written for the 2016 Canberra Short+Sweet festival and performed by Jessica Gowing. Jessica reproduced her performance in 2018 for Hang on a Second – an night of short plays and a song, and Life Is a Corona-Coaster in 2020. It is presented here as a radio play recorded for Radio Theatre on Artsound FM – originally broadcast on 7th March 2021

(*Language warning there are some sweary bits)


11 mins

A Canberra Radio PLay

And God Created Belconnen is a short play celebrating everything that is Belco.

Originally written for Life Is a Corona-Coaster, an evening of plays celebrating the return of theatre in Canberra in October of 2020. It is presented here as a radio play recorded for Radio Theatre on Artsound FM – originally broadcast on 28th February 2021

(*Language warning there are some sweary bits)


7 mins

Hymn To Black Mountain

Originally published by Saccharine Poetry Press this is Chris Collins’ beautiful Hymn to Black Mountain.

When Canberran teacher Leigh Southwell moved to the Solomon Islands in 2014, she wanted to help in the local community, and to help in a school seemed like a perfect fit. Leigh worked with the school community, and with the assistance of Make a Mark Australia (an Australia Charity which helps fund small educational projects) and other fundraising activities to build Mercy School into a thriving educational institution. Click here to watch Beautiful Chaos

Lean In

Lean In is a poem by Narmadhaa reflecting on the rows of eucalyptus trees, between Calvary
Hospital and the ANU, as seen along the Belconnen Way—Barry Drive bus
route. It’s a wonderfully evocative poem. Click here to read Narmadhaa’s Lean In

More of Narmadhaa’s work will be published here soon.

From school plays and joining a local choir, to performing shows for Budding Theatre, studying at Perform Australia and featuring in film and television projects. Local actor and singer Rob Shiells talks about his career in theatre and film and his move to LA to pursue his acting dream. Click here to watch A Canberran in LA, a mini-doc on Rob Shiells.

Beneath the glass dome

Photo By Sam Brady

Amanda McLeod composed Beneath The Glass Dome, an evocative poem about about Canberra, after she moved here from Melbourne in late 2017. She’s the author of Animal Behaviour (Chaffinch Press, 2020) and the managing editor of Animal Heart Press, a small poetry press.

New Mini-Doc Art & Sole

The mini-doc Art & Sole is now available to view check out the link below

https://thecanberratales.com/mini-doc/art-sole-2/

Art & Sole

A Canberra Street Artist talks about the differences between street art and graffiti. A new Mini-Doc coming Wednesday to The Canberra Tales.

Chris Collins moved to Canberra at the start of 2019, her enthusiasm for Canberra is infectious. Chris’s piece ‘You Make Me Feel As Though Spring Has Sprung’ captures her love and excitement for the city. Funny, enchanting and written with a very English sense of humour ‘You Make Me Feel As Though Spring Has Sprung’ will be published on Wednesday, just in time for what would have been Floriade.

Canberra Coronavision

At the start of the pandemic local writer John Lombard created Canberra CoronaVision, a YouTube channel dedicated to radio plays for pandemic days. Local writers including John Lombard, Greg Gould, Kirsty Budding, Rachel Hogan and Bart Meehan have all contributed to the project, with vocal talent and production from local artists.

Plays include:The Four Horse of the Apocalypse and The Boy Who Came With The Frame by John Lombard, Cat Queen by Kirsty Budding, Armageddon Some Loo Roll by Nigel Palfreman, Stargazers By Greg Gould, Four by Rachel Hogan and Love in Lockdown and 10 minutes Left By Bart Meehan.

Click on the logo to take you to the Youtube Channel

Watch From A Kind Place In Your Heart: A Canberra writer, actor and producer a mini documentary about John Lombard here.

From The Kind Place In Your Heart

The mini-documentary From The Kind Place in Your Heart featuring local writer, producer and actor John Lombard, comes to The Canberra Tales. John shares his thoughts on the writing process and the exciting theatre and arts scene in Canberra.

Sneak peek

Here is a sneak preview of some of the content to come over the coming weeks.

The Canberra Tales

The Canberra Tales project is a site that has been created to celebrate everything Canberra.

Canberra is full of stories and The Canberra Tales will be a place to watch, read and hear them.

Mini documentaries about interesting people and places, regular Instagram and Facebook Post

Keep an eye out for The Canberra Tales on Facebook, instagram, Youtube and Twitter.

If you are interested in contributing to site, we’d love to hear from you whether its creating a documentary, submitting a short film, story or poem or being the subject of a mini doc get in touch: thecanberratales@gmail.com

The Canberra Tales

Coming very soon

Despite what Bill Bryson said “Canberra awfully boring”, we know that Canberra is cool, very cool with some incredible people and places. This website is all about shouting aloud how great Canberra is.

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