‘Life is a Cabaret, Old Chum!’ - Living Legend, Industry Pioneer, and Provocateur; Robyn Archer

Robyn Archer AO FAHA is a singer, writer, artistic director and public advocate for the arts. Winner of the Helpmann Award for Best Cabaret Performer 2013 and named Cabaret Icon at the 2016 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, she currently performs highly acclaimed recitals of French (Que Reste-t’Il) , German (Dancing on the Volcano) and American (The Other Great American Songbook) song, wrote and directed The Sound of Falling Stars (2017/18) and released her album Classic Cabaret Rarities in 2019.  In July 2022 Robyn premiered Robyn Archer: an Australian Songbook with a two-week season for Queensland Theatre. Working with long term accordionist George Butrumlis, actor and guitarist Cameron Goodall and pianist Enio Pozzebon the show was an audience and critical success and will tour in 2023. Robyn is recognised internationally for her expertise in the repertoire of the Weimar Republic (Brecht and his musical collaborators and others from 1920s and 30s Germany) which she has been performing through Australia and worldwide since the 1970s, including at the National Theatre, London in 1977, in Hong Kong, Honolulu, and at the Brecht Festival in Augsburg.  Her many other stage successes include The Seven Deadly Sins which opened the Space in 1974, and one-woman shows A Star is Torn (through Australia and at Wyndham’s in London’s West End for a year) and Tonight Lola Blau both at the Adelaide Festival Centre. She has written and had produced, plays including Il Magnifico, Poor Joanna (with poet Judith Rodriguez), and Architektin; plays with music including Songs from Sideshow Alley, Café Fledermaus and The Bridge; and devised cabarets featuring her own songs and writing such as The Pack of Women, Scandals and Cut and Thrust.  Robyn has published numerous books from The Robyn Archer Songbook to Mrs Bottle’s Burp and Detritus (a collection of her public speeches) as well as writing for the Griffith Review and the Australian Book Review. Among her many awards, including the ABR Laureate, the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Cultural Leadership Award, the SA Premier’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the International Society for Performing Arts’ International Achievement Award and an ARIA Award for Best Soundtrack (The Pack of Women), the 2018 Adelaide Festival of Ideas Dedication recognised Robyn for her contribution to the world of ideas and public life. In the same year she also received the JC Williamson Centenary Lifetime Achievement Award. Robyn is an Officer of the Order of Australia, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), Officer of the Crown (Belgium), Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and has Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Sydney and Adelaide as well as Flinders, Canberra and Griffith Universities and the University of South Australia.  Robyn Archer - An Australian Songbook - commences a National Tour - kicking off in Melbourne tonight playing …. June 12th & 13th - Victorian Arts CentreAdelaide Cabaret Festival - June 17th and 18thCanberra - July 7th and 8th - Canberra Arts CentreDarwin - August 19th and 20th - Darwin Entertainment CentreSydney - October 18 to 29 - Belvoir TheatreHobart - November 3rd and 4th - Theatre RoyalA journey through Australian music that spans 150 years, from convict lament to Kate Miller Heidke and First Nations songwriters, Robyn explores the unique sound of our country with a repertoire full of passion, politics, landscape and laughter. The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au