We were very fortunate last week to have Peter Adams as our guest speaker. It was very pleasing that he commenced his talk by playing the piece illara and outlining his involvement with the local production of Out of Chaos Comes Beauty. Peter’s roots are in the country as he grew up in Sale and currently lives in Rutherglen. His first career opportunity – which he declined – was being offered a scholarship to teacher’s college. Instead, he commenced working as a radio announcer. After a few years doing this, Peter took on an off-air role as a producer, which led to him working with Bert Newton. Peter told us that Bert was an incredibly brave and gifted entertainer, who he went on to work with in TV and theatre. Peter then went on to work for Opera Australia, which brought him into contact with Dame Joan Sutherland. Peter eventually managed to get her on to the Mike Walsh Show. After his stint at OA, Peter worked extensively in the corporate sector as an Artistic Director. In the last few years, he has focussed on “An Evening With” type shows where he worked with people such as Julie Andrews, David Attenborough, Bear Grylls, Louis Theroux, Jane Fonda and many others. He described this as a challenging and enjoyable job that involves incredible amounts of research to get the shows on to the stage. Peter told us that he has been privileged to do 4 tours with David Attenborough, who he described as a rare creature who has great skills as a performer, producer and story teller. Earnings in main stage productions and other theatre presentations are forecast to reach $43.7B in the next year, making this type of entertainment a huge money spinner for Australia. He attributed the growth of this industry to creativity in the technical area through the establishment of new creative industries, which drive innovation in the sector. Peter pointed out that live entertainment will continue to be relevant because stories will always be told, and excellence will always find an audience. His catchcry is make ‘em laugh, make ‘em gasp, make ‘em cry.