AustLit

'November 23rd, 1963. The day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, a young girl scout is killed in a suburban street while walking home. A B-list celebrity, a questionable counselor, a blue-collar worker and a housewife are taken to the local cop shop to await questioning. A character comedy in a groovy 1960’s dreamscape. Grab your prawn cocktails, sit back on your vinyl chair and welcome to purgatory!

'RING, RING! expands on the concepts of isolation, purgatory, and “staying apart keeps us together” to present a piece that is socially distanced and intimate simultaneously. The audience is invited to join the characters in a wild romp through the darkest recesses of their mind as they try to navigate through their “new normal” and attempt to bring a sense of normalcy back into their lives. The show brings together an amalgamation of technologies including filmmaking, sound design and choreography, discarding traditional theatre practices to assist in dissecting the concepts of modern humanity and how we create intimacy in the digital world.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Stars in his eyes, a derelict ageing twink moves to London on a theatrical whim. Chaos ensues, his life becoming an intoxicating vortex of sex, drugs and deceit.

'His gateway to this treacherous world is the mysterious PC, an international man of mystery, a money launderer and a fraud. He promises fame but delivers breakdown.

'Meanwhile the people are revolting, on a scale we’ve never witnessed before, and it is his relationship with Nick, the young revolutionary, that just might save him.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Born from the strange socio-political moment we’re living in, VERY NICE POT PLANTS TO PURIFY THE AIR AND ENRICH YOUR LIFE (henceforth referred to as POT PLANTS) is an absurd, psychedelic comedy about connection and interdependence. Join a few humans and many living pot plants on a wild ride back in time to the days of disco, free love and booty shorts. Here you’ll meet Anne, a scientist trying to prove plants can talk. With lots of big hair and irreverent dance numbers, you won’t want to miss this new Australian work from emerging, already award-winning makers.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Elizabeth is young at heart and filled with imagination. When all that she loves is put in danger, the most mystical of opportunities presents itself, taking her on a journey filled with madness, fantastical whimsy, self discovery and coming to terms with what it means to be human. 

'THE HOUSE ON FIRE AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is a breathtaking new Australian ambient rock musical, interwoven with the beating heart of contemporary folk music. Live music, dance and a dazzlingly suspicious upside down kingdom take centre stage in this captivating live experience that will take you to another world and back.

'Inspired by musicals such as ‘Hadestown’ and ‘Once,’ THE HOUSE ON FIRE AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is experimental music theatre at its most ambitious. Inventive stagecraft, a score that sings of the joy and pain of being human, and inventive storytelling come together to make a fairy tale for our modern time.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'no matter the cost, no matter the consequence.

'“He’d been shoving her around for a while now. I knew that. Sometimes she’d tell me, sometimes not, but I could always tell when they’d had a blue. But she was my girl and sometimes things were better left unsaid.”

'Well-meaning, teenage misfit Millie comes home from work one day to discover her old childhood friend Annie bruised and bloody on her doorstep. Millie picks her up, dusts her off and puts her in the bath. Lying in bed together, the two reminisce on a childhood that occurred a lifetime ago and recall an old promise to care for one other “until the end of the earth, no matter the cost and no matter the consequence.” As Annie sleeps, Millie vows to honour her friend in the one way that seems fair; revenge.

'Set in the outskirts of metropolitan Melbourne, KEROSENE is a relentless and unsympathetic character study exploring the complex, ugly and dangerous symptoms of love. It is a homage to the blind loyalty that accompanies lifelong friendships and the realities of what it means to grow up young, quiet and forgotten in modern day Australia.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'SPOT is an original solo theatre show that explores a contemporary immigrant journey through wicked satire, wild physical comedy and unforgettable characters. Performed by Fabio Motta and co-devised and directed by John Tummino and movement director Zya Kane.

'It’s the story of 8 year old migrant, Mario, and his devilish alter ego ‘Spot’. Mario dreams of becoming a ‘very good English actor’ and one day to even be tackling Shakespeare, but with no grasp of the english language and no one to support his dreams, he’s in a… ‘spot’ of bother!

'SPOT explores through humour the difficulties of trying to find a place to fit in, when all you feel is out of place. The show examines themes of separation trauma, the difficulties of displacement, the language barriers and the deep sense of loss that are an inevitable part of leaving everything you know and love for the hope of a brighter future.

'Based on true events, this story presents the questions of whether Australia really is the inclusive, multicultural place it believes itself to be.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'“Everytime a friend succeeds, I die a little” – Gore Vidal

'Jem, Ella and Harry are friends.

'Best friends.

'Whip-smart underachievers side-eyeing their late twenties, their friendship is fuelled by pop music, gay meme accounts and a healthy cynicism about everyone and everything around them.

'Now Jem is moving to New York. On the eve of his departure, he invites Harry and Ella to his parents’ beach house for a final hurrah. 

'The usual. Cheap wine, expensive pizza, and bad movies.

'But now, Jem’s sudden commitment to his own personal growth threatens to rip apart the delicate threads that have tied them together for years.

'Can they face a world without each other? Or worse – a world where one of them doesn’t need the others?

'Gather the people who know you too well for this hilarious, moving and deeply relatable play LOVE YOU BITCH, about friendship and finding (or losing) your way in the world. You might just not be able to look them in the eye afterwards…'

Source: Theatre Works.

'BETTY is a complex and unfiltered exploration of the Mother/Daughter relationship; revealed at a time when the Mother’s inhibitions are being compromised by her decline into dementia. Although never close, the daughter now finds herself in the challenging position of trying to care for her.

'As we weave through this unpredictable landscape we are brought face to face with the harrowing nature of old age and decline and the urgency this places on the many unanswered questions of the past. The fabric of their relationship is smashed open and within it the trademarks of inherited family trauma, cultural assimilation, loneliness, abuse, blame and misunderstanding are laid bare.

'A harrowing tale of a Mother’s unresolved traumatic childhood and the impact this then has on her daughter and her daughter's choices in life. The script is unapologetic, candid and incredibly humorous. The hilarity adding a much needed contrast to the weight of such loss and tragedy.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'A contemporary neo-noir thriller spanning seven decades and set in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, this August [2021] Theatre Works proudly present The Darkening Sky – the latest premiere work from renowned playwright Richard Murphet.

'Bringing together some of our finest local artists and arts makers, The Darkening Sky interweaves lives from the past and present in a desperate bid to solve the unexplained disappearance of two women.

'In the warm and familiar surrounds of his local café Jamie has managed to build a life of peace and solitude for decades. Now thrust unwillingly into reconstructing troubled memories, his belief in the calm surface his childhood crumbles – surrounded by elements from a past he didn’t even know existed. At the same time a detective is handed a Cold Case involving the disappearance of a young woman in the 1980s. Chasing answers to this mystery unearths a web of political intrigue, violence, and sacrifice.

'Examining a hidden history of Melbourne and featuring well known locations around St. Kilda and other inner suburbs, The Darkening Sky is an electrifying and all engrossing new Australian work. 90 minutes of non-stop action, not to be missed.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'PROPHETX is a spectacle of misfit, a love letter to those whose lives speak truth to authority despite the consequence. It is an epic, surreal and irreverent remix of the story of Tiresias – an ancient outsider, an archetypal other, the genderfluid and queer seer who features in The Bacchae, Oedipus Rex, Antigone and The Odyssey.   

'The Danger Ensemble who are known for their highly visual and physical works further their exploration of contemporary form and modern tragedy with PROPHETX.

'Tiresias’ life spanned seven generations, living as man and woman, counsel to mortals and gods alike, existing in this world and the underworld, both celebrated and punished for knowing and seeing too much.  

'Historically, like many queer figures Tiresias has been merely a supporting character, a dramatic device, and a footnote but PROPHETX positions Tiresias as the central figure in their own drama and asks:

'what is the cost of seeing? 

'what is the pain of knowing? 

'what is the weight of living?'

Source: Theatre Works.

'In the ashes everyone’s been scorched. Family, survival and legacy in the aftermath of disaster. 

'Eva and Lily have returned to the farm following a catastrophic fire season. The family home has burnt to the ground, the fences have melted, the neighbours have fled and the animals have perished. Maggie, the matriarch, is living in a caravan on the blackened earth where the house once stood tending her new vegetable garden and refusing to leave her land. Painful family histories are revealed that force questions and confrontations to the surface. How much can this family ask of one another amidst the ashes?

'Tackling the lived realities of a world increasingly affected by global warming and the impacts on our experiences of family, THE VIEW FROM UP HERE reflects and raises questions about the tapestry of our Australian zeitgeist. This theatrical experience investigates how we might find hope in one another in order to face tomorrow together.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'It’s just a job interview. There’s nothing to be afraid of…

'Job hunting can be a real bitch, huh? Hours spent updating your resume with blatant lies about your employment history, days spent waiting to hear back from potential employers, months spent hoping the perfect job will fall onto your lap without having to really work for it.

'And then you score the job interview! But this isn’t just any job interview. This one is a real killer…

'THE HITMEN follows six unemployed hopefuls as they take part in a group interview with the hope of obtaining the job of their dreams – a Hitman at K.O.C, Australia’s largest professional agency of contract killers and assassins.

'Hilariously disturbing and humorously unhinged, THE HITMEN churns the stomach and tickles the funny bone as it propels the audience through the dark spectrum of human behaviour and corporate governance.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'“In all directions stretched the Great Australian Emptiness, in which the mind is the least of possessions, in which the rich man is the important man… It was the exaltation of the “average” that made me panic.” — Patrick White, The Prodigal Son

'Australia, 1930. As the Great Depression tightens its grip on a hungry, fledgling nation, Harold Bell Lasseter charms everyone with his story of a fabulously wealthy “reef” of gold hidden in the vast Interior. Brave adventurers set off in search of riches and salvation… but the expedition descends into a nightmare.

'Australia, 2020. Relentless funding cuts have left the arts community weary and desperate. Kim Ho persuades Theatre Works that he can fashion the next great Australian play from the legend of Lasseter’s Reef. He conjures five characters and sends them into the desert to retrace the expedition’s footsteps. But for these unlucky souls, trapped inside Kim’s masterpiece, the real nightmare is yet to begin.

'An ingenious new satire from Patrick White Award-winning playwright Kim Ho, THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN PLAY is a psychedelic romp through the myths of our glorious nation’s past, present and imagined future. Featuring vanishing conmen, Nazi German dingo scalpers and an ancient evil force, this is the dazzling epic we’ve been waiting for.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'“I remember when I was 8 watching SBS through the crack of my bedroom door. I could see two women getting it on. It was a dangerous and exciting image, and I knew I should forget it… but instead I took it to bed with me. I remember promising myself each time: ‘this is the last time I’ll do this.’ I also remember not believing it, not a even a little bit.”

'Woven together from intersecting stories of the queer experience, a performer tells a relational story that emerges from the intimacy and surprising universality of the queer experience growing up. In doing so, NEW BALANCE examines and constellates the moments that helped to form us and hurt us in equal measure.

'What are the points of connection that the queer community have that straight people cannot? What formulates these points of connection? What makes them special? Moreover, how can we be truly self-reflexive within a community that is progressing, but still under attack? In tackling these questions, NEW BALANCE aims to create a space of accountability and recognition.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'There’s something about a room when there’s only men inside it.

'This play is kinda about firemen and Tom of Finland and Nick Riewoldt and first girlfriends and bad boyfriends and gentleness and sex and fear and yeah.

'LEOPARD PRINT LOINCLOTH is an episodic jog through the prickly field of contemporary Australian masculinity.

'An all-male, ruggedly talented cast of six inhabit this beer-scented new play from Melbourne playwright Jake Stewart (‘Fraternal’, ‘Boys Have Skin’, and ‘The Helendale Nude Footy Calendar’.)

'Come along, sit back, bring a cute pal, and spend a little time with the boys.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Andrew moves to Singapore, where his features shine and his skin is extra-white. But, in profile, he still looks like a child’s drawing of a shark. And he must keep moving forward, though he smells blood. With his modelling career drying up, visa swiftly disappearing, and the water stagnating, an older Singaporean man named T. swims into his jaws…

'Superiority tackles self-loathing in this Queer clapback to Eat, Pray, Love and its kin. POORLY DRAWN SHARK is a sharp and hilarious attack on autobiography: drenched in salt water and biting hungrily at Australia’s fetishisation of South East Asia. Saviours, daddies, selfies, servitude, and only the sexiest colonial ghosts wash up on the shore as performers Andrew Sutherland and Ming Yang Lim deep dive into a sea of narcissism, need, objectification, and nationhood.

'Nauseating, grotesquely funny and brutally aware, prepare to Eat, Prey, Hate in this autobiographical takedown of the western travel narratives and enlightenments we seek to consume.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'“I’m just saying, a little lube goes a long way.”

'Being a twenty-something is hard. Being a twenty-something queer is… something else, I guess.

'Dating apps, dick pics and capitalist nightmares. A hostile rental market, un-safe schools and a semi-constant state of existential terror. Look, we’ve only got 12 years until climate catastrophe and we’re all going to low-key high-key die alone, might as well flail around in a spin class and buy a reusable straw, right?

'Fresh off a critically acclaimed hit season in Sydney, THIS BITTER EARTH comes from a pair of exciting new queer voices in writer Chris Edwards and director Riley Spadaro. Here, they bring a sharp new play that delves into what it means to be young, hot and a bit sad.

'An unstitched patchwork of queer lives in queer times, THIS BITTER EARTH looks at how we fight, bitch, love, confront despair and try to connect, all through the mess and the muck and the might of everyday queer existence.

'It’s an anthology of millennial crises, from drunken wine nights in dirty hostels to cooked confessions in club-adjacent alleyways. It’s vicious, it’s tender, it hates being touched but it kinda needs a hug.

'And it’s gay.

'Really gay.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Why do we to suffer? 

'There is only one answer: MAN. 

'We are being robbed of everything. 

'One of the most brutal stories ever told. Written by one of the most incisive and subversive writers of the twentieth century. 

'Adapted by The Bloomshed, George Orwell’s fierce critique of power is funnelled through a contemporary context that sees political oppression, extremism, misinformation and food production erupt into an all-out assault on our contemporary political landscape. ANIMAL FARM is a high-octane mess of punk-protest, political allegory and epic theatre with a rhythm beaten out on abandoned grain silos. 

'If you want to make an omelette, you’ve got to crack some eggs.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Wellness guru, Juniper, is hosting a conference with her fitness-obsessed sister, Ava. With sold-out sessions offering everything from clean eating, Polga™ (yoga-styled pole dancing) and crystal healing, and millions of Instagram followers flocking to see them, the sisters look set to take their brand WellBless – wellness when you are #blessed – to entirely new heights.

'But when Instafamous cancer-patient Maha – who has rejected traditional treatments to follow Juniper’s wellness program – dies onsite, Juniper’s empire looks set to unravel. With the discovery of Maha’s body meaning the end of their incoming millions, the sisters work together with their panel of ‘experts’ to concoct a story about Maha’s complicity in her own death by choosing the path of chemotherapy and filling her body with ‘toxins’.

'With journalist Mindy Flores asking all the questions Juniper should be asking about her own program, the sisters must work quickly to hide the truth. This darkly satirical comedy examines the parasitic world of wellness, a trillion dollar industry that preys on vulnerable women.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'It’s a new day and a new school for Oliver, and making a new friend when he meets Claire in the school ground doesn’t help him with the feeling that nothing is as it should be. Even when Claire agrees to show Oliver home at the end of the school day and then stay and play for a while things still aren’t right. And they are about to get much worse.

'Somehow they find themselves a lot further away from home than either of them could ever have imagined! Here they were in a jungle, without supplies, a mobile phone or a map, and only Oliver’s crazy compass, which has a mind of its own, to guide them. How were they ever going to get out of this place and find their way home? Oh and did we mention that they were being followed?

'Join Claire and Oliver on an exciting musical safari created to engage the young and young at heart in a magical adventure. JUNGLE BUNGLE explores the theme of fear of the unknown while celebrating friendship, individuality and imagination.'

Source: Theatre Works.