AustLit

'NO BALL GAMES ALLOWED explores the world near the bottom of a series of high-rise towers, a world where a young woman disappears and her life is remembered by her mother, a life of moments and opportunities that were never fully grasped, that could have been different.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'When and how do many voices become one?

'What happens when they do?

'When does group become herd?

'And how do we tell communal stories for an endlessly heterogeneous group of people?

'HERD is a new work of queer music theatre.

'Springing off Lachlan Philpott’s 21-year-old play BISON, this new work expands outwards, opening up from its original metaphor for the gay male herd to consider herding and herdlike behaviours, kinship, discrimination and isolation in the wider LGBTQIA+ community.

'HERD lays claim to queer history, insisting it be visible and seeking to memorialise those lost to stigma, illness, violence and ignorance. An unapologetic provocation for our times, HERD sharply examines what it means to be part of ‘the queer community’.

'Are we all in it together?'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Amanda Redfern, a one-time Hollywood star whose life has spiralled in later years.

'When she begins tutoring twenty-something actor Jordan Ridley, the two discover a vastly different set of perceptions across themes of sexism, ageism, respect, consent, mental health; and their methodologies as actors fuelled by vastly different lived experience.

'THE MENTOR is driven by a mature female voice, juxtaposed against an idealistic male perspective. It highlights that socially, equality and equity are still values that haven’t been achieved. It demands that we consider how we treat the most vulnerable, and how we examine our own privilege.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Based on the true story of South African born Sydney woman: Eliza Emily Donnithorne, jilted on her wedding day and found 30 years later still clad in her bridal gown - the wedding feast uneaten and mouldered to dust.

'DAY AFTER TERRIBLE DAY is a new work by the award- winning contemporary theatre provocateurs, The Danger Ensemble that collides Aussie larrikinism with Victorian era restraint. It is a backyard bbq wedding, a parlour show, a decomposition time-lapse and a stillborn baby shower.

'A mash up of theatrical forms examining the micro and macro of catastrophe and asks can we or how can we as individuals, families and societies rebuild our futures after significant destruction? A break up, a flood, the death of a lover, a nuclear explosion?'

Source: Theatre Works.

'Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy… Ava lives in a neoliberal world where everyone is watched by Guardians and music has been censored out of existence. Three generations into this new age, the people around her are content with the silence. Ava, however, can’t help but hear music everywhere she goes. Determined to share the soundtrack of the past, she opens up an illicit underground cabaret bar, much to the chagrin of her ever-present Guardian. But in her world, you wouldn’t dream getting caught singing…

'Follow Ava and her Guardian on an immersive journey of self-discovery, where she uncovers the wonders of song and the memories they make. An exploration of the consequences of morality, SENSER is a reminder of the whimsy we’d miss in such a possible future.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'MEDEA: OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES is Theatre Works’ new production based on Euripides’ MEDEA as recalled and reimagined from the fantastical minds of her (allegedly?) slain children. History is told by the victors, and myths preserved by those in power, but perhaps it is the youngest that grip the hardest truths?

'Medea, arguably one of the darkest tales Western theatrical canon, is given a fresh and surprisingly playful rebirth as told from the point of view of its undoubtedly most important characters: Medea’s children.

'This daring amalgamation of theatrical forms plays out like a surreal living music video with film projection, live feed and song.'

Source: TheatreWorks.

'Carlo Gatti introduced ice cream to Victorian London, but this isn’t about him. This is about a physicist in 1983, a psychologist in 2017, a piano-playing Victorian era ghost, ice cream, quantum gravity, Elton John, and feeling alone in the universe.

'In their respective apartments, in their respective times, alone a psychologist and a physicist fear for their sanity, because whoever lives above them has been playing Liszt on the piano nonstop, the only problem is they live on the top floor.

'As one Christmas takes a turn as a betrayal is revealed. When we’re moving across time, can binding a found family across the ages change our future?

'This bleak comedy takes a look at the delicate things that barely hold us and the universe together, the deafening pain isolation and the phenomenal power of ice cream.'

Source: Theatre Works.

'When Mel decides to turn his struggles with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) into a stand-up comedy routine, it seems the lemons are finally turning into lemonade – until his ex, Mags, appears in the audience and wants to reconcile – as part of the routine. Love has never felt so much like heckling in the world premiere of this darkly hilarious slice of ramped-up life.

'This world premiere of ALL THE RAGE draws on interviews with people with lived experience of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and is unique in its focus on some of the more humourous aspects of this mental health diagnosis. The two composite characters represent a cross-section of issues related to living with BPD, including relationship struggles, trauma, impulsivity and emotional overwhelm. The play is just one of a number of research-related performances written by Daniel X Harris, with the aim of better sharing the less stereotypical experiences of those from minoritarian communities.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Welcome to the Coleman household – where crisis follows disaster after catastrophe.

'Widowed matriarch and ‘retired grandmother’ Jerica dreams of selling her dilapidated home and getting away from her family. Grandson Coop avoids talking about his newly diagnosed medical condition by courting the sexually fluid handyman tasked with repairing Jerica’s house. His conservative father Charles prepares to run for a safe Liberal seat, dragging everyone along for the ugly ride, while his wife Phoebe doesn’t know what she wants anymore, except that it’s probably not Charles.

'And then Britta – Jerica’s estranged daughter, Charles’ twin sister and Phoebe’s former best friend – walks through the door and demands to be heard.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'How the hell are you meant to figure out who you are while the world is on fire around you?

'In the near future the sky is filled with smoke. For a kid with asthma, you haven’t got a chance in the city. So you get sent to live with your grandad, a boring old man who lives in a lighthouse by an ocean filled with rubbish and a baby albatross with no one to look after them.

'So you fight for justice. But how are you meant to fight when the adults who can make a difference don’t care at all? And how can you possibly save the world when you’re barely staying afloat yourself?

'Written for early secondary students, OWL AND THE ALBATROSS is a love letter from queer young adults who missed out on seeing their stories growing up—stories with queer kids who don’t like being told who they are and what their name is and now they have something to say.'

Source: TheatreWorks.

'This performance tests the boundaries of intercultural theatre expression, confronting the audiences with challenging concepts as displacement, exile and identity through a case study: the iconic character of Masha in Chekhov's THREE SISTERS. The narrative is focused on the sense of dislocation and displacement experienced by actors when performing in a foreign language and from a text that is itself a translation.

'MASHA IN TRANSLATION is an example of intercultural communication across time, languages and borders. This is in many ways a story of many journeys, using much more than words to connect the past and the present, to break the ‘silence’ and sometimes to correct misunderstandings.'

Source: Theatre Works.