Image by Clare Hawley
Elle is living a dream: her estranged Italian aunt has passed away and left her rural olive farm in its entirety to her. But after Elle has flown over from Sydney, it becomes clear that her aunt has left her a lot more than just the farm. In an unravelling story of family secrets, environmentalism, extortion, and murder, Daniela Giorgi’s Italian adventure covers it all in a homey and haunted kitchen.
Image by Daniel Boud
Ghenoa Gela is a multi-medium performer using dance, theatre, and a bit of stand-up comedy to tell the story of herself in My Urrwai. “Urrwai” loosely translates into English as a personal style or essence so Gela’s solo production represents many aspects of her identity as Torres Strait Islander woman, a dancer and performer, and someone finding her way outside the Western heterosexual binary.
Image by Brett Boardman
Neecy has organised to have three generations of her family to meet at their traditional family camping spot for a secret occasion. Choosing to ignore their personal crises for the weekend, the women wear away the shine of happy quality time very quickly. The intrusion of a controversial photographer, employed to document the event by Neecy, doesn’t help to stabilise rocky communication.
Image by Clare Hawley
Joseph K has been arrested by an unknown entity for an unknown crime and, while it’s unclear what the consequences of his arrest may be, his identity is slowly being erased from all systems and databases. With the help of his sister and some unusual characters, Joseph hopes to fight the charges and get his life back on track. In Tom Basden’s adaptation of the Franz Kafka novel the Trial, the validity and efficacy of the modern world’s bureaucracy and impenetrable policies are satirised to the extreme.
Image by James Hartley
Global events over the last three years have dragged Animal Farm, the anti-Stalinist novel by George Orwell, back into the spotlight. This adaptation for the stage by Geordie Brookman animates the slow but steady journey from revolution to dictatorship in an English farmyard with a single actor representing all characters.
The Short + Sweet Theatre Festival Gala Final is the culmination of 180 short plays and 12 weeks of performances boiled down into the top 12 plays battling for the top spot. Over two nights the plays are performed, judged for the last time, and then awarded on the final night of the festival. It’s in this final week that the spirit of the festival is at its most potent and the stage positively buzzes with excitement.
Image by Robert Catto
Everyone’s been there; at a Halloween party, trying to have a spooky time, and accidentally opening a portal to Hell. Writer Qui Nguyen’s work is well-known for integrating gore and horror tropes with puppets, humour, and a lot of fight choreography. This Australian premiere of his play Alice in Slasherland sees the Lewis Carol story turned on its head.
Image by Sam Lax
Working for charity is a tough break. Repeatedly trying to convince sceptical, cynical, and sometimes downright selfish people to part with their money for a good cause can grow disheartening very quickly. The role of “charity-muggers”, people who interrupt you on the street to sign you up for charities you may have never heard of, stretch the ethical boundaries of charity work. Michael Becker and Ian Warwick’s new script uncovers the unsavoury attitudes behind charities and their sell tactics.
Image by Brett Boardman
Barbara and René are sisters and cousins and singing partners. They’re scraping together a living at odd gigs in Sydney but, when their mother gets sick, they go on a journey to find her first in Darwin and then back in their hometown of Katherine. It isn’t easy to return to a place you ran from and, for Barbara, even harder to remember somewhere that abandoned you. This rock musical about family and belonging, written by Ursula Yovich and Alana Valentine, returns to the Belvoir stage a year and a half after its world premiere.
Thomas is auditioning actors for the role of Vanda in his adaptation of the novel Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. The story is well-known for its erotic content and representation of dominance and submission in sexual relationships. Thomas thinks he has seen every actor in town and none fit the bill until a real-life Vanda comes running into the room. Over the course of the night the two dip in and out of Sacher-Masoch’s world and become lost beyond the boundaries of reality.
Night Writes 