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 Blake Condon
Jeff and Hunter have three weeks to write a brand new musical to submit to the New York Musical Theatre Festival so, for lack of a better idea, they write a show about the process of writing a show. As a love letter to musical theatre and homage to the creative industry in general, [title of show] follows in the footsteps of great writer duos to explore friendship, creativity, and the journey through self-doubt.
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 OGA Creative Agency
To celebrate their 40th birthday, Flying Fruit Fly Circus have brought their much-loved production JUNK back to the stage for its last Australian-wide tour. This one of a kind circus troupe of kids aged 8-19 are dedicated to creating vibrant and engaging circus performances to entertain all ages. Inspired by youthful imagination and risk-taking, JUNK shows off what these incredibly talented kids can do.
Image by Geoff Sirmai
After a somewhat delayed foray into professional singing, Evelyne Weltlinger launched her debut album Songs of My Heart on a beautiful autumn night at Camelot Lounge’s Django Bar. With four accompanying musicians, including her violinist son Daniel Weltlinger, Evelyne shared a selection of songs from the album and some additional pieces for a supportive and enthusiastic audience.
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.
For their inaugural performance, the newly formed Bel a consort presented a program centred on “Requiem Mass, 1605 from composer Tomás Luis de Victoria as well as contemporaries Alonso Lobo and Jacob Clemens non Papa. The three pieces formed a harmonious concert of Renaissance sacred music.
Image by Becky Matthews
In the near future, the world has reached breaking point: the government is forcibly mandating birth control, people are fleeing across borders, communications have broken down between major powers and volatile states, and nuclear war hangs on the horizon. Ditch makes manifest the threats, predictions, and fears gathering for generations and presents the world as it may one day be.
Night Writes 