Tag / theatre

by nightwritessydney

Barbara & the Camp Dogs | Belvoir

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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.

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by nightwritessydney

Venus in Fur | 107

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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.

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by nightwritessydney

Ditch | Dream Plane Productions

1. Giles Gartrell-Mills (Photography by Becky Matthews)

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.

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by nightwritessydney

Dark Voyager | Castle Hill Players

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Image by Chris Lundie

On a seemingly ordinary night in 1962, LA gossip columnist Hedda Hopper invites movie stars and rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford for a night of airing dirty laundry, throwing insults, and making a few deals. After lots of drinks and a fine wager from Bette, Marilyn Monroe makes an appearance and the whole night goes off the rails.

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by nightwritessydney

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Little Eggs and JackRabbit Theatre

Image by Brett Boardman

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a seminal text in English Romantic literature which many Australians would have encountered in a high school classroom. It’s a poem detailing the penance an old mariner must pay for a moment of arrogance and cruelty against a “lesser” being. Little Eggs’s reimagining for the stage adds texture and movement, bringing new life to an old text.

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by nightwritessydney

Bin Laden | Knaive Theatre

Image by Kevin Patterson

Extremism has been a hot topic for at least the last two decades and with every new attack, when innocent people are targeted and murdered again and again, people ask why and they ask how. The British theatre company Knaive Theatre brings its debut production to Sydney to provoke discussion about the backstory for one of the world’s most infamous terrorists.

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by nightwritessydney

Director Emma Burns and Actors Caitlin Williams and Zachary Selmes on Venus in Fur | 107

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Image by Andrea Mudbidri

Night Writes sits down with the director Emma Burns and lead actors Caitlin Williams and Zachary Selmes from upcoming Venus in Fur at 107 to discuss their production and its larger ramifications.

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by nightwritessydney

Fierce | Red Line Productions

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Image by Clare Hawley

Suzie Flack has eschewed “women’s” sport for the real, original, men’s league of AFL. She has always been as good as the boys, ie better than the girls, and she wants her chance to prove herself as the first woman to ever play for the men’s team. Fierce is a complex examination of gender, bodies, ability, and want within the all-Australian realm of professional sport.

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The Realistic Joneses | Patina Productions

1. Suzann James (photo credit Clare Hawley)

Image by Clare Hawley

Bob and Jennifer Jones are a typical American couple living out their lives in a quiet, woodsy neighbourhood. Bob was recently diagnosed with a rare neurological disease but they’re coping as best as they can. When the other Joneses, Pony and John, move in, their world is unsettled enough for them to question what’s left unsaid.

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by nightwritessydney

Every Brilliant Thing | Belvoir

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Image by Brett Boardman

Mental illness is a very isolating experience because many of the symptoms of mental illnesses, especially depression, attack the parts of the mind that interpret relationships, make meaningful connections, and experience joy. Often the effects of mental illness are not felt until a tragedy occurs, a suicide or another violent physical manifestation of the illness, when the impact radiates outwards through family, friends, and communities.

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