AustLit

'When you lose something, you gain something else …

'Cathelijn is completely and undeniably alone: no friends, no family, no-one to turn to. All by herself in the centre of a dark forest, she tries to be strong, like a Viking. And that’s when she sees it – the house. A higgledy-piggeldy mess of a place as tall as the trees. Inside, she finds Piotr, a boy who never stops talking, and Elka, a grey-haired explorer who insists they keep the curtains closed tight. When they suddenly launch into the air and set off across the sky, Cathelijn learns that this is no ordinary house: it’s a Rescue House, and it rescues the Loneliest Child in the World.

'SLAP. A video of 16-year-old Immi hitting a soldier during a military occupation goes viral. BANG. Sofia’s impassioned speech for the victims of a school shooting makes international news. KISS. In the car park of a Wangaratta Woolies, people rally around Darby and Daniel as the boys lock lips in an attempt to set the world record for the longest kiss.

'Can young people really change the world? Multi-award-winning playwright and MTC Writer in Residence Dan Giovannoni knows they can. In SLAP. BANG. KISS. he tracks three young people whose stories kick-start a series of events none of them could have anticipated, transforming them into global symbols of revolution. But when their stories go viral and the whole world is watching, what will they do next?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The 1995 debut novel from Christos Tsiolkas (The Slap, Dead Europe, Barracuda) makes its mainstage premiere 25 years after the fact.

'Ari (Roy Joseph, Five Bedrooms) is 19, unemployed and aimless. He doesn’t want to be gay. He doesn’t want to be Greek. He doesn’t want to be anything. He finds an escape, of sorts, via sex, drugs and dance clubs. But, he doesn’t really fit in with the queens at The Peel any better than with family in his theía’s backyard.

'This is the story that established Tsiolkas as a provocative master of the written word. Adapted for film in the 1998 underground hit Head On, and now, in close collaboration with playwright Dan Giovannoni, Tsiolkas rewrites Ari’s odyssey for the stage with a 21st century perspective.'

Source: Matlhouse Theatre.