AustLit

'Life is short, and the Tour de France is long.

'Over 200 years ago a volcano erupts over Indonesia spreading an ash cloud all the way to Europe, to the home of inventor Karl Von Drais. When his beloved horse passes away due to the ash, Karl struck by a moment of inspiration devises a two-wheeled man-powered mode of transport, the humble bicycle.

'Flash forward to the present day where we meet Hew, an aspiring cyclist stuck in a rut of dead-end jobs and missed opportunities. He harbours a pathological envy of his successful high school friend, Jake, now a professional cyclist. The story of Hew runs parallel with that of two-time Tour de France champion Gino Bartali, who risked his life during WWII to secretly transport documents to save Jewish people in Northern Italy. A chain of uphill battles, twists and turns leads to a most unlikely meeting on a mountain.

'Written by and starring Hew Parham, this gem of a show weaves together a series of outrageous characters and stories across time and space in an absurdly hysterical, yet ultimately moving portrait of the quest for glory and heroism.'

Source: Production blurb.

'There’s an experiment. I think we should try it.

'She has a master’s degree in Gender Studies. He thinks Jordan Peterson would make an ideal dinner guest. They both realise this blind date is doomed, but an outside catastrophe and “shelter in place” lockdown order forces these polar opposites into the longest first date ever. And the frustrated rock band rehearsing in the apartment next door is hardly helping them stay calm. Desperate to end the constant bickering, they turn to “The Questions”, a real-life psychological questionnaire researchers promise can build intimacy between anyone. But are either of them ready for the answers?

'Inspired by a true story from the COVID-19 pandemic, The Questions is a world premiere rom-com musical with edge from iconoclastic Australian playwright, columnist and author, Van Badham, featuring genre-busting, folk, punk and pop melodies from her long-time collaborator, composer Richard Wise (Late Night Story).'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When you’ve got the right piece, you’re in no doubt.

'All aboard for the world premiere of a dazzling new comedy from Australia’s most prolific and venerated playwright, David Williamson.

'When the Dunstan Playhouse opened in 1974, former Artistic Director, George Ogilvie commissioned Williamson to write the now legendary play The Department for State Theatre Company South Australia. Fifty years later, the master wordsmith delivers to Adelaide audiences a delicious new black comedy about marriage, desire, polyamory and parenthood set to hit those same heights.

'Married couple Mandy and Craig are bored with their (mostly) monogamous relationship. Eager to inject some vim into their vows, they book themselves in for a “lifestyle” cruise, where they meet Brian and Michele, similarly looking for some stimulation at sea…

'Meanwhile, the buttoned-up Drew and his free-spirited daughter, Cassie are just trying to reconnect on what he thought was an “art” tour!

'The keys go in the jar, the recriminations flow in the bar.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'You’re a dead man if they find you.

'Step back in time to 19th-century London, where intrigue and mystery mix in the world premiere of Jack Maggs. Peter Carey’s best-selling and Miles Franklin Award-winning “reworking” of Charles Dickens’ canonical novel Great Expectations, Jack Maggs comes alive on stage in a sweeping new adaptation by South Australian playwright Samuel Adamson, renowned for his successes at England’s National Theatre with Southwark Fair and The Light Princess with Tori Amos.

'The story follows the enigmatic ex-convict Jack Maggs (Carey’s version of Magwitch) returning to London from Australia and embarking on a relentless quest to find his ‘son’ Henry Phipps, who has mysteriously disappeared. Maggs soon becomes entangled in the web of Phipps’ neighbour, Percy Buckle and his bizarre household, where he makes a deal with young novelist and “mesmerist” Tobias Oates (or is it Charles Dickens himself?) to find Phipps. Oates has other plans though, and in Maggs, might just find the perfect inspiration for his new novel.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When Anna, a pianist and perfectionist, falls pregnant with her first child, her excitement is tempered by the daunting journey ahead. She shares the dizzying wonder and crippling anxiety that comes with creating new life. Should she indulge her craving for sausage after sixteen years of not eating meat? Will her birth plan involve Enya or hypnosis, or neither? And just how worried should she be about her baby falling into a composting toilet?

'Anna Goldsworthy has turned her captivating memoir into a captivating play which combines warmth, humour and surprise to reveal the love that binds families together.

'This world premiere production evokes the shock of plunging into a life-changing adventure and the kicking required to return to the surface.

'With live songs and a soon-to-be-announced star of the stage in the role of Anna, this charming but delightfully affecting and hilarious account of pregnancy and early motherhood melds Up the Duff candour with Lena Dunham-like wit, and will have you laughing, sighing and crying in recognition.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'It’s 1886 and the very first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is being compiled. Four-year-old Esme Nicoll has a front row seat. Well, she’s hiding under the sorting table, anyway. As her father and his male colleagues decide which words stay and which go, Esme collects the discarded (often gendered) scraps to compile her own far more radical, far more magical dictionary.

'A sweeping historical tale in the spirit of The Harp in the South, The Dictionary of Lost Words follows Esme from her childhood in the 1880s, into adulthood at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the beginning of the First World War.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company.

'Not now, not ever

'Getting older is inevitable, but growing up takes courage.

'When Mark moved out of home for the first time his mum started writing him letters – just checking in, staying in touch, keeping a gentle hold on her son. Until one letter brings news no-one wants to hear.

'Today, alone in his apartment, on a quiet ordinary morning, Mark needs to try to make some sense of the path of his young life. He needs to work out how to go on with the day, his studies, the fragility of living. He needs us to hear his story, and the story of his family.

'A tender, exquisite monologue written and performed by a rising star, Thomas Weatherall, Blue takes us deep into the beauty, and sadness, of a young life at its new beginning.'

Source: Belvoir Street Theatre.

'A man kneels by his dive gear. It’s late afternoon on the Limestone Coast. He has a story to tell. It starts in the water.

'A powerful, visceral and form-busting new work by award-winning South Australian born playwright Caleb Lewis, Cathedral is a thriller, a family drama and an epic journey of self-discovery.

'From Mount Gambier to Thailand to the North Sea, from soaring first love to shattering loss to ultimate hope, this powerful story ponders a diver’s life shaped by the ocean, and its power to both upend and heal.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'This is angry.

'This is personal.

'This is not what you think.

'Playwright Elena Carapetis (The Gods Of Strangers, Gorgon) brings the first heroine of western drama raging into the 21st century in this cheeky, anarchic and subverted take on one of the world’s most revered classic plays.

'Carapetis takes us from Ancient Greece to the modern-day in a kaleidoscopic collection of vignettes that will make your head spin and leave your jaw on the floor. This is a rejection of the patriarchy, a love letter to girls and pop princesses, and a tribute to every Antigone reincarnated, from Malala to Emma to AOC to Greta.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'Bullying behaviour, tantrums and tough lessons are all part of a typical day at public-school St Jude’s – and that’s just in the staffroom!

'Creatures of habit, the tired teachers of St Jude’s find themselves jolted awake by the arrival of a young and enthusiastic new teacher, Anna Park, a recent graduate known as “the child whisperer”.

'Pat Novitsky, the school’s brilliant but bitter and longest-serving teacher, thinks Anna’s Masters of Neuroplasticity and new-age thinking has nothing on her 35 years of experience. Anna thinks Pat is stuck in the past. When the principal assigns school terror Hurricane Little to Anna’s class, the two teachers come head-to-head in a brutal smackdown of old versus new guard, exposing everyone’s darkest secrets.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'YES is an investigation into the dynamics of power, consent, knowledge, truth and the complexities of one seemingly simple word. From acclaimed feminist theatre makers THE RABBLE, YES is set within an ever-changing physical space, occasionally erupting with manufactured weather events, in which an audience watches two performers answer hundreds of questions.

'Shifting between rite of passage, public debate and personal memoir, YES is an unpredictable onslaught that blurs the line between instruction, permission, philosophy and confession.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'Young Martin is a misfit. Bullied at school and misunderstood at home, his only comfort comes from sneaking off to the family coal shed to bond with his German Shepherds, Major and Rex.

'When things reach breaking point, the 13 year old runs away from his home in Limerick, Ireland, and finds himself taken in by a new family – a pack of stray dogs. As they dodge trains, steal meals and fight for survival, Martin finds himself on the road he was always meant to take.

'Based on the best-selling memoir, this rough-and-tumble tale, starring acclaimed Irish actor Bryan Burroughs, fuses shadow puppetry, swinging Irish music and stunning physical performance to bring Byron Bay ‘Dog Man’ Martin McKenna’s epic true story to the stage for the first time.

'Beautifully adapted by Irish playwright Amy Conroy, The Boy Who Talked To Dogs is a magical and mischievous tale of transformation, redemption, and what happens when the underdog finds his pack.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It’s the year 2030 and there is an immediate climate crisis. With little choice remaining, world leaders make a collective, pragmatic decision to save the planet. For an entire year, all 8.5 billion humans on Earth will hibernate.

'Gas will be launched into the atmosphere and the human population will be immediately plunged into a deep sleep, leaving the natural world to reset. The reset of the human world is not what was expected.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A deserted industrial town where the desert meets the sea. Two sisters, the last inhabitants of the once thriving town, defiantly refuse to leave their home on the outskirts.

'DRY is a dystopian western inspired by the desert town of Port Augusta and its tough inhabitants. Set in the past, present or future this fierce small cast play exposes our relationship to the land, the First People, refugees and each other.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'Meg is busy and she'd rather not be. But sometimes she can't help it. She’s holding a town meeting and her ex-student Ethan is there. He hasn't got a job...he can't help that either. She wants to start a new festival to celebrate everything their little country town has to offer. It’s going to be called “Euphoria”, which means “happiness”. And they should be happy, shouldn’t they?

'With the festival barrelling towards them, Meg and Ethan come face to face with the darkest parts of themselves as the past collides with the present. Based on real conversations between playwright Emily Steel and regional South Australian communities, Euphoria is a gently moving new work that will see audiences come together for a town meeting they’ll never forget.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Appleton is a small country town being forced into the present with a recent influx of wealthy city slickers, treechangers and refugees. Simmering tensions come to a head when new GP Penny Anderson discovers that the famous Appleton Potato Race awards $1000 prize money for the men, and a measly $200 for the women. When Penny decides to take steps to restore gender parity and coax Appleton into the 21st century, little could she have anticipated the spiralling, hilarious culture war that would follow.'

Source: Ensemble Theatre.

'To win, you just need to believe in the rules. And Tessa loves to win, even when defending clients accused of sexual assault. Her court-ordained duty trumps her feminism. But when she finds herself on the other side of the bar, Tessa is forced into the shadows of doubt she’s so ruthlessly cast over other women.

'Winner of the 2018 Griffin Award, Prima Facie is an indictment of the Australian legal system’s failure to provide reliable pathways to justice for women in rape, sexual assault or harassment cases. It’s a work of fiction, but one that could have been ripped from the headlines of any paper, any day of the week, so common you could cry.

'Turning Sydney’s courts of law into a different kind of stage, Suzie Miller’s (Sunset Strip, Caress/Ache) taut, rapid-fire and gripping one-woman show exposes the shortcomings of a patriarchal justice system where it’s her word against his.

'Maybe we need a new system.'

Source: Griffin Theatre Company.

'They were writers, dreamers and free spirits. In the 1950s, Australian authors Charmian Clift and George Johnston fled halfway across the world to the idyllic Greek island of Hydra, determined to carve out a bohemian living as artists.

'As they revel in their picturesque community, far off the world’s literary map, inspiration for the great Australian work strikes. But a many-headed monster of jealousy, infidelity, illness and alcoholism also rises from the crystal blue waters of their sun-kissed island home.

'Award-winning Sue Smith weaves the original writings of two of Australia’s literary icons into a moving relationship drama. She conjures the passion and intensity of the near mythical ‘King and Queen of Hydra’ as they follow their dream, only to end up in a Greek tragedy of their own making.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'“Because revolution is better at night.”

'What would it actually take to stop climate change dead in its tracks? Guns? Revolution? A pumping soundtrack?

'Kill Climate Deniers centres on a militant cell of eco-activists that takes the audience hostage during a concert at Parliament House. Led by charismatic spokeswoman Catch, they demand Australia immediately cease all carbon emissions and coal exports—or they’ll start executing their 1,700 hostages.

'But they’re not the only ones to take the title literally. Between scenes of bloody action and banging ’90s tunes, writer David Finnigan discusses the outrage the play’s title provoked from Andrew Bolt and his cabal of conservative bloggers. The original production was shut down in the ensuing shitstorm, leading Finnigan to eventually fold the scandal into the play.'

Source: Theatre's blurb.