Auditions

Synopsis

In the classic comedic play Tartuffe, the title character fakes extreme piety to gain the affection of Orgon, the patriarch of the family with whom Tartuffe stays with as a houseguest. Orgon’s adulation of Tartuffe tears the family apart. To save Orgon from his own folly and themselves from its consequences, Orgon’s family launches a campaign to expose and punish Tartuffe, rescue their own futures, and restore harmony to their lives.
In this rendition Orgon is the owner & ringmaster of the Royal Circus and Tartuffe the fraudulent Shaman who comes among them and creates discord.

Synopsis

A woman carries her heart, broken into 19 pieces, in a small paper bag. A man shrinks to half his former size, after losing hope in love. A couple keep the love they have given each other in large red bags, or compress the mass into the size of a diamond. These playful and surreal experiences are commonplace in the world of Almost, Maine, where on one deeply cold and magical Midwinter Night, the citizens of Almost — not organised enough for a town, too populated for a wilderness — experience the life-altering power of the human heart.
Relationships end, begin, or change beyond recognition, as strangers become friends, friends become lovers, and lovers turn into strangers.
Propelled by the mystical energy of the aurora borealis and populated with characters who are humourous, plain-spoken, thoughtful, and sincere, this play is a series of loosely connected tales about love, each with a compelling couple at its centre, each with its own touch of sorcery.

Synopsis

Summoned to a convent, Dr. Martha Livingstone, a court-appointed psychiatrist, is charged with assessing the sanity of a novitiate accused of murdering her new-born. Mother Miriam Ruth, the Mother Superior of the convent, is determined to keeps young Sister Agnes from the doctor, further arousing Dr Livingstone’s suspicions. Who killed the infant, and who fathered the tiny victim? Livingstone’s questions force all three women to re-examine the meaning of faith and the power of love, leading to a dramatic, emotionally charged and compelling climax.

Synopsis

Cosi is set in a psychiatric institution in Melbourne in 1971 during the changing social climate caused mainly by the war in Vietnam. Lewis has recently left Uni and faces the challenge of directing the Mozart opera Cosi Fan Tutte staged in a burnt-out theatre with the patients as cast members. Initially hesitant, he becomes emotionally involved with his patients-cum-actors as his operatic production lurches forward and anti-war protests rage outside. Filled with an over-enthusiastic cast who can’t sing, act or speak Italian, what could possibly go wrong?

‘Nowra has written a terrific play about theatre, madness, illusion, sanity, life; it’s a big, splendidly Australian epic.’

Synopsis

It’s 1988, a time before mobile phones, texting & cheap long-distance calls.

The Walker sisters’ mother has eaten some bad tuna and been taken to hospital. Again. When oldest sister Peggy calls to inform her five sisters a series of phone calls ensues. Second eldest Aneece is too busy being bitter at their mother to talk to Peggy, Audrey prefers to put Huckle, her ventriloquist dummy, on the phone instead of speaking to her sister and Sherry has changed her name to Dust & is more interested in abstract poetry with her current lover than discussing their mother’s various ailments. Roseanne’s life is falling apart, yet she still seems to come second to her husband’s midlife crisis and youngest sister Paige is having romantic troubles, all of which take precedence over their mother’s latest drama. All in all Peggy doesn’t have much luck gaining sympathy for Mama.

A series of 45 phone calls over one autumn weekend reveals cracks in the foundation of the Walker family. Sisterly bonds are tested, loves are lost and found and old wounds are reopened in this heartfelt comedy about family, trauma and love.

Synopsis

Here I Belong, a funny, moving, warm but never sentimental journey through sixty years of village life.
The entire action takes place in the village hall beginning with the Queen’s coronation in 1953 (much excitement about the TV being lent for the occasion) where we meet newcomer Elsie. We follow Elsie’s life in the village, the changing community and her personal ups and downs culminating with her 90th birthday in the present day.

Synopsis

This is one of Ayckbourn’s most often-performed plays: a comedy that follows the changing fortunes of three married couples. We visit the homes of each of the couples on successive Christmas Eves, where we experience all kinds of domestic disasters and absurdities. In the first year in an attempt to climb the social ladder, the lower-class Hopcrofts host their bank manager and his wife (the Brewster-Wrights), and their architect neighbour, Geoffrey Jackson with his suicidal wife, Eva. Havoc ensues at this festive drinks party, which they hoped would impress their high-powered friends – but that’s nothing compared to what happens at the next two Christmases when the friends return the Hopcrofts’ hospitality!

Synopsis

Recent High School graduate Lisa Miles has an ambition to attend university, against her father’s wishes, but meanwhile takes a holiday job at Goodes, the most prestigious department store in 1950s Sydney. Here a world of new possibilities awaits her as she makes friends with the ladies who work in the women’s frock department.

Based on the 1993 novel “The Women in Black” by Madeleine St John, and first staged by the Queensland Theatre Company in 2015, this delightful musical is a celebration of glamour, gowns and growing up.