Yesterday, our CEO and Director Chris Bendall was on stage at Riverside Theatres with Federal Minister for the Arts Paul Fletcher, Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, Lord Mayor of Parramatta Bob Dwyer, and Australia Council for the Arts CEO Adrian Collette AM, to announce a $5M boost to the Playing Australia Fund.
Critical Stages Touring, Australia’s national touring theatre company, and five of the country’s leading playwrights, will present a world premiere anthology of new stories for the stage in a live-streamed staged reading at the FringeHQ Newtown theatre on April 28th.
Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre hosted emerging playwright JoJo Zhou for a development of Sunlit, a new play inspired by the school strikes for climate change that inspired the nation in 2019. Weaving poetry, humour, and science, Sunlit employed three young local performers, under director Bernadette Fam, to bring to life a story set in a future of rising oceans, mystery, and responsibility.
Over one week in March, we matched award-winning children’s storytellers Matriark Theatre with the Laycock Street Community Theatre in Gosford. Lead Artist Scott Parker worked with four artists to complete a development of his play, The Lighthouse at the End of the World. Combining micro-puppetry, digital media, and live music, ‘Lighthouse’ explores the things we can learn from those often overlooked in the name of progress. A showing of the work was performed at the theatre on March 20th.
We’re thrilled to announce the four theatre makers who will benefit from fully-funded developments of new theatrical experiences, to be completed in partnership with regional venues across New South Wales. The productions, each at various stages of development, will undertake a week-long residency at a matched regional or rural location, with residencies running from March 16th through to April 30th.
Each has been selected for their ingenuity, artistic merit and exploration, and for their potential to connect with and engage regional communities. The program is an exciting new extension of Critical Stages Touring’s commitment to discover and develop outstanding independent theatrical experiences for audiences everywhere.
This year, for the first time, Playlist will not only inhabit Alma Park in Melbourne for a three night takeover incorporating music and storytelling, it’s coming to screens everywhere with two made-for-digital short theatre works streaming directly to you.
Critical Stages Touring, Australia’s national touring theatre company, is thrilled to be embarking on a diverse year of storytelling on the country’s stages, driving much needed activity and employment in a creative industry heavily impacted by COVID-19. The full season and program was launched last night at a small industry gathering at The Arts Exchange Sydney, and online via YouTube and Facbook Live.
“It’s simply beautiful storytelling” Australian Stage
After a sell-out Australian premiere season that was extended due to popular demand, the critically-acclaimed production of Jane Bodie’s Lamb, Directed by Green Room Award winner Julian Meyrick, returns for an eight-city tour along Australia’s East Coast throughout February and March 2021.
Michaela Burger’s smash hit cabaret is coming to a screen near you this Spring, with special online presentations presented by Geelong Arts Centre, Drum Theatre, Whitehorse Centre, and the Gannawarra Shire Council this November.
“If I have to pivot any faster I’m going to displace my hip” Barbara Lowing. So, Let’s start at the beginning. Earlier this year, two fierce and very funny women were prepping for a national tour of the stage show, Rovers. This delightfully modern dramedy created just for them, about them, was set to wow audiences across ten cities in a performance Australian Stage called “theatre at its best”. And then 2020 happened.