Need a theatre-at-home fix? Welcome to our regular Stage & Stream guide. This is our pick of streaming theatre, cabaret, podcasts and artist opportunities for the week ahead, with a focus on the best independent productions in Australia and NZ. Know about something that should be on the list? Send a message to robbi@criticalstages.com.au or complete the Google form.
Stage And Stream Links
Friday Sept 18th – Friday Sept 25th
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AUSTRALIA / NZ BY DATE
Friday 18th September
- IN THE ZONE – SHAUN PARKER & CO
Hip-hop dance meets gaming technology in this groundbreaking new work by Shaun Parker & Company. Conceived to engender emotional resilience in young people, featuring captivating new technology called AirSticks, which create live sound through movement. This is going to be terrific.
10am Livestream – ticket holders have one week to view the show
www.shaunparkercompany.com - THE OWL’S APPRENTICE – CHAPEL OFF CHAPEL
The Owl’s Apprentice is an interactive show for families combining shadow puppetry, hand puppetry and story-telling. The Owl’s Apprentice poses questions with the aim of extending young minds. Recommended for ages 4+
4pm AEST
www.chapeloffchapel.com.au - THE ART OF BI-SOLATION
Presented in collaboration between the Big Bi+ Bonanza and a whole host of other Bi+ orgs across Australia and New Zealand, this multi-arts event is a night of performance by, and conversation between, some of Melbourne’s finest bi+ performing artists. Live Captioned.
8pm AEST
www.facebook.com - FRIDAY NIGHT MAGIC SPECIAL – LANEWAY THEATRE
Australia’s only close-up magic theatre has an ambitious line-up of zoom shows throughout September. Tonight – Starring Melbourne’s Tim Ellis (be quick, his last two shows sold out)
7:30pm AEST via Zoom
www.thelanewaytheatre.com - BIG FORK’S LIVESTREAM
Brisbane Comedy Festival award-winners Big Fork Theatre are hosting a new weekly comedy and performance series live-streamed from quarantine.
7:30pm AEST
www.facebook.com - SECOND WAVE CABARET
Live, Loose & Locked Down is the theme of this new live cabaret from Melbourne’s Sophie deLightful. Zoom-enabled, one hour Friday adult fun from the same team that brought us Cooped Up Cabaret. Guests are kept secret until your in too deep, just the way we like it.
8pm AEST
Details on Facebook - FED FUNNY
Livestreamed, bite-size spoken word and comedy from Melbourne’s finest, in lockdown. Show is weekly, on Fridays, until September 11th. It’s a quick 30 minutes to end your working week smiling!
4:30pm AEST
www.facebook.com
Saturday 19th September
- OUR VISION BEGINS WITH OUR DESIRES
The word on the street is that they are the word on the street. Get ready, because The Real Housewives of Black Birds are back; bigger, badder and more blinged out than ever. Join them as they bring the drama and spill tea at Global Fringe.
7:30pm Wed 16th – Sunday 20th September
www.sydneyfringe.com.au - HUMOUR US: GEN FRICKER & LUKE HEGGIE
Sassy, unique and lovable weirdo Gen Fricker joins forces with no-nonsense, king of the dead pan, Luke Heggie in this one off double header as a part of the digital comedy series, Humour Us.
9pm AEST
www.sydneyoperahouse.com
Sunday 20th September
- MR YUNIOSHI
Mr. Yunioshi is a solo performance piece that follows actor Mickey Rooney as he attempts to create his character for Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Written and performed Asian American actor J Elijah Cho. This comedic show aims to explore the controversial topics of yellow-face and “colourblind” casting.
On-Demand from Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th Sept
www.sydneyfringe.com.au
Monday 21st September
- LIBERTY STREET
A clutch of theatre royalty banded together to shoot this project in an abandoned Enmore apartment block, with an appropriately distanced crew. It’s created by Duncan Ragg, artistic director of Sydney theatrical collective the Corinthian Food Store, and Victorian-based co-writer Jessica Marshall, starring Susie Youssef.
On-Demand
www.thecorinthianfoodstore.com - STORYTELLING IN BRUNSWICK – BRUNSWICK HOUSE
Facilitated by theatre maker Nicola McKay, Storytelling in Brunswick is a community arts project that will result in a new production for Melbourne Fringe. Tune in, hear stories being created, and join in if inspiration strikes.
2pm AEST
Details on www.facebook.com
Tuesday 22nd September
- WISHFUL BEDTIME STORIES – BRISBANE FESTIVAL
Director Bridget Boyle, writers David Burton and Clare McFadden, and Sound Designer Kim Bowers (Busty Beatz) have together taken the everyday and imagined places children longed for during lockdown and turned them into exquisite bedtime stories for 3 to 12 year olds. New stories every Tuesday and Wednesday.
6:30pm AEST
www.brisbanefestival.com.au - THE STANDUP SESSIONS
Melbourne International Comedy Festival has joined forces with Victoria Together to produce some seriously funny content for all Victorians to enjoy during lockdown. New performances every Tuesday. Hosted by Nazeem Hussain.
7:30pm AEST
www.facebook.com
Wednesday 23rd September
- THE QUEER AND THE CAMP – GLOBAL FRINGE GALA #4
Sydney fringe has been knocking it out of the park this month with a suite of delivious theatre offerings online and in-person at the iconic Old 505. Tonight, a 3 hour gala online event featuring TOOT, Maeve Marsden’s Queers on the Fringe, and The Princess and the Showgirl from UK dance duo Thick and Tight.
Starts 6:30pm AEST
www.sydneyfringe.com.au - (YOU DON’T HAVE TO PUT ON YOUR) RED LIGHT
Three beloved authors have hopped into bed with Brisbane theatre collective The Good Room to create three intimate audio experiences, pre-recorded by some of Brisbane’s most alluring voice actors and direct-dialled to your phone. Get comfortable in your PJ’s but be prepared to get a little hot under the elastic when the phone rings each Hump Day of the Brisbane Festival. Strictly for Adults.
3 performances at 8pm, 9pm and 10pm
www.brisbanefestival..com.au - BIG NIGHT IN WITH JOHN FOREMAN
John Foreman is back for a second season with six new episodes and a brand new line-up of stars. This week: Eddie Perfect, Geraldine Hickey and Bernadette Robinson, with Gretel Killeen and the Aussie Pops Orchestra.
7pm AEST
www.artscentremelbourne.com.au
Thursday 24th September
- QUEERS ON THE FRINGE
Closing out Sydney Fringe’s inaugural festival-in-a-pandemic, local artist Maeve Marsden hosts a mixed bag of artists, writers, comedians and musicians for an experiment in intimate entertainment, ready to deliver story, song and catharsis to an audience of 5, or maybe 50, or 500 strangers tuning in from their lounge rooms.
On-Demand until Sept 26th
www.sydneyfringe.com
Friday 25th September
- MACBETH – THE INSTALLATION
Presented by Barestage Theatre generously supported by the City of Sydney and Darlo Drama. A surreal take on Shakespeare’s story of the warrior who would be King. Filmed live, socially distanced, moving to different settings in one theatre space and streamed live to YouTube. 3 nights from the 25th.
7pm AEST (Friday and Saturday), 5pm AEST Sunday.
www.trybooking.com/BLCIY - THE UNDERGROUND HOUR
The Underground Hour is a fortnightly podcast featuring guests, live performances and script readings, interviews with cast and crew of The Burlesque Underground, and an ongoing soap-opera storyline that takes you right back to where it all began, live, with you (virtually) in the audience.
4:30pm AEST
www.facebook.com
FESTIVALS
- GLOBAL FRINGE – SYDNEY FRINGE
Sydney Fringe festival presents four weeks of local and international programming that showcases what Fringe is best at – innovative, boundary-pushing, emerging and thoroughly entertaining fair. Each Wednesday there’s a huge free gala to enjoy, and on-demand (and in-person!) performances all month. Until 30th September.
www.sydneyfringe.com - KEEP IT LIVE
Keep it Live is a not-for-profit festival running online from the 19th – 20th of September to help support the musical and artistic community in and around the Dandenong Ranges. LIve performances, readings, and a bunch of workshops to enjoy!
19th – 20th September – check website for times
www.facebook.com - FUSE DAREBIN
FUSE is Darebin’s brand-new multi-arts festival, held in Autumn and Spring each year, designed to accommodate a range of different access points for audiences and practitioners. From visual arts, to music, history, and performance, there’s a huge array of arts goodness from September 1st to November 29th.
www.fusedarebin.com.au - KOANGA FESTIVAL
Tepou theatre brings new Māori storytelling directly to you. Over the month of Mahuru (September) we invite you Whakarongo mai, Mātakitaki Mai, Huihui mai as we bring you new Māori theatre experiences from their whare to yours.
From 2 – 27th September
www.tepoutheatre.nz - NIDA DIGITAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
The prestigious arts college premiered six new works created specifically for the online world, kicking off with Roundabout by Sean Stewart. If you missed the initial festival run here’s your chance to dive into the works before they disappear.
On-Demand until September 20
www.nida.edu.au
ON-DEMAND
- COME TO WHERE I AM – AUSTRALIA
The first and second volumes of the Critical Stages & Paines Plough storytelling program is now on demand via the CST Screening Room and Paines Plough YouTube Channel
On-Demand
www.criticalstages.com.au/screening-room - ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE
Melbourne’s home of entertainment has been producing amazing digital content all year, and their website is packed with programming on-demand. From Ali McGregor’s Choose Your Own Variety to the Big Night In with Jon Foreman, there is so much to tap into.
www.artscentremelbourne.com.au - THE PACT – BITTEN BY PRODUCTIONS
A web series made in isolation by Melbourne artists. The story revolves around a young woman called Morgan (Rose Flanagan) who has moved to Berlin to escape a past, but when she finds out that her ex-boyfriend and partner in crime Brett (James Biasetto) has gone missing she pulls out every trick in her not unlimited emotional bag to find out what has happened to him.
On-Demand
www.youtube.com - DON’T LET YOURSELF GO – CEMENT FONDU
Cement Fondu have created this art-driven care package that we all need. Journey through 13 artworks that were created during the pandemic to reflect on new possibilities for personal growth, from fitness and self-care to feeling sensual and staying connected – created by artists for all of us.
www.cementfondu.org - GEELONG ARTS CENTRE
Geelong Arts Centre has had one of the best streaming seasons in Oz, and they lineup regularly features a mix of music, comedy, spoken word and cabaret. You should be checking in with weekly to see what’s new.
www.geelongartscentre.org.au - DECAMERON 2.0 – STCSA
100 Stories. Each week, 10 South Australian writers will create 10 new characters and 10 new stories, which will be performed by 10 actors, recorded on film and digitally delivered to you over 10 weeks. Presented by the State Theatre Company of SA.
On-demand - THE RESERVOIR ROOM
Filmed live at Sydney’s iconic Paddington Town Hall, The Reservoir Room has been streaming the best of Australian cabaret and music weekly, and every show is now available on demand. Big names, local stars, including Phil Scott (Wharf Revue), Mark Treverrow, James Arno, and iOTA to name a few.
On Demand
www.reservoirroom.com - ENSEMBLE CONVERSATIONS
Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre has been producing a weekly Facebook Live series hosted by Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry. Each week they feature interviews with prominent actors and creatives, exclusive scene reads, interactive Q&A’s and more. Lots to watch!
On-Demand – please donate
www.ensemble.com.au & FACEBOOK LIVE - THE WHOLESOME HOUR
The Wholesome Hour is a brand new, wild and raucous sketch comedy show for kids aged 5-10. What happens when a bunch of award winning physical comedians get locked down in their costume-filled sharehouse together? Songs, puppetry, mischief and fart jokes of course! Jubilation and utter mayhem. Produced by award winning queer physical comedy ensemble PO PO MO CO.
On-Demand
www.youtube.com - SHAKESPEARE REPUBLIC
Building on the success of the previous two seasons of the multi award-winning web series, Shakespeare Republic (2015-2020), this new stand-alone season of the work turns the lens on Shakespeare’s characters in lockdown, featuring actors from Australia and around the world. This week – Melbourne’s Jodi Haigh as Duke Senior from As You Like It. On-Demand
www.facebook.com
SAVE THE DATE
These are the future streams that are high on our list – get them into your diary now!
- October 4th – DISAPPOINTMENTS
In 2017 Judith Lucy and Denise Scott premiered their new show Disappointments at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Now it’s back, and sharper than ever. Every Sunday for 8 weeks, Lucy and Scott have been live via zoom to talk about what’s been disappointing them lately – and you can join in on this final show! - From September 29 – SPOT ON CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL
Back for its ninth year, the four-day festival runs from Tuesday 29th September to Friday 2nd October and features a fun filled, imaginatively hilarious and jam-packed line up for children. For the first time, Spot On will feature a mix of live in-person shows and live streamed shows.
AUSTRALIAN/NZ THEATRE & PERFORMANCE PODCASTS
- Queensland Theatre
- On The Fringe – Sydney Fringe
- Alive Tonight NZ
- CoronaVlog
- Waitangi (Maori Storytelling)
- MerringongX Conversations
- Behind the Scenes with Joel Bray
- Bell Shakespeare
- Queerstories
- Stages with Peter Eyers
- From Inspiration to Stage with Drew Lane
- Fantastic Fantastix
- Chats With Creatives
- Creative Connections with Adam Dear
- Matt Young’s The Story Chunder
- Form Dance Theatre
- Griffin Theatre Company
- Run The Show – Milke
- The Stage Show – ABC Radio National
- Producing Heroes – Circa
- Sydney Theatre Company
- Theatre Mates Melbourne
- Citizen Theatre Podcast
- The Aside Podcast
- The Green Room
- Talking Sock
- Check In With Chapel
- SOH Arty Farty (for kids)
- Was It Worth It?
AUDIO & RADIO PLAYS
- DOUBLE – DARKFIELD RADIO
The creeping chill of Darkfield Radio’s terrifying immersive show is tOn-he first audio-only entry to be selected by the illustrious Venice International Film Festival. Audio trickery, compelling storytelling, and a delishly macabre experience awaits all who are brave enough.
www.darkfield.com.au/radio - BEGOTTEN – MINOLA THEATRE
A sceptic. A paranoiac. A criminal. A migrant. A hostage. Begotten is the 100-year history of a family, told through the eyes of five women. This powerful new work by award-winning playwright Bianca Butler Reynolds explores the changing role of women over time, the fight for female autonomy, the complexities of motherhood, and the echoes of the past that resonate in the present.
www.minolatheatre.com.au/begotten/ - TOP SECRET VIOLIN CASE – VARDOS
Romania, 1970 something, in the grip of Ceaușescu’s oppressive regime. Brad from Chicago arrives on the scene, hoping to escape his American closet to learn Romanian folk music, and encounters an ambitious violinist who’ll stop at nothing to succeed. Can they escape the Secret Police?
https://vardos.com.au/TopSecretViolinCase.htm
ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES
- MARDI GRAS GRANTS
Now in its third year, the grants provide financial funding for a wide range of LGBTIQ+ projects, including education and training, community development, creation, arts and culture. Applications close 4th October. www.mardigras.org.au/grants - GRIFFIN THEATRE COMPANY
Submissions are now open for artists based in Greater Sydney to take part in Griffin’s long-running Studio program! As well as receiving a $10,000 stipend, four Studio Residents will receive a year-long creative attachment to Griffin’s artistic team and much more. Applications close Monday 5th October. www.griffintheatre.com.au/griffin-studio-2021-eoi/ - NEW ZEALAND FRINGE
NZ Fringe 2021 is 26 February – 20 March, 2021. Registrations are now open – throw your hat in the ring and be part of Fringe Hall alongside legends like Taika Waititi. Applications close October 16th.
www.fringe.co.nz/artists/future-artist - ADELAIDE FRINGE
Artists, performers and presenters can share their creativity and innovation with the world when they register for next year’s festival. There will be opportunities to be involved in both live venue and online events. www.adelaidefringe.com.au/as-arts-industry - LIVERWORKS – LIVE EXCHANGE
Performance Space’s award-winning Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art launched this week with its new look hybrid format revealing a radical transformation to this October’s festival. EOIs open now. www.apam.org.au - KILL YOUR DARLINGS WRITERS PROGRAM
Kill Your Darlings Regional Victorian Writers Program is accepting pitches and submissions until 31 October Apply here.
EDUCATION / ACTIVITIES
- THIS SHOW IS NOT RUBBISH
The Trash Can Man is on a mission to turn TRASH into (scientific) TREASURE! Every Saturday a new episode is released showing how we can recycle, up-cycle, and art-cycle the things we throw out.
www.thisshowisnotrubbish.com/ - WOW Festival At Home
Casula Powerhouse’s popular Way Out West Festival moves online with a collection of activities, videos, stories, tours, and arts links that will keep kids busy and creative.
www.casulapowerhouse.com.au - THE POP PROJECT – LA MAMA
The Pop Project is a weekly workshop series run over six weeks facilitated by Cassandra Fumi. You’ll develop and complete a collective story and learn the technical side of stop-motion animation. This can be paper, clay, object, or body animation, and then compose an original score. Perfect for kids 8+.
www.lamama.com.au - Jump Start Youth Theatre
Some great online workshops planned for the school holidays, suitable for students in years 5-12 (ages 10-18). This dynamic young company is helmed by award-winning actor Emma Wright and New Ghosts Theatre Artistic Director Lucy Clements.
www.jumpstartyouththeatre.com - Curious Legends Workshops
Newcastle’s Curious Legends have a series of free, previously live-streamed, workshops for kids available on their site. Workshops explore performance, puppetry, clowning, making, dance, storytelling, and much else besides! Supported by Create NSW, Orica, and Newcastle Region Library. www.curiouslegends.com.au/out-of-the-box - Poetry In Action – this NFP touring company has brought their popular education program online to stream into homes and classrooms. There are 4 performances in line with curriculum for Years 5-12. Visit www.poetryinaction.com.au for more info.
- Storyville Live – Storyville’s in-school program sends performers to read much-loved storybooks to children. For the next couple of weeks they’ll be trialling live storytime via Facebook, and it’s well worth it for those with little ones at home. 11am and 3pm AEST daily – free www.facebook.com/theStoryville/
- Slingsby by Request – South Australian theatre company Slingsby has created an online resource of live performances in line with curriculum. Teachers and home-teachers should check out this great resource. www.slingsby.net.au/slingsby-by-request/
- Audioplay – This is unlike any other activity out there at the moment. An immersive play experience for kids (ages 6-12) where they download an audio story in which they play one of the characters using ordinary household items for props. Creative play just got so much better! www.audioplay.me
- Shake & Stir Interact
Since 2006, shake & stir drama classes have been a regular extra-curricular activity adored by tens of thousands of students, and now their latest program has moved online. Your child will engage with a carefully-planned, professionally-produced and, most importantly, super-fun 30 minutes of creative play, at home with drama activities and performance-based games that will get them acting and keep them active. www.shakeandstirinteract.com.au - ATYP Online
Australian Theatre for Young People have brought made their drama programs virtual just in time for term 2. A selection of their regular programs will be facilitated live each week via Zoom and Google Classroom. Participants will work with a skilled ATYP tutor and classmates in an interactive online space from the safety of their homes. It’s just one of several programs teachers and home teachers should discover. www.atyp.com.au - ATYP Home Theatre Plays – With help from the ATYP Foundation, Australian Theatre for Young People have commissioned 10 brilliant Australian playwrights to each write a 5-minute script that you can download and perform with your family and friends (when visitors are allowed at your place or try it with your friends over Zoom!). Each script features 2-6 characters, with a mix of some young people and some adults. All the details at www.atyp.com.au
- Patch Theatre
Patch Theatre has been making shows for 4–8 year old children and their families from our home in South Australia since 1972. In nearly 48 years, Patch has made 110 much loved theatre works and performed to over 1.8 million children around the world. They’re posting regular updates to arts activities for little ones online, and via Facebook and Instagram. www.patchtheatre.org.au/activities - Polyglot Theatre
Children’s theatre makers Polyglot have developed a series of new arts activities that will keep young ones busy and thinking during creative play. There’s heaps of fun stuff to explore and if you don’t have kids we highly recommend doing them anyway because a) they’re fun and b) home-grown hilarity is needed right now. www.polyglot.org.au/polyglot-at-home/ - Riverside Theatres
Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres has always had a fantastic education team and resources to match – and now a directory of teacher resources from past performances is available on their website. There’s also a super-handy (and HUGE) listing of other online resources that teachers and parents should not miss. www.riversideparramatta.com.au