Glen Street Theatre is delighted to announce the 2019 Season which has the ultimate mix of comedy, drama, dance, film, musical and political satire that is sure to keep you entertained throughout the year.
Immerse yourself in a fun, eclectic and thoroughly entertaining Glen Street Season with flexible three to ten play packages – the more you see the greater the discount!
THEATRE SEASON
GIRLS ON TAP
Created & choreographed by Sally Dashwood
14 – 16 February
Empowering. Inspiring. Multi-tasking.
The award-winning femme fatales of tap, rhythm and song sure have something to say about women in the world today. From Broadway to Beyoncé, Girls On Tap pay homage to the past while keeping it fresh.
Following their sold-out, standing ovation debut at Cabaret in the Glen, Sally Dashwood (So You Think You Can Dance) is leading the gang back to Glen Street to crash through stereotypes, challenge expectations and stamp out inequality with exceptional rhythm. This high energy production proves that you cannot underestimate the collective power of song, dance and womanhood.
It’s a must-see for girls who will grow up to run rule the world!
THE CARETAKER
By Harold Pinter
28 February – 2 March
This psychological drama is revered as one of the most brilliant contemporary classics of our time.
Aston lives in a junk filled room. He tinkers with gadgets and dreams of building a shed out in the yard. His brother Mick inhabits his own world of aspirations but is held back by having to care for his brother. Into this derelict household Aston gives shelter to Davies, a tramp he has rescued off the street who has his own dreams and delusions. And so begins a battle of wits in the brutal world into which all three have been thrown. As the intrigue unfolds, so does the mystery of how the lives of these three men will forever be changed.
The Caretaker premiered in London in 1960 where it played for 18 months and was later adapted for film. Some 60 years later, this extraordinary tale is still as powerful as ever.
RED
By Liz Lea
8 – 9 March
Is she mad? Is she immoral? Or is she simply misbehaving?
RED is an unforgettable, hilarious and soul baring autobiographical journey through illness and recovery, always with an eye to the future. Be prepared for a fractious and fabulous interdisciplinary performance, bringing on the bawdy and banishing the banal.
Fearless, moving and powerful, this dance theatre show featuring the award-wining Liz Lea will make you laugh and cry.
HELLO, BEAUTIFUL!
By Hannie Rayson
28 – 30 March
Hello, Beautiful! is a funny, big-hearted show performed by one of Australia’s most loved playwrights, Hannie Rayson.
Based on her best-selling memoir, this one-woman show is sublime comic storytelling – true stories from an adventurous life, spiced with wit, tenderness, social observation and intimacy. From her childhood in East Brighton to the treacheries of Hollywood, Hannie’s life and writing has always been driven by her deep curiosity about contemporary Australian life: how we live and what matters to us.
Hannie has been awarded two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, four Helpmann Awards, two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award as well as the Age Performing Arts Award and The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award. She made playwriting history when Life After George was the first play to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Award.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL
Written and performed by Jonathan Biggins
29 April – 4 May
Co-creator and star of The Wharf Revue, Jonathan Biggins targets one of Australia’s most compelling and enigmatic leaders in this unmissable one-man comedy.
Full of intelligence and wit, it’s a funny, insightful and occasionally poignant portrait of Paul Keating, the man that (as he tells it) single-handedly shaped contemporary Australia.
Showcasing Keating’s eviscerating wit, rich rhetoric and ego the size of Everest, Jonathan distils down the essence of Keating - visionary, reformer, rabble-rouser, true believer – and the Bankstown boy who quickly realised that to get things done in political life it’s better to be needed than loved.
TWO
By Jim Cartwright
7 – 12 May
This masterful comedy introduces fourteen colourful characters all skilfully played by real-life couple Brian Meegan and Kate Raison.
Set in the local pub, you’ll meet all the regulars, a misfit crowd of eccentric and hilarious individuals. There’s Moth, who loves Maud (and every other woman) fervently; Mrs Iger, with her passion for quiet, strong men; possessive Roy, jealous of anybody who looks at Lesley (even the darts players); Alice and Fred and their Elvis obsession; and the publicans themselves – a married couple with an unspoken secret…
By turns funny, heart-warming and poignant, this smash hit comedy will warm the cockles of your heart.
DIPLOMACY
By Cyril Gély
Translated & adapted by Julie Rose
23 – 27 July
An unmissable production starring theatre legends John Bell and John Gaden.
In 1944 at the Hôtel Meurice, Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling and German General Dietrich von Choltitz meet in a life and death situation for the city of Paris. On abandoning Paris, Hitler has ordered its destruction. Raoul has one night to persuade the General to leave the landmark city standing. The many twists and turns of their negotiations play out in this edge-of-your-seat thriller.
THE WHARF REVUE 2019
Written and created by Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott
5 – 15 September
The all-singing, all-dancing, side-splittingly funny solution to all the world’s problems returns for another year of satirical genius.
The West is crumbling, democracy is besieged and the world is run by morons with funny hair. You have to laugh. And that’s exactly what The Wharf Revue delivers. The indefatigable team is back once more to dig through the year’s political dirt and unearth comedy gold.
From the movers to the shakers, from the winners to the losers, the stage will be filled with uncanny impressions of the year’s most memorable characters and the moments they’d prefer to forget.
Stalwart performer Drew Forsythe returns with special triple-threat guests including the hilarious Simon Burke. The choreography is tight, the wigs are loose the punchlines are loaded. Everything is ready for a big night of laughter and mayhem.
MANHATTAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
Sunday 6 October
The MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival is a global phenomenon. Each year, over the course of one exciting week, a selection of short films are simultaneously screened in cinemas, theatres and cafes at over 350 venues around the world. From more than 1,500 entries from all corners of the globe, only around 10 short films are shortlisted for screening. The quality of the finalist films is so exceptional that by virtue of selection by MANHATTAN SHORT they are Oscar-qualified.
Unite with over 100,000 film lovers and be part of history in the making as you cast your vote for the Best Film and Best Actor Awards. All of the votes are collated and sent through to MANHATTAN SHORT Headquarters in New York and the winners will be announced the following day.
LADY BEATLE
Created by Adam Brunes and Naomi Price
15 – 17 October
You’re in Liverpool. It’s the 1960’s. And four boys are about to change the world of music.
This rollicking magical mystery tour stars world-class vocalist Naomi Price (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, The Voice) performing The Beatles’ biggest chart toppers, including Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine and Penny Lane.
Rediscover The Beatles’ immortal catalogue reimagined and reinterpreted through sparkling original arrangements by a virtuosic band of Australia’s top musicians.
KIDSPLAY SEASON
POSSUM MAGIC
Based on the book by Mem Fox & Julie Vivas
Adapted for the stage by Eva Di Cesare & Sandra Eldridge
3 – 6 April
Australia’s best-selling picture book has been adapted for the stage!
Grandma Poss loves making magic. She makes wombats blue and kookaburras pink. She makes dingoes smile and emus shrink. But one day, when danger arrives in the form of a snake, Grandma uses her most magical spell to make Hush invisible. Hush has many wonderful adventures. But being invisible isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and Hush longs to see herself again. One problem, Grandma Poss can’t find the spell to make Hush visible again. And then she remembers ... this particular magic requires something more, something special, something to do with food … people food.
Possum Magic takes us on a whimsical journey to cities around Australia to find the food that makes Hush visible again. Joined by an extraordinary creative team, Monkey Baa brings to life the characters journey and love that has made Possum Magic the most-loved and best-selling Australian picture book of all time.
Ideal for 3 – 8 year-olds.
ROBOT SONG
Written & directed by Jolyon James
9 – 10 July
When it comes to friends, 11 year-old Juniper has no idea what all the fuss is about. In fact, when classmates tease her for being like a robot she takes it as a compliment. Told through the unconventional eyes of a child, Robot Song uses cutting-edge digital technology integrated with live performance.
Juniper’s world is turned up-side-down when the arm of a giant robot appears on her doorstep and takes her on an unexpected journey to find the rest of its body. Surprised by the robot’s revelation that it has only ever wanted to sing, Juniper learns that sometimes flexibility and unexpected outcomes are exactly what you need.
Ideal for 8 - 12 year-olds.
PICASSO AND HIS DOG
A Lemony S Puppet Theatre Production
29 – 31 August
One fine spring morning in 1957, Lump arrived for lunch. Lump was an elongated sausage dog with floppy ears and an inquisitive nature. He looked around at Picasso’s villa and then into the deep, brown eyes of the man himself and decided he was home. From this first meeting, a deep love was forged between Picasso and Lump. He was also an inspiration for Picasso, appearing in fifty-four of the artist’s works. Lump lived with Picasso for 16 years. In a perfect ending, perhaps not content with life on earth without each other, both died in the same year.
Inspired by this true story, Picasso and His Dog, is a delightful show that celebrates the animals with whom we share our lives while exploring what it is to be creative and to create.
This work is a unique children's puppet play that combines the art and story of Picasso with the extraordinary poems of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and the text of Picasso's contemporary and lifelong friend, Gertrude Stein. It is a refreshingly original work, wild and adventurous. Initially set in Picasso’s studio in the south of France, the story travels across time and space in a series of imaginative leaps using puppetry to transform the detailed set design as the performers play with scale, shadow puppetry, visual illusions, painting and sculpting on stage.
Ideal for 4 + years.
ROALD DAHL’S REVOLTING RHYMES & DIRTY BEASTS
Adapted for the stage by shake & stir theatre co
7 – 9 October
Think you know the story of The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Goldilocks and Jack and the Beanstalk? Think again.
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts bursts off the page in a spectacular live show, taking the world’s best-loved fairy tales and rearranging them with some surprising and hilarious twists.
Frighteningly funny and seriously silly, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts is the perfect family entertainment - for children 5 to 105. It delights and disgusts in equal measures.
Don’t miss this multi-Helpmann Award nominated production penned by the world’s number one storyteller and from the team that brought you George’s Marvellous Medicine.
Ideal for 6 – 12 year-olds.
2018 GLEN STREET SEASON
Venue: Glen Street Theatre. Corner of Glen Street and Blackbutts Road, Belrose
Theatre Subscriptions: Flexible 3 – 10 Play Subscription packages available now. Save from 10 % to 30% off full price tickets.
Single Tickets: Theatre: $72 - $25. On sale Wednesday 2 January 2019
KidsPlay tickets: $23 each, Family Pass (5 tickets) $95
Transaction fees may apply
Bookings: glenstreet.com.au or 9975 1455
Media contact:
Rachel Musgrove on (02) 8246 1801 or rachel.musgrove@glenstreet.com.au