The Australian Open will be done and dusted, so if you are missing the tennis come down to the air conditioned theatre and enjoy a Cinzano with a National Treasure – NEWK!

Written by award-winning Melbourne playwright Kieran Carroll and performed by three time Barry Award nominee and star of recent hit Australian AFL Comedy film The Merger, Damian Callinan, NEWK! The John Newcombe Story traces the life of the great Australian tennis champion, John Newcombe.

Set in 2014 at Newk’s 70th birthday in Sydney, Newcombe’s journey travels from naïve 1960s schoolboy to the No. 1 player in the world in the 1970s, to his time as Davis Cup Captain, to the stroke he suffered in 2003. Numerous well-known guests drop by to celebrate his special day and share the memories.

Both drama and comedy, the play portrays a highly determined and ambitious man burning through a quickly changing world. Aware he’s putting his family second - emotionally, while conscious of providing for them financially, the play explores the exhausting schedule that even players of yesteryear endured. Volatile off-court politics are also rife as the game moves into full blown professionalism.  The play also captures enterprises: Cinzano, Queensland bananas, K-Tel tennis instruction albums!

NEWK! The John Newcombe Story is a grand story about wanting life to be a huge ride, where rest is secondary and how that zest and appetite for life never disappears but has to be tempered.  NEWK! is an absolute must see for all tennis fans on the tail of The Australian Open championships.

Playwright Kieran Carroll has written 25 plays that have been produced in Australia, America and England including Sons of Sun – The Sam Philips Story (Sydney Opera House), In The Mens (La Mama Courthouse) and The Truth is Longer Than Life.  

Actor Damian Callinan is a multi-award winning comedian and actor. You’ll have seen him in many hit TV shows and films like Backyard Ashes, SkitHOUSE, Spicks and Specks and Melbourne International Comedy Festival TV Specials.  The ex-drama teacher has come a long way since taking long service leave to ‘give it a crack’.

NEWK! is coming to Glen Street Theatre on Sunday 16 February and Monday 17 February after a national tour. It will leave you thoroughly entertained this summer.

More information about NEWK! including bookings is available at Glen Street Theatre’s website.