GRIEF LIGHTNING: A SATIRE IN 78 SLIDES Returns To Adelaide This April

If Grease is nothing more than a fantasy, is Sandy's narrative really the best we can hope for?

Following last year's sold-out debut at Adelaide Fringe Festival, a season at Melbourne's Midsumma Festival, and an online run at Edinburgh Fringe, Grief Lightning: A Satire in 78 Slides returns to Adelaide. Part theatre performance, part standup routine, part PowerPoint presentation, the show takes over RUMPUS (Bowden, SA) from 19-30 April 2022, presented by Paper Mouth Theatre in co-production with Wickedly Good Productions.

Grief Lightning is a high-energy, one-person show in which a lecturer desperately tries to prove a popular Grease fan theory: that Sandy drowns in the opening beach sequence and the rest of the film is her coma fantasy. Over the course of 13 scenes, 78 slides, and a flood of custom animations, the lecture warps. Now lost at sea in a storm of conspiracy, will the presenter succumb to their own netherworld of wigs, leather, and surreal projection?

"I'm really thrilled to bring this work to RUMPUS as I know a lot of people missed out in the Fringe season. It will be great to see some new faces there and hopefully some who are keen for their second helping," says writer and performer Mary Angley (Paper Mouth Theatre).

"It's the wildest show I've ever worked on and the love I have for it is monumental," says creative producer Caitlin Ellen Moore (Wickedly Good Productions). "Everyone should watch it - whether you're a fan of Grease or not. Do it for the lit memes, and for the weirdest take on 'Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee' you've ever heard."

With an all-queer South Australian team, including Angley, Moore, Dan Thorpe (sound designer, xx Neon Sign) and more, Grief Lightning: A Satire in 78 Slides was a finalist for the Midsumma Queer Playwriting Award. This season is supported by Rumpus Theatre, Replay Creative, and the South Australian Government through Carclew.