BEHIND THEIR CLOSED DOORS to Play Sydney Fringe Festival

Anna Notley and Analise Wren will present their new cabaret Behind Their Closed Doors at the Sydney Fringe Festival, playing September 8–12 at Qtopia's Loading Dock Theatre.

The new work follows seven strangers who find themselves sharing a train carriage for the space of an hour. When an elderly passenger encourages those around him to "open their doors" and share pieces of their lives with one another, conversations begin to reveal what each passenger has brought aboard with them — and what might change before they reach their destinations.

Exploring love, loss, caregiving, memory and human connection, Behind Their Closed Doors combines storytelling with an original score performed live. The music incorporates songs released on Wren's 2025 EP alongside new material created by Wren and Notley.

The collaborators describe the work as a story for multiple generations, encompassing people who have loved and lost, cared for others while neglecting themselves, and those struggling with what they remember — or can no longer remember.

Wren is a singer-songwriter and speech pathologist who works with children with disabilities. Notley is a published children's author and poet who works in children's literacy education. Together, they have created new songs combining Wren's melodies with Notley's lyrics and woven them into the existing music from Wren's 2025 release.

The production will incorporate live music, movement, lighting and sound as its seven characters gradually reveal the stories behind their "closed doors."