Breaking the Castle at Queensland Performing Arts Centre

I tried dying and it didn’t work… I might as well try living now.

Struggling actor David can’t get enough, of anything. Alcohol, drugs, women, gambling – whatever it takes to escape the bark of the black dog. Bouncing from audition to audition as he battles his debilitating mental health issues and descends into a world of addiction, he is consumed by an overwhelming feeling of never belonging anywhere. Days and nights are lived through a thick haze of drugs, alcohol and Shakespeare’s soliloquies. This bender could be his last, but he doesn’t care – there are worse things than death.

Then David is thrown an unlikely lifeline. Finding himself in the mountains of South-East Asia he is offered a chance at redemption – but he will need to confront his inner demons, traumas and secrets long buried.

Visceral, fierce, funny and uplifting Breaking the Castle is a gripping tale with a powerful performance from creator Peter Cook as a man yearning for connection.

Directed by stage and screen Director Leah Purcell (The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson), and told with a bucket load of laughs, this is an exquisitely rendered story of hope, belonging, and finding a way to be in this world.