Steve Francis News

In 2020, Australia's leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing arts company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, will enter its fourth decade with a powerful new contemporary program, SandSong: Stories from the Great Sandy Desert.

David Williamson at his angry best in a new play set to open Griffin's 2020 Season. In 2020, Griffin Theatre Company will open the year with a new play from David Williamson, Family Values, a blackly comic drama examining Australia's inept response to the refugee crisis, directed by Lee Lewis and starring Andrew McFarlane.

Australia's leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing arts company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, will present its multi award-winning production of Bennelong at Sydney's newest venue Sydney Coliseum Theatre, West HQ on 13 - 14 March, 2020.

DanceHouse, in partnership with Dancers of Damelahamid, launches its exhilarating 2019/20 season with Australia's acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre in the Canadian Premiere of Spirit, October 25 & 26, 2019 at 8pm at the Vancouver Playhouse. Choreographed by Bangarra's Artistic Director Stephen Page and former Assistant Artistic Director Bernadette Walong-Sene, the retrospective piece is a visionary fusion of nine of the company's celebrated Indigenous and contemporary works that boldly bridge past and present. Bangarra Dance Theatre has an authentic style of totemic storytelling reflecting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities a?" tracing the unbroken connection between people, the land, and creation itself. Established in 1989, the cutting-edge company has played a critical role in the resurgence of traditional dance expressions.

The National Theatre has announced 15 productions of new plays and fresh adaptations by leading writers.

National Theatre has announced its listings for May - October 2019. Check out the full lineup below!

The weighty subject of suicide is considered with compassion and comedy in Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe's one performer play EVERY BRILLIANT THING.  Performer Kate Mulvany, under direction by Kate Champion and Steve Rodgers, brings a beautiful warmth and sensitivity to a story that reminds the audience of the need to talk about mental illness not relegate it to taboo or gossip.

Writer and Composer, Hugo Chiarella and Naomi Livingston have confirmed that they will be releasing a live recording of their musical Evie May on iTunes on the 2nd of April, 2019.

Award winning playwright Nakkiah Lui returns to STC with How to Rule the World - a brand new political satire, opening at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House in February. Following the smash hit success of Lui's Black is the New White and Blackie Blackie Brown, How to Rule the World is a fast-paced comedy that tackles the Australian myths of multiculturalism and a 'fair go'. STC Associate Director Paige Rattray has assembled a stellar cast which includes Nakkiah Lui, Michelle Lim Davidson, Anthony Taufa, Rhys Muldoon, Vanessa Downing, Gareth Davies and Hamish Michael for this hilarious tale of sex, lies and the balance of power.

Written by David Williamson, Nearer the Gods not merely about the greatest leap forward in human knowledge; Newton's discovery of the laws that govern the motion of the universe, and how Edmund Halley, an enthusiastic young astronomer, wrangled his discovery out of him, but about human behaviour and the politics of our mind. It is a story that explores the themes of rivalry, rationality, decency, love, kindness and most importantly the politics surrounding the power of knowledge, all in just two hours and ten minutes.

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The Long Forgotten Dream, by Ngarrindjeri writer H Lawrence Sumner, makes its world premiere at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, this July. Lauded film and theatre director Neil Armfield (Holding the Man, STC's The Secret River) leads a star-studded cast and creative team to bring to life this beautiful piece of writing by one of the most exciting new Australian voices to come along in years.

Alana Valentine's new play THE SUGAR HOUSE delves into Sydney's forgotten past with a powerful story of the pain and perseverance of three generations whose history is grounded in Pyrmont's history.

Following an incredible sold-out season at the State Library of NSW in 2015, Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) will present A Town Named Warboy by award-winning playwright Ross Mueller at Riverside Theatres from 12th to 13th June.

Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story opens at Wharf 1 Theatre this April. Directed by Priscilla Jackman in her Sydney Theatre Company debut, Heather Mitchell will play Catherine in this vivid theatrical portrayal of one of Australia's most intriguing public figures, with a cast which also includes Nicholas Brown as Rahul Dravid, Andrew Guy as Young Malcolm, Chantelle Jamieson as Dr Amar, Ashley Lyons as Malcolm and Georgina Symes as Ayla Holdom.  

Following a successful run in Melbourne, Lucy Kirkwood's The Children will arrive in Sydney next month. The superb cast of three of Australia's finest actors -Pamela Rabe (Wentworth), Sarah Peirse (Switzerland) and William Zappa (Rock 'n' Roll) shine in Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company's co-production, which will open at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House on April 3.

This is a truly memorable production from Bangarra Dance.

Three of Australia's finest actors, Pamela Rabe (Wentworth), Sarah Peirse (Switzerland) and William Zappa (Rock 'n' Roll), star in Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company's Australian premiere co-production of The Children an incisive drama about the responsibility each generation faces in leaving a better world for those that follow.

Bangarra is thrilled to announce details of its 2018 season today.

Bangarra Dance Theatre returns to Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) from 25 August to 2 September with its latest work Bennelong, a poignant tribute to one of the most mythologised and celebrated individuals from the days of First Contact.