Cirrus@Austlit

'Bark meets byte in this thrilling tale exploring technology, language and culture in a fast-evolving world.

'It’s 2042 and Australia is more automated than ever before. Janelle, a woman of Cantonese heritage, and her partner Harry, a First Nations man, move back into Janelle’s family home after the death of her mother. As they attempt to navigate their work, relationship and job seeking requirements, they find themselves assisted by the quirky AI controlling their home and a robotic therapy dog. Janelle and Harry are quickly swept into a world of augmentations, restrictions and chaos. Does their new hi-tech life help them connect to culture and each other, or does it hinder it?'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'Co-created by Joe Paradise Lui and Merlynn Tong (Golden Blood), LEGENDS draws on the unique talents of many theatre artists from Australia’s Asian diaspora. It’s a powerful, deeply personal examination of the Chinese cultural experience and the enduring power of friendship, revealed through a hilarious yet subtly moving lens.

'Merlynn and Joe are used to fiery clashes – but what old friends aren’t? As they spend a night holding vigil for their dead grandfathers, their conflicting attitudes towards traditional values grow more and more heated. Merlynn wants to preserve the rites of her forebears, while Joe thinks it’s all a load of superstition. But the lords of the Underworld have their own thoughts on all of this, and they’re going to drag our heroes beyond the grave to resolve their differences.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'For fifty thousand years, soldiers and missionaries and kings and queens have tried to conquer this remote Indian valley, and for fifty thousand years Nirmala’s ancestors have kept them out. But what if out is exactly where her daughter Isha wants to be?

'When a stranger arrives with an offer too good to be true, the two must reckon with the costs of a devil’s bargain. Family, freedom and the fates of thousands will ultimately rest in their hands.

'The Wrong Gods is a thrilling, gripping tale full of hope, betrayal, tradition and self-discovery. Rich with poetry and imagery, it asks brave questions that don’t have a safe answer. If everything in this world comes at a cost, who gets to decide what that cost will be?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'History and the heart both have a habit of sweeping you away. This family drama serves as a potent reminder that the past is always with us.

'Enter South Africa in 1976. Like countless 24-year-olds, Della juggles family, love, work and dreams, but the spectre of apartheid threatens to tear apart even the most unshakeable bonds. Revolution is in the air, and it comes at a price. When her old flame Ezra shows up with a head full of dangerous ideas, Della’s world will be upended by forces that will echo around the globe.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'When a young woman falls hard for a dashing older widower, she moves to his bewitching country estate with no idea of the dark history that lies lurking amongst the grounds. The spectre of his first wife Rebecca infuses every shadowy corner while the domineering housekeeper Mrs Danvers is a constant watchful presence, determined to undermine her at every turn.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'Every story deserves a good ending. What’s yours?

'When the acclaimed author Cory Taylor was diagnosed with a terminal illness, what followed was an astonishing creative surge that resulted in a memoir Barack Obama named as one of his favourite books of 2017.

'Taylor’s wry insights into the rituals, language and taboos surrounding mortality can be witty, provocative or eye-opening – sometimes in the same breath. With honesty and unsentimental clarity she confronts the swamp of anxiety and despair that traditionally surrounds death and opens the door to the bright clear-eyed vision it ultimately grants us. Learning to face death is, in the end, learning to live fully.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'The local footy team of this small coastal town have spent so long at the bottom of the ladder they might as well be welded to it. This year a new hope arrives: the Marngrook cousins are named after the Aboriginal game that inspired AFL, and they’re match fit to bring home the team’s first flag in forever.

'This powerhouse new production manifests the physical and psychological demands that a football team faces under the Friday night lights. Set within the era of Adam Goodes’s war cry – and named for the number he immortalised – 37 asks ten actors to throw themselves into this world of blood and sweat to get at the values that drive a national obsession. Community, identity, the price of winning and the meaning of a goal: they’re all up for grabs.' (Production summary)

'Sybylla Melvyn is the smartest, funniest, most outrageous teenager Australia has ever witnessed. Just ask her.

'She’s growing up in the 90s – the 1890s, that is – where life doesn’t throw a lot of options at a girl. But life didn’t reckon on Sybylla. Forced to choose between romance and her own genius, her family and a future she defines, she’s decided she’s having it all.

'Miles Franklin’s novel My Brilliant Career still pulsates with the wild electric energy that made it such a sensation a century ago, and this new adaptation channels that fire into a high-energy musical. It’s a makeover that transforms one of our most enduring literary figures into a heroine for this very moment, while retaining all the wit and charm that has made this such a timeless work.

'A live soundtrack that’s equal parts contemporary pop, folksy bush band and raucous pub rock will translate the untameable spirit of Sybylla into a live theatre experience to blow the ceiling off.

'Adapted by music theatre’s most dynamic duo Mathew Frank and Dean Bryant alongside Sheridan Harbridge, with a cast led by Kala Gare (SIX), this world premiere is directed by our own Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks.' (Production summary)

'Not now, not ever

'When Mrs MacIntyre, the scheming owner of aged care home Elm Grove, decides to cut costs by offering uni students free board in return for them helping out as carers, she does not count on the arrival of Finn Bailey. Lazy and unqualified, Finn soon clashes with over-worked carer Ruby, before setting off a chain of events that lead to romance, rebellion and a residents’ choir.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'Against the backdrop of 1950s and 60s suburban Melbourne and in the wake of the Second World War, multi-award-winning writer Patricia Cornelius delivers a poetic, heart-rending tale that unpacks the shadow of war, and the trauma it leaves behind.

'The youngest of Jack and Martha’s five children, Christine idolises her father, especially his stories of wartime heroics. She cannot understand why her siblings – Jill, Johnnie and twins Door and Mouse – don’t share her love for their dad. Jill, meanwhile doesn’t understand why their mum puts up with him. As Christine watches on, one by one her siblings start to rebel against the tumultuous environment they are growing up in. Once fascinated by her father’s war stories, they slowly start to lose their shine as the conflict in Vietnam intensifies and war once again becomes front of mind for the family.'

Source: Production blurb.

'A clever twist on Charles Dickens’s classic Christmas morality tale, A Very Jewish Christmas Carol is a funny and delightful journey of discovering who we are and remembering the things that unite us.

'Caulfield baker Elysheva Scroogeavitz is determined not to let anything get in the way of fulfilling customer demand for her Bubby’s famous Polish gingerbread. Not her family’s impending Chrismukkah celebrations; not her contractions and imminent labour; and certainly not the ghosts who’ve suddenly shown up in her kitchen. But the Rein-Dybbuck of Chrismukkah Past, Gingerbread Golem and Lilith Claus have other ideas, and Ely’s about to get an unexpected lesson in the importance of making time for the ones we love.'

Source: Production blurb.

'When 15-year-old Lucy Lam wins the inaugural Equal Access Scholarship to a prestigious private school, the smart and well-liked student is not prepared for the new world she’s suddenly propelled into. It’s a world of wealth and opportunity, overseen by The Cabinet – a trio of girls who wield power over their classmates, and even their teachers. But when The Cabinet turn their attention to Lucy she has to make a choice: fit in and succeed, or stay true to herself. Either way, there’s a cost.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'Cyrano is the most interesting person in any room – a wordsmith, a charmer, a ruthless fighter. She works twice as hard and runs twice as fast as any of the pretty boys, because she's deeply ashamed of something about herself. She's fallen hard for Roxanne, the brilliant, beautiful new girl in town with a penchant for poetry and a way with words. Just like Cyrano. But Roxanne's only got eyes for Yan: hot, manly Yan; all-brawn-and-no brains Yan, who's dumbstruck around Roxanne – probably shy, right? Until suddenly he starts saying the most amazing things. But it's not Yan writing these perfect love scenes, it's Cyrano …'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Muse and mentor, Sunday Reed was the founder of Melbourne’s Heide Museum of Modern Art, and the heart of a circle of artists that included the likes of Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester. In this world premiere MTC commission, Nikki Shiels (Home, I’m Darling) embodies Reed’s passionate and unconventional spirit, bringing to life an audacious fantasy of her fateful affair with Nolan, her unbroken devotion to her husband, and the devastating price she paid for living and loving on her own terms as a woman in mid-20th century Australia.

'Sunday Reed isn’t like most women. In fact, she’s not like most men. Outspoken, uninhibited, adventurous, she has a laser eye for the new – in life and in art. When struggling artist Sidney Nolan arrives at Heide, the idyllic utopia Sunday is creating with her beloved husband John Reed on the outskirts of 1940s Melbourne, what ensues will haunt all three to their dying days. And in the aftermath, Australian art will never look the same.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'Jacky is a blackfella with a bright future in the big city. He skilfully negotiates the gig economy, earning his keep as a cultural dancer and sex worker. Glenn is a white middle-aged record dealer, finalising a divorce and indulging a fantasy which leads him straight to Jacky. When Jacky’s brother Keith rolls into town, and Glenn’s ex-wife Linda suddenly needs an Aboriginal dancer, can Jacky keep up with demand?'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'In 1840, a settler swore he found a bible printed in Edinburgh, a blue silk purse and a broken looking-glass in the remains of a Gunaikurnai camp near Ninety Mile Beach. But did he also really see the face of a ‘pale woman’ in a possum-skin cloak? Was there really a ‘white woman’ in Gunaikurnai country or were these unverified stories a cover for other activities – these are the questions Jacinta is trying to answer when she holes herself up in a country motel to put the finishing touches on her thesis. But can she solve a 150-year-old mystery in four days? And get justice for her people?

'The Black Woman of Gippsland explores colonial Victorian ‘history’ through a vital First Nations’ lens.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'If you’re trying to make sense of 2020, you’re not alone. Stuck inside longer than at any point in history, homeschooling your kids and zooming your workmates while watching racial reckonings and bonkers elections play out on your screens, the year was, at the very least, unique. Bracketed by masking up for bushfires and then viruses, and unmasking as we finally hit the donut days, Victorians spent months deprived of one of the fundamental ways we have of understanding our humanity – the communal experience of theatre.

'To celebrate the reopening of the Sumner, Dean Bryant interviewed a group of MTC favourites to share how they got through the year that was, transforming their words into a one-weekend-only theatre event that’s both personal and universal. There’ll be laughter, tears and the occasional song as we come to terms with one of the more epic years of our lives.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'On a whim, middle-aged Hester brings the orphaned, adolescent Katherine into her home – it’s the start of a powerful friendship for both women. But when a sudden tragedy interrupts their seemingly idyllic outback life, it threatens to twist their unshakable bond to breaking point. A haunting thriller in the best traditions of Australian Gothic, The Well is a taut work of gnawing suspense as these two women navigate the emotional and psychological terrains of desire, memory and social isolation.'

Source: Melbourne Theatre Company.

'A young girl hits a ball against the tin wall of her family’s home with a frying pan. This is where it all began for Evonne Goolagong. Hers is a quintessentially Australian story about a girl from the bush who dared to dream, and with the unlikely support of an outback farming town, rose to become the No. 1 tennis player in the world, and a household name by the age of 19.

'Evonne Goolagong’s heartwarming story is a celebration of spirit and passion over adversity, and a tribute to a woman whose sporting prowess continues to inspire a nation, giving hope to thousands of young girls across the country. With its distinctively Australian sensibility and humour, Sunshine Super Girl asks us to consider our nation’s future and the part we can play for the next ‘Goolagong’ waiting in the wings.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.