Featuring: Charlotte Howard-Mowat as Dorothy and Sydney Orozco-Ariza as Beatrix

People perceive my generation as superficial and assert that our relationships lack depth, but do we really differ from the past? Yours is a compilation of verbatim letters and poems from historical figures including James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare, and Dorothy Parker. By working with letters from history arranged into a correspondence between lovers, this work compares the quality and depth of our relationships across time. Were relationships actually deeper in the past? Or is how we communicate all that’s changed? We have instantaneous conversations through the internet, and despite our connectedness, more people than ever describe themselves as lonely. But for such a superficial generation, we are awfully obsessed with defining relationships, even coining terms like “situationship”. Maybe what we feel hasn’t changed much.

Content Warnings: Sexual references; Coarse language

Featuring: Honey Dare as Popova and Max Eilola as Smirnov

The Bear is a fascinating and bizarre 19th century rom-com. It tells the story of a landowning widow, Elene Popova, and an aggressive creditor, Grigory Smirnov. Typically told in 30-minutes, this condensed version of The Bear highlights the absurdism and the humour within the classic. This piece brings out the extremities of the emotional spectrum and pushes grief and anger to the limits without ever stepping out of the widow's large, antique home. With this piece, I'm really hoping to make some people guffaw and giggle, but most of all I want to keep the audience guessing!

Content Warnings: Representations of sexism & misogyny; Implied manslaughter; Implied handgun homicide

Featuring: Jay Johnson as Mephistopheles and Lucienne Cosentino as Faustus

Sometimes the devil that wants your soul actually wants you! - Had I As Many Souls as There Be Stars is a reimagination of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, a play that revolves around a deal with the devil and the consequence of greed. It will be focusing on the yearning and duality within Mephistopheles and Faustus by isolating them as the only characters and expanding upon their relationship. I chose to do this play now as the play never loses its relevance as the tale of greed and yearning is always applicable no matter the time period. I am seeking to fully display the yearning and love imbedded within the text in a way that compliments the tale of consequence after a Faustian bargain. Faustus will be played by Lucienne Consentino and Mephistopheles will be played by Jay Johnson.

Content Warnings: Depictions of self-harm; References to religion

Featuring: Georgina Wiess as Joan and Janna Tang as Jeanne 

If Joan of Arc, believing her visions to liberate France, met Jeanne D’Arc, under trial and facing execution, what would they make of each other? 

This piece is a conversation between Joan and herself at these bookends of her life, as the pair are let down by the authorities they serve and struggle to relate to their diverging paths. It was inspired by recent cases of femicide, and how the memories of women are overshadowed by their deaths and the events that lead to them. When you watch it, I hope it offers a way to remember someone for who they were always trying to be—as Joan and Jeanne follow their visions—regardless of their end.

Content Warnings: Femicide; Immolation

Featuring: Leni Williams as Antony, Sophia Beam as Brutus/ Chorus 1, and Erin Hu as Caesar/ Chorus 2

"So are they all, all honourable men."

But what is honour and what have these people done to earn it? Honourable Men is an amended version of Act 3 Scene II of Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar recontextualised with the aim to ask this same question. Instead of ancient Rome, we find ourselves in the modern world, and instead of attending a funeral for the fallen leader of an empire, we invite you to pay your respects at the funeral of the well-loved drag queen Julia Caesar (Erin Hu). Nothing about this funeral is easy as the looming presence of right-wing political commentator Brutus (Sophia Beam) haunts the eulogy being given by Caesar's best friend, Antony (Leni Williams).

This piece explores the morbid consequences of the hateful rhetoric being targeted at the LGBTQIA+ community in our current time, focusing specifically on how drag artists of all varieties have been turned into a political scapegoat of sorts for every social issue. Nobody gets to say somebody is undeserving of honour simply because they are a queer artist.

Content Warnings: References to death; References to homophobia, transphobia and other hateful rhetoric; Mature themes that some may find upsetting or disturbing.

Featuring: Ava Castelli as Celia and Heidi Lynch as Mary 

Adapted from a 1901 short story by H.G Wells, The Green Phial uses past fears about technology to comment on our current digital realities. Set in the 1910s, the play centres on two women who grapple with the moral implications of a new scientific discovery that could further mankind and grant them freedom from the gendered expectations of the time. But not without cost. This adaptation seeks to explore the nuances of technological advancement by recharacterising women of the time as active participants in their lives, instead of merely aesthetic objects, mothers and wives. The Green Phial invites viewers to witness the personal and societal consequences of human labour being delegated to the inhuman, as well as to ponder the cost of their own technological use in their lives and the lives of others. With so many good reasons to outsource our efforts, do the ends justify the means?

Content Warnings: References to human experimentation without consent.

Featuring: Allegra White as Jyll, Ishan Singh as Edward and Jude Williams as Sam

Have you ever had a life changing encounter with a person you will never see again? Turbulent, written by Paige Baker, is a play that follows Jyll, Edward, and Sam, a light-hearted trio from all different walks of life who share a quite traumatic experience on a dodgy aircraft in the hands of an even dodgier captain. I chose this play because through an ever-changing world, the little moments of human connection are beginning to go missing. If you can remember a pleasant moment shared with a stranger, or a passing moment with someone who just happened to be in the same room as you, you will find that feeling deeply rooted in Turbulent.

Content Warnings: Coarse language; References to grief, addiction, aerophobia.