2023 Season
Nineteen
Written by Shane Pike | Directed by Liam Wallis
What happens when you put a writer, a gym-rat, a tradie and a stoner all in one share-house? Mix in some aggression, a shared-ex, insecurity and unwavering pride and you've got yourself a recipe for manhood. But is that what it really means to be a man?
Underground Theatre’s production of 'Nineteen’ by Shane Pike explores masculinity in young Australian men, uncovering a confronting and complex world few often want to talk about. Crafted from interviews with over ninety young people, Nineteen is both the hope and fear of the next generation.
So if you're in the mood to see a story about love, vulnerability, affection, talking about your feelings and learning to become a kinder, softer human being... this is not the play for you...
Written by Morgan Rose | Directed by Grace Wilson
It’s another day at your local burger joint, the cash register is broken, the sauce bottles haven’t been filled and someone has spilt Coke on the fucking paper straws.
Some workers are there by choice, others just haven’t figured out what else they should be doing. Life starts to take on a new meaning when hands are busy … and hearts and minds begin to wander.
How much of ourselves is necessarily suppressed in the workplace ? Would your deepest desires get you through a day in such a soulless environment?
Underground Theatre Company's Production of ‘Fast Food’ explores an ordinary day in a chain restaurant propelling us into the fantasies of its protagonists that are just trying to dream of something better.
Fast Food
I’m with Her
Written by Victoria Midwinter Pitt | Directed by Bridgitte Freeme
In the era of #MeToo and #Time’s Up, millions of women are sharing their stories of abuse and discrimination. But inside all our stories there’s a part we don’t always tell—a seed of heroic resistance.
Featuring the stories of eight extraordinary women, together they provide a thrilling demonstration of the power of women to outlast, outwit and out-muscle the great ugly beast of sexism. And lights up the golden thread that runs right through the patriarchy, connecting past to present, dreams to reality, and women with each other.
Confronting, humorous, and heart-liftingly hopeful, I’m With Her speaks to all generations, and does not consent to silence.
The Friday Night Effect
Written by Eva O’Connor & Hildegard Ryan | Directed by Jordon Riley
Meet Colette, a vivacious 20-something trying to figure her life out, including if she is on or off again with her abusive boyfriend Brian. Her best friend’s, Jamie, a bored corporate girly whose latest distraction is none other than her mum’s fiancé Jerry, and Sadhbh, a possible alcoholic and definite escort, who just broke up with what could have been the love of her life.
Follow these three best friends on a wild Friday night out ! Only …. By the end of the night, Collette will be dead. Can you save her? The Friday Night Effect combines compelling new writing with an edge-of-your-seat interactive experience. At crucial turning points in the story, the fate of the characters will be in the hands of the audience, whose decisions will change their stories irrevocably.
Red
Written by Somalia Seaton | Directed by Ashleigh Ramírez
When their best friend Jay goes missing, Dee withdraws into a twilight world of fragmented memories, conversations and clues… What did they miss? What couldn’t they say? And does Jay even want to be found ? Dee is caught, between the enchanting world they’ve created to hold onto the memory of their best friend, and the mundane reality of suburbia, where life must simply go on. At once moving, funny and tender, Red is an unflinching and bold exploration of the internal lives of young people, and what happens when their world is shattered by grief.
Short Play Festival
Devised and written by emerging Meanjin playwrights, Underground Theatre Company’s Short Play Festival is an annual celebration of emerging talent and display of new works.