Dead Bat on the Night Shift Presented by: Observatory Theatre Venue: PIP Theatre Date attended: 27 August 2026 Written by: Samantha Hill Director / Set Design / Costume Design: Lachlan Driscoll Dramaturg: Emma Churchland Vision Designer: Freddy Komp Sound Designer / Stage Manager: Hannah Page Lighting Designer: Noah Milne Photography: Images by Anderson / Creative Futures Photography Content warnings: Coarse language, sexual references, misogynistic and racist language, fake firearm, gunshots, staged violence, fake blood, haze, and sudden flashing lights. “Hey Siri. How to murder...?” Written by Samantha Hill and presented by Observatory Theatre at PIP Theatre, Dead Bat on the Night Shift centres on Sloane (Claire Pearson), an intelligent, withdrawn employee who's come up with a dramatic plan to improve workplace morale. Her solution? Give her boss a permanent vacation. Six feet under. To be fair, Dave is the worst. I just recently watched 9 to 5, and it seems like I picked an excellent week for watching fictional office tyrants. Darren King as Dave sits comfortably among those men who mistake a tiny bit of managerial authority for evidence of their own superiority. He’s a sexist, racist bully who’s extremely comfortable making everyone else squirm. The audience kept up a chorus of groans whenever Dave launched into another revolting scene. You could feel the reaction ripple through the room, especially from the women hearing a fictional man say something we’ve all, unfortunately, heard some version of before. King gives Dave exactly the kind of cringey swagger that makes him painfully familiar. When we walk in, Sloane is already onstage, rocking the ultimate comfort combo of a hoodie, sweats, and a fanny pack. She’s giving the wall her best dissociative stare. Around her is a deliberately miserable office of grey surfaces, boxes, and a whiteboard covered in the sort of workplace nonsense that suggests somebody attended a management seminar and returned with several markers and no useful ideas. Customer service has rarely looked so bleak. Claire Pearson does a lot of the heavy lifting in this show, with Sloane onstage for almost the entire 150 minutes. She doesn’t say much for long stretches, instead expressing herself through internal asides, sudden outbursts, quirky facts, and wonderful facial reactions. Some parts of Sloane's character might really resonate with neurodivergent folks. She retreats into facts rather than socialising, likes systems that make sense to her, struggles to express emotion directly, and seems way more at ease planning a complex murder than chatting about the weather at work. There are even binders involved in said planning. She is also enormously capable, yet almost none of her strengths are valued in a workplace more interested in whether she can perform the expected version of customer-service friendliness. Pearson understands the power of stillness. Sloane is like a pressure cooker for most of the play, holding everything in and giving very little away. You can tell there’s always far more happening underneath than she knows how to express. So when that restraint finally cracks, it really hits. At one point, Sloane screams, and the sound went straight through my soul. It was like years of frustration, grief, rage, and all the words she has never been able to say coming out at once. Much of that history takes physical form through Clara (Ellen Hardisty), Sloane’s deceased mother and ultimate ghostly bully. She taunts Sloane, puts her down, and voices the cruellest things Sloane believes about herself. With exposed brain tissue and torn clothing from the car accident that killed her, Clara is a pretty horrifying sight (and that’s before she opens her mouth). But what she represents is even worse. She becomes the embodiment of Sloane’s unresolved abandonment, carrying the damage left by a mother who gave her up to foster care. Hardisty also plays another Clara, completely unrelated to Sloane’s mother. Office Clara is firm, quiet, and strong, carrying her own private grief. Hardisty separates the two women beautifully, giving one a vicious, needling presence and the other a quiet resilience. The doubling also works nicely in a play so interested in identity and the versions of people we create in our own minds. And then there is the dearly departed bat. Sloane finds a dead bat outside work and starts carrying it around. Calum Johnston’s puppet is macabre, peculiar, and somehow increasingly companionable as it begins to “speak” to her. That is the strange charm of Samantha Hill’s writing. The absurdity keeps opening little doors into something sadder. For all its dark comedy, Dead Bat on the Night Shift has a real soft spot for the odd little families that form in terrible jobs. You might hate the workplace itself, but sometimes the coworker beside you is the only reason you make it through another shift. Jaxon Norman gives Jonathan an instantly gentle quality. He’s helpful and sweet without needing a flashing “Nice Guy” sign above his head. In Sloane’s world, where she expects criticism, abandonment, or misunderstanding, simple kindness really counts. Clarise Ooi brings bright, distinctly Gen Z energy to Aysu. She’s the lively uni student of the group, full of youthful optimism and momentum. Jenna Murphy became one of my favourite recurring presences throughout the show. Pamela, bless her heart, is a bit of a doormat but stays relentlessly positive despite being injured (wrist guard and all). Murphy keeps popping up as a Centrelink worker, gun seller, glow-worm tour guide, and plenty more. Her comic instincts make each one distinct, and by the time another variation of “Pam” appears, simply recognising her becomes part of the joke. Lachlan Driscoll’s direction keeps us firmly inside Sloane’s world. She becomes our guide, speaking directly to us through narration and asides, while completely zipping up around the people actually standing beside her. Those moments are invisible to everyone else, and sometimes all it takes is one quick glance out to us (very The Office) to say exactly what she’s thinking. The world around her stays fluid too, with rapid scenes, actors shifting between characters, and simple visual changes moving us between settings. Driscoll's costume design tells us plenty as well. Sloane begins in clothes built around comfort, practicality, and invisibility, as though being unnoticed is preferable to being perceived. Later, she changes onstage into more conventionally professional clothing, making the transformation part of the storytelling. Jonathan’s preppy young-adult look suits his gentle manner, Aysu is unmistakably a Gen Z uni student, Office Clara dresses with sensible Gen X practicality, and Pamela’s brighter colours match her determined positivity. Dave, meanwhile, is just... Dave. Freddy Komp’s vision design extends Sloane’s inner world through drawn projections of buildings, beaches, caves, offices, bookshelves, and other environments. Their chalkboard-like style gives the whole thing a hand-drawn quality, as though we’re watching Sloane’s imagination sketch the world around her. Noah Milne’s lighting and Hannah Page’s sound are woven tightly into the action. A lot of the comedy relies on cues landing at exactly the right moment, and they do. Voiceovers, gunshots, flashes, and sudden shifts between Sloane’s external and internal worlds all land with sharp timing. Lastly, motifs of bats, twelves, and tarot cards appear throughout the story, tying into ideas of cycles, fate, prediction, and whether our futures are already set or still ours to mess with. One line cuts straight through all of it: “How dare you dream so small for your life?!” That, far more than the murder plot, feels like the challenge at the centre of Hill’s play. Samantha Hill began writing Dead Bat on the Night Shift 20 years ago as a young graduate feeling stuck, uncertain, and unseen. That backstory adds another dimension now. The frustrations of thankless work are funny because, let’s face it, they’re still painfully familiar for plenty of us. But the play also understands why telling someone to “just quit” or “find something better” can be wildly unhelpful. Choice gets complicated when life has taught you to expect very little. Sloane even goes through the torturous process of Centrelink and JobSeeker (iykyk), turning the whole thing into a bureaucratic circus. Quitting a lousy job is one thing. Then comes figuring out what’s next, proving you deserve assistance, dealing with judgement from strangers, filling out a thousand forms, and somehow staying sane through all of it. Sloane may be very good at planning a murder, but figuring out what she actually wants from her own life is much harder. For all its terrible bosses, maternal trauma, murder prep, and dead bats, Dead Bat on the Night Shift still has a surprising amount of heart. It will particularly appeal to audiences who enjoy black comedy, theatrical absurdity, and character-driven contemporary writing. It’s weird, funny, and is certain to catch you off guard.

Title: Take The Stage 2026 Presented By: Elements Theatre Co. Genre: Community Performance Showcase / Variety Performance Synopsis: Take The Stage is a free community performance showcase celebrating local talent, creativity, and confidence. Open to performers of all ages and experience levels, the event welcomes singers, dancers, actors, musicians, comedians, and variety performers. Participants can perform solo, as a duo, or as part of a group. Rather than operating as a competition, Take The Stage has no judges, scores, or prizes and is designed simply as an opportunity for members of the community to perform and share their talents. Audition Date: Saturday 19 September 2026 Audition Time: From 12:00pm. Individual audition times will be allocated after registrations close. Audition Location and Address: Elements Theatre Co., 1A/131–135 Old Pacific Highway, Oxenford QLD Audition Requirements: Prepare the act you intend to perform in the final showcase if selected. Maximum performance length is 4 minutes. Solo, duo, and group performances are welcome. Acts must be family-friendly and suitable for audiences of all ages. If using music, bring your track on your phone or USB. If using props or equipment, bring these to the audition and ensure they can be set up quickly. Costumes are welcome but are not required at auditions. Wear comfortable clothing and appropriate footwear suitable for your act. Arrive 15 minutes before your allocated audition time for check-in, warm-up, and to meet the team. Performers will present their act to the coaching team and may receive questions or feedback. Applicants under 18 must provide parent/guardian details. Audition Registration: Take The Stage 2026 Registration Form Registrations close Monday 7 September 2026 at midnight. Audition Pack: Take The Stage 2026 Information Pack Performance Date: Sunday 4 October 2026 Performance Times: 3:00pm and 6:00pm Performance Location: Elements Theatre Co., 1A/131–135 Old Pacific Highway, Oxenford QLD Rehearsal Dates: Friday 2 October 2026 – Free Performance Workshop Rehearsal Times: 1:00pm–6:00pm. Successful acts will select a one-hour workshop session, with each act receiving approximately 10 minutes of one-on-one coaching within the open workshop setting. Warnings: Acts must be family-friendly and suitable for audiences of all ages. Please note the studio is located upstairs and is accessed via stairs. There is currently no wheelchair access. Those with accessibility requirements are encouraged to contact Elements Theatre Co. prior to the event. Performer Age: All ages and experience levels. Production Website: Elements Theatre Co. – Event Calendar Other information: Registration, auditions, the Performance Workshop, and the performance opportunity are all free. Successful performers will attend a free workshop on Friday 2 October to polish their act in the performance space. Coaching may cover stage presence, microphone technique, movement, timing, and audience engagement. On performance day, performers should arrive 30 minutes before their concert time, completely performance-ready with costume, hair, makeup if applicable, correct footwear, props, and accessories. General enquiries: info@elementstheatreco.com.au Available Roles: There are no set characters or theatrical roles. Applications are open to a broad range of acts, including: Singers Dancers Actors Comedians Musicians Magicians Spoken word performers Variety performers Other unique performance acts Solo performers Duos Groups

My Sunny Boy Presented by: Spotlight Theatrical Company Venue: Spotlight Theatre Date attended: 30 August 2026 Written by: Amy McDonald Director: Helen Maden Stage Manager: Pat Apelt Set Design: Helen Maden Props: Dianne Lamb Costumes: Helen Maden and Amy McDonald Lighting: Thomas Bell Sound: Helen Maden and Simon Fox Photography: Vargo Studios (Clay English) “Travel safe, take care, f*ck off.” Audrey Hart is a loving, fiercely protective mother and a woman with plenty to say. Her advice to her son always begins with “my love.” Her patience for her ex-husband is non-existent. And any attempt at emotional restraint around the new wife tends to end somewhere around sarcasm, swearing, or a well-placed insult. Written by Amy McDonald and presented by Spotlight Theatrical Company, My Sunny Boy is a contemporary Australian comedy about separated families, old resentments, surprise pregnancies, and the horrifying discovery that if you raise an independent son, he may eventually have the audacity to become independent! Audrey once expected a very different life for herself. She and husband Ted were preparing to welcome their first baby when he revelaed that he was leaving Audrey for his much younger mistress, Vanessa (who was also pregnant!). Great timing, Ted. Years later, Audrey has rebuilt herself in a quirky seaside town, where she raises their son George, teaches belly dancing with free-spirited Bodhi, befriends her eccentric neighbour Leo, and has created a life that is messy, colourful, and entirely her own. George is now seventeen, and Ted offers him the chance to spend a year living with his family abroad. Where George sees travel, education, new experiences, and more time with his dad and half-brothers. Audrey sees a year of being left behind and, worse, being replaced. Naturally, she takes this extremely well... “I hold on tight and let go lightly." Helen Maden’s set gives us the lowdown on Audrey’s life from the get-go. The split-stage set is packed with plants, photographs, and knick-knacks that make a home feel properly lived in. The porch goes even further, with a surfboard, climbing flowers, roughed-up shoes, and enough coastal decoration to make their lifestyle immediately obvious. Inspired by McDonald’s affection for 1960s domestic décor, Maden creates a colourful home with personality in every corner. Even the front lawn gets involved once Leo arrives with his mower and headphones. He's apparently available at all times to perform garden maintenance, collect neighbourhood gossip, and insert himself into whatever family crisis is currently underway at the Hart household. The costumes by Helen Maden and Amy McDonald underline the contrast between George’s two families immediately. Audrey’s world is all beachy prints, flowing fabrics, dressing gowns, bare feet, and her pair of enormous green reading glasses, while Bodhi looks as though she may have wandered directly in from a music festival. Ted and Vanessa are much more restrained, with structured suits and considerably less tasselling. It’s essentially a fashion face-off between a beachside belly-dancing studio and a corporate boardroom. As director, Helen Maden cleverly uses the wider stage to establish separate locations rather than forcing every conversation to occur at Audrey’s kitchen table. She keeps the conversational script moving with natural blocking, interruptions, and constant movement through the spaces. The pacing is well defined, with scenes often ending on a revelation, cliffhanger, or killer line before snapping to blackout. At the performance I attended, those blackouts always earned applause before we were plunged back into the family chaos. The audience was especially responsive to Audrey, and it’s easy to see why. McDonald’s writing is at its funniest when affection and hostility occupy the same scene. When Vanessa shows discomfort about the past, Audrey simply replies, “That condition is called having a conscience, Vanessa.” Playing her own creation, McDonald sells every contradiction in Audrey. She’s loving, furious, spiteful, and vulnerable, with sarcasm and swearing doing very little to disguise how deeply she feels everything. Harrison Salter plays George as a genuinely likeable boy rather than a stock bundle of teenage angst. He and McDonald share an easy, affectionate mother-son rapport, full of casual teasing and kitchen-table familiarity. There’s something about him that reminded me of several boys I know who were raised by single mums, with that same emotional openness. Plus, his occasional frustrations come across as understandable rather than bratty. When he argues, “I deserve better stuff too”, it doesn’t come across as a rejection of Audrey. George loves his mum, but he also wants some of the opportunities his half-brothers have had. Peter Maden’s Ted feels immediately familiar as a daggy dad of three boys with an addiction to pastries. He’s attentive to George, eager to help, and clearly adores his son. Maden gets some great laughs from Ted’s awkwardness and reactions, but Ted can still be a bit of a prick (to both Audrey and Vanessa). The scenes with Audrey are especially entertaining because the two actors play that ex-partner history so naturally. They bicker, goad each other, slip into old habits, and still have a bit of spark underneath all the irritation. Ted has spent years being a good father to George, but the play never asks Audrey (or us) to forget why she’s angry with him. Josie Sargent plays Vanessa with a composure that avoids turning her into the obvious villain. She keeps trying to remain civil with Audrey, which is both admirable and, from Audrey’s point of view, incredibly irritating. Sargent holds her ground well against McDonald’s verbal attacks, while keeping Vanessa warm enough that she never comes across as smug or icy. Their scenes together are my favourites because every not-so-polite exchange carries years of resentment. Vanessa wants peace. Audrey would rather chew glass. Sargent is also much softer with Salter, and the affection between Vanessa and George comes across as genuine. Sienna Johnson portrays Bodhi as free-spirited, scattered, sexually confident, and genuinely sweet. Johnson plays her ditziness for plenty of laughs while still letting some vulnerability peek through. Her relationship with George did make me raise an eyebrow (five years feels rather more noticeable at 17 and 22), though the play acknowledges the age gap. Sienna Johnson and Amy McDonald develop a shift in Bodhi and Audrey’s relationship, as their workplace friendship grows into something more maternal. When Audrey speaks through tears about how she loved George while also resenting him after his birth, McDonald lets the humour fall away and the room becomes noticeably quieter. It’s a beautifully judged piece of acting from McDonald, who drops Audrey’s usual bravado and gives us a much more exposed version of her. Rob Kenna’s laid-back delivery makes Leo’s constant reappearances reliably funny, whether he’s mowing Audrey’s lawn, gossiping about locals, or grooving to Lady Gaga. There’s much more to him than comic relief, though. Leo is a later-in-life gay man with two sons from different mothers, and he becomes the person several characters confide in. I did wish the script gave Leo a little more room of his own. Much of his personal life is delivered through one-sided phone conversations. Considering how interesting his family history is, I’d happily have spent more time with him. There’s also an interesting thread running through McDonald’s writing about what it means to raise boys into men. George, Ted, and Leo all present very different versions of masculinity, while George is still working out where he fits among family expectations and all the other noise surrounding teenagers. I’d wholeheartedly recommend My Sunny Boy to audiences who enjoy contemporary Australian family comedy, parent-child stories, unapologetically blunt characters, and dialogue packed with terrific wit.

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< Back CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT: Scratch - Studio1 Brisbane 6 Sept 2026 Season: September 6th, 2026 Title: SCRATCH by Studio1 Presented By: Studio1 Brisbane Genre: Experimental dance / physical theatre / creative development Synopsis: SCRATCH is an afternoon showing that brings together South-East Queensland’s arts community to share, observe and discuss ideas in progress. Two or three dance or physical-theatre artists present developing work before participating in a facilitated feedback session with the audience. The event supports experimentation, critical discussion, peer learning and connection across Brisbane’s independent arts sector. Performance Dates: Sunday 6 September 2026 Performance Times: 1:00pm–3:00pm Performance Location and Address: Studio1190 Station Road, Yeerongpilly QLD 4105 Ticket Costs: Free admission; registration is required. Ticket Link: Register through Humanitix Warnings: No content or technical warnings have been published. Recommended Age: All Ages Duration: 2 hours, including the showings and facilitated feedback session Production Website: Studio1 Other Information: Audience members are invited to participate in a constructive, facilitated discussion responding to the works in progress. The afternoon is designed to encourage experimentation, community building, research and connections between artists and audiences. Registrations are non-refundable. Previous Next

< Back MUSICAL THEATRE: Mamma Mia! - The Very Popular Theatre Company 4 Sept 2026 Season: September 4th - 20th, 2026 Title: MAMMA MIA! Presented By: The Very Popular Theatre Company Genre: Jukebox musical / romantic comedy Synopsis: On a sun-drenched Greek island, bride-to-be Sophie secretly invites three men from her mother Donna’s past to her wedding, hoping to discover which one is her father. Told through 22 of ABBA’s greatest hits—including “Dancing Queen,” “SOS” and “Mamma Mia”—the musical is a joyful story of love, friendship, family and identity. Performance Dates: 4–20 September 2026 Performance Times: Friday 4 September — 7:30pm Saturday 5 September — 2:00pm and 7:30pm Sunday 6 September — 1:00pm and 6:00pm Tuesday 8 to Friday 11 September — 7:30pm Saturday 12 September — 2:00pm and 7:30pm Sunday 13 September — 1:00pm and 6:00pm Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 September — 7:30pm Saturday 19 September — 2:00pm and 7:30pm Sunday 20 September — 1:00pm and 6:00pm Performance Location and Address: The Star Theatre, The Star Gold Coast, Casino Drive, Broadbeach QLD 4218 Ticket Costs: Tickets from $69, plus applicable transaction fees. Prices vary according to the performance and seating category. Ticket Link: Book through Ticketek Warnings: All guests under 18 must be accompanied by an adult or guardian while at The Star Gold Coast. Recommended Age: All ages Duration: Approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, including a 20-minute interval Cast: Erin Cornell — Donna Sheridan Emily Monsma — Sophie Sheridan Harley Dasey — Sky Chloe Rose Taylor — Tanya Jo-Anne Jackson — Rosie Matt Edwards — Sam Carmichael Timothy Aaron Cooper — Harry Bright Danny Folpp — Bill Austin Katie Loxston — Lisa / Sophie cover Juliette Coates — Ali Jake Ameduri — Pepper Samuel Allsop — Eddie Ensemble — including Isabel Kruse, Shelby Giles, Charlie, Hunter Ireland, Bella Keightley, James, Dijana, Lucy Ross, Isaac, Kelsey Spencer, Ben Sullivan, Greyson Vaughn, Anthony Vitetzakis, Alex Watson, Kaitlin West and Justin Wise Creative Team: Music and Lyrics — Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus Book — Catherine Johnson Originally Conceived by — Judy Craymer Director — Erin James Musical Supervisor — Daniel Wilson Choreographer — Rachel Stark Musical Director — Jonathon Gardner Associate Director — Sophie Carmody Production Manager — Jacob Harwood Production Website: MAMMA MIA! The Musical – Gold Coast Other Information: Accessible seating can be requested through Ticketek’s Accessible Seating Form. Parking at The Star Gold Coast is no longer universally free, and additional arrival time is recommended during busy periods. Previous Next