Goodbye, Eli Anderson Presented by: THAT Production Company Venue: Ipswich Civic Centre Date attended: 19 August 2026 Playwright: Grace Wilson Director: Timothy Wynn Assistant Director: Ruby Sanders Set & Costume Design: Madeleine Barlow Lighting Design: Daniel Anderson Video Design: Nevil Howell Sound Design & Composition: Morgan Francis Photography: Kenn Wylchi Content warnings: Mature themes, coarse language, mild violence, terminal illness, references to suicide, and grief. “I can't let life catch up to me." At 17 years old, Eli Anderson should be focused on senior year and whatever comes next. Instead, he’s facing terminal cancer, and a future that has been unexpectedly and unfairly cut short. Written by Grace Wilson, Goodbye, Eli Anderson won Queensland Theatre’s Young Playwrights’ Award before receiving its world premiere with THAT Production Company. Eli Anderson (Lincoln Kay) has a dark cloud hanging over him, with the same illness that took his mother now threatening his own life. His father (Hugh Parker) has gone into protective overdrive, while older brother Gabe (Angus Freer) is trying to figure out how to act around Eli when everyone knows their time together is running out. Eli doesn’t want to spend whatever time he has left being treated like he’s dying. So he takes Betty (the family’s colourful old campervan), and sets off for Uluru to make some memories of his own. Things get a lot more interesting when a teenage troublemaker, going by the oh-so-clever name “Hugh Jass”, hijacks his ride and insists on a lift to Darwin. Hello, Benji Hatchet (Jesse Frommelt). These reluctant road-trip companions quickly become something resembling brothers. Benji talks incessantly, steals things, gets bored every eight seconds, makes ridiculous decisions, and barrels through the world with the energy of an overexcited puppy who’s discovered the front gate has been left open. He becomes exactly what Eli needs. Both boys are on the run, but for very different reasons. As the story unfolds, we learn that Benji isn’t sure he even wants a future. He barely has a past to cling to either, having been essentially left alone in the universe. This younger teen is contemplating the idea of ending his own story, while Eli has had that decision made for him. Grace Wilson is clear that this isn’t really a play about cancer, but about men who love each other and struggle to say it aloud. Her writing places Eli in a cruel limbo between childhood and adulthood. Benji represents the adolescence he can still touch (full of play, impulsiveness, petty crime, and mischief), while to me, Gabe feels like everything waiting on the other side of seventeen: responsibility, family, memory, and adulthood. Eli sits between them, knowing he may never quite reach Gabe’s side. Thankfully, Wilson doesn’t let that sadness swallow the play. This is still an Aussie road trip, with plenty of joy along the way. The show takes us back to a time when cassettes were king, disposable cameras were the Instagram of the day, and a Refidex was your trusty GPS. For just a dollar, the pub jukebox could become your own disco inferno. At one point, there’s even talk of becoming pen pals, because keeping track of your random road-trip buddy was a much bigger logistical challenge before social media. The boys play cricket at a far less touristy Uluru, evade the cops like pros, and soak up the exhilarating thrill of being young and up to no good. Lincoln Kay plays Eli with a finely balanced mix of anger, fear, humour, stubbornness, and vulnerability. He never becomes simply “the sick kid” in the play. Kay’s quieter work packs just as much of a punch, with Eli’s vivid dreams and moments of make-believe reminding us how young he still is. His monologue addressed to his mum beneath the stars was met with audible sniffles in the audience. Only someone who has faced Eli’s circumstances could truly know how he feels or understand his reasoning from inside his head. Still, I found myself empathizing fiercely with him, even when his choices seemed irrational to those who cared about him. As Gabe puts it, “He doesn’t want to be coddled, he wants to be capable.” Jesse Frommelt is enormously endearing as Benji, whose relentless, chaotic energy could easily become exhausting in less capable hands. Instead, every bit of his performance feels truthful, especially when an intense confrontation with Eli completely changes the atmosphere. I went from tensing up to tearing up within the same scene as Frommelt’s emotional work landed with startling force. The impact of having young actors who actually match the characters’ ages is huge. Their awkwardness, bravado, silliness, affection, and sudden bursts of emotional intensity feel completely real - never like adults trying to imitate teenagers. Angus Freer brings a different kind of pain to Gabe. He’s facing the reality that his little brother will die before him, and there’s nothing he can do to fix it. Freer captures Gabe’s position between protecting Eli and respecting him. He understands something their father struggles to accept: keeping Eli alive isn’t the same as letting him truly live. His exchanges with Hugh Parker as their father are particularly intense. Dad’s overbearing nature can be frustrating, but having already lost his wife to cancer, his fear is painfully understandable. Together, Freer and Parker capture the emotional limbo of anticipatory grief, cherishing Eli while he’s still with them and already wondering what they might regret afterwards. Timothy Wynn’s direction allows all that emotional weight to sit comfortably alongside the pace, humour, and momentum of the road trip. Madeleine Barlow’s set drops us straight into regional Australia, with corrugated tin, road imagery, and Betty herself dominating the space. A genuine campervan is an ambitious centrepiece, but Betty more than earns her place. She rotates and shifts throughout the trip to give us different perspectives, with the backstage team deserving their own shoutout for repeatedly manoeuvring the thing around! Morgan Francis's sound design gives Betty plenty of sputters, groans, and engine noises, helping sell the idea that she’s actually getting them somewhere. The music of their era becomes another bonding language for the boys. I also loved the striped motif across Barlow’s design. Stripes appear on the walls, across Betty’s paintwork, and throughout the boys’ costumes, tying the whole visual world together. Nevil Howell’s video work is very clever too, with projections of scenery and road signage, plus live footage allowing us to watch Eli and Benji from inside the van. The projections expand beyond the stage during Eli’s imaginative sequences, while Daniel Anderson’s lighting finds beauty in the landscape, particularly beneath the stars and at dawn over Uluru. Out there, Eli can disappear from his father’s protection and feel completely alive, while the enormity of the world reminds us how much of it he’ll never get to see. Out on the road, these boys finally get something they haven’t really had before... Space to muck around. Space to fight. Space to be frightened. And, eventually, enough space to speak. Grace Wilson wrote the first version of Goodbye, Eli Anderson as a teenager, and perhaps that’s why its young characters are allowed to be so contradictory. They can be brave and terrified, selfish and generous, hilarious and devastating within moments of each other. Nobody suddenly becomes eloquent just because this awful thing has happened. These are boys trying to find words for experiences they were never taught how to discuss. Sometimes they manage it. Sometimes all they can do is sit beside each other in a battered van, put on a cassette, and keep driving. Funny, poignant, and scrappy, Goodbye, Eli Anderson introduces a distinctive young Australian voice in Grace Wilson, brought to life by the gifted young performers entrusted with her work. It brought plenty of joy and tears, and left a fairly substantial lump in my throat. Grace Wilson may have written a story about a boy running out of time, but I suspect this play itself has a long life ahead of it.

Title: The Addams Family: Young@Part Presented By: Second Star Youth Theatre Genre: Youth Musical / Musical Comedy Synopsis: America’s darkest and kookiest family comes to life in a musical about love, family, honesty, and growing up. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with Lucas Beinecke, a sweet, smart young man from a respectable and decidedly “normal” family. There’s just one problem: her parents have never met him. Wednesday confides in her father and asks him to keep her relationship a secret from Morticia, forcing Gomez to do something he has never done before: lie to his beloved wife. Everything comes to a head when the Addams family hosts Lucas and his parents for dinner, bringing two very different families together for one unforgettable night. Audition Date: Sunday 13 September 2026 Audition Time: 1:00pm–5:00pm Audition Location and Address: Faith Works Norman Park, 177 Bennetts Road, Norman Park QLD Audition Self-Tape (if applicable): Video auditions are available for performers unable to attend the in-person audition workshop. Register as normal and indicate your unavailability on the registration form; instructions for submitting a video audition will then be provided. Audition Requirements: Auditions will be conducted as an iTheatrics-style group workshop. No prepared audition material is required. During the workshop, performers will learn material from the show and then have the opportunity to perform what they have learned for the creative team and their fellow auditionees. The workshop is designed to assess not only singing, dancing, and acting, but also how performers connect with others, respond to direction, and learn new material. All performers who audition are guaranteed a place in the cast. Auditions are used to determine individual casting rather than whether a performer will participate in the production. Audition Registration: Registrations are open now and places are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no fee to register for the audition, although the participation fee must be paid in full before audition day. Audition Pack: All audition and production information is available on the production page: The Addams Family: Young@Part Audition Information Performance Dates: Saturday 3 October 2026 Performance Times: 3:00pm and 6:00pm Performance Location: Marjorie Godfrey Theatre, Cavendish Road State High School, Holland Park QLD Rehearsal Dates: Monday 28 September – Friday 2 October 2026 Rehearsal Times: 9:00am–4:00pm daily Performer Age: 10–18 years old, as of 3 October 2026. Creative Team: Director & Musical Director – Lauren McNamara Choreographer – Isabella Maric Production Website: Second Star Youth Theatre – The Addams Family Other information: Participation costs $450 per performer, including GST. The fee contributes towards rights and royalties, creative and technical professionals, venue hire, sets, props, costumes, marketing, and other production costs. Each participant receives a script, production T-shirt, dinner on performance day, an audition workshop, and the full week of tuition and rehearsals. The majority of costumes will be supplied by Second Star Youth Theatre, with costume hire included in the participation fee. Performers may be asked to provide basic items such as footwear, stage blacks, dress pants, or a white T-shirt. After casting, performers receiving lead and featured roles are expected to learn dialogue and lyrics before the intensive rehearsal week. Scripts, rehearsal tracks, and accompaniment tracks will be supplied. Performers of all genders may be considered for all roles, regardless of the character’s original gender representation. Character names and pronouns in the script will remain unchanged. Enquiries: lauren@secondstaryouththeatre.com.au Available Roles/Character Breakdown: Gomez Addams - A suave and passionate father of Spanish descent who adores his wife and children and takes enormous pride in being an Addams. Gomez finds himself caught between Wednesday and Morticia when Wednesday asks him to keep her secret. Requires strong comedic timing and dancing ability. A Spanish accent is a plus. Morticia Addams - The beautiful, mysterious, confident, and dryly witty head of the Addams family. Morticia values family tradition and becomes increasingly suspicious when she realises Gomez is hiding something from her. A strong mover; tango skills are a bonus. Wednesday Addams - The gothic eldest Addams child, balancing her loyalty to her wonderfully strange family with her love for a “normal” boy. Wednesday is compassionate, stubborn, determined, and strong-willed. Requires a strong belt. Pugsley Addams - The youngest Addams child, who has always enjoyed being tortured by his big sister. With Wednesday now focused on her new boyfriend, Pugsley struggles to understand his changing place within the family. Charming and funny, ideally with an unchanged singing voice. Uncle Fester - The lovable, childish, enthusiastic, and incorrigible narrator of the story. Requires excellent comedic timing and a tenor voice. Grandma - Fun, feisty, quirky, and wonderfully wacky, Grandma always has another trick up her sleeve. She is wise, eccentric, occasionally crass, and requires strong comedic timing and physicality. Lurch - The Addams family’s imposing butler and a man of very few words. Much of Lurch’s storytelling comes through grunts, moans, facial expressions, and slow, deliberate physicality. Requires excellent non-verbal acting ability and typically suits a rich bass voice. Lucas Beinecke - Wednesday’s sweet, optimistic, “boy-next-door” boyfriend who intends to marry her. Lucas struggles to navigate the enormous differences between his conventional family and the macabre Addams clan. Requires a strong singer and scene partner. Mal Beinecke - Lucas’s uptight and cynical father and Alice’s rather cold husband. Mal is immediately sceptical of the bizarre Addams family and horrified by the possibility that they may soon become his relatives. Alice Beinecke - Lucas’s mother and Mal’s wife. Alice initially presents herself as reserved, composed, and devoted to her family, even frequently speaking in rhyme. Dinner with the Addams family eventually unleashes a very different side of her personality. Requires a strong comedic actor with a strong belt. The Ancestors - The Addams ancestors from many different historical eras form the show’s ensemble and help tell the story after emerging from the family crypt. The Ancestors feature extensively throughout the production in both singing and dancing, with additional featured opportunities available for ensemble performers.

Do Not Go Gentle Presented by: QLD Theatre Company Venue: Bille Brown Theatre Date Attended: 21 August 2026 Playwright: Patricia Cornelius Director: Heather Fairbairn Assistant Director: Kate Wilson Set and Costume Designer: Simone Romaniuk Lighting Designer: David Walters Sound Designer: Julian Starr Composer: Alan John Photographer: Stephen Henry “The elements have aged us.” Five explorers traverse the merciless Antarctic wilderness, looking like overstuffed penguins and hoping history will remember them as more than popsicles with a purpose. It does, but not quite as they hoped. Written by acclaimed Australian playwright Patricia Cornelius, Do Not Go Gentle takes Robert Falcon Scott’s doomed 1911 expedition to the South Pole and gives it an entirely different traveling party: five aging residents whose memories, identities, and realities are slipping away. They envision themselves as Scott and his team, transforming the frightening, disorienting landscape of dementia into an Antarctic quest requiring just as much courage and endurance. First written in 2006, the play has earned significant accolades. Its title comes from Dylan Thomas’ poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, urging his dying father to fight against death rather than quietly surrender to it. That defiance runs right through Cornelius’ characters. I was honoured to be invited to experience this production. A stage populated so prominently by older performers is a rarity, and I can’t remember seeing anything quite like it. Simone Romaniuk’s stark design transports us somewhere cold and inhospitable. White walls and flooring enclose the stage, mirrored surfaces expand the space, and suspended sheets transform into snow, ice, tents, or whatever else this unstable landscape requires. But Antarctica fractures, identities shift, memories drift, and another reality emerges. The white wilderness merges with aged-care corridors, blurring the line between being lost on the ice and lost inside a fading memory. Even the stage management team (dressed in beige scrubs) blends into the action like carers. Initially, all the actors are buried beneath heavy expedition gear. Slowly, those layers come away, giving way to pajamas, canes, and shakier bodies. Time, it turns out, may be the harshest element of all. Cornelius offers no neat linear plot to cling to. Scott narrates from his expedition diary as those around him speak in fragments, arguments, memories, stories, and sometimes complete nonsense. Characters drift in and out of one another’s realities without necessarily understanding where they are, who they’re speaking to, or even who they themselves once were. At times, it’s genuinely difficult to follow. Identities overlap, realities change without warning, and the expedition can seem almost as directionless to us as it does to its travelers. As the aged-care setting comes into focus, though, that disorientation gains purpose. We’re constantly losing our bearings alongside people who are losing theirs. Cornelius also finds plenty of wit amongst the confusion. Residents bicker, contradict themselves, or even produce beautifully articulate thoughts. A rapid exchange about everyone’s various physical ailments is particularly funny (especially as they collectively insist their minds remain perfectly healthy). Then there are the things the writing refuses to soften: the pain of aging, dementia, war trauma, losing independence, forgetting the people who love you, and facing death. The possibility of choosing one’s own ending (VAD) when suffering becomes unbearable enters the conversation... alongside the stubborn desire to continue:“I’m too invested in the journey to cut it short.” The ensemble comprises William Zappa, Jennifer Flowers, Steven Grives, Christen O’Leary, Andrew Buchanan, Marilyn Richardson, and, at the performance I attended, cover Bryan Probets, who stepped into the roles normally performed by Bruce Spence. William Zappa provides a steady presence as Scott, stubbornly persisting with the expedition and documenting the journey as his companions grow less stable. “I should’ve done more with my life,” one admits, while another reflects, “I never had a sense of the world beyond me.” Cue the debate club, as they squabble over what it means to achieve greatness, contribute to society, and what exactly makes a life well spent. Jennifer Flowers is an absolute delight as Wilson. She remains cheerfully resilient and her optimism has a deliciously offbeat quality, as though she’s wandered into an alternate universe to everybody else where everything is just peachy. Later, as Mary, Flowers brings tremendous comic instinct to the chaos of memory loss, all while keeping the real Mary shining through like a beacon in a foggy brain. Steven Grives brings a much tougher, rougher edge to Evans, enduring the expedition with the tenacity of a grumpy old bear. He complains about the conditions, grumbles about everything his body is being asked to withstand, and still keeps trudging onward. That makes Evans’ eventual decline particularly affecting. As the first of the expedition party to die, his loss alters the entire journey. Watching this seemingly indestructible man finally succumb makes mortality suddenly much harder to ignore, and Grives gives the scene genuine sadness. Christen O’Leary’s as Bowers is an intriguing character, like a fortress with unyielding and guarded walls. Once a journalist, Claudia now faces the world with a defensive stance, bewildered by a reality that seems foreign to her. It's especially sad to see her fervently recite directions as she grapples with her own disorientation. Plus, she’s frightened of her own family because she no longer recognises them. That landed hard for me. Memories might fade, but the grip of fear is much harder to shake. Bryan Probets has the considerable task of taking on Oates (performing with the script in hand), yet that practical necessity barely gets in the way. His character quivers at the howl of something following him and searches desperately for what initially seems to be his dog. Spoiler alert: the eventual revelation of what he’s actually lost is a punch in the gut! His story unfolds into father-son trauma and the psychological scars of war, giving earlier questions about heroism a much darker weight. “How is being killed or killing someone making a contribution?” Probets’ final scenes are deeply affecting, with his exposed distress making them some of the most emotional moments of the show. Andrew Buchanan occupies a fascinating position within the production because, unlike Scott and his intrepid squad of Antarctic adventurers, Andrew isn't out there freezing his toes off. Instead, he moves between several smaller but important characters orbiting their fractured memories and present-day lives. He appears as Claudia’s distraught husband, desperately trying to reach the woman who no longer recognises him, as the head of the aged-care centre, and as the shell-shocked soldier at the centre of Oates’ devastating memories of his son. And if that’s not enough, he even embodies the unseen creature haunting the Antarctic landscape, shifting into a more abstract presence. Then there’s Marilyn Richardson as Maria, who exists outside the expedition and brings a dreamlike quality to proceedings. At 90 years young, Richardson still has a striking classical voice, and she gets several opportunities to use it throughout the production. Her operatic singing drifts through the action alongside old vinyl records and classical music, evoking the familiar soundscape of a retirement home. Speaking with a Serbian accent, Maria repeatedly longs to go home, suggesting a woman displaced from her country and clinging to a place that still feels familiar. Heather Fairbairn’s direction allows reality to shift without warning. People wander into memories, conversations, and identities, and we’re expected to find our footing alongside them. It can be frustratingly elusive, but that confusion suits characters whose own memories offer no clear signposts. Fairbairn also gives this veteran ensemble room to remain fiercely individual, never reducing anyone to a symptom, diagnosis, or symbol of aging. And that’s where Do Not Go Gentle really finds its heart. These people are tired. Their bodies are changing. Yet they still love, flirt, grieve, argue, sing, laugh, resist, and search for meaning. By the final stretches of the journey, the heroic expedition has fallen away. What remains is far more ordinary, and perhaps more frightening: human beings facing the reality that every journey eventually ends. The audience around me grew noticeably emotional as the final pieces fell into place. Somewhere nearby, I could hear someone openly sobbing. That reaction says a lot. Queensland Theatre Company gives Cornelius’ work a visually arresting, deeply human production, led by a remarkable group of performers. Eventually, the snow disappears, the costumes come off, the expedition ends, and history moves on. But these characters still refuse to go gently.

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< Back DANCE THEATRE: Fiji Untold - VOU Dance Fiji, HOTA 30 Aug 2026 Season: August 30th, 2026 Title: Fiji Untold Presented By: VOU Genre: Contemporary Dance / Physical Theatre / Cultural Performance Synopsis: Fiji Untold brings ancient Pacific legends to life through explosive contemporary choreography, live drumming and highly physical storytelling. The production follows Lagi, an outcast drawn into a mystical underworld inhabited by shape-shifting Iguana Spirits, eerie Octopus Gods and powerful Giant Women. Performed by VOU Dance Fiji, the work explores identity, strength and cultural mythology through athletic movement, immersive lighting, projections and a powerful live soundscape. Performance Dates: Sunday 30 August 2026 Performance Times: 7:00pm Performance Location and Address: Lakeside Room, HOTA, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217 Ticket Costs: $50–$70 Ticket Link: https://hota.com.au/events/vou-fiji-untold Warnings: Brief depiction of a fight scene, violence, loud noises/sound pressure effects and haze Recommended Age: All ages / families Duration: 1 hour Cast: VOU Dance Fiji performers Other information: Audiences are encouraged to arrive early for the pre-show atmosphere. A post-show cast meet-and-greet and photo opportunity will also be available. Previous Next

< Back DANCE THEATRE: The Silent Cry of Flowers - Thomas Dixon Centre 29 Aug 2026 Season: August 29th - 30th, 2026 Title: The Silent Cry of Flowers Presented By: KABAR-LOUET Dance Theatre – A project of Association Dance Events & Projects Genre: Contemporary Dance / Cultural Experience Synopsis: The Silent Cry of Flowers is a contemporary dance work from New Caledonia performed by nine dancers from L’Avant-Scène Centre de Danse. Through powerful physicality, poetic imagery and striking visual atmospheres, the piece explores resilience, exile, hope and the fragility of human existence. Choreographer Sthan Kabar-Louet blends classical technique, contemporary dance and emotional storytelling, while the musical landscape draws on the cinematic intensity of Max Richter, the electronic textures of Thylacine, the dreamlike soundscapes of Kishi Bashi and the emotional depth of Elijah Siegler. Together, movement and music transform wounds into a powerful expression of life, humanity and beauty. Performance Dates: 29–30 August 2026 Performance Times: Saturday 29 August – 7:30pm Sunday 30 August – 1:30pm Performance Location and Address: Thomas Dixon Centre, 406 Montague Road, West End QLD 4101 Ticket Costs: General Admission: $75 Under 30: $65 Ticket Link: https://www.thomasdixoncentre.com.au/events/the-silent-cry-of-flowers/ Recommended Age: All ages Duration: Approximately 90 minutes Cast: Nine dancers from L’Avant-Scène Centre de Danse Creative Team: Choreographer / Artistic Lead: Sthan Kabar-Louet Music includes works by Max Richter, Thylacine, Kishi Bashi and Elijah Siegler Previous Next