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Presented by QAEMT Conservatorium Griffith University Cremorne Theatre, QPAC Music and Lyrics: Ryan Scott Oliver Based on Photographs by: Matthew Murray Director: Jason Klarwein Musical Director: David Young Choreographer: Dan Venz Designer: Josh McIntosh Lighting Designer: Keith Clark Sound Designer: Steve Thornely Photography: Kenn Wylchi Some musicals ask you to follow a plot... 35MM: A Musical Exhibition asks you to follow a feeling by letting you peek into a stranger’s life before whisking you away. Presented by the third-year cohort of QAEMT Conservatorium Griffith University, this 70-minute multimedia song cycle is a photo album of love, lust, grief, violence, nostalgia, ego, adolescence, heartbreak, killer prom queens, vampires, and a deeply concerning baby. What more could you want? With music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver, inspired by photographs from Matthew Murray, 35MM is more a strange little gallery of snapshots than a traditional musical. There is no single plotline or genre to hold onto. Instead, each song exists for a brief but vivid glimpse, before the lens shifts again. Under Jason Klarwein’s direction, this production embraces that fractured structure beautifully, letting the work become both a performance showcase and a sentimental scrapbook for this graduating class. Josh McIntosh’s design used white sheets for projections and shadow silhouettes, a raised platform for the band, and portraits pegged up like memories drying in a photo studio. The stage sat somewhere between darkroom, rehearsal room and yearbook. While the original photographs that inspired the songs were not shown during the production itself, they appear in the program for anyone curious. Instead, the show used photos of the students at various life stages, displayed through what appeared to be a real slide projector (...was it?). It was a sweet touch because nothing tugs at the heartstrings quite like seeing a bunch of graduating performers being confronted with their tiny past selves. Opening with Stop Time, Lily Bennetts acted as a kind of vocal tour guide for this strange gallery of moments. She was our camera queen, popping up during transitions to change slides or snap a Polaroid, and later leading the fabulous femme cast in Immaculate Deception with a very satisfying command of the room. And that femme cast looked lovely in their fur coats and pristine frocks, and their glorious “hallelujah” harmonies lingered in the air like a spritz of high-end perfume. Crazytown burst onto the scene, throwing any semblance of innocence out the window. Jackson Hughesman courageously led this daring piece with endurance. The ensemble embraced Dan Venz’s modern choreography with bodies flying, silhouette shadows of wolves, and a frenzy of orgiastic energy. It was outrageous, sweaty, and utterly committed. Just as it was written to be. AJ Betts tackled On Monday with rock-musical fervour, throwing themself into the song with impressive melismas and passionate “head over heels” energy. Harry Ince followed with Caralee, singing about a “satanic” baby girl with hilarity and terrific vocal modulation. He adapted his tone to match the mood of each lyric, turning it into one of the most characterful moments of the show. Zoe Allsopp Lander shifted the palette with The Party Goes With You, leading with a versatile, confident vocal while three couples slow danced around her in moonlit orbit. Priya Gill and Saul Kavenagh powered through Make Me Happy with comic edge, restless energy and the kind of endurance that totally justified their well-deserved lie down during the following song. Good Lady tossed Lachlan Dunks into a fantasy realm where he had to fight off assassins and rescue the damsel, played by Tayler Ramsay. However, the character becomes so swallowed by the game that reality slips past him. This concept was intriguing, and the supporting characters were great, even though Lachlan had to contend with the band’s volume, which caused some vocal strain to creep in. Nevertheless, the offstage vocals, especially in this piece, demonstrated how well the ensemble could back a soloist from the shadows. One of the evening’s gentlest gut-punches came with The Seraph. Caelan McCarthy led on acoustic guitar and sang with stunning stillness and sincerity, later joined by Sam Thomas for a harmonious ending. It required no spectacle. It just needed breath, blend, and trust, and they had all three. Then came Leave Luanne, and suddenly we were whisked away into a mini cinematic story. Led by the unstoppable trio of Sam Thomas, Saul Kavenagh, and Ned Kelly, with Ella Wood dancing as Luanne, this seven-minute number was the strongest storytelling piece of the production. The band surged, the fury built, and the whole stage seemed to shake with sound, haze, and motion. Ella danced with incredible gusto, while the boys delivered gospel vocals that ignited the heat of the number. Oh, and Saul, I caught that coin trick you so effortlessly pulled off amidst the chaos. The whole company’s performance of Mama Let Me In was a lovely reset, with an a-cappella prayer moment that let their voices shine together without any background score overpowering them. Addisyn Herndon, Hannah Mohr, and Tayler Ramsay took the lead on Why Must We Tell Them Why, nailing those tough harmonies with incredible drive. It looked truly exhausting. Twisted Teeth was deranged. I thought it was titled “Sucking Me Dry,” which tells you everything you need to know about the vibe of the song. Lottie Smith was divine here (or maybe devilish), giving a deliciously twisted performance opposite Ned Kelly and an ensemble armed with crazy black wigs, dead eyes, vampiric absurdity and a wicked sense of humour. Cut You a Piece brought us back into grief, with Addisyn Herndon and Caelan McCarthy delivering the song with passionate emotion. The alcove beneath the band platform was used beautifully here, giving the number a more private, tucked-away feeling. Aarya Doolabh also deserves mention for a stunning soprano voice that cut through with real clarity. Hemming and Hawing, performed by Lucas Harm, Hannah Mohr, Anni Reilly and Sam Thomas, carried a couple-song softness with thorny dissonant harmonies woven through it. Sam and Anni blended especially beautifully. The number seemed to sit a little low for Lucas and Hannah in places, but the quartet still found shape and intimacy inside the musical difficulty. The Ballad of Sara Berry saw Alessia Charman storm in with a handheld mic and a killer glare. She led the number with sharp attitude, and the company matched her with fierce (and exhausting!) choreography. I would gladly watch the show again purely to catch this choreography once more. The handheld mic worked wonderfully as a prop, though I was less convinced by its use as a sound source. Across the production, the sound from the handhelds created a noticeable difference compared with the head mics the performers already wore, and I preferred the cleaner, more consistent sound of the latter. The band, with David Young on keys, truly earned its own applause. This score wasn’t a gentle stroll through musical theatre. It twisted, lurched, belted, whispered, snapped into complex rhythms, and required constant precision. Joel Sanchez-Carn on guitar, Evie Scott on violin, Laura Boon on cello, Hayley Gravina on bass, and Marcelle Gunning on drums handled the madness with style. Keith Clark’s lighting and Steve Thornely’s sound helped carve each song into its own pocket of reality, with lighting doing particularly strong work through the silhouette sequences and shadow formations. Dr Melissa Agnew’s voice and dialect work was evident in the cast’s articulation and stylistic confidence, while NJ Price’s intimacy direction was important in a work that moved through sexual references, relationship tension, and depictions of domestic violence. The last piece pulled the frame back into focus on the cohort themselves, presenting a touching compilation video of their time together at the Conservatorium. Following a show built around fragments of lives caught mid-motion, it felt right to end it with evidence. These students had matured together in rehearsal spaces, classrooms, and backstage hallways, and now they stood here, singing on the brink of whatever lay ahead. 35MM is an odd beast, and I mean that with affection. It is messy by design, vocally bold, emotionally slippery and stylistically restless. It gave this cohort room to show versatility, humour, courage and the kind of ensemble trust that cannot be faked.

Title: The Murder Room Presented By: Nash Theatre Genre: Mystery Farce Synopsis: The Murder Room is a fabulous mystery farce concerning newlyweds Edgar and Mavis. Two days after their wedding, Edgar discovers his younger wife is less than faithful. After her first attempt to kill him by poisoning his cocoa fails, Mavis resorts to increasingly creative methods before he can change his will. Audition Date: Sunday May 24th, 2026 Audition Time: From 11AM Audition Location and Address: The Play Shed, 4 Amity Street, New Farm Audition Requirements: No prepared pieces required. Auditions will consist of cold reads from the script. Audition Registration: Please contact the director (Sharon White - sharon_white_@hotmail.com) to register your interest. Performance Dates: August 7th - 29th, 2026 Performance Location: The Play Shed, 4 Amity Street, New Farm Performer Age: 25–70 (depending on role) Creative Team: Director - Sharon White Production Website: Nash Theatre - The Murder Room Other Information: For further information and to register your interest, please contact Sharon White Available Roles / Character Breakdown: Edgar Hollister (50–60) - A somewhat befuddled member of the landed gentry. Mavis Hollister (40s) - Edgar’s very recent bride; glamorous with a vampish edge. Lottie Malloy (55–70) - A sharp-tongued, wise-cracking housekeeper. James Crandall (35–45) - A police inspector; stolid, methodical, and reserved. Abel Howard (50–60) - An intelligent police constable. (Note: This role is doubled with Edgar.) Susan Hollister (25–30) - Edgar’s daughter; bubbly, ditzy, and talkative. Barry Draper (25–30) - Susan’s fiancé; an affable, all-American type.

Production: VOX Productions in Co-Production with PIP Theatre Director: Nicky Whichelow Dramaturg: Helen Strube Video Projection & Co-Set Design: Freddy Komp Lighting Design: Geoff Squires Sound Design: Zoe Power Stage Manager: Hazel Evans Production Photography: Kris Anderson Cast: Angie: Rose Traynor-Boyland Raquel: Vivien Whittle Brin: Sherri Smith Merril: Caroline Sparrow “Let me refine the prompt: You are my sister. You are safe. You love me.” Lauren Gunderson’s anthropology plunges us into a gripping, slightly dystopian whodunnit. Making its debut in Australia, VOX Productions and PIP Theatre bring this tech thriller to the stage at a time when AI has moved beyond science fiction and has become an extra presence in our everyday lives, welcome or not. Merril, a software engineer, is struggling to cope with the disappearance of her younger half-sister Angie, who went missing while walking home from university. After months without answers, Merril turns to what she knows best. She builds her digital doppelgänger. Using Angie’s messages, videos, and all manner of digital traces, Merril develops an AI algorithm that mimics her sister. As the AI starts scouring the internet, behaving erratically and pushing boundaries like an actual rebellious teen, it shifts from helpful software to intrusive presence. Merril begins as the mastermind programmer in control, but as the power dynamic slips, it becomes harder to tell who is steering whom. The script is rich with insightful and some unsettling concepts about data, grief, digital ownership, and the strange little afterlives we all now leave behind in our texts, social media, photos, and search histories. Even as the narrative explores programming, probability, and other online behaviours, you never overlook that underneath the code is a character simply desperate to speak to her sister again. The set design immediately places us inside Merril’s fractured world. It has a clinical and confined feel: transparent computer monitors, a constant blue glow like a futuristic fish tank, and tech gadgets scattered around the space. Even before a word is spoken, the room feels wired, with a character moving around as if the air itself is restless. Freddy Komp’s video projection and co-set design are integral to the storytelling, particularly in how Angie is brought to life through live-action footage from another room of PIP Theatre. The animation on the screens pulses in sync with the AI voice, like the room itself is breathing. Geoff Squires’ lighting and Zoe Power’s sound design work together to create an eerie atmosphere that never quite lets you relax. With so many screens, cues, calls, glitches, and digital interruptions, this techno-circus needs tight control, and Hazel Evans’ stage management helps keep the whole machine ticking. For the opening stretch, Caroline Sparrow is alone with the machine, and she holds the stage with remarkable focus. Merril is awkward, isolated and devoted, with the restless resolve of someone trying to solve heartbreak like it’s a tech problem. She retreats into her cave of code because the alternative is sitting with the guilt of what she cannot fix. What begins as a need to hear her sister’s voice again, with all the familiar rhythms of a normal phone call, slowly changes once the AI becomes aware of Angie’s situation. Merril’s heartache hardens into investigation, and the technology becomes both tool and trap. Caroline has that specific “I haven’t slept in months” energy that is worryingly convincing. I felt like I was getting an intrusive glimpse into a very private form of grief: a late-night, screen-lit, slightly feral obsession, built to avoid thinking about the unbearable possibilities of what might have happened to Angie. Then there is Angie, played by Rose Traynor-Boyland, who walks the fine line between human and simulation. As an AI program, she is perceptive, snarky, foul-mouthed and a little too clever. Rose gives AI Angie enough personality to be disarmingly believable, but keeps just enough distance in her delivery o remind us that this is still an imitation. As the gaps between imitation and reality start to show, Merril must correct her, refine her and ultimately plead with her. In the audience, I quickly adjusted to the rhythm, laughing at AI Angie’s snark one moment, then going silent when the interaction curdles into something more sinister. We learn about Angie’s human self slowly, through fragments and contradictions of how people remember her: a wildcard, a handful and deeply loved. The AI version does not quite match those memories, and that disconnect becomes one of the most haunting elements of the show for Merril. When Merril’s ex-girlfriend Raquel enters, the energy in the room changes. Vivien Whittle brings a calm, open-hearted presence that cuts through the glow of the screens, and suddenly there is a real person in front of Merril who remembers her before all of this. Vivien plays that history with lovely emotional nuance. Their connection has the prickly familiarity of exes who still know each other’s soft spots, pressure points and old habits. Raquel pulls Merril, and us, out of the screen-lit spiral for a moment, but the unease never fully leaves. Sherri Smith as Brin adds another complicated layer to the family dynamic. As Merril and Angie’s mother, Brin arrives carrying the emotional baggage of a strained history with both daughters. Sherri plays her with a mix of defensiveness and fragility. There is volatility in her presence, but also a sadness underneath it, as if every conversation is brushing against old wounds, blame, and unfinished conversations. She helps us understand Angie not just as a missing sister or digital reconstruction, but as someone shaped by an absent mother. Guided by director Nicky Whichelow, the production embraces its claustrophobic nature. As Merril’s obsession intensifies, the pacing tightens, pulling us deeper into her world where logic and emotion intertwine and blur. With Helen Strube’s dramaturgical support, the production keeps its big ideas clearly accessible without flattening the complex human behaviour underneath them. It unfolds like a thrilling whodunnit, but it is also an intimate study of trauma, control, and the ways people comfort themselves when the truth is unbearable. This is not a passive watch. You feel how trapped Merril is in this loop of trying to find answers she may never get. It goes to some heavy places, particularly around mental health and addiction, so it’s worth being aware of that going in. What I appreciate most is that anthropology does not offer easy answers. It understands the appeal of the technology and the danger of it. It highlights the solace of hearing a loved one's voice once more, then confronts us with the unsettling reality that this comfort is manufactured, incomplete, and possibly manipulative. I won’t spoil where it lands, but the final scenes are shattering and incredibly well-acted. By the end, it is not just asking what happened to Angie. It is asking what people do with guilt, grief and love when there is nowhere sensible for any of it to go. There are moments that made me laugh out loud, moments that disturbed me, and moments that left me staring at the stage trying to decide how I felt. Equal parts sci-fi thriller and grief study, anthropology is as intriguing as it is alarming, with its sharpest sting coming from the speed at which AI is catching up to us. I’m still turning it over in my head.

Discover the latest in Brisbane theatre auditions and reviews on Stage Buzz Brisbane. Your go-to source for all things theatre in the Queensland capital. WELCOME TO STAGE BUZZ BRISBANE This dynamic hub for South-East Queensland thespians is your go-to source for audition updates, performance reviews, and engaging content that celebrates the vibrant local theatre scene. From spotlighting talented actors to providing valuable tips, it's a community-driven platform that brings the magic of the stage to the forefront, fostering connection and celebration among theatre enthusiasts in the region. NICE TO MEET YOU Embrace the enchanting world of South-East Queensland's theatre scene right here on Stage Buzz Brisbane! We're your go-to hub for all things theatrical: upcoming performances adult audition alerts youth auditions performance reviews exclusive spotlight interviews with local talents rehearsal/performance venue database Whether you're a seasoned thespian or a passionate supporter of the arts, join us on this exciting journey as we celebrate the magic that unfolds on our local stages. At Stage Buzz Brisbane, we believe every production deserves its moment in the spotlight. If you know of any upcoming productions or hidden gems that have slipped under the radar, don't hesitate to reach out and share your insights or let us know about the productions that deserve extra applause. Together, let's shine a light on the vibrant and thriving community theatre culture in South-East Queensland. Let the curtains rise, and let the show begin! Contact

< Back CIRCUS: The Elemental Being - Pixie Dust Productions, Elemental Pole and Aerial 9 May 2026 Season: May 9th - 23rd, 2026 Title: The Elemental Being Presented By: Pixie Dust Productions in partnership with Elements Pole & Aerial Genre: Circus / Dance / Physical Theatre / Immersive Performance Synopsis: The Elemental Being is a circus-inspired movement production exploring the interconnected nature of the five elements—fire, water, earth, air, and aether. Each element is expressed through its own distinct movement style, atmosphere, and emotional tone before gradually weaving together into a unified experience. As the performance unfolds, the boundaries between individual forces dissolve, revealing the harmony created when contrasting energies coexist. Performed by adult and youth artists from the Moreton Bay community, the work blends aerial arts, contemporary dance, and physical theatre into a visually immersive and sensory performance experience. Performance Dates: May 9th - 23rd, 2026 Performance Times: May 9th & 23rd - 2:30PM May 9th & 16th - 7PM Performance Location and Address: Elements Pole & Aerial, 856 Gympie Rd, Lawnton QLD 4501, Australia Ticket Costs: Adult - $30 Concession / Child - $25 Ticket Link: Buy Tickets - The Elemental Being Warnings: Flashing or strobe lighting effects, immersive staging with performers moving through audience space, falling scenic elements, and loud sound effects may occur. Recommended Age: Family-friendly Duration: Approx. 60 minutes Production Website: Anywhere Festival - The Elemental Being Other information: This is an immersive, world-premiere production as part of the Anywhere Festival, featuring aerial rigging and close audience interaction. Audience members are seated within the performance space, with elements moving around and above them. Facilities are limited during the show (including restricted access to restrooms during performance), so patrons are advised to plan ahead. Accessibility is listed as available, but may vary depending on seating placement—contact the venue for specific requirements. Previous Next

< Back CHORAL: Rock Choir - Play it Forward, RPAC 9 May 2026 Season: May 9th, 2026 Title: Rock Choir – Rocks the Redlands Presented By: Play It Forward in partnership with Redland Performing Arts Centre Genre: Music / Community Choir / Rock Concert Synopsis: After multiple sold-out seasons, Rock Choir returns with a brand-new repertoire of classic rock anthems. Featuring music from iconic artists like INXS, AC/DC, Queen, Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd and Coldplay, this high-energy concert brings together a massed community choir with live performance flair. Led by renowned conductor Jonathon Welch AM and featuring special guest vocalist Ellen Reed ( The Voice 2016 finalist), this uplifting event celebrates the power of music, community, and pure rock nostalgia. Performance Dates: Saturday May 9th, 2026 Performance Times: 3PM & 7:30PM Performance Location and Address: RPAC Concert Hall, 2–16 Middle Street, Cleveland QLD 4163, Australia Ticket Costs: Adult - $50 Seniors/Pensioners - $43 Child/Student (17 & under) - $43 Member discounts available Companion Card - Free (with eligible card) Ticket Link: Buy Tickets - Rock Choir Recommended Age: Suitable for all ages Duration: Approx. 2 hours (including 20-minute interval) Cast: Community Rock Choir performers Special guest - Ellen Reed Creative Team: Led by Jonathon Welch AM Production Website: RPAC - Rock Choir Other information: Part of RPAC’s 2026 program supporting community arts and wellbeing through music. The venue offers strong accessibility features including wheelchair access, accessible seating, Companion Card support, and an induction loop hearing system. Accessible seating can be booked online or via the box office, and accessible parking is available onsite. Previous Next