Belvoir Announces 2016 Season

We love doing anything in our yards — barbecues, clothes drying, gardening, totem tennis — and now, there’s a new balmy, back-garden activity to embrace: theatre. After a successful season in Bankstown during the Sydney Festival, backyard performance event The Tribe comes to Surry Hills as part of Belvoir’s 2016 season. In front of intimate audiences of about 50 people per night, actor Hazem Shammas will spin a story of Arab-Australian migration. (They’re looking for backyards for this, so if you live within 1km of Belvoir, get in touch with them.)

Of course, there’s plenty to get excited about in the traditional, comfy theatre venues as well. Orange Is the New Black star Yael Stone will be returning to the stage to star with Dan Spielman (ABC1’s The Code) in The Blind Giant Is Dancing, a politically charged Australian classic by Stephen Sewell that might help explain the state of our country’s politicians.

Kate Mulvany has worked a new Jasper Jones adaptation for the kids in your life, Lally Katz tells a mythical version of how her parents met in Back at the Dojo, and Leah Purcell presents her colonial-set Balnaves Award-winning commission, The Drover’s Wife. Jada Alberts will explore American playwright Will Eno’s "monologue for a slightly foreign man", Title and Deed, and in the middle of the year, Hannah Gadsby will pop in for three nights.

The 2016 season is the first for artistic director Eamon Flack, a Belvoir regular who’s worked with both of his predecessors, Ralph Myers and Neil Armfield. The last few years have seen Belvoir emerge as something of a home for queer and feminist theatre as well as Indigenous artists in Sydney, and it looks like some of those voices will continue to play a part in the company.

For those just wanting to be able to see more theatre in the first place, the best news of all might be this: under 30s tickets will finally be available for Belvoir shows. Subscription packages start from $177 and single tickets from $32 if you fall into this camp. Consider it a great place to funnel all those dollars that will never add up to a deposit for a home in Sydney.

To see the full Belvoir 2016 program and to book subscription tickets, visit the Belvoir website.