Belvoir St Theatre

What do you think of when you hear "barbershop quartet"? I doubt many would answer "a trans-led, independent Australian barbershop quartet musical"... but that's exactly what Sheanna Parker Russon (No Love Songs for Lady Basses) and Lillian M. Hearne (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) have conjured up for Griffin Theatre's Lookout Program, now playing at Belvoir's Downstairs Theatre. What is the premise of Afterglow? Produced by the femme-focused storytelling of Purpletape Productions – Lily Hayman (Co-Director) and Tyler Fitzpatrick (Lighting Designer) – Afterglow takes place in the male-dominated world of competitive barbershop championships.  It’s 2012 and the Barbershop Singing National Championships have ended with the yearly “afterglow” now in full swing. Think the socio-political allure of the Freemasons but with more four-part a cappella harmonies. At this particular afterglow, where dickie-bows are loosened and the whisky (straight) flows, Michael (Cassie Hamilton) meets Tom (Nic Prior). Their quietly bubbling romance ensues across a six-year period as Michael's barbershop purism clashes with Tom's more modern outlook on gender politics within a traditional quartet. Behind these closed doors, the metaphor of the barbershop gives way to much more potent truths – that of gender performativity and policing. Who are the cast and crew of Afterglow? Cassie Hamilton’s Michael is sufficiently loveable as a purist for the art of barbershop. Vocally strong and...

If you missed out on seeing the powerful and deeply moving play, The Jungle and the Sea in 2022, it returns to Belvoir St Theatre from July 11 to August 2. Created by S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack, the creative team behind Counting and Cracking, the production tells the story of one family caught in the devastating Sri Lankan civil war, which raged between the Sinhalese-majority government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from 1983 to 2009, leaving unimaginable death and destruction in its wake. At the heart of the story is Gowrie, a mother desperately trying to reunite her family as violence engulfs her homeland. After an act of destruction tears her loved ones apart, she takes a radical vow of defiance, blindfolding herself and refusing to see the world again until her family is reunited. While she sends her husband and one daughter to Australia for safety, she and her other two daughters search through the jungles of northern Sri Lanka for her estranged son.  Drawn from real-life testimonies and woven with elements of the Mahabharata and Antigone, the play is both grand in scale and deeply human. Featuring live Carnatic music with a stellar cast including Bharathanatyam dancer Anandavalli, plus Prakash Belawadi, Nadie Kammallaweera and Shiv Palekar, The Jungle and the Sea is a stirring tale of love and loss in the face of war. The Jungle and the Sea runs from July 11 to August 2 at Belvoir St Theatre's Upstairs Theatre with a run time of almost three...