Across many stages, this year YIRRAMBOI’s Theatre shows presents a captivating range of exploration, discovery and unique pieces to bring a range of emotions to the audience.. A range of new, and old stories are conveyed through these performances, with many Australian and World Premiers in the lineup. With plenty to experience and discover, the following theatre show highlights are a must-see.
Lazarus
Date: Thu 1 – Sat 3 May
Venue: The Uncle Jack Charles, The Tower, Malthouse
The already sold-out world premier show, Lararus is a powerful story about the remarkable life experiences of Uncle Larry Walsh. Based on a series of interviews, this fast paced performance begins at Walsh’s experience in a Salvation Army babies’ home as one of the stolen generations in 1955. Continuing to fight for justice in 2018 with the Victorian Government, Walsh is one of the only senior Elders in Melbourne who focuses on storytelling and continuing his ancient oral traditions.
Tracing the outstanding journey from the stolen generation to justice and resilience, Walsh’s humor and spirit is captured by creator John Harding. Full of evocative imagery and associated music, this powerful performance will leave audiences laughing, crying and craving more of Lazarus.
Table for 6
Date: Tue 6 May
Venue: The Show Room, Arts Centre Melbourne
Coming together for a raw, unfiltered and moving conversation, Table for 6, brings together six extraordinary women for a moment in history. A sold out world premier, these women are visionaries who have shaped the creative industry and redefined the arts. This show is paying tribute to the bold, brilliant and unapologetically strong women who are trailblazers for the future of the stage.
Discussing important topics of conversations, host Emily Wells welcomes the six to a table for an empowering moment in theatre and women in the arts. Co-Curators, Rachael Maza and Sherene Stewart form the raw and unfiltered conversation for the YIRRAMBOI stage.
Cut the Sky
Date: Fri 9 – Sat 10 May
Venue: The Uncle Jack Charles, The Merlyn, Malthouse
A riveting pre-apocalyptic odyssey, Cut the Sky, fuses dance theatre, song, and storytelling to confront the inevitability of climate collapse while daring audiences to imagine alternative futures. Created by Marrugeku, this powerful and provocative performance unearths the colonial mindset that has transformed First Nations lands into a resource supermarket exposing the deep fissures left behind–division, inequality, violence, and disaster.
With cyclonic choreography, evocative video art, and music by Ngaiire and Tanya Tagaq, Cut the Sky is visceral, urgent, and unflinching. A diverse cast of First Nations and settler performers bring raw intensity to this bold call for resilience and repair, reminding us that hope still shimmers on the horizon–but only if we take action.
There’s Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You…
Date: Sat 3 – Sun 4 May
Venue: The Show Room, Arts Centre Melbourne
A world premier from legendary Cree-Saulteaux Métis artist, Margo Kane, There’s Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You… is an evocative new show, inspired from her celebrated storytelling. The international performance showcases reflection in the medicine wheel, moonlodge and confessions of an Indian cowboy.
There’s Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You… invites the audience to consider powerful questions and reflect through the story of life’s transitions and transformations. With humor, heart and warmth, There’s Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You… is a great addition to YIRRAMBOI.
Sorry For Your Loss
Date: Fri 9 – Sat 10 May
Venue: The Channel, Arts Centre Melbourne
After touring internationally with acclaim, Sorry For Your Loss comes to YIRRAMBOI and follows the story of Cian Parker. The heartfelt and hilarious performance about unexpectedly being introduced to a father and family that was unknown will make its Australian Premiere. With live music accompanying the performance, by Andy Duggan, there is a unique approach to storytelling with vibrancy, thanks to the help of dramaturg Laura Haughey who is working alongside Parker. Sorry For Your Loss is about the power of wāhine (women) and the gift of strength from one woman to another while growing up on the streets of Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Mythosoma
Date: Thu 8 – Sat 10 May
Venue: The Uncle Jack Charles, Chunky Move
Mythosoma is a living symbiotic ritual where there is healing creation and reciprocity unfolding in real time. Through an interplay of Indigenous mythologies, street dance and somatic practices, the stage is transformed into an ecosystem of memory and soma multiplicity. This performance features the artistic collaboration across the Pacific from Ooshcon, Jada Narkle, Nancy Wijohn, and Moana Ete.
The World Premiere invites the audiences of Mythosoma to experience a feeling of beyond convention with strong themes of connection and imagination. The creators, Body Island, are an alternative therapy company which create multi disciplinary performances and turn stories into sacred ritual.
Three Blak Ravers
Date: Thu 1 – Sat 3 May
Venue: The Uncle Jack Charles, The Beckett, Malthouse
A queer horror, Three Blak Ravers, dives into the supernatural dread and vulnerability through an exploration of identity, fear and survival. A spine-tingling experience invites the YIRRAMBOI audience into a world where the inner being confronts the surreal, connecting supernatural elements with raw human emotion.
This chilling tale of identity, fear and survival is created by The Motherless Collective, First Nations LGBTIQA+ drag artists Cable Thaiday, Stone Turney and Elijah Money. Supported by striking visuals, eerie soundscapes and unease Three Blak Ravers promises a night of unsettling theater which leaves you questioning what lurks in the dark.
The Seventh Fire
Date: Thu 8 – Sat 10 May
Venue: The Uncle Jack Charles, The Tower, Malthouse
An immersive audio performance created by Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen, The Seventh Fire, interweaves traditional, oral Anishinaabe stories (from a westerly Native American tribe) and societal roles, creating ceremony in everyday life. Making its Australian Premier at YIRRAMBOI, the story takes place in the present, past and future, both above and below the earth.
Following disconnected sisters who reconnect on ancestral land, their journey interweaves with their grandmother, Nokomis who raised them, while lighting her fire in the Spirit World.
Invoking sounds and stories, this performance is dedicated to Lisa’s mother, Eileen Debroah Cooke and to all mothers
House Arrest
Date: Thu 8 – Sat 10 May
Venue: The Uncle Jack Charles, The Beckett, Malthouse
World premier of experimental performance, House Arrest, is an exciting showcase of dreamtime reality of nightmarish proportions. A multi-generational family of five are all chained together in a small house, desperate to escape, running from the enemy inside.
House Arrest is created through multimedia, magic, mushrooms portals and gaming where nuclear waste has created fauna and flora on a mega, and epic scale. Artists, Alexis West and Kamarra Bell-Wykes bring this story to life to take on the YIRRAMBOI program in this new and exciting theatrical comedy.
The Black Woman of Gippsland
Date: Mon 5 – Sat 31 May
Venue: The Sumner, Southbank Theatre
A long running show in YIRRAMBOI this year, The Black Woman of Gippsland is a story of Victoria’s dark past told as a thrilling modern mystery, unfolding with beauty, tragedy and rebellion. Jacinta, a woman who is determined to find the truth of legend, a ‘white woman’, for herself and her family, persisting past the twists and roadblocks which may stand in her way.
Written and directed by Andrea James, The Black Woman of Gippsland is based on real events, and set on Andrea’s grandmother’s country. The world premier show is a poetic, emotionally rich embrace of First Nations stories that have been silenced
Peggy Sue and Wiran’s Dream – A Double Bill
Date: Fri 2 – Sat 3 May
Venue: The Lawler, Southbank Theatre
Presenting two new works together in a single performance Peggy Sue and Wiran’s Dream – A Double Bill showcases two stories of decision making and self growth. Created, written and performed by Deadly Creatures, a young First Nations program for the arts, they explore unique ways to tell stories to audiences, such as those at YIRRAMBOI. The story of Peggy Sue follows the story of a 23 year old Blak woman, Joan moving to a sharehouse in North Melbourne. Joan is able to explore her sexuality and relationships before going through the fire to make a final decision. This house acts as a portal for her self-growth and discovery.
