Production still for "Australian Realness". L-R: Linda Cropper, Greg Stone, Emily Goddard. Photographer: Pia Johnson
Australian Realness
By Zoey Dawson
16 August 2019 – 08 September 2019 Merlyn Theatre
Malthouse Theatre,
New Writing Commission Theatre World Premiere
In the home of an upper-middle class family in Fitzroy, familiar characters reunite for a raucous celebration of festive traditions. But, all is not well. Mum and Dad's apparent wealth is waning. They've sold the Audi. There are fewer presents. They're even renting out the back shed to supplement their income.
There's a bunch of yobbos in the backyard. Following a Christmas dinner invitation, ocker antics start to infect the house. First, it’s the tracky dacks. Then, it’s the durries. Before you know it, the working class are treading their unsophistication all over the polished floorboards…or so it may seem.
Zoey Dawson takes the familiar trope of a conflict between a bogan and the bourgeois to revel in the shattering of expectations and artificial class divisions. Australian Realness pries open social divides with incisive comedy and exacting satire.
★★★★
"HILARIOUSLY INTELLIGENT...DAMN GOOD COMEDY"
— The Music
★★★★
"AN INCREDIBLY THOUGHTFUL AND CHALLENGING WORK...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"
— ArtsHub
Cast
Creatives
Writer
Director
Set & Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Composer & Sound Designer
Dramaturg
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Acknowledgements
Commissioned by Malthouse Theatre through the support of the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, and developed with assistance from the Monash University Centre for Theatre and Performance, Artist in Residence Program.