Trustees

In a major policy shift, the government has announced a moratorium on funding for performing arts organisations Australia-wide. The Trustees of Melbourne’s fictional Lone Pine Theatre Company gather to assess the damage—but what dark clouds might rise from the ashes?

Amid the chatter and outrage and belligerence of public conversation lies a void: the Great Australian Silence. What are we afraid of hearing? Who are we afraid will say it? Political theatre outlaws Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin of Belarus Free Theatre have conceived an explosive new work with some extraordinary Australian performers: Tammy Anderson, Natasha Herbert, Niharika Senapati, Hazem Shammas, and Daniel Schlusser.

Who is meant to have an opinion in modern Australia? Maybe it’s best you don’t answer that.

★★★★★
"IF THERE IS ONLY ONE PIECE OF THEATRE YOU SEE THIS YEAR, MAKE IT TRUSTEES"
— Theatre People

★★★★
"REAL...IT’S OUR STORY AND OUR BEASTS, HOMEGROWN"
— The Music

"DEMONSTRATES THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF FUNDING BRAVE NEW WORKS THAT CROSS-CULTURAL AND STYLISTIC BORDERS"
— The Australian

"MERCILESSLY DEMOLISHES AUSTRALIA’S CULTURAL DEBATE"
— The Conversation

"[A] RELEVANT PIECE OF THEATRE AUSTRALIA DESPERATELY NEEDS, WITH GENUINE TRUTH AT ITS HEART"
— Theatre Press