17 January – 2 February 2020
“I’m just saying, a little lube goes a long way.”
Being a twenty-something is hard. Being a twenty-something queer is… something else, I guess.
Dating apps, dick pics and capitalist nightmares. A hostile rental market, un-safe schools and a semi-constant state of existential terror. Look, we’ve only got 12 years until climate catastrophe and we’re all going to low-key high-key die alone, might as well flail around in a spin class and buy a reusable straw, right?
Fresh off a critically acclaimed hit season in Sydney, THIS BITTER EARTH comes from a pair of exciting new queer voices in writer Chris Edwards and director Riley Spadaro. Here, they bring a sharp new play that delves into what it means to be young, hot and a bit sad.
An unstitched patchwork of queer lives in queer times, THIS BITTER EARTH looks at how we fight, bitch, love, confront despair and try to connect, all through the mess and the muck and the might of everyday queer existence.
It’s an anthology of millennial crises, from drunken wine nights in dirty hostels to cooked confessions in club-adjacent alleyways. It’s vicious, it’s tender, it hates being touched but it kinda needs a hug.
And it’s gay.
Really gay.
"Funny, poignant and true... I thought the show might be too gay even for me."
CAMERON WOODHEAD, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
"Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the program."
MAREE PALIOURAS, THEATRE TRAVELS
"A deeply rich and wickedly biting insight into queer stories and queer voices... dripping with glittery venom."
GAVIN ROACH, ARTS REVIEW
"Fresh, razor sharp and authentic performances."
SEBASTIAN PURCELL, THEATRE PRESS
"A compelling piece of theatre that simultaneously tickles our funny bone and hits a nerve... a far more realistic representation of the gay community than has been illustrated for some time."
MYRON MY, MY MELBOURNE ARTS
"Heavy-handed, heart-warming and horny. Sometimes all at once."
KEITH GOW
ALL TICKETS
$20
DURATION
70 minutes no interval
WARNINGS (18+)
Adult Themes | Coarse Language | Drug & Sexual References | Smoking on Stage | Haze Machine | Loud Noises | Strobe Effects
Written by
CHRIS EDWARDS
Directed by
RILEY SPADARO
Set & Costume Design
GRACE DEACON
Lighting Design
PHOEBE PILCHER
Performed by
MICHAEL CAMERON, ELLE MICKEL, MATTHEW PREDNEY, ARIADNE SGOUROS, SASHA SIMON, ALEXANDER STYLIANOU
Photo by
MATTHEW PREDNY