Classics on stage

Geelong Performing Arts Centre (GPAC) has unveiled next year’s theatre season, featuring a swag of contemporary Australian works alongside two great classics.
Hundreds of theatre lovers turned up to GPAC’s season launch last night to see what the centre had on offer for 2018.
Award-winning comedian Denise Scott hosted the launch, giving locals a sneak peek at Geelong’s on-stage line-up.
GPAC will present a nine-show season featuring some uniquely Australian stories, that promoters said would challenge and inspire audiences and take them on unexpected journeys.
The season will begin in February with A Little Night Music, an award-winning Sondheim classic starring Nadine Garner.
Garner, well known for television roles including the ABC’s The Doctor Blake Mysteries, joins theatre veteran John O’May (Cabaret, Phantom of the Opera).
The play, which debuted on Broadway in 1973, tells the story of jaded lovers and scandals in Sweden during the turn of the 20th century.
Then in April, the circus comes to town.
Nationally and internationally renowned Brisbane circus troupe Circa will head south with its new work Peepshow.
Later in the year, new Australian drama The Bleeding Tree comes to Geelong for the first time.
The award-winning production, from Sydney’s Griffin Theatre, begins with a shot shattering the quiet of the night.
A mother and her daughters have just welcomed home the man of the house … with a bullet. The only issue left is disposing of the body.
The company will return later in the year with a second work direct from its Australian premiere, The Almighty Sometimes.
Local choir Raise the Bar will feature in The Events, a powerful new play by David Greig starring Catherine McClements.
The chorus features the Geelong Youth Choir’s adult singers including alumni and family members of younger singers in the group.
From Tasmania comes a must-see Australian production The Season featuring charismatic Trevor Jamieson in a laugh-out-loud comedy about family and culture.
The family theme continues with Red Stitch Actors Theatre’s recently commissioned drama Jurassica.
State Theatre Company of South Australia will return to Geelong with its adaptation of a literary classic, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.
Rounding out the season is Prize Fighter, an action-packed production from La Boite Theatre and Brisbane Festival that combines engrossing storytelling with the visceral thrill of live boxing.
Nine and five-show theatre season packages are available with significant savings on single ticket prices. For details and bookings go to gpac.org.au/2018