1, 3 & 4 July at 8pm
5 July at 7pm, 11 July at 8pm
Carl Barron is a first class comedian who plays off audience reactions with ease. His comedy brings out the funny side of everyday life.
Walking Down the Street is quality Australian comedy, so achingly funny you may be in danger of wetting your pants. Barron has jokes to suit everyone. His topics jump from one to the other and back again, until you find yourself helpless with laughter. If you enjoy Australian humour, this is definitely a show to see"
Candid, complex and clever, construct exposes the dark underside of building a dream. Through the dual construction of a house and a relationship, construct fixes a wicked gaze filled with humour on ambition and the curious connections between building a home, a relationship and a future.
Venue: Peacock Theatre, Salamanca Arts Centre.
This performance contains nudity.
Dido & Aeneas
17 & 18 July at 8pm
Presented by the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music.
more information coming soon...
A Bright and Crimson Flower
24 July at 8pm
The fascinating and inspiring story of Australian Prisoners of War under the Japanese 1942-45.
A powerful story, in the words of the men and women who survived the camps and the hell of the Burma Railway. Experience their endurance and ingenuity, humour, songs, jokes, and sheer bloody-minded determination to come home.
Created from interviews, diaries, letters, writings and recorded stories told by the Ex-Prisoners of War.
“A powerful tribute to the ingenuity of the diggers
Adelaide Advertiser
“Profoundly funny and profoundly moving.”
ABC Melbourne
Thursday’s Child is Tin, born on a Thursday and, like the old nursery rhyme, ‘has far to go’. A strange and lonely child who digs, his wanderings take him underneath the earth into the subterranean tunnels that he’s pre-destined to roam. Told by Tin’s sister, Harper Flute, it is a story of a family’s struggle on their desolate farm during the great depression.
There is death, crop failure, neighbourhood and family disputes. Tin is an ever present but mystical essence in their lives. Harper watches with a child’s clear eyes her family’s struggle to survive on the hot and impoverished land. As life on the surface grows harsher, her little brother escapes ever deeper into a dark, underground world. The play explores the spirit of hard struggle with change, cruel misfortune and the idea that life is a pre-determined fall from a great height. Thursday’s Child is a poignant and intriguing story, ending in great hope.
Australia’s most remarkable pianist performs at the Theatre Royal.
David Helfgott became a household name with the release of the movie Shine, which celebrates his inspiring early life, and which propelled Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush to stardom.
David has enjoyed a triumphant return to the concert platforms of the world with an exhaustive concert diary. His solo piano recital is guaranteed to be a moving and unforgettable experience.
The highly entertaining and much loved duo Gareth HALE and Norman PACE return to stages around Australia for a month from 1 August to 5 September.
The madcap wit of this comedic duo have a unique rapport with the public and media alike, with each appearance and interview they provide a rollercoaster of cultural parodies and inventive character creations.
Savage River
13 to 22 August
Backspace Theatre
Three lost souls living by the edge of Savage River – now little more than a dam, a mine and a ghost town in Tasmania’s north-west.
From a ramshackle hut by the water, Kingsley forages a living with his young son, Tiger.
One night, Kingsley returns with a stranger, the beguiling Jude. Seemingly in trouble, disorientated and with a moral compass way out of whack, she unwittingly changes their lives overnight.
Jude settles into a routine that is far from her own. She seems happy enough to enjoy Tiger and Kingsley’s attention, and let history slip her by…
History, though, has a habit of catching up with you. However fast you run.
Savage River is new contemporary Tasmanian theatre co-produced by the Tasmanian Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company and Griffin Theatre Company.
Annie
20 & 21 August at 7.30pm and
22 August at 2pm & 7.30pm
Leapin’ lizards and gee whiskers! It’s ‘Annie’. The popular comic strip heroine takes centre stage in one of the world’s best-loved musicals.
Drawing on the talents of students of all ages, this production is proudly presented by The Friends’ School. After months of preparation, the students can’t wait to strut their stuff. Come along and applaud these budding Broadway stars of the future. It will warm the cockles of your heart!
They’re thrilling, they’re cheeky, they’re Australia’s favourite circus performers and they’re pulling out all the stops to make them ‘the hottest show in town.’ – New York Times
This year Circus Oz is adding new twists to the old arts and is ready to set the stage alight and then blow you away with its brand new high-energy performance.
Revel in the strength, agility, beauty and irreverent humour of these internationally acclaimed performers. Peppered with high-altitude acrobatics and wrapped with original live music, this is a gift for the whole family.
Celebration, festivities and joy. They’re all here as two men come to Padua in pursuit of learning and love.
The first, Lucentio, fixes his gaze on Bianca, the sweet and gentle daughter of the merchant Baptista. The second, Petruchio, hears of Bianca’s wanton and wild sister, Kate, and vows to tame her and teach her to be an agreeable wife. All will be married; all will be well.
Or so it would seem.
Directed by award-winning director Marion Potts and featuring an all-female cast, this new production of one of Shakespeare’s most controversial comedies transcends expectation and preconception, taking the politics of marriage to ludicrous new heights. Vibrant, energetic and packed with female punch, The Taming of the Shrew is the perfect night out for anyone who has ever fallen in love and managed to survive it.
Recently returned from a tour of the wilds of Europe, this oddball trio bring their new show to Hobart packed full with off-beat stories of pot-holed travels, and unique home-spun renditions of popular tunes heard on their wireless.
On tambourines, tuba, musical-saw and 1960s reed keyboard, songs from Talking Heads to The Bee Gees. Enjoy their darkly funny stories from across the countryside, and uniquely homespun versions of popular tunes heard on the old wireless.
The combination of their strange behaviour, blinkered outlooks, superbly droll comic dialogue, and alluring downright hilarious brand of tune make for a night of sheer delight
Amadeus
18 & 19 September at 7.30pm
Amadeus tells the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and court composer Antonio Salieri who, overcome with jealousy at hearing the ‘voice of God’ coming from an ‘obscene child’, sets out to destroy his rival.
Visually stunning and musically rich, this critically acclaimed production had audiences in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane standing and cheering at every performance. Peter Shaffer’s thrilling, and often wickedly funny play, pits blazing human ambition against heavenly genius.
Amadeus is a wonderfully dark fantasy about music, genius, jealousy, madness and murder.
Dealer's Choice is much more than just a comedy. It is a compelling story of father–son relationships, male bravado and a secret window into the world of men.
Set in a restaurant after closing time, it’s usually the same old guys and their weekly ‘friendly’ poker game, but on this particular night there is a ring-in. One last dinner guest lurking in the restaurant volunteers to join the game. Unbeknown to the amateur poker players, he is a tough, uncompromising professional gambler, owed a large sum of money by the restaurant owner’s compulsive son.
In the build-up to the inevitable poker game, the men’s lives are revealed and secrets are divulged. Dealer’s Choice crackles with scalding wit and edge-of-your-seat suspense as the stakes are driven to an almost unbearable knife-edge.
Following the highly-successful and critically acclaimed SELL OUT AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2007, Ireland’s most celebrated show, THE RHYTHMS OF IRELAND, return with their awe-inspiring and innovative production to Australia.
The Rhythms of Ireland is a dance and music show which blends the ancient traditions of Irish dance and music, with the innovative and flawlessly choreographed production values of contemporary Irish excellence.
How do you follow Les Miserables? The same way Cameron Mackintosh did… with a new blockbuster by Alain Bloublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg…
TASMANIAN PREMIERE Miss Saigon is a love story about the relationship between an American GI and a young Vietnamese girl set in during the final epic days of the American occupation of Saigon.
Miss Saigon premiered at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane and overnight it became a legend, running in London and on Broadway both for over 10 years.
Since its London premiere, Miss Saigon has become the third most successful musical in the history of British theatre and the longest running show ever to play Drury Lane (4,263 performances). It has been performed in 18 countries, in 12 different languages, has won 30 awards and been seen by over 33 million people worldwide.
Identity
30 & 31 October at 8pm
What makes us unique, gives us our particular identity?
Tasdance presents an inspiring evening showcasing the work of two very different artists: one indigenous and one from a European migrant background. These two works reflect each artist’s perception of their unique Australian cultural identity in an intimate and very personal unveiling through dance.
Choreographer Frances Rings has earned a reputation as a leading indigenous choreographer with her two award-winning works Walkabout and Unaipon for Bangarra. Dancer and choreographer Anton worked with Australian Dance Theatre and has forged a strong reputation for his highly energised dance works.
Celebrate the silly season early with the greatest story ever told – as you’ve never seen it told before...
In the comic tradition of The Goons and Monty Python, The Messiah is the story of two rather over-ambitious amateur thespians who set themselves the challenge of recreating the starry, splendid night of Jesus’ birth. On their own. With a cast of two, a management-resistant opera singer and very little else.
Assuming the roles of Mary, Joseph, Herod, the Archangel Gabriel, the Three Wise Men (yes, all of them), Caesar, a small cluster of farm animals, God and everyone in between, Desmond and Raymond trip, slip, giggle and bluff their way through this laugh-a-minute epic on a shoestring.
The Messiah is a rib-tickling night out of truly Biblical proportions. Prepare-Ye to laugh!
Theatre Royal turns 175!
8 November from 10am-4pm
In 2009, the Theatre Royal is having its 175th anniversary and you’re invited to the celebrations!
It’s been 175 years since the founding of the Theatre, the laying of the foundation stone and the first step along the path to realising the vision for Hobart’s theatrical opportunities. The celebrations will include a full weekend where we throw the doors open, kick up our heels and make merry with tours of the theatre and backstage areas and a range of performances. There will be displays of photos, drawings and other memorabilia, sets and props to explore – all this and more. So if you’re a fan of the Theatre Royal, come along and relive some wonderful memories.
The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel is a partner of the Theatre Royal and understands the needs of theatre-goers. It offers pre-show dinner packages, with two courses and a glass of wine for $45.
You can book direct with The Old Woolstore on (03) 6235 5355 or complete our online booking form.
