‘The Popular Mechanicals’ is an Australian comedy that follows the story of the dimwitted theatre troupe of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Instead of following the quarrels of lovers or marital strife of the fairies, we see what the mechanicals did in between the scenes of the play, attempting to cobble together a performance which is worthy of the courts’ eyes. Its comedy and absurdism is complimented by the fact that it really doesn't take itself too seriously, leaning into the stupid, the dense, and the fun. It is an homage to vaudeville, clowning, bad puns and sight-gags, not afraid to embrace its own stupidity. It isn't as worried about plot as it is about making the audience laugh and feel good.

‘Machinal’ play depicts a series of vignettes – snippets of a young woman’s life. We see a gruelling day of work, a loveless marriage, an unwanted child, a scandalous affair. It characterises society as a machine; rhythmic, mechanical and repetitive. And each person has their role to play in keeping this system alive. But what happens when the system itself is oppressive and unbearable? What does it take to survive in a capitalist world? Ultimately, we see a young woman commit a brutal crime in order to free herself from both a suffocating marriage and her fixed place in society.

In this play of dreams and fantasy, the character of Alice James is blended with Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and is visited by other formidable 19th century women - including Emily Dickinson and Margaret Fuller. In eight interconnected vignettes, Sontag creates a portrait of such genius and imagination, someone so full of curiosity and intelligence and yearning for the world, trapped within the confines of mental illness and the Victorian conception of the woman.

There is perhaps no better way of describing the play than in Susan Sontag’s own words: “A play, then, about the grief and anger of women; and, finally, a play about the imagination. The reality of the mental prison. The triumphs of the imagination. But the victories of the imagination are not enough.”

Your story matters. Whatever cultural background you have or languages you speak, the stories you already hold are of equal importance to the stories you usually see on stage. This session will use improvisation to help you harness your personal truths and experiences in your performance or in theatre making. In this workshop, we will recognise and acknowledge the richness of the diversity present in the room and use that to fuel the scenes and characters we will be exploring through scene and game based improvisational formats. This session will help participants become more confident performing in their truth. The workshop will end with a group development presentation to put into practice the day's learnings.

“When I was a boy, all I wanted was to grow up, and be a man. Now I’m a man, all I want, is to grow up and be a man. Also. You know?”

Set at the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis in 2007, two couples sit in a park and talk about the GFC, death, expectations, sexism and a dog in a funny costume.

Presented in two parts, May I Interrupt: A SUDS Showcase, is a series of vignettes performed by our society's newest members and directed by longtime SUDS collaborators.

It is Corinth in the early suburban 1950s. Long past the heroic days of the Argo that brought Jason and his wife Medea to Greece. With enemies on all sides, the family have attempted to settle down, but slowly begin to rot from the inside.

We watch as this decay is exposed when Jason abandons the family to marry into Corinthian royalty, and as Medea, hurt and abandoned, goes to ever-increasing heights for revenge.

SUDS’ first official slot of the year, “Midsummer Madness!” is a modern, musical response to Shakespeare’s classical comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream." Reflective of the incomplete glimpses of a mythical and mortal world, the music mimics these disparate worlds through genre and polyphonic style.