La Boite Theatre Company celebrates 95 years of fearless and unforgettable storytelling in 2020 with an uplifting and provocative program of experiences including two world premieres, one Australian premiere and the return of a family favourite.
La Boite Artistic Director and CEO Todd MacDonald said Season 2020 embodied the daring, passion and deep connections the theatre company was renowned for. “This is an exhilarating season; full of heart, critical voices and beautiful stories for audiences,” he said.
“La Boite is the oldest continuously running theatre company in Australia and it is our privilege in 2020 to welcome some of Brisbane’s finest performers and theatre-makers – as well as a powerful generation of emerging artists – into the Roundhouse Theatre. The 2020 season is a bear hug for your soul; a collection of stories about who we are, delivered with joy, optimism and a healthy dose of rage.”
“At the heart of Season 2020 is authentic storytelling that shows us who we are,” Mr MacDonald said. “This season tackles issues that impact us on both an intimate and global scale and poses the question: ‘What do we need to do to change the world?”
La Boite’s 2020 season will include:
- The Neighbourhood
- LB HWY
- St Joan of the Stockyards
- Grug
- The Happy Prince
- Brothers Book Club
See below for a more detailed outline of this exciting season!
Season passes and single tickets are now on sale via phone, in person, or through the La Boite website. To celebrate the La Boite 2020 season launch, all single tickets are available at $35 for the next 35 days, offer ending on Friday 25 October.
La Boite – Season 2020
The Neighbourhood
8 – 29 February, 2020
Brand-new work The Neighbourhood is a companion piece to La Boite’s critically acclaimed 2017 offering The Village. The intimate story-telling experience is written and performed by asylum seekers, refugees and migrant Australians and transports audiences across countries, borders and oceans in search of home.
The Neighbourhood tracks seven individual, real-life journeys and is presented in partnership with Multicultural Australia and Empire Theatres Toowoomba, with the powerful production playing the regional venue following its La Boite premiere.
HWY
4 – 18 March, 2020
La Boite’s annual festival of contemporary theatre returns with performances, workshops, masterclasses, forums, readings and conversations over two weeks in March. For the first time, La Boite will extend HWY by programming additional events throughout the year to complement the mainstage season.
Season 2020 continues La Boite’s commitment to further the diversity of human experience with post-show HWY Chatterbox experiences, artist development programs, creative and engagement opportunities for young people and emerging artists and a comprehensive educational program.
St Joan of the Stockyards
23 May – 13 June, 2020
Season 2020 delivers a searing critique of capitalism when St Joan of the Stockyards blazes on to the stage in a theatrical battle cry for modern day activists and anarchists. Based on Bertolt Brecht’s reimagining of the Joan of Arc myth, the Australian premiere of this provocative work is translated by multiple award-winning playwright Mark Rogers and directed by Sanja Simić.
The gripping tale of a doomed martyr railing against harsh economic reality marks the continuation of La Boite’s creative partnership with Queensland University of Technology, which delivered Romeo and Juliet (2019) and Lysa and the Freeborn Dames (2018).
Grug
24 June – 4 July, 2020
La Boite partners with The Windmill Theatre Co to present the magical family production, Grug. Featuring Ted Prior’s immensely popular storybook character, Grug will enchant and delight not just young audiences, but their young-at-heart parents and grandparents.
The Happy Prince
20 July – 8 August
The Little Ones Theatre Company will present a queer re-telling of The Happy Prince, one of Oscar Wilde’s most beloved and tender stories. This production, fresh from a critically acclaimed Sydney season, is imbued with a sense of hope and immortality, mirroring Wilde’s unfaltering belief in the strength and power of love and empathy.
The fable about the connection that blossoms between a statue and a swallow is an ode to the power of romance in a torturous world and is directed by Stephen Nicolazzo with unforgettable performances by Catherine Davies and Janine Watson.
Brothers Book Club
29 August – 19 September, 2020
Also making its world premiere is Brothers Book Club, a hilarious and unflinchingly honest work written and performed by The Mamas Boys, a collective of artists from Logan, Queensland. A group of mates meet at Book Club once a month to study, support and roast one another. These boys are best friends, but when one former member returns to Book Club, tensions surface and the brothers’ worlds begin to unravel.
Directed by Claire Christian, this new Australian work explores the themes of masculinity, adolescence, brotherhood and family and was developed with funding through the Queensland Government’s Queensland Arts Showcase Program and in partnership with Brisbane Festival, HOTA Home of the Arts and Arts Centre Melbourne.
Backstreet Brisbane 