As well as presenting the work of other companies, Merrigong produces full-scale productions in-house for presentation in our theatre subscription season and for touring to other venues.
Much of our work is commissioned and developed here at Merrigong, but we also collaborate with other companies in the creation of exciting contemporary theatre.
Dear Diary
A MERRIGONGX production
By Kay Proudlove
Dear Diary is a new musical work from Kay Proudlove. Kay is a South Coast performer, writer and composer who has toured worldwide with her live shows, and worked on various music, theatre and dramatic arts projects. Kay’s new work takes us on a journey through her teenage diaries through a collection of intimate and vulnerable stories and songs. From first kisses, girl power, spice world, and Elijah Wood fan fiction to lost gigs, found memories and frayed friendships, Dear Diary takes us on a hilarious and often painful journey back through our teenage years, delving into the pressures and expectations of growing up.
With wry humour and confessional stories, Dear Diary asks us to look at what we hold onto in our lives and when it’s the right time to let them go, if ever. Dear Diary was produced with support from Merrigong Theatre Company’s Artist Development Program, with narrative support from dramaturg Phil Spencer (The Smallest Hour) and direction from Merrigong’s Artistic Development Manager Leland Kean.
The inspiration for Dear Diary came from moving house and stumbling across the journals of my teenage years. The entries were heart-breaking, funny and vulnerable, which to me is a winning combination when it comes to writing songs and making art. – Kay Proudlove.
Writer/Performer: Kay Proudlove
Director/Production Designer: Leland Kean
Dramaturg: Phil Spencer
Lighting Designer: Thomas Doyle
Costume Designer: Katja Handt
Producer: Annie Clapton
Presentations:
– Premiere Season: May 2022, Merrigong Theatre Company, Wollongong
– National Australian Tour: May – June 2024
The Strangeways Cabaret
By The Strangeways Ensemble
Spirited hijinks and cutting-edge cabaret.
Curated and performed by the members of Merrigong’s resident professional ensemble, The Strangeways Cabaret was a joyful celebration of new performance works unlike any other!
Part game show, part vaudevillian caper, the rollicking, rough and ready cabaret night takes audiences on an antics-fuelled ride. Members of the The Strangeways Ensemble were joined by a stellar range of cabaret, circus, music and comedy performers from the Illawarra, over three nights in a wonderful, inspiring night of theatrical escapades.
Premiered: December 2021 – Music Lounge, Wollongong Town Hall
Return Seasons: March 2022 and June 2023 in Wollongong Spiegeltent
Creators and Performers: Malcolm Allison, Ethan Arnold, Jordan Bowater, Ethan Green, Rachel Head, Phillip Prentice, & Christian Tagliaferro
Co-Creator / Director: Anne-Louise Rentell
Costume Consultants: Katja Handt & Heidi Hillier
Musical Director: Daryl Wallis
Photography: Jeremy Park
A Place in the Sultan's Kitchen
Or How to Make the Perfect One-Pot Curry
By Joshua Hinton
We are made of the stories we are told, and the stories we choose to tell.
Theatre-maker and singer-songwriter, Josh Hinton, weaves together childhood memories and family folklore passed down the generations, exploring how they’ve shaped his adult view of himself, and how we are all made of memories and stories. A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen fills the theatre with exotic smells, as Josh attempts to make his grandmother’s chicken curry live on stage, while telling stories of his grandparents’ formative experiences, transporting the audience from the backstreets of Sri Lanka to a bustling city in India, from a schoolyard in Iran to a South African farm, and finally to Wollongong, Australia.
“I’ve always been a bit confused about my cultural identity. I am an Persian/Sri Lankan/English boy who grew up in a very white town (Wollongong), surrounded by white friends. Growing up, I never felt particularly rooted in any of my different cultural backgrounds, in fact most of the time I would completely forget about them. Not until my adult years was I motivated to really try and understand where I belong in this world. As I tell stories from the lives of two of my grandparents, I explore how these experiences shaped my grandparents, and in turn made me who I am, charting a journey of discovery which is both uniquely personal, but universal too.” – Josh Hinton
Premiered: August 2024, Merrigong Theatre Company, Wollongong
Writer/Performer: Joshua Hinton
Director/Production Designer: Leland Kean
Vision & Sound Designer/Performer: Dominic Hinton
Lighting Designer: Corey Potter
Producer: Annie Clapton
Birdsong of Tomorrow
By Joshua Hinton
A nature documentary for the end of the world.
Everyday in our gardens and our streets, birds sing. They sing songs passed down through generations, songs of a world that’s gone and a world that’s changing. Birds fill every part of the planet with melody and colour. They soar, swim and run. And a lot of them are chickens. Birdsong of Tomorrow is a playful and heartfelt look at the birds around us, and what they might sing when we’re gone. A blend of science, storytelling, music and projection from a MERRIGONGX all-star team of Nathan Harrison and Emma McManus (Sorry Sorry Sorry), Tom Hogan (Mount Hopeless) and Solomon Thomas (UFO, COIL). Spread your wings and hear the world anew.
“The starting point for Birdsong of Tomorrow was a morning sometime in 2020, watching a magpie sit on a fence and sing. I was entranced by his warbling, and then overwhelmed by this enormous sense of time. Birds have been around for so long, and witnessed so much change in the world, and it’s all in song. This sound I hear every day suddenly felt strange. It felt like a way to zoom out and see myself in something much bigger. I wanted to make a space that captured that feeling – where something as familiar as a bird could feel unfamiliar, where you could get lost and find a new way to think about the world around us. Somewhere we could recognise birds as creatures with culture and memory, see the way they have adapted to the modern world, and use that to challenge ideas of human exceptionalism. Since starting to work on this show my life has changed a lot, and this project has changed with it. But birds have provided a frame for thinking about change, along with community, memory and grief. I’m lucky to have surrounded myself with some of my favourite people, creating a personal and playful space filled with projection and live sound.” – Nathan Harrison.
Premiered: August 2024, Merrigong Theatre Company, Wollongong
Writer/Performer: Nathan Harrison
Director: Emma McManus
Composer/Sound Designer: Tom Hogan
Video & Production Designers: Solomon Thomas, Clare Britton, Troy Reid
Lighting Designer: Corey Potter
Producer: Annie Clapton
