“We explore universal themes from our unique perspectives and aim to find the fantastical in the mundane. We make work which is evocative and challenging, but also poetic and funny. We like to make people think and laugh.”
Comprising seven members, The Strangeways Ensemble is Merrigong’s permanent company of professional actors, and Wollongong’s only professional theatre ensemble.
About
Formalised in 2018 after Merrigong’s second professional work with the group, The Outside Man, The Strangeways Ensemble meet every Friday to rehearse and develop skills, as well as engaging in a number of week-long workshops with some of the country’s leading theatre artists and companies.
The Ensemble’s latest show was Something That Happened, premiering in September 2023. Merging cinema and theatre and inspired by the history of representation of people with disability in film, Something That Happened, is a funny and imaginative exploration of the quest for fame and inclusion.
In December 2021, The Strangeways Ensemble returned with their premier season of The Strangeways Cabaret. 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.
Premiering in 2020, their show Trash Talk explored justice in the workplace for people working in Australian Disability Enterprises. Devised with director Anne-Louise Rentell, and drawing on a hyper-real aesthetic inspired by professional wrestling, Trash Talk takes a gladiatorial approach to human rights and our universal desire for respect and dignity. An unflinching start to the Merrigong 2020 Season, the work also toured to Riverside Theatres, Parramatta in February.
Trash Talk was the third original, mainstage work produced by Merrigong Theatre Company in association with The Disability Trust, following The Man Who Dreamt the Stars (2014) and The Outside Man (2017).
The Ensemble is currently working on their new show and sharing their skills through workshops.
The Strangeways Ensemble members
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MALCOLM ALLISONMalcolm Allison (Devisor / Performer) was in The Man Who Dreamt the Stars, Merrigong’s first production in association with The Disability Trust, The Outside Man, Trash Talk and The Strangeways Cabaret. He can imitate many famous voices, animals and bird sound. He has written many jokes, poems and songs, really can be funny, and truly has been told that he should be on the screen. |
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ETHAN ARNOLDEthan Arnold (Devisor / Performer) joined the Strangeways Ensemble for Trash Talk and also performs in The Strangeways Cabaret. He has performed in The Disability Trust Altogether Drama projects since 2016. Ethan is passionate about drama, and writing, as he is able to express his creative side. |
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JORDAN BOWATERJordan Bowater (Devisor / Performer) joined the Strangeways Ensemble for Trash Talk and also performs in The Strangeways Cabaret as the show’s MC. His interest outside of theatre is music – he plays a myriad of instruments. |
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ETHAN GREENEthan Green (Devisor / Performer) has performed in The Outside Man, Trash Talk and The Strangeways Cabaret for Merrigong Theatre Company. He performed in musicals while at Holy Spirit College, performs in Altogether Drama performances with The Disability Trust and loves dancing, songwriting and being in front of an audience! |
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RACHEL HEADRachel Ann Head (Devisor / Performer) started drama when she was 21 years old. Rachel really loves acting and singing and started her performance career with The Disability Trust, in particular playing Cinderella. She has since performed in The Outside Man, Trash Talk and The Strangeways Cabaret for Merrigong Theatre Company. |
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PHILLIP PRENTICEPhillip Prentice (Devisor / Performer) was in The Man Who Dreamt the Stars, Merrigong’s first production in association with The Disability Trust, The Outside Man, Trash Talk and The Strangeways Cabaret. He has been in many Altogether Drama productions including Cinderella and Four Play, as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Workshop Theatre. Phillip is well known as the “gentle giant”. |
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CHRISTIAN TAGLIAFERROChristian Tagliaferro (Devisor / Performer) completed his HSC Drama subject before studying drama as part of his BA at UOW. He has performed in The Outside Man, Trash Talk and The Strangeways Cabaret for Merrigong Theatre Company. He has performed as part of The Disability Trust’s Altogether Drama group, and with the Phoenix Theatre, most recently Wendy Richardson’s The Last Voyage of the Gracie Anne and Windy Gully. |
The Strangeways Cabaret
Premiere season
2 – 4 Sep 2021 – The Music Lounge, Wollongong Town Hall
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.
Creators and Performers: Malcolm Allison, Ethan Arnold, Jordan Bowater, Ethan Green, Rachel Head, Phillip Prentice, & Christian Tagliaferro
Photo by Zakarij Kaczmarek
The Shadow and The Light - A COVID-19 experiment on Zoom
Artist Statement
“Since April 2020, The Strangeways Ensemble has been meeting online every Friday in lieu of our weekly workshops in the Bob Peet Studio at IPAC. It has been a very different space in which to work, but one which has inspired reflective and personal responses to the situation we all currently find ourselves in. When Ethan Arnold shared his poem, The Shadow and The Light, it resonated with all of us so we devised a way to present and share it through the medium of zoom.”
– Anne-Louise Rentell
“This poem wasn’t actually written as my response for COVID-19, in fact I’ve written this poem years ago as something else, and I forgotten all about it until Anne-Louise brought it up while discussing this experiment with Zoom. So I rewritten it, cut some things out and here we have the poem that you heard.
I think it’s interesting to share during this time because even though it was meant to be something else, I put in a lot of the feelings that I had when I was younger, and now I feel like I’m falling back into that place that I was in with how the world is turning out, I can sum up by saying that one person brought me out of my shell and after that, I seen many others helping me keep out of it and I feel that I owe them.”
– Ethan Arnold
Trash Talk
Premiere season
29 Jan – 2 Feb 2020 – Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong
14 – 15 Feb 2020 – Riverside Theatres, Parramatta
A Merrigong Theatre Company production in association with The Disability Trust by The Strangeways Ensemble.
Set in a fictional workplace – the recycling depot of an Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE) – Trash Talk draws inspiration from the real-life 2018 review of award wages for people working in such commercial businesses, and the personal impact that it had on members of the cast.
With a hugely entertaining blend of humour, physical theatre and video projection, Trash Talk is framed within the hyper-reality of a professional wrestling tournament. With its gladiatorial approach to human rights and our universal desire for respect and dignity, the show reaffirms the right to work as fundamental to human existence.
The Outside Man
Premiere season
15 – 25 Jan 2017 – Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong
A Merrigong Theatre Company production in association with The Disability Trust.
LOVE. We all want it. We all need it. We all like to sing about it.
Venture down a dark, rain-drenched alley, through an unmarked doorway to the depths of your subconscious, and step into cabaret night at The Sweet Wrapper Club.
Here, love doesn’t promise a happy ending. There’s no walking hand-in-hand on a beach in the glow of a glorious sunset. This is a world of dream vampires, lonely catbirds, bearded clowns, and hibernating bears. It is a song sung with a mouthful of fairy floss.
Featuring an ensemble of performers, some of whom are perceived to have intellectual disabilities, The Outside Man is a new Merrigong work with a unique artistic vision resulting from a long-term partnership with The Disability Trust.
An anarchic performance in which our learnt experience of romantic love is hijacked and reimagined, The Outside Man is a brave, new and outrageously original musical theatre work, from the team that brought you The Man Who Dreamt the Stars in 2014. Featuring live musicians including Daryl Wallis (Dead Man Brake, Landscape with Monsters), The Outside Man is an entertaining, imaginative and touching exploration of our ability to love.
Director: Anne-Lousie Rentell, Composer/Musical Director: Daryl Wallis, Musicians: Tim Oxley, Jodi Phillis, Set & Costume Designer: Katja Handt, Lighting Designer: Verity Hampson, Dramaturg: Caleb Lewis.
The Man Who Dreamt the Stars
Premiere season
14 – 22 Feb 2014 – Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong
A Merrigong Theatre Company production in association with The Disability Trust.
Featuring an ensemble of performers, some of whom are perceived to have intellectual disabilities, The Man Who Dreamt the Stars is a new Merrigong work with a unique artistic vision resulting from our long-term partnership with The Disability Trust.
A young man. A classic villain. A protective mother. A mysterious astronaut. Devised by the cast and creative team, The Man Who Dreamt the Stars takes us on an unexpected journey, from the inner-most workings of the mind, to the imagined reaches of outer space.
Absurd and darkly comic, The Man Who Dreamt the Stars takes as its starting point the incredible true story of a young man’s experiences with a recurring brain tumour. Combining surreal characters, stunning interactive video projection, pop-culture references and quirky songs, The Man Who Dreamt the Stars is a delightful and surprising new theatre work that reminds us that in the face of life’s challenges, there is great beauty to be found in the power of the imagination.
Recommended for ages 12+. Contains some adult themes.
“This theatrical experiment involving people of ‘mixed abilities‘ gets much better than mixed results: the work unfurls with dignity.” – Daily Review, Crikey
“Visually stunning.” – Australian Stage
Director: Anne-Louise Rentell, Lighting & Video Designer: Toby Knyvett, Set & Costume Designer: Imogen Ross, Sound Designer: Daryl Wallis, Movement Director: Lee Pemberton, Cast: Alicia Battestini, Drayton Morley, Malcolm Allison, Phillip Prentice, and Photo: Paul Jones.
News
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Memories of Merrigong – Rachel Head
Wednesday February 17, 2021
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Memories of Merrigong – Anne-Louise Rentell
Monday August 24, 2020