Off to the theatre in Gwynneville, you say? Well, you must be going to Workshop – the tiny weatherboard hut which has hosted intimate shows and been a cornerstone of live entertainment for decades ... or are you?
For a small strip of shops, a bowlo and a park, the small suburb on the city's brow is even more endowed with theatre these days with the advent of The Forge, and the dynamite Dire Theatre Company which has powered it for a decade. Amble down a humble driveway next to a fast-food shop, roll up the shutters on the garage and you are there, in the heart of an enterprise with the motto ''incite change without fear''.
Shellharbour-born artistic director Adam O'Brien has been performer, writer, manager, producer, technician and front-of-house for all manner of companies, and his desire to ''do something bold and different – roll the dice every night'' led to Dire's creation.
''I’m a performer, a storyteller, an artist and an arts leader. That’s the toolkit I bring, and I wanted to put it to use in a way that felt socially responsible, not just creatively fulfilling,'' he said.
'''Incite change without fear' is a challenge and a commitment to ourselves, our audiences and to the artform itself.
''We’re unafraid to create work that engages with difficult or complex ideas like grief, colonisation, mental health, identity, political power, environmental collapse etc. because theatre can and should speak to the world we’re living in. That’s a kind of magic no other medium offers. And we want to use it with intention.''
Adam has written several pieces that have been toured – works that engage with social issues, history, personal stories and speculative futures, saying he owes much of that to community theatre and youth centres in the Illawarra.
''We seem to have a surplus of exceptional creative mentors in the region,'' he said. That’s why I believe so strongly in the arts as a vital part of education. It’s not an extracurricular – it’s essential.''
August is brimming with Dire Theatre energy and productions, including Heather (August 1-9), an original play centring on a woman who has inherited the role of the Grim Reaper. Jesus Christ and the Covid virus pop up as characters as the furious and unqualified Heather is coached by an AI entity called MUM.
Audiences can witness what evil scientist Doctor Victor has been whipping up in the lab in an update on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (August 15-23) as Dire sticks close to the original script while probing the cast's relationships in a tale of grief, creation and, well, monstrosity. Tickets at Humanitix.
