We've already given a brief on what's coming up for our local theatre companies this year, our top theatre shows and a run down on the new year's "expansive" season at the Princess.
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But what are The Examiner's theatre shows not to be missed in 2024?
Death of a Salesman
Dare Collective
- From February 21 at the Princess Theatre
Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman - perhaps the greatest play to come out of the 20th century - is an almost perfect production for any theatre company.
Being staged by DARE Collective, Launceston's newest theatre company, Miller's 1949 classic of modern American drama is a searing portrait of the physical, emotional, and psychological costs of the American Dream.
Following The Lomans - Willy, Linda, Biff and Happy - the classic work will not only have its regular punch but a new dynamism as DARE blends cinema and stage in an "adaptation that highlights the ingrained idea of fantasy and the deep-rooted fear of failure".
The Box
Mudlark Theatre Company
- From July 24 at the Princess Theatre
The Tasmanian-made productions that Mudlark Theatre Company have helped to create in recent years has been nothing short of spectacular, and in The Box, the troupe seems to have found another winner.
An explosive new play from Murri-born, nupaluna-raised artist Rob Braslin and award-winning Palawa artist Nathan Maynard, Box is set in a fictional housing commission suburb of Bowendale.
There the "relentlessly real, comic and profound story" of the "Bowey boy" sons ensues, with the family looking to escape the confines of their fragile lives and "dream outside the box".
The Visitors
Moogahlin Performing Arts and Sydney Theatre Company
- July 30
Created by Jane Harrison and directed by Wesley Enoch, The Visitors arrives at Launceston's Princess Theatre after an award-winning premiere at the Sydney Festival in 2020.
Beginning on a sweltering day in January 1788 when seven clan leaders gather on a sandstone escarpment overlooking the harbour, Visitors follows a group of Aboriginal elders who need to make a momentous decision.
A mysterious fleet of giant nawi is amassing in the harbour and as they creep closer, these seven representatives must choose unanimously: whether to send these strangers on their way or welcome them?
The show is a "riveting, deeply researched insight into one of the most impactful and painful days in Australia's history".
Fourteen
Adaptation by Shake and Stir Theatre Co.
- August 27 at the Princess Theatre
At an all-boys rugby-mad Catholic school in regional Queensland, Shannon Molloy is a year 9 student with a secret that no one can ever find out.
Shannon is gay.
Based on the best-selling memoir by award-winning journalist Shannon Molloy, Fourteen is one of the most-anticipated shows of the year coming to Launceston.
With a backing mixtape of nostalgic music from the '90s, Molloy's story shines with honesty, humour, and heart.
Nimble
Rooke
- From October 4 at the Princess Theatre
Launceston-based contemporary circus company ROOKE has been providing world-class entertainment to Tasmania since 2021 - and this year is no different.
The troupe has proven a constant sellout in recent years at almost all of its shows and is planning to "bring us all a little closer once more, right to the edge of your seats" with its newest work Nimble.
The show plays the line between tension and joy, risk and release, with bodies flying through the air, acrobats standing atop one another and plenty of belly laughs.
Declan Durrant
Declan Durrant has a passion for poetry, visual arts, and theatre, and is The Examiner's arts critic and culture reporter. Got a story? Get in touch: declan.durrant@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Declan Durrant has a passion for poetry, visual arts, and theatre, and is The Examiner's arts critic and culture reporter. Got a story? Get in touch: declan.durrant@austcommunitymedia.com.au
