03.10.24
Dear Grif-friend,
It’s been all hands on deck here at Griffin because as you might have seen… the 2025 Season has officially launched!
Season Launch is always the busiest time of year for the Griffs; even after the shows have been programmed, there are show teams to put together, photos to shoot, venues to find, brochures to write… but it’s all worth it when we get to share an amazing season of new work with you, our Grif-family.
In 2025 we’re on the road again while the SBW Stables Theatre undergoes major redevelopment—we’re couch-surfing with our friends and neighbours across Sydney and beyond. We’re bringing you a year of plays that are profound, spectacular, inspiring, and so stupid; but above all, stories written about us, by us, for us.
Next year is a year where we’ll be talking about climate change, about generational conflict, about nuclear power. But amongst all these big ideas, just like in life itself, it’s also about tenderness and forgiveness and community and family and friendship.
Without further ado, here’s Griffin 2025!
Our first play for 2025 is Nucleus by Alana Valentine, directed by Andrea James and starring Paula Arundell and Peter Kowitz. We’re thrilled to be welcoming Alana back to Griffin after premiering her play Ladies Day in 2016 and her new play tenderly traces the shifting attitudes around one of Australia’s most divisive environmental issues.
Next up is a heart-bursting play about childhood, belonging, and the transformative power of K-pop. Michelle Lim Davison is an absolute treasure of the Australian stage and screen, and now she is making her playwriting debut with us at Griffin with a story inspired by her own life events, Koreaboo. Michelle herself will take to the stage under the direction of the great Jessica Arthur and Associate Director Andrew Undi Lee.
Our next show joins a line-up of now-iconic Australian plays that originated on our tiny kite-shaped stage and then went onto much bigger stages and much larger cultural impact. These are plays with names like Away, Holding the Man, City of Gold, Prima Facie, Golden Blood… and now Dylan Van Den Berg’s Whitefella Yella Tree. We’re thrilled to see this acclaimed work come back for a whirlwind tour across the east coast—kicking off with a season at Sydney Theatre Company.
With our final main season show for the year we want you to imagine. Imagine escaping to a world with no internet. No intruders. And… no clothes. We are very excited, and ever-so slightly nervous, to be bringing to the stage… Naturism by Ang Collins. And in case it wasn’t already abundantly clear, Naturism is performed by an all-nude cast.
And finally, to cap off our 2025 shows, a very beloved program that is returning after a year’s hiatus. We’re very happy to be bringing back Griffin Lookout for 2025.
The first of these Lookout productions is by the blazingly talented Iolanthe, who many will know from her performance in seven methods of killing Kylie Jenner. We’re proud to support her playwriting debut—SISTREN.
Our second Lookout show is Birdsong of Tomorrow by Nathan Harrison. Nathan calls himself a professional theatremaker and an amateur birdwatcher—and in Birdsong of Tomorrow he is combining both these loves together in the one show.
There’s so much I’m excited for looking ahead, not just with 2025 but with the remainder of 2024 too! Merlynn Tong’s Golden Blood closes next week at Wharf 1 Theatre, and Flat Earthers: The Musical is in the final week of rehearsals before beginning previews at Hayes Theatre Co. next Friday. You can grab tickets to both of these brilliant shows on our website.
And finally, thank you as always for your support of Griffin. Make sure you subscribe because next year is going to be bigger, bolder and more beautiful—we can’t wait for you to join us!
It’s going to be a year of big ideas, and big belly laughs, and quite a few wobbly bits thrown in for good measure. That’s Griffin 2025!
Much love,
Declan x
