11.06.26
Hello Grif-friends!
You know that moment in The Wizard of Oz, the one where Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal that “The Great and Powerful Oz” is just a man? Just a regular Joe furiously pulling levers and pushing buttons?
When I started working at Griffin Theatre Company, I too felt a little bit like Toto. I’ll be honest, I don’t know what I was expecting to see behind the curtain, but I think I was prepared to be disappointed to know how the magic trick happened. Prepared to find out that it was all just a group of regular people pulling levers and pushing buttons.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Theatre is magic. It truly is. It’s not just some “trick”, but real magic. And it doesn’t just stop at the edge of the stage. If anything, the magic that happens behind the curtain is just as extraordinary as that which happens right before the audience’s eyes.
Since 2018 I have been coming to Griffin shows, absolutely enamoured by the calibre of the brand-new Australian work that was being produced. Had you told 17-year-old me, sitting in the audience of The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver (my very first Griffin show), that I would one day be one of the furious “lever-pullers” that makes up Griffin behind the scenes, I probably would have laughed. And yet here I am.
My name is Nick, and I’m Griffin’s Relationship Manager, which is just a fancy way of saying
I’m here to make sure our truest believers—our donor family—are connected to all the parts of the Griffin they love and support. And part of that job is getting to witness and share in the magic that most people don’t otherwise get to see. I get to pull back the curtain behind the glamour and wonderment of a production to reveal how it came to be.
So, consider this your first dispatch—or curtain-pull—from your very own Toto. Here’s what I can reveal so far 👀
Jorjia Gillis is feverishly working on the final draft of Mum Club, before it goes into rehearsal in July and I hear the jokes are already causing fits of giggles. I think this show is really going to be something special.
Afterglow by Sheanna Parker Russon & Lillian M. Hearne is well and truly coming along with its “beautiful, spellbinding barbershop harmonies” (verbatim from our Artistic Director Declan Greene).
And of course, Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie has returned to Sydney and is now playing at the Roslyn Packer Theatre until 21 June. I don’t want to say too much, but if you haven’t seen it, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? BOOK NOW! And if you have already seen it, go again! It’s just as good, if not better, than when I first saw it in the SBW Stables Theatre in 2019.
Oh, and Happy Feraren’s hilarious SAVIOR is sold out (as it should be).
A lot of that is only possible with the support of people like you, dear reader. And it’s not just support for our Main Season productions but supporting the development of our next generation of playwrights and theatre makers.
Speaking of, can you believe it’s June already? We’ll blink and it’ll be 2027! End of financial year is looming and I have the absolute pleasure of stewarding any donations that come through between now and 30 June. So, if you do donate, you can expect a call from me. Your inside man who may be able to sneak you another little secret about what’s happening at the company and what’s to come, but mostly to say thank you and to let you know that your contribution is fuelling the true magic of theatre.
Well, that’s all from me for now. First dispatch over. I’m looking forward to calling you before 30 June.
Your inside man,
Nick
Nick Fitzsimmons
Relationship Manager
