RIOTOUS. SEQUINS. BRISVEGAS.
Due to overwhelming demand, Griffin’s season of Blaque Showgirls by Nakkiah Lui has been extended by one week, until Saturday 21 October. Book your tickets now!
Plumage! Puns! Political incorrectness gone mad! Griffin Theatre Company is proud to present: Blaque Showgirls!
A lonely kid in rural Australia, fair-skinned Sarah Jane Jones is deathly sure of two things: 1. She’s the best dancer in the whole town of Chithole, and 2. She’s a proud Aboriginal woman. There’s very little proof of either of these things.
So, when a long-lost photograph offers hope of her Indigenous ancestry, Sarah Jane high-tails it to the glitziest casino in Brisvegas. Her mission? To land a role in the First Nations burlesque spectacular: ‘Blaque Showgirls’… by any means necessary.
Blaque Showgirls is Nakkiah Lui’s sparkly, smart-arsed spoof of the so-bad-it’s-good cinematic masterpiece Showgirls. The luminous Stephanie Somerville (Chalkface) fan kicks her way to the front of the chorus line alongside an all-star, all-First Nations cast of incredible performers!
Co-Directors Shari Sebbens (Superheroes, City of Gold) and Ursula Yovich (Diving for Pearls, Barbara and the Camp Dogs) jam-pack a long-awaited, pint-sized rhinestoned arena spectacular into the SBW Stables Theatre in 2023.
★★★★½ ‘[Nakkiah Lui] pivots improbably smoothly from outrageous hilarity to heartrending pain and injustice in a kind of one-two move that hits you in the gut.’—Limelight Magazine (for Nakkiah Lui and Blackie Blackie Brown)
Want to go deeper? View the online program
Co-Director Shari Sebbens
Co-Director Ursula Yovich
Set & Costume Designer Cris Baldwin
Lighting Designer Verity Hampson
Sound Designer & Composer Jessica Dunn
Choreographer Sani Townson
Intimacy Coordinator Chloë Dallimore
Voice & Accent Coach Nick Curnow
Community Engagement Lead Neville Williams Boney
Stage Manager Isabella Kerdijk
Lighting Secondment Madeleine Picard
Costume Assistant Hamish Edwards
With Mathew Cooper, Jonathan Jeffrey, Ian Michael (cover), Matty Mills, Angeline Penrith, Stephanie Somerville
Digeridoo, Boomerang and Clapstick Tracks created and performed by Matthew Doyle
Previews 4 – 7 September
Opening Night 8 & 9 September
Season 9 September – 21 October
Performance Times
Monday – Friday 7pm
Saturday 1pm & 7pm
Meet The Artists
Tuesday 12 September
Captioned Performance
Tuesday 19 September
Run Time
90 minutes (no interval)
Latecomers
Please note, there is a complete lock-out on all performances and latecomers won’t be admitted, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to us, grab a drink, and get settled.
2023 Main Season Tickets Pricing
| Full | $62 |
| Senior, Preview, Groups 8+ | $52 |
| Concession | $46 |
| Under 35 | $38 |
| Monday Rush* | $20 |
*Monday Rush tickets are available online and over the phone on Mondays from noon, for that evening’s performance until sold out.
2023 Season Subscription Pricing
| 4 Play | 3 Play | 2 Play | |||
| Full | $216 | Full | $168 | Full | $116 |
| Senior, Preview |
$176 | Senior, Preview | $138 | Senior, Preview | $98 |
| Concession | $156 | Concession | $123 | Concession | $86 |
| Under 35 | $140 | Under 35 | $108 | Under 35 | $74 |
| Griffin Lookout | |
| Single | $35 |
| Two Pack | $64 |
Production Images
By Brett Boardman
Blaque Showgirls | Mood Trailer
Show Trailer
Blaque Showgirls | Meet the Directors
“What a gift—an act of resistance in the face of daily oppression, wrapped up in laughter. It tackles questions of identity, authenticity, and appropriation with complexity disguised as bawdy raucousness. It’s campy, defiant, ambitious, and gloriously subversive.” ★★★★—Cassie Tongue, The Sydney Morning Herald
“A wildly entertaining all-killer, no-filler, 90-minute one-act package.” ★★★★—Alannah Le Cross, Time Out Sydney
“Lui’s work is irrepressibly effervescent, but with sarcasm dripping from every line, it aims to create laughter as it fervently exposes the injustices suffered by those Indigenous to this land.” ★★★★—Suzy Wrong, Suzy Goes See
This production of Blaque Showgirls contains (largely satirical) depictions of racism, racial slurs, blood and gore, drug use, murder, sexism, sexual abuse, physical violence, weapons, and partial nudity. The play also contains references to death, dying, homophobia and genitalia. The production contains loud and dynamic sounds, bright lights and production smoke/haze.
Please contact us on [email protected] or (02) 9332 1052 if you require further detail, additional specific content specifications or have any questions.
Ursula Yovich’s role as Co-Director is generously supported by Rosemary Hannah & Lynette Preston.
Blaque Showgirls is supported by NIDA.
So wrong, but so right(eous!)… Comedies that pack a social punch
- The Homosexuals, or ‘Faggots’ by Declan Greene
- The Feather in the Web by Nick Coyle
- Rice by Michele Lee
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