Written and performed by Ash Flanders
13 October - 5 November 2022
There’s no crueler thing you can say to an actor than ‘Don’t quit your day job’. Fortunately, thanks to cover bands and theatre restaurants, Ash Flanders never needed one. But after years of glittering appearances on stages and in school gyms across the country, Ash unceremoniously finds himself seated at a computer terminal in a decidedly un-sparkly corporate office. No longer an acclaimed playwright and performer, Ash is now a legal transcriptionist—typing the words of suspected criminals who are not nearly as fascinating as TV suggested.
As Ash painstakingly types out the narratives of petty crims, he begins to interrogate his own poor choices. That thing he did in an abandoned carpark. The visit to the horse knackery. Those people at the old folks home. All of it in service of one thing: making people laugh.
But as his own transcript unravels, Ash realises it’s about making her laugh. His toughest audience. A heavy-drinking, chain-smoking behemoth named Heather Flanders. And her health is getting so dire it’s, well… laughable.
Ash Flanders (Blackie Blackie Brown) is a consummate showman—an awarded writer, actor, and elder millennial shaman. But in End Of. he is stripped uncommonly bare. Under the dreamy direction of Stephen Nicolazzo (The Happy Prince) Ash has created an honest, hilarious gut punch of a one man show… End of.
★★★★★—Theatre People
‘Shockingly honest. It’s careful and elegant, emphatic and rich. Vigorous and electrified.’ —The Australian
Want to go deeper? View the online program
From Declan
‘At the age of [redacted], Ash is the youngest grand old dame of the Australian stage. He can bring an audience to side-splitting laughter with the raise of an eyebrow, the flick of a wrist. But in End Of. he refocuses his comic gifts to offer up a tender meditation on ageing, parenthood, and the big “End” we all face.
Director Stephen Nicolazzo
Set & Costume Designer Nathan Burmeister
Lighting Designer Rachel Burke
Sound Designer Tom Backhaus
Stage Manager Jen Jackson
Preview 13 & 14 October
Opening Night 15 October
Season 17 – 5 November
Performance Times
Monday – Saturday 7pm
Saturday 1pm & 7pm
Meet the Artists
Tuesday 18 October
Captioned Performance
Wednesday 19 October
Running Time
75 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.
2022 Main Season Ticket 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.
2022 Season Subscription Pricing
6 Play | 5 Play | 4 Play | |||
Full | $288 | Full | $255 | Full | $216 |
Senior, Preview | $240 | Senior, Preview | $205 | Senior, Preview | $176 |
Concession | $210 | Concession | $185 | Concession | $156 |
Under 35 | $192 | Under 35 | $170 | Under 35 | $140 |
3 Play | 2 Play | Griffin Lookout | |||
Full | $168 | Full | $116 | Single | $35 |
Senior, Preview | $138 | Senior, Preview | $98 | 2-pack | $64 |
Concession | $123 | Concession | $86 | Concession | |
Under 35 | $108 | Under 35 | $74 | Under 35 |
Who is Ash Flanders?
The Beginning of End Of.
Meet Stephen Nicolazzo
Trailer
“Flanders delivers in spades. He is an actor of enormous range and his performance is not to be missed. End of.” ★★★★—Joyce Morgan, The Sydney Morning Herald
“The sheer pleasure of being in the presence of a performer at the top of their game, doing what they do best, is one of the gifts of theatre that can never be replaced.” ★★★★—Suzy Wrong, Suzy Goes See
“End Of. is a gem of a performance, ideally suited to the intimacy of Griffin’s Stables Theatre. Fierce, funny, and poignant – it doesn’t disappoint.”★★★★1/2—Michael Balfour, ArtsHub
“Unequivocally a linguistic, psychological and – most importantly – comic triumph.” ★★★★—Juliana Payne, Theatre Thoughts
“Fleet in wit, cattily ironic in his observations, he’s a self-aware diva of the absurd, with a manic whim to plunge with theatrical flourish into gallows humour. You will find yourself cackling more than once.” ★★★★—Kate Prendergast, Limelight Magazine
“This is drag without the makeup, gowns, heels, or tucking. It’s camp, fun, a bit bonkers, and somehow more revealing the more artifice there is.” Chad Armstrong, The Queer Review
End Of. contains haze, herbal cigarettes and loud/dynamic noises. It contains depictions of drug use and references to alcoholism, blood/gore and death/dying.
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