10 May 2019
A hand-picked collection of nocturnal performers, music-makers and storytellers take over Griffin to make some very entertaining noise until late (well, 11pm, so pretty early actually, but you get it).
Stick around after a chock-a-block evening of Batch for an even more chock-a-block line up full of Griffin faves like Omar Musa, Emily Havea, Nitin Vengurlekar and Cassie Workman, all of whom participated in last year’s inaugural Batch Festival! And tying it all together with ribbon is host with the most and Batch Festival Programmer extraordinaire, Phil Spencer. Sounds like a pretty good hour of power, hey?
Friday 10 May 10pm
Omar Musa
Omar Musa is a rapper, poet and author from Queanbeyan, Australia. He has released four hip hop records, three poetry books (including Parang and Millefiori) and received a standing ovation at TEDx Sydney at Sydney Opera House. His debut novel, Here Come the Dogs, was long-listed for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Miles Franklin Award, and he was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015. Omar created a one-man play, Since Ali Died, based on his album of the same name, for Griffin Theatre Company’s inaugural Batch Festival in 2018, which has since toured to Darwin Fringe Festival and returned to the Stables for an encore season this January.
Emily Havea
Emily Havea is a Sydney-based actor, singer and dancer working across theatre, music, film and TV. Theatre credits include Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bell Shakespeare), Kill Climate Deniers (Griffin Theatre Company), BU21 (Old 505) and Black Birds (WITS Festival Fatale, re-staged in 2018 for Griffin’s Batch Festival as Brown Skin Girl). TV credits include Wentworth Season 6 (Foxtel/Showcase), Sisters (Network 10), and Growing Up Gracefully (ABC). Her film credits include Upgrade (Goalpost Pictures) and the web series Resting Pitch Face (Google/Grumpy Sailor Productions). Emily is a 2014 NIDA acting graduate.
Nitin Vengurlekar
Nitin Vengurlekar is a writer and performer from Revesby who works across a range of contemporary performance practices. He has performed his nonsensical prose and poetry and full-length theatre works at various festivals and literary/alternative comedy events around Sydney including Late Night Library, Parramasala, Bondi Feast, Batch Festival, Griffin Up Late, and the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Most recently he hosted audiences for “Right Here Right Now,” a multi-site project in the heart of Blacktown, presented by Urban Theatre Projects.
Cassie Workman
Cassie Workman is probably the most experienced newcomer to comedy in the country, owing to the fact that she previously performed under another name. Earlier in 2017, she came out as transgender, and began transitioning. After a brief absence from the stage she is now back and kicking ass. Recently Cassie has focused on writing, as a freelancer on John Conway Tonight (ABC2) and as head writer on the (as yet) unreleased Aaron Chen Tonight for ABC2. Known for her heartfelt and emotive storytelling, her incisive wit, and brutal deconstructions of the status quo, there is no other voice like hers in comedy today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w8mxZmwCew
Phil Spencer
Phil is a writer & performer. Originally from the UK, he grew up in semi-rural South Oxfordshire (the rough bit) and spent many years living and working in the city of Glasgow (the posh bit). He now lives in Sydney where he makes comedy, theatre and stories for radio. Phil is the 2018 Artistic Associate at Griffin. He was the recipient of Peggy Ramsey Foundation Award for Writers and has been shortlisted for the Philip Parsons Playwright Award not once, not twice, but thrice (but still hasn’t won it – he’s pretty sure it’s rigged). Phil has performed in lounge rooms across Sydney, arts festivals across Australia and in shitty rooms above pubs the world over. His most recent show credits include: Hooting & Howling (NSW Tour, Lorne Arts Festival, Sydney Theatre Company Rough Draft) Glorious Pomegranate (Sydney Fringe), All Lost in the Supermarket (Sydney Writers Festival), Destroyer of Worlds by Caleb Lewis (Adelaide Fringe), You And Whose Army? (UK tour).
“Spencer’s charm and winning on-stage charisma is simply delightful” – ✮✮✮✮ The Brag
@griffintheatre