Passionate. Political. Poignant.
If you’re looking for last-minute tickets on the day of your preferred show, please head to the Seymour Centre website as Griffin’s ticket allocations close 24 hours before each scheduled performance.
Gabriel is a nuclear engineer. Cassie is an anti-nuclear campaigner. For nearly thirty years their lives have collided and entwined, with Cassie’s cause dominating public opinion across the decades. But with political change rumbling underfoot, Cassie’s life’s work could yet be undone—and it’s all led to this explosive night.
Against the enflamed background of one of Australia’s most divisive environmental issues, Alana Valentine’s tender, surprising new play interrogates the intersection of personal ambition and global responsibility.
Nucleus welcomes some of Australia’s theatre greats back to Griffin—one of our most celebrated and awarded playwrights Alana Valentine (Ladies Day) and the great Paula Arundell (The Bleeding Tree) and Peter Kowitz (The Floating World). Directed by Griffin’s very own Associate Artistic Director Andrea James (swim, Jailbaby), Nucleus tears through long-drawn battle lines to reveal what’s at our core.
Want to go deeper? View the online program
Director Andrea James
Dramaturg Dylan Van Den Berg
Designer Isabel Hudson
Lighting Designer Verity Hampson
Sound Designer Phil Downing
Video Designer Laura Turner
Fight Director Tim Dashwood
Intimacy Director Chloë Dallimore
Choreographer Martin Del Amo
Assistant Video Designer Dylan Ford
Lighting Programmer Sammy Read
Stage Manager Tanya Leach
Production Manager Damion Holling
With Paula Arundell, Peter Kowitz
Presented in association with Seymour Centre
Venue
Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre
Cnr City Road and Cleveland Street, Chippendale
Previews 14 – 18 February
Opening Nights 19 February & 20 February
Season 21 February – 15 March
Performance Times
Monday – Friday 7pm
Saturday 1pm & 7pm
Griffin Theatre Club Saturday 15 Feburary
Meet The Artists post-performance Q&A Tuesday 25 February
Captioned Performance Tuesday 11 March
Run Time
90 minutes, no interval
Latecomers
Latecomers will be admitted at a suitable time in the performance, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to the Seymour Centre to avoid disappointment.
2025 Subscription Package Pricing
| 3 PLAY | 2 PLAY | |||
| In-Season Per play |
Preview* Per play |
In-Season Per play |
Preview* Per play |
|
| Full | $65 | $61 | $68 | $65 |
| Senior | $61 | $58 | $64 | $62 |
| Concession | $54 | $51 | $57 | $54 |
| Under 35 | $36 | $34 | $38 | $36 |
*Please note that Preview shows for Nucleus are 14 – 18 February, 2025.
2025 General Release Ticket Pricing
| In-Season | Preview* | |
| Full | $72 | $68 |
| Senior | $68 | $64 |
| Concession | $60 | $57 |
| Under 35 | $40 | $38 |
| Rush tickets** | $25 | |
** Rush tickets are available online and over the phone on Mondays (or Tuesdays if there is no Monday performance) from noon, for that evening’s performance until sold out.
This production of Nucleus contains sexual references and references to death. The production also includes strobe lighting, theatrical smoke and haze.
Please reach out to the Griffin team if you require any further information or support.
Rehearsal Images
By Brett Boardman
Production Images
“The set design focuses attention where it truly belongs – on Valentine’s superb writing and Arundell and Kowitz’s magnificent performances.” ★★★★1/2—Tolga Canbulat, State of the Art
“The play is energetically propelled by the messiness of the human heart so in conflict with the entrenched positions of her two scientists.” ★★★1/2—Joyce Morgan, Sydney Morning Herald
“Kowitz and Arundell are contrastingly excellent” ★★★1/2—Jason Blake, Limelight
“The play’s final moments, steeped with the bare reality of wasted years and a fragile, fraught way ahead, sprung tears.” ★★★—Kate Prendergast, Time Out Sydney
“A very beautifully crafted play, Nucleus is sensitively directed by Andrea James who handles its many layers and nuances with skill and power.”—Catherine Skipper, South Sydney Herald
“Paula Arundell ionises the lionised Cassie, injecting a palpable positive charge of theatricality to the performance, earthy, passionate, beguiling.”—Richard Cotter, Australian Stage
“With her signature sharp dialogue and meticulous research, Valentine has crafted a story that is intellectually stimulating as well as genuinely emotional and funny.”—Juliana Payne, Theatre Thoughts
“A brilliant spectacle that knocked our socks off.”—Imogen Sabey, Honi Soit
“Direction by Andrea James provides a sense of precision to the escalation of dramatic urgency, that ensures our investment in the piece.”—Suzy Wrong, Suzy Goes See
Nucleus was developed with the support of the Sally Breen Family Foundation. Griffin is grateful for the support of the University of Sydney.
Passionate. Polarising. Political.
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@griffintheatre