Loaded contemporary queer drama. Two misfits living in Melbourne’s ‘Gay Ghetto’, Prahran. Their volatile relationship is punctuated with bitchy back-biting, financial stress, and addiction. Jet wants a stable home for their ‘imaginary daughter.’ Quiver is a macho larrikin who flirts with the drug trade. Outrageous humour, diagnoses and action unravel in a shuddering climax.
At Midsumma 2022, Cracked Actors Theatre (CAT) held ’50 Years: Queers & Pioneers’. The event showcased artists who presented their work for the chance to be selected for a fully produced season at CAT to celebrate 50 years since the Australian Parliament brought a motion in Parliament that “in the opinion of this House homosexual acts… should not be subject to the criminal law”.
James May’s In the Ghetto was selected because as well as encapsulating the fighting spirit of those pioneers of the early movement it demonstrates that the struggle continues, and that activism is as essential as ever to ensure a future free of prejudice.
FULL | $39
CONCESSION | $29
GROUP | $35 (Min 6 TIX)
Cast;
Andrew Vagg as Jet
Richard Pengelly as Quiver
Kym Davies as Fran/Manager/Doctor 2/Ghoul
Joel Beling as Donnie/Therapist/Doctor 1/Ghoul 1/Waiter
Scenic Design & Artwork by Sarah Yeung
Directed by Colin Morley
A Cracked Actors Production at Cracked Actors Theatre – CAT
Isn’t it about time for a CRACKING night out?
Come on down to the CAT and meet Jet & Quiver!
They’re dying to meet you!
★★★★ “Cracked Actors Theatre (CAT). All credit must be given to the team for supporting and developing new Australian content.”
— Nick Pilgrim, Theatre People
Kings Cross, Australia – New Year’s Eve, 1968. On the floor of a pokey flat lies the dead body of a street hustler shot at close range, straight through the heart. A man stands over him whistling Auld Lang Syne. A year earlier, in a seedy nightclub called The Boom Boom Room, dressed in a fake fur and sequined frock, Cha Cha weaves her magic on the small appreciative crowd. That night she meets Billy, a brash young boy from Melbourne and falls in love. Then the fairy-tale ends. Local pimp, Louis, has a less romantic idea for the star-crossed lovers…
CAT take great pride in presenting this Cracked Actors production by award winning playwright/director Noel Anderson. Few plays capture the Zeitgeist of one era. This one captures both the rough ‘n’ ready iconoclastic time in which it is set with the current yearning and nostalgia for an era that entrenched the LGBTIQ community in the mainstream of Australian culture.
Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever! is a bittersweet story. It has more frocks than Priscilla and more plot twists than Sleuth. Go on, you know you’ll love it!
Noel Anderson has written plays including ‘Audrey Hepburn and I Consider Our Assets’ (Melba Spiegeltent, Melbourne), ‘Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame’ and his play on the AIDS epidemic, ‘Dark Victory’ (Playtime finalist Midsumma Festival 2016). He has directed more than fifty shows, including the 2017 hit Melbourne Fringe season of ‘Love Kills’.
Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever! will be Noel’s first production at Cracked Actors.
Image: by Sarah Yeung
“Cracked Actors Theatre (CAT) are the first to break the ice after the pandemic shutdown with a season of theatre… and it’s such a relief”
— Cameron Woodhead, The Age
Kings Cross, Australia – New Year’s Eve, 1968. On the floor of a pokey flat lies the dead body of a street hustler shot at close range, straight through the heart. A man stands over him whistling Auld Lang Syne. A year earlier, in a seedy nightclub called The Boom Boom Room, dressed in a fake fur and sequined frock, Cha Cha weaves her magic on the small appreciative crowd. That night she meets Billy, a brash young boy from Melbourne and falls in love. Then the fairy-tale ends. Local pimp, Louis, has a less romantic idea for the star-crossed lovers…
CAT take great pride in presenting this Cracked Actors production by award winning playwright/director Noel Anderson. Few plays capture the Zeitgeist of one era. This one captures both the rough ‘n’ ready iconoclastic time in which it is set with the current yearning and nostalgia for an era that entrenched the LGBTIQ community in the mainstream of Australian culture.
Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever! is a bittersweet story. It has more frocks than Priscilla and more plot twists than Sleuth. Go on, you know you’ll love it!
Noel Anderson has written plays including ‘Audrey Hepburn and I Consider Our Assets’ (Melba Spiegeltent, Melbourne), ‘Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame’ and his play on the AIDS epidemic, ‘Dark Victory’ (Playtime finalist Midsumma Festival 2016). He has directed more than fifty shows, including the 2017 hit Melbourne Fringe season of ‘Love Kills’.
Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever! will be Noel’s first production at Cracked Actors.
Image: by Sarah Yeung
“Cracked Actors Theatre (CAT) are the first to break the ice after the pandemic shutdown with a season of theatre… and it’s such a relief”
— Cameron Woodhead, The Age
Boys being boys
It is the biggest night of Melbourne’s academic calendar, the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Inter-school Debating Tournament, and the all-boys team from the elite St Imperium college are ready to totally annihilate their sister school – until…
Trophy Boys is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege and high school debating.
Director: Marni Mount
Writer: Emmanuelle Mattana
Cast: Leigh Lule, Emmanuelle Mattana, Gaby Seow, Fran Sweeney-Nash
Stage Manager: Oliver Ross
Producer + Production Designer: Ben Andrews
★★★★★
“It was truly a joy to watch. […] The piece was complex, challenging and very funny.”
— Theatre Thoughts
“If you see one thing at Midsumma it should be this show […] A newer generation of artists that are making work that is exciting and engaging and stuff that I want to see more of.”
— PRAISE DIONYSUS! podcast
“Powerful and important piece of theatre […] Do not miss out on this show!”
— You Should See It
Boys being boys
It is the biggest night of Melbourne’s academic calendar, the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Inter-school Debating Tournament, and the all-boys team from the elite St Imperium college are ready to totally annihilate their sister school – until…
Trophy Boys is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege and high school debating.
Director: Marni Mount
Writer: Emmanuelle Mattana
Cast: Leigh Lule, Emmanuelle Mattana, Gaby Seow, Fran Sweeney-Nash
Stage Manager: Oliver Ross
Producer + Production Designer: Ben Andrews
★★★★★
“It was truly a joy to watch. […] The piece was complex, challenging and very funny.”
— Theatre Thoughts
“If you see one thing at Midsumma it should be this show […] A newer generation of artists that are making work that is exciting and engaging and stuff that I want to see more of.”
— PRAISE DIONYSUS! podcast
“Powerful and important piece of theatre […] Do not miss out on this show!”
— You Should See It
Boys being boys
It is the biggest night of Melbourne’s academic calendar, the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Inter-school Debating Tournament, and the all-boys team from the elite St Imperium college are ready to totally annihilate their sister school – until…
Trophy Boys is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege and high school debating.
Director: Marni Mount
Writer: Emmanuelle Mattana
Cast: Leigh Lule, Emmanuelle Mattana, Gaby Seow, Fran Sweeney-Nash
Stage Manager: Oliver Ross
Producer + Production Designer: Ben Andrews
★★★★★
“It was truly a joy to watch. […] The piece was complex, challenging and very funny.”
— Theatre Thoughts
“If you see one thing at Midsumma it should be this show […] A newer generation of artists that are making work that is exciting and engaging and stuff that I want to see more of.”
— PRAISE DIONYSUS! podcast
“Powerful and important piece of theatre […] Do not miss out on this show!”
— You Should See It
Boys being boys
It is the biggest night of Melbourne’s academic calendar, the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Inter-school Debating Tournament, and the all-boys team from the elite St Imperium college are ready to totally annihilate their sister school – until…
Trophy Boys is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege and high school debating.
Director: Marni Mount
Writer: Emmanuelle Mattana
Cast: Leigh Lule, Emmanuelle Mattana, Gaby Seow, Fran Sweeney-Nash
Stage Manager: Oliver Ross
Producer + Production Designer: Ben Andrews
★★★★★
“It was truly a joy to watch. […] The piece was complex, challenging and very funny.”
— Theatre Thoughts
“If you see one thing at Midsumma it should be this show […] A newer generation of artists that are making work that is exciting and engaging and stuff that I want to see more of.”
— PRAISE DIONYSUS! podcast
“Powerful and important piece of theatre […] Do not miss out on this show!”
— You Should See It
Boys being boys
It is the biggest night of Melbourne’s academic calendar, the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Inter-school Debating Tournament, and the all-boys team from the elite St Imperium college are ready to totally annihilate their sister school – until…
Trophy Boys is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege and high school debating.
Director: Marni Mount
Writer: Emmanuelle Mattana
Cast: Leigh Lule, Emmanuelle Mattana, Gaby Seow, Fran Sweeney-Nash
Stage Manager: Oliver Ross
Producer + Production Designer: Ben Andrews
★★★★★
“It was truly a joy to watch. […] The piece was complex, challenging and very funny.”
— Theatre Thoughts
“If you see one thing at Midsumma it should be this show […] A newer generation of artists that are making work that is exciting and engaging and stuff that I want to see more of.”
— PRAISE DIONYSUS! podcast
“Powerful and important piece of theatre […] Do not miss out on this show!”
— You Should See It
Boys being boys
It is the biggest night of Melbourne’s academic calendar, the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Inter-school Debating Tournament, and the all-boys team from the elite St Imperium college are ready to totally annihilate their sister school – until…
Trophy Boys is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege and high school debating.
Director: Marni Mount
Writer: Emmanuelle Mattana
Cast: Leigh Lule, Emmanuelle Mattana, Gaby Seow, Fran Sweeney-Nash
Stage Manager: Oliver Ross
Producer + Production Designer: Ben Andrews
★★★★★
“It was truly a joy to watch. […] The piece was complex, challenging and very funny.”
— Theatre Thoughts
“If you see one thing at Midsumma it should be this show […] A newer generation of artists that are making work that is exciting and engaging and stuff that I want to see more of.”
— PRAISE DIONYSUS! podcast
“Powerful and important piece of theatre […] Do not miss out on this show!”
— You Should See It
Boys being boys
It is the biggest night of Melbourne’s academic calendar, the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Inter-school Debating Tournament, and the all-boys team from the elite St Imperium college are ready to totally annihilate their sister school – until…
Trophy Boys is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege and high school debating.
Director: Marni Mount
Writer: Emmanuelle Mattana
Cast: Leigh Lule, Emmanuelle Mattana, Gaby Seow, Fran Sweeney-Nash
Stage Manager: Oliver Ross
Producer + Production Designer: Ben Andrews
★★★★★
“It was truly a joy to watch. […] The piece was complex, challenging and very funny.”
— Theatre Thoughts
“If you see one thing at Midsumma it should be this show […] A newer generation of artists that are making work that is exciting and engaging and stuff that I want to see more of.”
— PRAISE DIONYSUS! podcast
“Powerful and important piece of theatre […] Do not miss out on this show!”
— You Should See It
