Theatre
Beautiful Burnout
Photo credit: Gavin Evans
From the sweat-and-sawdust world of a boxing ring, Beautiful Burnout is about those soul-sapping three-minute rounds that determine which young boxers become gods and which gods become mortal.
This award-winning collaboration between Frantic Assembly and National Theatre of Scotland is stunning audiences with the same raw truth and explosive physicality captured in their tale of the Scottish regiment, Black Watch, a huge hit of Sydney Festival 2008.
In Beautiful Burnout, Tony-nominated playwright Bryony Lavery gives voice to working class youth seeking transcendent ways to escape. An athletic cast sweats, skips and punches at the dreams and terrors of gifted young boxers.
Where: York Theatre, Seymour Centre
When: 18 to 22 January, and 24 to 29 January at 8pm; 22, 25, 29 January at 2pm
Duration: 1hr 30mins
Cost: A Reserve: $75/$70, B Reserve: $65/$60
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L'Effet de Serge
Photo credit: Martin Argyroglo Callias Bey
Meet Serge. Every Sunday he entertains his friends with a parade of homespun spectacles, animating everything around his basement and putting some magic back into their lives. With a nod to Jacques Tati, Samuel Beckett and Mr Bean, L’Effet de Serge is a haunting and humorous tribute to the pleasures and necessity of making art.
From the experimental Vivarium Studio in Paris, Serge has been embraced by audiences across 20 countries. His universe may be small, his rituals seem ordinary, but L’Effet de Serge will make you love the world a little more.
Where: Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre
When: 8 to 11 January at 7pm and 11 January at 10pm
Duration: 1hr 15mins
Cost: $45/$40
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Radio Muezzin
Photo credit: Stephen Kaegi at Rimini Protokoll
Four Egyptian muezzins from the mosques of Cairo bring us this remarkable documentary theatre work. Their livelihoods singing the daily calls to prayer are threatened by a government decision to replace them, and Cairo’s cacophonous soundscape, with a centralised radio version.
The muezzins share their stories, their fervour and their differences in this multimedia insight into the complexities of contemporary Egypt.
Germany’s influential theatre collective Rimini Protokoll works with real people and situations, smashing boundaries between journalism, performance and political action. An outstanding example of their intensely exploratory process, Radio Muezzin has been applauded across Europe.
Performed in Arabic with English supertitles.
Where: Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre
When: 16 January, and 18 to 21 January at 8.30pm; 21 January at 4pm
Duration: 1hr 20mins
Cost: $45/$40
Visit the Seymour Centre for more information