Ghost stories for Sydney

Six Australian playwrights will come together for a night of chilling, thrilling and witty ghost stories in Sydney.

Sydney Ghost Stories sprang to life when a group of young theatre professionals came together and commissioned several great Sydney playwrights to create new work. Some of the stories told are based on true events including actual supernatural occurrences at the Old Fitzroy Theatre.

“Many of us have heard stories about the occasional supernatural visitors to the Old Fitzroy Theatre,” said Katy Alexander, creative producer of the season.

“What better place to stage a night of brand new Sydney Ghost Stories, by some of Sydney’s finest writers, uncovering old buildings with hidden histories, lost loves, longings, crime scenes, jealously guarded secrets, subcultures and conjurings.”

The writers include the provocative Stephen Sewell (whose play Myth Propaganda And Disaster In Nazi Germany And Contemporary America is the most awarded play in Australian history), playwright and international novelist Tobsha Learner (The Witch of Cologne, Fidelity), Lachlan Philpott (Winner of the 2009 Griffin Award), Toby Schmitz (Patrick White Playwrights’ Award Winner, recently starred inRuben Guthrie at Belvoir St Theatre), multi-award winning Verity Laughton, and Rebecca Clarke (Unspoken).

The cast includes Jamie Irvine, Jamie McGregor, Joe Manning, Jeneffa Soldatic, Catherine Terracini and Matthew Walker. Directors involved are Katy Alexander, Dean Carey, Glenn Fraser,Toby Schmitz and Anthony Skuse.

ACT 2 by Stephen Sewell: Going to the theatre should be fun, but are those strange voices just a part of the show? A dark journey somewhere between reality and fiction.

GHOSTIE by Verity Laughton: What if what you feared most you created and the deepest fault line within you became a conduit for the very terror you hide from?? Enter one house – two boys – and a spontaneous adventure that ends as far from where it began than humanly possible… Jump on board a 15 minute ghost-train ride to hell and back…

THE POINT OF THE STORY by Toby Schmitz: How many railway stations, sports games, bus rides or dinner parties have we frequented and been in the presence of a smiling, unassuming killer? Enter two people, in a lose/lose scenario that must play itself out tonight – or else. When there’s no-where to hide, one must come out come out wherever you are… A deadly game for two.

BLACK WEDDING by Tobsha Learner: “Every time I have a one night stand, I lose a piece of my soul.” On the eve of All Saints Day, when all souls walk, the singer of a Goth band is getting married at Mortuary Station, Central, when an uninvited guest arrives. The band ponders immortality, infidelity, record contracts and eternal love.

IBIS by Lachlan Philpott: A young couple buy their first house on quiet suburban Lavender Street. But there’s a strange sensation in the smallest room of the house and something sinister is lurking in the garden.

ESCAPE POD by Rebecca Clarke: “Something is happening in this house. I don’t know when it began.”  Is it just a mother’s imagination, or is something darker than home renovations upsetting their small child?

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. The Tamarama Rock Surfers are supported by the NSW Department of Arts Sport and Recreation.

Sydney Ghost Stories commences its season on November 25. Bookings: 1300 GET TIX.